A charming yet functional stop on Sound Avenue is in the works and set to debut Memorial Day Weekend.
Diana Roesch DiMenna and her daughter Tess DiMenna have partnered to create Bread and Butter Market & Bottle (5087 Sound Ave., Riverhead) where they’ll sell grocery store staples, delicious sandwiches, coffee, ice cream and other North Fork produced products, plus local wine and small batch alcohol at the on-site liquor store.
The mother-daughter duo moved to the North Fork in 2024 with Tess’s sister and Diana’s other daughter Claire DiMenna, who’s at the helm of Critterville Farm Sanctuary in Riverhead. Previously splitting time between the Hamptons and New York City, they purchased a home and a former potato and sod farm property on the North Fork where Claire brought her animals; they also launched Flower Fairy Farm — a two-greenhouse operation, growing flowers and produce.
Just days after moving, Diana discovered the Sound Avenue Deli but was disappointed by the nearly empty cases.
“I just thought, ‘This should work, this should be thriving, this should be the most convenient thing for everybody going up and down Sound Avenue,’” says Diana. “So, I said to myself — which is a very dangerous statement — ‘somebody should do something about it,’ and literally two weeks later, I owned it.”
Diana inquired about the deli to her real estate attorney, who had helped her find the farm and her home, and within days negotiations were in the works.
Diana and Tess were motivated to create a space that was of use to North Fork residents and supportive of the local agriculture scene as a thank you for the warm welcome they received.
“We moved out here from New York City and sometimes you can feel far apart from the people around you,” says Tess. “We have never been people who had a super large community or safety net, and coming to the North Fork we were constantly surprised by the ways in which total strangers went out of their way to make our lives better or more enriched or nicer simply because they could, not for any sort of benefit for themselves.”
Now living in Brooklyn pursuing a master’s degree from Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Tess visits the North Fork regularly to help get the store up and running.
What makes the spot special, aside from the mother-daughter passion behind it, will be the food made daily using North Fork farm fresh ingredients, all with labels indicating where from (some even from the DiMenna’s own farm). Food will be prepared at the deli by chef Marco Pasos, with La Colombe Coffee sold inside and from the walk-up coffee window — a separate window where through the warmer months customers can grab an ice cream cone or cup. There will be a grocery section selling everything from pasta, cereal, diapers, paper goods and bandages to North Fork Potato Chips and a wine shop right next door where a different local vineyard will be featured monthly, alongside an assortment of other beverages.
“What you will never see are Citarella prices,” says Diana. “We are very specifically structuring our offerings to make sure that there is something for everyone.”
While some renovations were made, the bones of the buildings remain the same.
“The idea that it’s a love letter to the North Fork should be painted on the side of our building,” says Tess.
For hours, details and opening updates, visit the store’s website here or their Instagram.
