New York City is one of those places where it doesn’t matter what your favorite cuisine is, or what you’re in the mood for at any particular moment, there’s plenty of choices. Whether you’re looking for a quick bite or you love chasing down some of NYC’s most difficult-to-make restaurant reservations, the options might as well be endless. If you’re leaning toward the former, one of the city’s many Italian delis is always a great option for not only grabbing a great sandwich, but meats, cheeses, salads, sauces, and imports to take home for later.
Not all Italian delis are created equal, though, and we wanted to shine the spotlight right on the best. These are the places where proprietors are making their own mozzarella, importing all kinds of fun products from Europe, and there’s also fresh meatballs, pasta sauces, and salads on offer, too.
That’s all a must — what’s an Italian deli without those kinds of choices, after all? That helped define our search for the best delis, but we didn’t stop there. In order to make our list, shops needed to be the beating heart of the community. We looked for the places that have been around for decades, that have been handed down through generations of family ownership, and that have become the places locals rely on. The following spots made the cut.
Casa Della Mozzarella
It’s impossible to talk about Casa Della Mozzarella without talking about the mozzarella, and not just because this place has it right in its name. You’ll often hear it being talked about with the kind of reverence reserved for the finest foods made with Old World traditions, and there’s good reason for that: Opened by a Sicilian immigrant, this family-owned deli is still making fresh mozzarella. And yes, it’s the kind of thing that has to be experienced to be believed…