Fans of DiNapoli’s Italian Deli in Lambertville, N.J., just need to make a quick trip across the Delaware River and turn right on Main Street to find its new location.
After four and a half years on Kline’s Court, owner Danny DiNapoli wanted to find a bigger location with room for tables for dining in, a larger kitchen for catering and enough space to set up an Italian market.
He found it less than a half-mile away at 20 N. Main St. in New Hope, where he opened DiNapoli’s Italian Market, Restaurant and Catering early this year.
It was the success of the tiny deli that led to the move across the river.
Since it first opened, “People kept coming back for the food,” DiNapoli said of the deli menu which featured family recipes for sauces, soups, and the shop’s award-winning meatballs.
DiNapoli comes from restaurant families on both sides, so it’s no surprise he grew up enjoying cooking. His mother’s family owned pizza restaurants in Philadelphia and Seaside Heights, N.J., while his father’s family owned the Seven Hills Restaurant in North Jersey.
“My grandfather first brought Philly cheesesteaks to Seaside,” he said.
The expansion to a full-service restaurant and market was something DiNapoli looked forward to since he and his father first opened the deli. Two years ago he took over its full operation, and last year he started looking for a new location.
The menu includes much more than the soups and sandwiches that dominated at the deli; he still has the extensive sandwich menu that includes favorites such as the Music Mountain Circus with roast pork au jus with broccoli rabe and provolone, Mack the Knife with roast beef au jus with sharp provolone, and Ol’ Blue Eyes, named for singer Frank Sinatra and filled with son DiNapoli’s homemade meatballs and tomato “gravy.”
But he also has a variety of thin-crust personal-size tomato pies and entrees including chicken parmigiana, spaghetti and meatballs and “the Belmont” a combination of penne with ricotta cheese, marinara sauce and fresh basil.
DiNapoli’s entree catering list is more extensive than his restaurant menu.
To stock his market, DiNapoli has filled his cold case with 50 different cheeses, a variety of meats and prepared foods to eat in or take out such as lasagna. His shelves are filled with imported Italian pastas, tomatoes, olive oils, vinegars and sweets. “I have everything here,” he said, including gluten-free products.
For the future, he has hired a singer who will perform Sinatra tunes each Saturday at the market during warmer weather, and is working on offering wine and beer to his customers.
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