This New Jersey Gourmet Market Is Packed With Imported Italian Favorites

Step inside and suddenly you are not in New Jersey anymore, you are in a food lover’s fever dream.

Shelves are stacked high with olive oils that cost more than your weekly coffee budget, pastas in shapes you cannot pronounce, and cheeses that demand to be taken seriously.

This market does not mess around with basic grocery store fare. Every single item feels like it was handpicked from a tiny Italian village by someone who truly knows their stuff.

The imported treasures are endless, the cured meats are divine, and the whole place smells like a Roman holiday.

You will walk in for one thing and leave with a cart full of delicious impulse buys.

Your pantry will thank you. Your wallet might not.

A Cheese Room Like No Other

Walking into the cheese room at this market feels less like shopping and more like stumbling into a small European cave where someone decided to age every cheese known to humanity.

Over 600 varieties line the shelves, ranging from creamy Italian burrata to firm aged European imports you rarely find outside specialty shops.

The selection spans continents but leans heavily Italian, with regional varieties that reflect real craftsmanship rather than mass production. Whether you are after something mild and fresh or something bold and funky, the options here genuinely cover the full spectrum.

It is the kind of room where you go in for one block and come out carrying four.

Cheese lovers who have been hunting for specific imported varieties often find what they need here when nowhere else has come through. The staff in this section know their product well and are happy to let you sample before committing.

That try-before-you-buy approach makes all the difference when exploring something unfamiliar.

Imported Italian Pastas Worth Seeking Out

Pasta is one of those things that seems simple until you taste the real difference between everyday grocery store boxes and something like Benedetto Cavalieri, a brand that takes its time bronze-die cutting and slow-drying every shape.

That slower process creates a rougher texture on the pasta surface, which means sauce actually clings instead of sliding off.

Finding this brand outside of specialty Italian markets is genuinely difficult, which is part of what makes this stop so satisfying for home cooks who care about the details.

The shelf selection here goes well beyond spaghetti and penne, covering shapes and regional varieties that open up a whole new range of recipes.

Picking up a few bags here feels like bringing a little piece of southern Italy into your kitchen. Paired with one of the store’s own homemade sauces, the result is the kind of meal that makes people ask what restaurant delivered it.

That is a very good problem to have.

Homemade Pasta Sauces Made Fresh In-Store

There is something deeply satisfying about a sauce that was made in an actual kitchen using real tomatoes, herbs, and no preservatives, rather than something cooked up in a factory six months ago.

The store produces its own line of pasta sauces, including Marinara, Filetto di Pomodoro, Fra Diavolo, and Puttanesca, all made on the premises.

Each variety has a distinct personality. The Fra Diavolo brings heat without overwhelming the tomato base, while the Puttanesca delivers that briny, bold punch that pairs perfectly with a thick pasta shape.

These are not watered-down versions of Italian classics.

Grabbing a jar of one of these sauces alongside a bag of imported pasta turns a weeknight dinner into something genuinely special. Because there are no preservatives, the flavor stays clean and bright in a way that jarred commercial sauces simply cannot match.

Stocking up on a few varieties at once is a very wise move, and most people who try one end up going back for all of them.

Fresh Mozzarella and Burrata Made Daily

Fresh mozzarella made in-house is one of those things that completely ruins you for the pre-packaged kind. The store makes both mozzarella and burrata daily in its kitchen, and during busy stretches or around holidays, that process runs all day just to keep up with demand.

Burrata, for anyone who has not yet experienced it, is essentially fresh mozzarella with a creamy, soft center that spills out when you cut into it. Served simply with good olive oil and a pinch of salt, it becomes one of the most satisfying things you can eat.

The daily production schedule here means you are almost always getting something made that same morning.

Pairing it with a tomato from the prepared foods section and a drizzle of the store’s balsamic vinegar creates a plate that looks effortless and tastes exceptional. It is the kind of simple combination that only works when every component is genuinely good quality.

This market makes that combination very easy to pull off.

The Deli Counter and Its Imported Meats

A serious deli counter has a certain energy to it, that focused hum of people making decisions about things that actually matter to them.

The deli here carries imported options like Fratelli Beretta prosciutto and salami, both of which represent the kind of old-world curing traditions that mass-market deli meats simply do not replicate.

Prosciutto from a quality source has a silky, almost translucent texture and a depth of flavor that reveals itself slowly. Layered into a sandwich with fresh mozzarella or wrapped around a piece of melon, it elevates the whole experience.

The salami selection adds range, giving shoppers several styles and intensities to choose from.

