Eat and Run
When the Pecora Brothers opened Park Deli (Port Chester) circa 1940, it was an unassuming 600-square-foot neighborhood market. Today, it’s 4,000 square feet due to multiple expansions and called Longo’s Park Deli, a butcher/deli/caterer/mini grocer employing a staff of more than 30 and owned by Tony Longo (who purchased the business in 1991). “Everyone in Port Chester knows Park Deli,” says Longo, who started working at the store at 14 and bought it at 24. “Over the years residents of other towns have discovered us. We have customers from Greenwich, White Plains and all over.”
According to Longo, the biggest change in the business since he bought it has been the increased demand for prepared foods. Many come for the heat and serve portions of baked ziti or chicken and sausage scarpariello while others love the homemade sauces and soups or deli sandwiches made with J.J. Cassone Bakery bread from across the street. They do lots of catering, whether it’s trays of penne vodka and broccoli rabe in olive oil and garlic for a christening or antipasto platters for a graduation celebration. Longo is especially proud of the close to 20 house-made salads in the deli case. “We made five pounds of the red potato salad every day for a year before Tony said it was good enough to put out,” says manager Phil Maniscalco, who has been with Park for 30 years.
The yellow and brown exterior may be faded and the interior a bit lacking in aesthetics, but with a staff this genuinely friendly and food this deftly prepared, you won’t care.
Don’t Miss: grilled chicken or fried eggplant panini with fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, spring mix, and pesto; red potato salad, tomato salad, health tuna salad; Italian combo or veggie supreme wedges; hot lunch specials such as sausage and potatoes or blackened chicken with Spanish rice.
