I am a lifelong New Yorker with past stops in Florida, California, Chicago and Kansas City. I consider myself a worldly individual having visited 147 countries during my 80 years on this earth. Yet it took a chance meeting at a travel marketplace with Susan Birnbaum to get me to visit Arthur Avenue for the first time. Susan runs SusanSez NYC Walkabouts- www.susansez.com
Her tours include Astoria Queens, The Lower East Side, City Island in the Bronx, Chocolat Fix and one I doubt I would ever take: the Knitting Crawl. On a slightly cloudy damp Saturday morning in early summer I met part of the group at Grand Central Station under The Clock. The rest of our 19 participants met us outside the Metro North station on Fordham Road. In 10 minutes we began our adventure on Arthur Ave. For the next four hours we walked and ate and ate and ate. Stops included: Casa Della Mozzarella, Borgatti’s Ravioli & Egg Noodles, DeLillo’s Bakery, Teitel Brothers, Madonia Brothers Bakery, Arthur Ave. Retail Market, Ann & Tony’s Restaureant, Full Moon Pizza, Roberto Restaurant, Cerini Coffee & Gifts, Addeo Bakers, Mount Carmel Wine & Spirits and Mount Carmel Gourmet Food Shop.
I admit never having visited Arthur Ave was my fault. It is the real Little Italy of New York, putting the Lower East side version to shame. I have recently visited the North End of Boston and that area comes in a distant second. Bread, pasta, meat, pastries, expresso, sausage, gelato, house wares, dining. I could go on and on but I seemed to have sampled all the above on this tour. I am describing the Belmont section of the Bronx. Nearby are Fordham University, Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Gardens.
Generations of Italian families have given the area a special small-town character unique for an urban setting. Notables born and raised here include actor Chazz Palminteri, author Don DiLillo and rock star Dion DiMucci whose group, Dion and the Belmonts, is named after a local street (Belmont Avenue). Joe Pesci began his acting career after being discovered by Robert DeNiro at a local neighborhood restaurant, where Pesci worked as the maitre’d. The tradition continues with grandchildren and great-grandchildren remaining on Arthur Avenue, or returning here, to own and manage business begun by their immigrant ancestors. “Nearly every shop on Arthur Avenue is family owned.” I like what one food critic said- “The restaurants of Arthur Avenue make Mulberry Street’s look like stepchildren of the Olive Garden.”
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia helped develop the Arthur Avenue Retail Market – a kind of covered Italian bazaar that brings together under one roof all the shopping also found on nearby streets, from sausage makers to bread bakers, cafe’s to florists. There are nine restaurants, five pastry shops, four butchers, two pasta-makers, six bread stores, three pork stores, five gourmet delicatessens, two fish markets, three gourmet coffee shops and a cigar roller. And then there are the gift and house ware shops.
Susan is a hoot and her tour is highly recommended. Remember, don’t eat before the tour.