It’s not every town where customers walk into a grocery and ask for cured Italian fish roe, but Princeton is such a place.
When long-awaited D’Angelo Italian Market opened in January after two years of planning, it quickly became a go-to place for Italian delicacies as well as gourmet prepared foods, baked goods, meats butchered to order and fresh pizza.
Anna D’Angelo co-owns D’Angelo’s with her son Frank. When Jack Morrison, who owns the new multi-use building at the corner of Spring and Tulane Streets, first contacted her about opening a store in Princeton, she wasn’t convinced it would be possible.
“When you have ideas, you say, ‘Yeah, I want to do it,’ but you’re not sure they’re going to come true,” she said.
Although D’Angelo Italian Market carries common supermarket items like canned tuna, fresh produce and dishwashing liquid, the store is cultivating a reputation for providing specialty items, ranging from gourmet domestic salumi to detergents imported from Italy to bottarga, or cured roe, and other items that are hard to find in the U.S.
“Here, [customers] ask me for bottarga. In my other store, if I say bottarga they say, ‘What’s that?’” D’Angelo said. “This crowd is very upscale. They’re very well traveled. I would say 50 percent of my clients are from all over the world. They have this curiosity for the products. ‘I tasted this in Italy, would you be able to get it for me?’ And we order it.”
D’Angelo offers hard-to-find Italian cheeses like tuma persa, burrata, robiola and stracchino. And the first week the store was open, six cases Santal juice flew off the shelves. D’Angelo was mystified at the popularity of the Italian beverages.
“Then a client told me that’s the drink they serve on Al Italia, so people were familiar with the bottle,” she said.
Customers enter the spacious store by a door on the corner and have clear options—groceries, prepared foods and meats to the left, the bakery and pizzeria on the right.
“A lot of customers come in and say they feel like they are in Italy,” D’Angelo said. “That’s how I want them to feel, like they are in an Italian place where they can get away from the daily grind.”
Stone-oven personal pizzas, ranging in price from $6.95 to $9.95, have become a popular lunch option, available for dining in or take out. Choices range from typical pies like margherita or quattro formaggi to unusual options like the Misticanza, which features arugula, walnuts, cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinegar, and the Patatosa, which is topped simply with mozzarella, sauce and french fries.
“Believe it or not, in Italy that’s a big thing,” D’Angelo said.
She feels the difference between their pizzas and those found at other eateries is the dough, which she describes as a cross between bread and cookie dough. The light, slightly sweet dough is less filling and easier to digest than other doughs, she said.
They also offer panini, pot pies and stuffed rolls, like their stuffed prosciutto bread ($8).
With D’Angelo’s wide selection of soup, antipasti, pasta and entrees, a customer who was having an impromptu dinner party could put together a complete meal in a matter of minutes.
Prepared foods range from salads like orzo salad or fresh fennel and oranges to Italian dishes such as pasta bruschetta and eggplant caprese. All can be purchased by the pound.
Chicken Napoleone, or chicken cutlets with siclian eggplant, housemade mozzarella, fire-roasted peppers and a balsamic glaze, is $7.99, for example, which Large arancine (fried rice balls) are $3.50 each.
Pastry chef Giuseppe, who like Anna D’Angelo is a native of Sicily, bakes all the store’s cakes and cookies. At D’Angelo you can find Italian classics such as cannoli, zeppole and homemade tiramisu.
Giuseppe won first place on Pi Day for his cake recipe.
And in the butcher shop, D’Angelo Italian Market offers storemade sausage, poultry and Certified Angus beef. A selection of cuts is always readily available, but D’Angelo also cuts meat to order sells all sorts of holiday roasts.
“If someone wants a two-inch porterhouse, we can do that,” said Frank D’Angelo.
He said many of the meat items D’Angelo Italian Market sells, like stuffed pinwheel flank roasts, are perfect items for a family get-together or last-minute party.
“The items we sell are geared more toward grilling,” he said.
D’Angelo has also begun a successful catering business. Customers can peruse a menu designed for parties of 20 and up, or can go into the store to develop a custom menu for their events.
Anna D’Angelo moved to the United States in 1972. A former Italian teacher, she lives in Brooklyn and commutes to Princeton. Her daughter Danielle handles marketing for the store.
“The ties were never severed, because I go back [to Italy] very often,” D’Angelo said. “That’s why I’m able to stay on track with the food.”
D’Angelo said eventually she hopes to open up a gift shop area in the store with items imported from Italy. They have already hosted some birthday parties and have plans to offer gelato in the future.
D’Angelo Italian Market is located at 35 Spring St. in Princeton. Phone: (609) 921-0404. On the Web: dangelomarket.com.
,
