This New York Italian Deli Is Loaded With Goods Imported Directly From Italy
A good Italian deli is not just about what is behind the glass.
It is about having someone behind the counter who can explain why one cheese tastes sharper, which olive oil belongs with dinner, or what cured meat you should try next.
At this New York favorite, imported cheeses, meats, oils, and pantry goods come with that kind of attention.
You can easily spend longer here than expected.
Ask a question, taste something unfamiliar, and let the conversation lead you somewhere new.
Generations of experience give the place confidence without making it feel formal.
You may walk out with a bag of groceries, but the better souvenir is knowing exactly why you chose them.
A Century In Little Italy
The family story starts in 1903, when Savino Di Palo left Montemilone in Basilicata for New York. In 1910, he opened a small latteria on Mott Street, making fresh cheese and selling milk.
His daughter Concetta and her husband Luigi carried the tradition forward in 1925, opening their own latteria at Grand and Mott within half a block of Savino’s shop.
The business later moved across the street into a larger space but remained rooted at the same Little Italy intersection.
What began with handmade mozzarella and ricotta grew into something much bigger. Today the shelves represent all twenty regions of Italy, which is no small trick for a compact storefront.
Lou, Marie, and Sal run things now, and they are Savino’s great-grandchildren. The fifth generation already works alongside them, learning the counter the way you learn a family recipe.
Old photographs and family images around the shop help trace more than a century of Di Palo family history in Little Italy.
You can still walk up to Di Palo’s Fine Foods at 200 Grand St, New York, and find the same family selling the same care.
Cheese Wisdom Behind The Counter
Ask a simple question about pecorino here and settle in for a delightful education. Sal has mentioned the shop carries more than seventy five kinds, each tied to its own corner of Italy.
A wide selection of imported cheeses fills the cases, including varieties made from sheep, goat, cow, and buffalo milk and representing regions across Italy.
Handmade mozzarella and ricotta remain central to the shop and continue to be made fresh daily, carrying forward the family’s original latteria tradition.
Concetta and Luigi originally sold only those fresh cheeses plus milk ladled from big cans. Caciocavallo, provolone, and pecorino romano joined later as tastes widened.
Enormous Parmigiano wheels dominate one display, flanked by grana padano, scamorza, ricotta salata, and gorgonzola dolce. The aroma reaches you before your eyes adjust to the crowd.
Lou can discuss terroir and how a particular season shaped a cheese’s flavor. It sounds fancy until you taste the difference and immediately understand.
Prosciutto Sliced Paper Thin
Salami and whole prosciutto legs add to the old-world market atmosphere, while many of the shop’s signature cured meats and specialty foods are imported directly from producers in Italy.
Lou travels regularly to Italy to learn from producers and select specialty foods, while Prosciutto di Parma, speck, culatello, and other Italian cured meats have all been associated with the shop.
Prosciutto and other cured meats can be sliced thinly to order at the counter, preserving the personalized service for which the shop is known.
Staff are known for explaining how products are traditionally served and used, making the counter as educational as it is practical.
The gap between packaged prosciutto and a fresh cut from a full leg is enormous. Once you taste it carved by someone who has done it for decades, the sealed supermarket tray loses all appeal.
Mortadella studded with pistachio shows up too, along with Calabrese salami that practically dissolves. Porchetta seasoned with rosemary makes an appearance as well.
Pantry Shelves Worth Raiding
Fair warning, the shelves are where budgets quietly collapse. Olive oils line up from bold and peppery to soft and buttery, with aged balsamic vinegars waiting nearby.
Lou expanded the pantry side during his generation, wanting a full Italian kitchen under one roof. Estate grown extra virgin olive oil and air dried ancient grain pasta sit among the highlights.
Dried pasta comes in shapes you may never have seen, each suited to a different sauce. Ask which one works with what, and you will get a genuine answer.
Imported Italian cookies, coffee, pasta, oils, vinegars, sauces, seasonings, pestos, and spreads broaden the selection beyond the deli cases.
