Expect a place where you can sit with a glass of wine and enjoy a tray of savory cured meat when Basso Italian market opens its doors in Greenport this Friday.
“It’s old-fashioned cicchetie,” owner Nick DeCillis of Mattituck said while serving up charcuterie during the Greenport Tall Ships festival on Sunday. “But at the same time, it’s a market place. You can buy pasta, olive oil, jarred olives and more.”
The nearest North Fork markets to offer Italian specialty foods are Provisions and Ingredients on Peconic Lane in Peconic and Lombardi’s Love Lane Market in Mattituck.
“Everyone loves Italian food and Italian specialties and I thought it would be nice to put something like that in Greenport,” DeCillis said.
The inside of the market features walls painted a dark red, a tiled countertop made of material that resembles wood and empty display cases that will surely be filled with goodies fit for a Sunday meal at nonna’s house.
But the market’s most noticeable feature is a fly wheel slicer, a shiny red gizmo that DeCillis said cost about $8,000.
“I wanted to follow through the way it’s done traditionally,” he said. “And people love to watch you use this thing.”
Italian, French and Long Island wines will also be available by the glass and the bottle to enjoy with cured meats. Basso has seating for up to 16 inside and DeCillis plans to put additional tables on an outdoor deck facing Bay Avenue.
The store will be open seven days a week, though the hours have not been finalized. Visit them at 300C Main Street or call (631) 333-2175.
With the opening of Basso, Stirling Square is just about fully occupied.
Last spring, Matt Michel opened the popular wood-fired pizza joint 1943 Pizza Bar, which features tasty pies like mashed potato and and bacon and homemade ice cream sandwiches, and soon after opened the hip, subterranean cocktail lounge Brix and Rye.
Designer Joann Brancato opened a studio and shop there earlier this season and anchor restaurant American Beech is expected to open later this month.
The complex had been mostly empty since chef Keith Luce’s multi-venture dining destination left in 2013.
Manhattan attorney Brent Pelton purchased the square in September of 2014.
