Local Eatery Scores Big:

Newtown Deli & Catering — Presents The Sideline Café At The NYA

The ceramic roosters and wicker baskets that perch atop the drink coolers inside, and the faux gas lights surrounded by day lilies and cat mint out front cry out, “Country!” but the flavor inside of Newtown Deli & Catering is 100 percent New York-style deli.

Patrons have been enjoying the extensive menu of 18 specialty sandwiches, hot sandwiches, burgers, soups, salads, and a full breakfast menu since Artie Praino opened the eatery at 79 South Main Street in 2001. Colorful bags of chips and snacks, and specialty items like Michael’s pasta sauces from Brooklyn, San Pellegrino sparkling water, and handcrafted dried gnocchi are neatly stacked on racks in front of 26 feet of deli cases filled with hot and cold deli offerings and Boar’s Head products. Another case houses made-on-premises frozen entrees and fresh specialty raviolis. New to the deli offerings this year is a selection of cakes, bars, cookies, muffins, and biscotti from local bakers and from New York City, packaged individually for quick pickup at the register.

The catering menu with 11 chicken entrees, a dozen pasta dishes, beef, pork, veal, fish, and vegetable entrees, as well as appetizers, salads, and cold cut platters, have made a name for the deli. “We cater all size parties; there is nothing too small or too big,” said Mr Praino, and he is pleased to participate each year in the Newtown Relay For Life event as one of the food vendors.

Mr Praino, who has been in the food business since 1988, started out working in a deli in Queens. A self-taught chef and businessman, he learned the trade at the side of an experienced chef and mentor, a well-known deli owner in Queens. Mr Praino was pleased with the reception of the deli, but when he expanded the shop in the winter of 2007, he decided to build on his success by including a butcher shop. He shares the space with Butcher’s Best, owned by Steve Ford, a relationship that echoes the service, quality, and specialty items for which Newtown Deli & Catering is known. Never one to sit still, though, as of May 2010, Mr Praino ensured that customers can enjoy the same great food and more that they find at the 79 South Main Street space, with the opening of Newtown Deli & Catering Presents The Sideline Café, at the Newtown Youth Academy, 10 Fairfield Circle South, in Fairfield Hills.

“It seems like a perfect fit for us,” said Mr Praino. The bright, light food court café caters primarily to the youth and adults that frequent the Newtown Youth Academy, but is open to the public, as well, said Mr Praino, from 7 am to 9 pm, seven days of the week. “It’s a great place for kids, and for the people who work out in the gym there,” he said. Newtown Deli & Catering Presents The Sideline Café focuses on healthy offerings, with prepackaged salads and sandwiches available for takeout or to eat in, all prepared at the South Main Street location. Hot soups, breakfast wraps and sandwiches, pasta salads, coleslaw, and potato salad will be served, and lighter fare of fruit salads, grilled chicken Caesar salad, a mixed greens salad with fresh grilled salmon, protein shakes, yogurt parfaits, and protein bars are on the menu. For the small fry, The Sideline Café features chicken fingers, a frozen drink machine, and a hot dog machine.

The full coffee station — with both hot and iced coffees and espresso available — pleases customers needing a lift, as does the selection of muffins and cakes.

Look for Mr Praino and his staff during tournaments, when Newtown Deli & Café Presents The Sideline Café will sell hot dogs, hamburgers, and all of the fixings that go with them. Newtown Deli & Catering Presents The Sideline Café will also provide catering for on-site parties of any size. “People will find the same great food that they get at our South Main Street location,” said Mr Praino, “and lots of other options appealing to a wide variety of tastes.”

Newtown Deli & Catering, 79 South Main Street, is open Monday to Friday, 6 am to 6 pm; Saturday from 7 am to 5 pm; and Sunday from 9 am to 3 pm. To place a takeout order or for catering call 203-364-1218. Newtown Deli & Catering Presents The Sideline Café, 10 Fairfield Circle South, Fairfield Hills, serves 7 am to 9 pm, seven days of the week.