Antipasti displays tempt shoppers with olives, artichoke hearts, marinated eggplant, and dried tomatoes. Crusty loaves and focaccia stack up nearby, ready for whatever you just bought at the counter.
The shop is known for explaining differences among products such as olive oils and helping customers choose options suited to particular dishes.
Fresh pasta, ravioli, sausages, and meatballs round things out. You arrive for one item and leave planning Sunday dinner for eight people.
Five Generations, One Family
Five generations of the family have now participated in the business tradition that began with Savino’s arrival in New York in 1903 and his first latteria in 1910.
Lou, Marie, and Sal handle the counter today. Sam, Jessica, Caitlin, and Michael represent the next wave, already learning the trade properly.
Lou’s personal mission has been rediscovering authentic tastes and bringing them back, continuing what his great-grandfather began. That is a heavy torch to carry cheerfully.
Customers get treated like relatives rather than transactions. Knowledge gets shared freely, from a product’s village of origin to how it was traditionally made.
Lou co-wrote Di Palo’s Guide to the Essential Foods of Italy with Rachel Wharton, combining family history with guidance on Italian ingredients. Martin Scorsese contributed the foreword.
The family describes the shop itself as an extension of the home, with conversation and food education remaining central to service behind the counter. Working together matters more to them than any ledger.
Take A Number, Stay Awhile
Pull a paper number the moment you arrive, because that little ticket runs the whole show. The wait is real, and honestly it is part of the fun.
Locals and visitors squeeze in together, chatting while orders get built slowly. Nobody behind the counter rushes, and nobody in line seems to mind much.
The room hums. Bags rustle, the slicer buzzes, and questions get answered with actual detail rather than a shrug.
Counter items such as cheeses and cured meats are often cut to order, while detailed explanations and occasional samples help make shopping here a slower, more personalized experience.
A small sign on the door reads NO SANDWICHES, a polite reminder that this is a specialty grocery and not a lunch counter. Di Palo’s Fine Foods sells ingredients, not quick bites.
Vintage photos, towering cheese wheels, and swinging salami create the visual. Clean, organized, warm, and busy in the best possible way.
Hand Picked Straight From Italy
Most shops order from a distributor. Lou books flights instead, traveling to Italy several times a year to choose products personally.
During regular trips to Italy, Lou meets farmers, artisans, producers, and distributors while selecting specialty foods for the New York shop.
Decades of these visits built real friendships with artisans across every region. Lou has developed close relationships with Italian artisans, some of whom have tailored production to the standards he seeks for the shop.
Products come from regions across Italy, including cheeses from Alto Adige, cured meats from Emilia-Romagna, and olive oils from Sicily, with many tied closely to particular producers and regional traditions.
That direct relationship explains the quality difference you taste immediately. Lou has explained that Parmigiano-Reggiano can show flavor differences depending on the season in which the milk was produced.
Respect for tradition guides the choices, though the family adapts when conditions require it. The goal never shifts, only the method.
Detailed information about producers and regional origins can turn an ordinary pantry purchase into a lesson in how Italian foods are made.
Little Italy’s Living Heartbeat
Little Italy has shrunk and shifted over the decades, yet this corner holds steady. The shop functions as a cultural anchor for the whole New York neighborhood.
Its purpose stretches past selling food. Teaching customers about each product keeps traditions moving from one generation to the next.
There is a touching story from the early years. Concetta was known for handing bread and food to neighbors who were struggling during the Great Depression.
That generosity never really left the building. Samples get offered freely, questions get welcomed, and nobody feels out of place asking something basic.
RAI International has honored Lou as an Ambassador of Italy to the United States for his work promoting Italian food culture.
Shopping here slows you down on purpose. You end up thinking about where food comes from, which rarely happens under fluorescent supermarket lighting.
Current listings show Di Palo’s opening at 9:30 a.m. daily, closing at 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Nearby Little Italy, Mott Street, and Chinatown make the stop easy to build into a longer afternoon.
