Edible: Di Palo's Expands Its Operation In Little Italy
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Di Palo's has offered great Italian fare in Manhattan for generations, and it's now transformed into a full market with hundreds of ingredients on display. Rachel Wharton of Edible Manhattan magazine filed the following report. The corner of Mott and Grand has been New York’s go-to address for Italian deliciousness for decades.
The Di Palo family has been a fixture in Little Italy for five generations, starting with a shop specializing in hand-made cheeses like mozzarella. The Di Palos still make fresh mozz, but that's just one reason to stop by. Di Palo's Fine Foods is now a full-fledged market that stocks hundreds of Italian ingredients.
“For my great-grandfather, he started with the latteria. For my grandparents, they started to carry some hard cheeses from Italy. My father and my uncle, they included products such as salumi, proscuitto, salami and mortadella,” says Lou Di Palo. “When we continued the business, we brought in products such as fine olive oils and unique vinegars from the different areas of Italy. Pastas that are specialty, for instance, pici from Tuscany and trophie from Liguria, Straccinatta from Liguria and Basilicata. And we tried to give the essence of a true, authentic Italian gastronomia.”
Lou finds his goods on trips to Italy, and he can tell you the story behind every product. There's cherry jam made by a Northern Italian grandmother, or Sicilian bottarga di tuna, the rarely-seen dried fish roe Edible Manhattan just featured in a story on the Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes.
There's also meatballs made from his grandmother's recipe and all-Italian wine shop run by his son Sam. But if you want give something really special, he says, try another bottle—one filled with real barrel-aged balsamic vinegar.
“As it ages, it gets thicker, it gets richer, it gets sweeter, it gets more complex. So it's a gift you'd want to give to your best friend, cause it's a testament to your true friendship,” says Di Palo.
Published every other month, Edible Manhattan magazine celebrates Gotham's food culture season by season. To learn more, go to ediblemanhattan.com, follow us on Facebook or on Twitter.