From Bayside To South Main: Practicing The Art Of The Deli

By Kaaren Valenta

Art Praino fell in love with Newtown after his parents, Joe and Diana Praino, moved here two years ago. Art, 31, the owner of a delicatessen in the Bayside section of Queens, and his wife, Annie, decided to move to Newtown, too, with their son, Joseph, 4.

“I wanted a better life for my family,” Mr Praino said. “I was commuting into the city every day, so I decided to sell the business in Queens and open a deli here. I started looking about a year ago, but I couldn’t find a space big enough for a kitchen, or with the proper septic.”

Then one day he saw a business for sale ad in The Bee. The business was Delancy Street, a deli owned by Stanley Hockman at 79 South Main Street. Soon Mr Praino had sold his deli in Queens and purchased the business in Newtown, renaming it Newtown Deli & Catering.

“We redid the entire store,” Mr Praino said. “Everything in here is brand new including all of the equipment.”

Tile floors and walls provide a backdrop for the deli/restaurant operation. Sausages hang suspended over the refrigerated cases filled with freshly made salads, imported cheeses and displays of Boar’s Head meats. A steam-table case is filled with freshly made prepared foods including Friday’s special, stuffed flounder with hollandaise sauce.

“Every day we have different hot specials,” Mr Praino said. “We have homemade soups – today is cream of turkey, and minestrone. Customers can get a whole meal here to take home.”

Favorite entrees such as chicken parmigiana and sausage and pepper also are available frozen.

“We make our own sauces and freeze them, too,” Mr Praino said. “Every Friday we get in fresh homemade raviolis – lobster, crab, shrimp, eggplant, broccoli rabe, cheddar and broccoli – and also freeze them.

The store makes its own fresh mozzarella cheese daily. A large selection of bread is shipped in from the Bronx; fresh Italian sausage comes from Brooklyn.

“My mother is in the kitchen cooking,” Mr Praino said. “She worked in the other store, too, three days a week. She makes our macaroni, potato salad, and cole slaw from her own recipes.”

Miguel Rodriguez, who worked in the store in Queens, also came with the Prainos – and also bought a house in Newtown.

Mr Praino never planned to be in the food business. Like his father, a retired contractor, he started in construction.

“But I tore a ligament and was recuperating when I walked into a neighborhood deli in 1987 and soon was working there,” he said. “I learned the trade and six years later I bought the store in Bayside with my best friend. He was my best friend since first grade, and when I decided to come up here he bought out my share of the business.”

  During his years in New York, Mr Praino said he learned what his customers liked. A dozen specialty sandwiches are offered including the Godfather (proscuitto, salami, capicola, sopresatta, mortadella, and provolone with lettuce, tomato, oil and vinegar, and a choice of sweet or hot peppers); Cool as a Cucumber (munster cheese, cucumber and mayo on multigrain bread); and a Grilled Chicken Caesar Wrap, $4-$5.95. There’s a large selection of hot sandwiches, too, as well as soups and salads, and side dishes like onion rings, mozzarella sticks, and sweet potato fries.

Desserts include gourmet cakes, rice pudding, fruit salad, and Buck’s ice cream by the scoop.

Breakfast starts when the deli opens at 7 am and includes egg sandwiches and omelets (both available with egg whites only) as well as breakfast wraps, pancakes, french toast and waffles, gourmet coffees, tea and juices.

There are tables for dining inside and out, but no wait staff. There is an extensive catering menu, and although the business has been opened only two weeks, Art Praino said he has already booked several parties. “We can do any size, from 10 people to 500, including weddings,” he said.

Newtown Deli & Catering is open seven days a weekend: Monday through Friday from 7 am to 6 pm; Saturdays from 8 to 5, and Sunday, 10 to 4. For more information call 364-1218.