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Thursday, June 4, 2009

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!

35 comments:

  1. Wow Pat - What a fantastic resource. You're lucky to live near such a great store.

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  2. Pat, you've proved that anything a person could desire can be found somewhere in NY. I would love to try some of those cheeses and pastas.

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  3. The cheeses and pastas and olives and....Don't we all love Italian food. There are no stores like that is my neck of the woods. At least not with all that variety. Envy you.
    QMM

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  4. That's wonderful to see! It makes me want to go back to Italy too. Such a wonderful trip we had! Thanks, Pat! PAM

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  5. Wow Pat! As always, an informative post! And the one before this with the desserts/pastries??? My mouth was watering!
    I loved the photo of your son and Leo- Leo has his father's eyes, I believe.
    Next week I will be in NY with at least one of my kids for an early morning appointment, then we hope to get over to Katz's deli (finally) for some grub! I wonder if I can interest any of those kids (2 of the 3 do love history)to hit the Tenement Museum- I need to look it up again for details- I have the info saved somewhere on this computer! The third would probably just love to shop!
    Thanks for all your posting info!
    jenny

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  6. This is the glory of living in New York! If I ever come to the city again to visit, I want you to take me to that grocery, Pat! Fred would love it. That's the type of thing you don't see as a visitor, but it fascinates us.

    We have lots of Latin markets here because we have a strong Latin population being Florida. I enjoy going and perusing their selections, but boy oh boy, I would love to go to an Italian market. Looks divine!

    XO,

    Sheila :-)

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  7. My father's family came here from Calabria in the early 1900's. :)

    I can only imagine what the inside of that deli smells like...my mouth is watering thinking about it.

    I must plan a trip to NY this fall!

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  8. Oh, how I'd love some prosciutto wrapped around a slice of melon, and then some fresh mozzarella! My mouth is watering already.

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  9. I love places like this! I love that you blog about Brooklyn! Now if only you could come to NJ and help me located good Italian Deli's and bakeries and all of that good stuff in my area!

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  10. Oh my goodness...what an array of Italian foods! That would be mind-boggling for a non-Italian like me...who didn't realize there were more than two kinds of olives. And I just finally learned what prosciutto is...since it is showing up in recipes everywhere. I learn a lot here, Pat.

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  11. Hungry! After reading through your post, I could almost smell the cheeses and salami. Now, I am just hungry. I am pretty sure that Italian food is the most romantic food on earth.
    ♥, Susan

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  12. I love shopping at stores like this,everything looks so yummy....Barb

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  13. You have made this Calabrese girl v-e-r-y happy indeed. I've been to stores like this in Philly and now live in Minnesota so you get my drift :O)

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  14. Wow, what a great place to shop! I think I'd get carried away for sure. So many fabulous things, oh my gosh! I love Italian food.

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  15. you have so many hard to find grocery items; I wish this shop were here in the north metro. I did manage to find and purchase a package of nero di sepia. Do you have any recommendations for a sauce for this black pasta?

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  16. Dusty Lens nero di sepia goes well with any type of fish or shellfish sauce. I usually serve it with a red calamari sauce.

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  17. Hi Pat, forgive me for not visiting very much as this vacation is very busy and time is limited. I am able to post but time for visiting is a different story. sigh.

    I love the Italian store with the most wonderful food ever. It looks like a store you would find in Italy. Mmmmmmm. Just delicious. I can understand why you love that store Pat.

    We are staying in Gardiner, the North end of the park. We love where we are staying at the Travelodge. I believe we are paying $92.00 a night. The phone number is 1-800-578-7878. You do have to make reservations very much in advance. The Park is huge and you can drive all day and still see just a fraction of the park. Good luck with your plans.

    Hugs...Jeanne

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  18. I would like one of each. ;-) This store is my idea of heaven.

    I would love to sit and chat with you on our front porch. And, we would have the most fun talking about our grandsons.

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  19. I get hungry visiting you Pat! What a great store. I would probably have to drive all the way to Brooklyn to get a selection like that! I can't say I've ever seen anything like it anywhere in this state:{

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  20. wow!!! that's a lot of stuff there Pat, I think I'd be lost to what to buy..or buy too much of everything. We dont have a speciality Italian store, just stuff from the supermart and I havent even seen most of the things shown here. Happy weekend Pat, hugs/M

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  21. That store is amazing, we have nothing like it here in KY. Yum Yum!

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  22. It's strange for me to read this post. I'm surrounded every day with such things, I take them for granted. Thanks for let me see it with the eyes of a foreigner, it makes me feel so lucky!

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  23. Hi Pat! Oh dear, I'm getting hungry just of seeing it... ;))

    Want to see Trakai? Blogtrotter has it… Enjoy and have a great weekend!

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  24. Now that`s a fantastic store. Everything you could want. It`s great to be able to buy authentic cuisine. My favorite is real German food and wine. Great post and divine pictures!

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  25. there is NOTHING like fresh buffalo mozzarella! Hubby and i plan to make our own this summer when the tomato crop is ready..and the fresh basil..MMMM

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  26. Thank you so much for sharing. I love this post. And I also read some of your post-- I really enjoyed reading them. Looking forward for more soon! Thanks.

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  27. What an amazing array of possibilities to be found. It's almost overwhelming and I think I'd have trouble making a decision on what to buy. My inevitable solution would probably be to buy a bit of everything.

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  28. To think that when I was a little girl I use to hold my nose in a store like this every Saturday with my Mom and Grandmother and Aunts and now I would like to hang out in a store like this every single day. I think I told you my Grands are from Calabria. Who knows I could be your husbands cousin:)
    Joyce

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  29. What a selection! I would weigh 300 pounds if I lived near you:)

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  30. What an amazing deli. I think I would just wander around it totally amazed and in awe. I think I might even forget to buy anything. LOL

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  31. i have been searching for cippolini, not the flat yellow but the kind that look like tulip bulbs. They have a purplish hue and are stickey when you peel the outer skins. I used to get them from an italian store in Albany and they got them from brooklyn but they were so expensive 11.99 lb. and they came in around thanksgiving. Do you know of this type?

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  32. This is my Temple!

    I was just there last Saturday, usually make it four or five times a year.

    If you like making fresh pasta, btw, try using the "fine" semolina in the bins in back. I've not found another like it.

    And the cheese!

    Oof!!!

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