Dolce & Clemente’s Italian Market in Robbinsville, NJ

Owner Joe Clemente hails from Brooklyn where his family had successful grocery businesses. In 2008, he opened Dolce & Clemente in Robbinsville, New Jersey.  If you visit, it is in the same shopping center as De Lorenzo’s Tomato Pies, so you can shop before or after your pizza.  They have a deli counter, bakery and prepared meal sections.

So much Italian bread

Imported cheeses

Giant cannoli

Plenty of taralli and even gluten-free pasta

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Bagliani’s Italian Market in Hammonton, New Jersey

Bagliani’s Italian Market is a third-generation family-owned Italian market in Hammonton, New Jersey, a city in a farming community with an Italian-American population of 45%.  They have everything an Italian could want.

Italian bread

good-quality ricotta

the hard-to-find basket cheese

real buttermilk! (OK, maybe the average Italian cook doesn’t need this one, but I sure do!)

a huge deli department

pasta

lots of cheeses and even canned Jersey tomatoes!  And, of course, plenty of Brioschi for after the meal!

San Remo Italian Imports in Totowa, NJ

San Remo Italian Imports in Totowa, New Jersey, is an Italian imports store owned by a friendly man from Italy that sells food and sundries, such as canned and jarred foods, cookies, candies, cakes, olive oil, vinegar, coffee– your essential items from Italy.  There are some kitchen items like bowls, platters and cheese graters.  The store also has some Italian greeting cards, movies, CDs, T-shirts and tchotchke from Italy like Italian horns, keychains, wooden Pinocchios and stickers.  One of the highlights of this store is that they sell Italian magazines, which are hard to find.  They have a good selection of tabloid-type, cooking and news magazines.

 

 

8 ’till late: Grocery Store Art Installation

You walk into your local corner store with all your favorite products on the shelves.  But when you reach for that box of Ritz crackers, it’s soft to the touch…and made of felt.  This is what British felt artist Lucy Sparrow’s debut US exhibition 8 ’till late:  A Felt Convenience Store is like.

Situated in a storefront on Little West 12th Street behind the Biergarten at the Standard Hotel near the High Line, it looks like your neighborhood bodega with everything you could possibly need from fruits and veggies

to frozen pies and ice cream.

But here, it’s all recreated in felt.

You can even get a felt Coca-Cola from a felt Coke machine.

Mmm…pupusas…my new favorite food…

In the back room, the felt pieces are displayed as art, with an Andy Warhol-like depiction of Campell’s Soup.

The items may not be edible but you can purchase them.  Prices are a bit steep, but I couldn’t resist taking home this package of one of my favorite childhood candies, Skittles.

This exhibition has been here since June 5 and will be ending next Friday, June 30, so get there while you can.  There may be a line but it went quickly when we visited.  The exhibit is free to attend, but the felt pieces are for purchase and prices vary.

 

Neighborhood Watch: Arthur Avenue in the Bronx

Arthur Avenue, the Little Italy of the Bronx, is the only real Italian neighborhood left in NYC.  If you’re looking for an authentic Italian American experience, this is the place to be.  However, it’s not so easy to get to.  It’s a long, hilly walk from the subway.  Or if you take a cab, the cab driver will not know where it is.  I know cab drivers are supposed to know where to go in the boroughs, but they don’t, especially in the Bronx and Queens and sometimes, Brooklyn.  I suggest you have directions or your phone GPS on hand to assist the driver.

The main strip is Arthur Avenue from East 184th Street to East 187th Street.  On East 187th Street, there’s Artuso’s Pastry, the home of the famous Pope cookies.  In case you are looking for them, the Pope cookies were made for Pope Benedict’s visit to New York and his recent resignation, but they do not have Pope cookies now.

Visit Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.

Walk west to Egidio Pastry and admire the case full of beautiful pastries.

The history of the building is evident with its tin ceiling.

Here, we tried a mini cannoli and a mini sfogliatelle. They were both very good, but the sfogliatelle was particularly well crafted with flaky layers.

DeLillo Pastry has outdoor seating and a mighty fine cannoli with creamy ricotta filling.

There are a lot of bakeries on this small strip, so if you are doing a tasting, be prepared to eat a lot or to take some home. I brought my rolling backpack so that I could easily bring things home with me.

In addition to bakeries, there are ravioli/pasta shops, seafood markets, meat markets, cheese shops, pizzerias, Italian restaurants and kitchen stores. At Marie’s, you can get dinnerware and housewares, as well as coffee, from Italy.

OK, vegetarians in the crowd will not want to look at the next photo–the body of a sheep hanging in the window of a meat market.

