Benvenuti Salumeria Italian market opens in Manhasset

When I came across Benvenuti Salumeria’s Instagram page, I was intrigued by the elegant typeface and logo, a pen-and-ink drawing of a pig, which suggested a team with its heart in the right place — in the leg (prosciutto), belly (pancetta) and jowl (guanciale). I sent a private message, which was promptly answered: "We are targeting a November or December opening."

That was in June 2023. Last Friday, Bevenuti opened for business. It’s a tiny shop packed to the rafters with provisions of the highest quality, from tuna fillets packed in oil and frozen pizzas direct from Naples to house-roasted long hots (peppers) and, of course, lots and lots of salumi (Italian cured meats). It’s a passion project for its two owners, Bruno Carusone and Luca DiCiero. Friends since their childhoods in Astoria, Queens, the Manhasset residents were tired of spending their Saturday mornings driving to Razzano’s in Glen Cove or Iavarone Bros. in Garden City.

"Manhasset is missing something like this," Carusone said. "And we want to have things that people aren’t used to seeing on Long Island."

Carusone’s family has run pizzerias since 1957 and currently operates Dino’s in Astoria; DiCiero owns a boutique real estate firm. Instead of looking for an empty storefront on Plandome Road, the men were drawn to a long-abandoned space off the main drag that had been a tutoring service. They liked the tree-lined street, the brick facade and, in a town notoriously short on parking, the adjacent lot. But turning a "dry location" (no kitchen or sewer connection) into a wet one wound up taking much, much longer than they anticipated.

In the meantime, they hooked up with manager Nino Gagliardi, chef-owner of the well-regarded Brooklyn trattoria Peperoncino (2004 to 2018) after which he managed locations for Felice and Il Mulino. He was born in Bellona, near Naples, the same hometown as Carusone’s family. "Cook like your mother," was the only instruction the proprietors gave their chef.

Accordingly, Gagliardi and his team prepare eggplant Parmesan in the Southern Italian style (not individual cutlets of eggplant, but a layered casserole cut into portions for serving), lasagna, pollo con patate (roast chicken with potatoes), broccoli rabe with sausage, farro salad.

And he has designed 18 sandwiches ($17 to $22) including the Rustichella (pancetta, smoked provola, pickled mushrooms and arugula on focaccia), the Campania (salami, provolone, and marinated eggplant on baguette) and the vegetarian Orticella (grilled zucchini and eggplant, sun-dried tomato, stracciatella on seven-grain bread). If those sound promising, consider that they all come on bread from Manhattan’s great Sullivan Street Bakery.

That commitment to quality underlies every item in the store. Many are produced in Italy — pasta from Mancini, Garofalo, Dii Martino; tomatoes from Mutti, La Fede and Rega; olive oil from Diamante Verde and Lorenzo (Sicily), Guglielmi and Ogliarola (Puglia); prosciutto di Parma and a range of great cheeses such as pecorino and scamorza, Fontina and Gorgonzola.

But Gagliardi has also found American-made products that meet his standards, such as mozzarella (fior di latte and buffalo) from Lioni Latticini in New Jersey, fresh La Trafila pasta from Brooklyn, Cioli guanciale and porchetta from New Jersey and "beef-cetta" and bresaola (cured striploin) from Certified Piemontese Beef in Nebraska.

Benvenuti Salumeria, 19 Colonial Pkwy., Manhasset, 516-‭960-7090, benvenuti-salumeria.com. Open Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.