Iavarone Bros. opens Garden City market
Inside the Garden City location of Iavarone Bros., a gourmet Italian market chain known for its prepared food. Credit: Newsday/Marie Elena Martinez
Now in its 97th year of operation, Iavarone Bros. Quality Foods began on Wilson Avenue in Brooklyn, slowly moving east as the business was passed down through the generations. Its newest market is now open in Garden City, joining locations in New Hyde Park, Wantagh, Woodbury and Maspeth, Queens, as well as restaurants in New Hyde Park and Plainview.
The new Garden City store clocks in at just over 9,000 square feet and offers outdoor seating for take-away along buzzy Seventh Street. Different from its sister shops, this one sports a minimalist black-and-white motif that showcases the rainbow of food on offer in massive glass cases spanning the length of the store, giving the space a wholly updated vibe.
The new Iavarone Bros. market on Seventh Street in Garden City. Credit: Newsday/Marie Elena Martinez
Perhaps best known for its prepared food and catering services, this Iavarone is a wonderland of Italian classics from lasagna to chicken cutlets to sautéed broccoli rabe to eggplant Parm. There are cases of roasted vegetables, crab cakes, meatballs, chicken wings, mozzarella sticks and every type of macaroni you can imagine. The eponymous Iavarone Bros. Villa di Pasta line includes sauces, as well as fresh pastas that occupy the back section of the store, next to the butcher.
Iavarone started life as a "salciceria," under the hand of butcher Pasquale Iavarone, who came over from Italy in 1919. His sausages, coppa and prosciutto quickly gained recognition throughout New York City — those same meats are available daily, in addition to cheeses, olives, soups, fresh, hot semolina bread, Italian pastries, cookies and cakes. New for Garden City is an imported brick oven for making pinsas, or Roman-style flatbread pizzas (starting at $7) with assorted toppings, including the "Angelina" with that famous sausage, broccoli rabe and mozzarella. Other variations include pepperoni with hot honey, sautéed mushrooms with Fontina cheese and, of course, a traditional Margherita.
Fourth-generation owner and operator Chris Iavarone said he spent 15 months building out the Garden City store, alongside his brother Jonathan and cousins Michele, Joseph Jr. and Jon. When scouting new locations, Iavarone said the company looks for population centers that offer not only grocery shoppers but also a potential for corporate catering. However, the Garden City store moves past numbers.
"Garden City has always had a special place in our hearts since it was also home to my grandparents, great uncle and aunt for a number of years," Iavarone said. The new store will be dedicated to them, with a bronze plaque memorializing Iavarone’s late grandparents Joseph and Angelina at a ribbon-cutting ceremony next month.
Iavarone Bros. Quality Foods, 140 Seventh St., Garden City, 516-266-8800, ibfoods.com; Open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A global freelancer who has checked her suitcase to raise her young daughter on her native Long Island, Marie Elena will always make time for good mezcal, even better tacos and killer conversation. Preferably, in a corner bar seat. She can be found on Instagram at @mariesworldeats.