Teitel Brothers is an Italian grocery store owned by a Jewish family that has been in the neighborhood since 1915.

Now this is something you don’t see anymore–a bread bakery.  Zito’s and Vesuvio’s in the city closed awhile ago.  Thank goodness Addeo’s is still here in the Bronx.

Look at that bread.

At Biancardi’s meat market, you can still get capuzelle, or sheep’s head.

Madonia Bakery has beautiful bread and also fills cannoli to order.

I got some yummy cookies for the road.

In the middle of the block, there’s an indoor market, the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, with a butcher, fish and produce market as well as products from Italy and Arthur Avenue T-shirts and souvenirs.

The butcher here had beef feet.  I’ve never seen these before and am not sure how Italians use them.

If you’re into offal, this is the place to be.  Here’s cotenne, the pig skin I’ve written about, in the rear of this photo.

Brains, anyone?

OK, I definitely share the sentiment with these T-shirts.

Check out Cerini Coffee, a fun store with housewares from Italy.

At Morrone Pastry Shop & Café, I got a rainbow cookie cake slice and a tortoni.  Both were delicious.  (I also bought a rainbow cookie cake for my aunt’s birthday.  I froze it the day I bought it and thawed it a week later.  It was fresh, moist and delicious.)

In case you thought I just had sweets, I did stop for a slice of pizza at Catania’s.

What to Eat:  pastries and bread from Artuso’s, Egidio’s, DeLillo’s, Madonia’s, Addeo’s or Morrone’s; pizza from Catania’s.

Where to Shop:  Marie’s and Cerini’s for kitchen wares; the Arthur Avenue Retail Market for souvenirs, produce and Italian goods; Borgatti’s for ravioli; Randazzo’s for seafood.

What to See:  Columbus statue at East 183rd Street and Arthur Avenue, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on East 187th Street.

Delish is Delish

With all the buzz surrounding the Celebrity Apprentice ice cream created by Trace Adkins and Penn Jillette for the Good & Delish brand at Walgreens, magic swirtle and maple macadamia mash-up, I thought I’d try some other Good & Delish products.  I got them at Duane Reade in Manhattan, but you can find them at Walgreens too.  (If you are looking for the Celebrity Apprentice ice ceams, I saw them this week at Duane Reade.)  Good & Delish products are not your average store brand products.  They are creative treats like these milk chocolate cornflake clusters and this tropical fruit white chocolate bar.

These were delish. The cornflake clusters are kind of like chocolate with crispy rice in it, only the cornflakes are a bit crunchier and almost burst a little like Pop Rocks. I really liked these. The white chocolate had a nice burst of fruit.

I also tried these caramel apple caramels, sea salt caramel granola chips, cinnamon apple chips and dark chocolate with crispy rice puffs.  Guess what? Delish!  My favorite is the sea salt caramel granola chips.  They are addictive.  I also like the dark chocolate with crispy rice.  I’m thinking they would go well on top of vanilla ice cream.

My exploration of Good & Delish didn’t stop there. I tried these red velvet caramels and milk chocolate and marshmallow smores. Have to admit, red velvets were not favorites of mine and the smores were just OK.

These blackberry sorbet chocolate bars more than made up for the lackluster former two treats. OMG, these are more than delish.

Finally, if you were a fan of raspberry cream Peek Freans, then you’ll like Good & Delish raspberry cream cookies.  I also love the cinnamon granola chips.

So I definitely recommend the Good & Delish products, especially the milk chocolate cornflake clusters, sea salt caramel and cinnamon granola chips, blackberry sorbet bars dipped in chocolate, tropical white chocolate bar and dark Belgian chocolate thins with crispy rice.  Yum!  I mean, delish!

Two for Tuesday: Appliance and Dinnerware Stores

If you are looking for the best in kitchen appliances, Krup’s Kitchen & Bath in Chelsea is the place to go.  If you want something with a retro feel or in a unique color, Krup’s has it.  Look at this adorable 1950s-style refrigerator from Smeg in pink:

How about this adorable oven range from BlueStar in purple:

Fishs Eddy is the quintessential store for dinnerware with its interesting and kitschy designs.  If you’re a NYC fan, there are many local patterns like the New York skyline, the tunnels, the Brooklyn bridge, dog walkers, Brooklyn and more.  I got the Brooklynese set for my mom.

They have other designs too like Alice in Wonderland, the New York Times crossword puzzle and this pretty pattern from Lotta Jansdotter that I wrote about before.

creamer and coffee mug

Fishs Eddy also has a cool collection of vintage dishes dating back to 1903.

I also like these small trays. I got one that’s a recipe card, but there are others like a parking ticket, a lotto ticket, a restaurant check, a prescription and more.