Italian Specialty Foods In Brooklyn, NY

When my husband and I want to stock up on authentic Italian pasta and other specialty food items, especially with a focus on the Southern Italy Provence of Calabria, where my husband was born, we head to D. Coluccio & Sons, a quality Italian foods store. importer and wholesaler, located at 1214-20 60th St., in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, NY.

They have been in business for over 50 years, moving to larger locations in Brooklyn three times as their business grew.

This is the deli section of the store where they sell assorted imported regional prosciuttos, salamis, pancettas, and many grades of granos, pecorinos, Parmigianos, all to be sliced or grated while you wait, plus fresh buffalo mozarella.

There are bins of delectable appetizers such as marinated roasted vegetables, mushroom salads, olives of all kinds, peppers stuffed with anchovies or cheese, porcini mushrooms, etc., which are sold by the pound.

Also available are dried baccala (salted cod fish) and stocco fisso (dried codfish), sarde salate (salted sardines), imported salted capers, and a large selection of imported packaged cheeses.

Coluccio's stocks its own brands of canned San Marzano tomatoes, and also acts as a wholesaler of Italian imports for many restaurants.

They stock hard to find packages of Italian cookies and sweets.

There are also many olive oils and balsamic vinegars to choose from, along with other specialty oils and vinegars.

Their selection of pasta imported from Italy can't be beat! They have bulk artisanal varieties from Calabria, Naples and other regions of Italy, and hard to find shapes and flavors such as nero di sepia (squid ink pasta), and piccanti (spicy hot), plus a large selection of whole wheat pastas.

It is hard not to get carried away filling your shopping cart with all the delicious pastas and jarred food items that line the shelves -- jars of hot stuffed peppers, dried tomatoes in oil, olive salads, marinated eggplant and artichokes, assorted pestos, jarred and canned tuna, cooked lupini and fava beans in salted water, etc.

They also have packages of every imaginable flour and grain -- semolina, farina, almond, chestnut, and different corn meals for polenta, etc.

In these bins there are a selection of dried beans to buy by the pound -- ceci, borlotti, lentils, fava, lupini, etc. and also dried chestnuts.

A large selection of salami, sopressata, prosciutto and pancetta

So many wonderful cheeses to chose from.....

....with bins of fresh home made ricotta and mozzarella!

There are many other things in stock in Coluccio's such as beverage sodas and nectar, spices, Fig jams and Sicilian orange marmalade, packaged espresso coffee beans, a selection of candies, etc. There is even a selection of hard to find delicacies such as frozen game and sfogliatelli (a pastry of sweetened ricotta wrapped in layers of raw crispy dough, that you bake at home to ultimate perfection).

You can watch a short video about D. Coluccio's & Sons at this link and see the store in action.

It is a wonderful "taste of Italy" in New York City!