Building a charcuterie board from this counter alone would be a satisfying project, and the staff can help guide choices based on what you are pairing or serving. The variety here makes it easy to put together something impressive without much effort.

Good ingredients do most of the work, and this counter has plenty of them.

Gran Maestro Balsamic Vinegar From Modena

Balsamic vinegar from Modena is one of those ingredients that transforms a dish without you fully being able to explain why.

The store carries its own branded Gran Maestro Balsamic Vinegar, a true balsamic made in Modena, which is the only region in Italy where authentic balsamic is produced under strict traditional methods.

Real balsamic has a syrupy consistency and a complex flavor that balances sweet and tart in a way that cheap imitations simply cannot achieve. A few drops over fresh mozzarella, strawberries, or even a scoop of vanilla gelato creates something that feels almost indulgent in its simplicity.

It is one of those pantry staples that, once you have the real thing, becomes non-negotiable.

Having a store-branded product like this signals something important: the market cares enough about an ingredient to source it properly and put its own name on it.

That kind of commitment to authenticity shows up throughout the store, but it is especially obvious when you taste this vinegar.

Pick up a bottle and you will understand immediately.

Cannolis, Pastries, and Fresh Bread

Few things in life are as reliably mood-lifting as walking past a bakery counter that smells like fresh pastry and warm sugar. The bakery here produces cannolis and cookies daily, and the quality reflects the kind of care that comes from making something by hand rather than pulling it from a freezer bag.

Cannolis done right have a crisp shell that holds its shape without going soggy, and a filling that is smooth, lightly sweet, and not aggressively artificial in flavor. These check every one of those boxes.

Beyond cannolis, the counter features cakes, specialty chocolates, artisan breads, bagels, rolls, and doughnuts that rotate depending on the day.

The bread selection alone makes this section worth a separate visit. Artisan loaves with a proper crust and chewy interior are harder to find than they should be in most grocery stores.

Stopping here on a weekend morning with no particular agenda, just browsing the pastry case and picking up a fresh loaf, is a genuinely pleasant way to start a day.

Prepared Foods and Ready-Made Gourmet Meals

Some evenings, cooking from scratch just is not happening, and that is where a prepared foods section this good becomes genuinely invaluable.

The market offers a rotating spread of ready-made dishes that go well beyond basic, covering things like grilled zucchini, palm avocado salad, grilled shrimp seafood salad, and grilled octopus.

These are not afterthought items thrown together to fill a case. Each dish reflects real cooking technique and quality ingredients, the kind of food that holds up well even after a short trip home.

The tomato and mozzarella platters and gourmet sandwiches round out the options for anyone building a spread for guests or just feeding themselves after a long week.

Catering services are also available, which makes this market a practical resource for events and gatherings where you want the food to feel special without spending the entire day in your own kitchen.

Picking up a few prepared dishes alongside fresh cheese and imported pasta creates a full Italian-inspired dinner with almost zero effort.

That combination of quality and convenience is genuinely hard to beat.

Premium Olive Oils and Specialty Pantry Staples

A pantry built around good olive oil is a pantry that can handle almost anything. The market carries options like Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a reliable and well-regarded Italian brand, alongside other imported varieties that cover different flavor profiles and price points.

Extra virgin olive oil used for finishing a dish, drizzled over fresh bread or a plate of cheese, behaves very differently from oil used in cooking, and having the right bottle for each purpose makes a real difference in the kitchen.

The selection here makes it easy to stock both without having to compromise.

Beyond olive oil, the pantry section includes dried fruits, nuts, and specialty items that are genuinely difficult to track down at a standard supermarket.

Browsing this section feels a bit like wandering through a well-curated import shop, where every product has a reason for being there. Nothing feels filler or generic.

For home cooks who take their ingredients seriously, this part of the store alone is worth the trip to Englewood.

The Overall Market Experience and Atmosphere

There is a particular kind of energy in a market that has been doing things right for a long time, a confidence in the product, a warmth in the space, and a rhythm to how people move through it.

This place has that quality in abundance, operating with what many describe as a piazza-like vibe that feels more like a neighborhood gathering spot than a grocery run.

Tastings happen regularly, giving shoppers a chance to try before committing, which says a lot about how the market feels about what it sells. The staff throughout the floor are knowledgeable and genuinely helpful, making the experience feel personal rather than transactional.

People travel from more than an hour away to shop here, and after one visit, that distance makes complete sense.

The market manages to feel both old-school and well-curated at the same time, a combination that is harder to pull off than it sounds.

Everything from the cheese room to the bakery to the deli carries that same standard.

Address: 410 S Dean St, Englewood, NJ.