At A&C Superette in Manor Heights, Staten Island, the sandwiches aren’t just lunch, they’re a family affair.
Manager Anthony Fazzino started working at the shop after high school, drawn not only to the food but to the sense of home it provided.
“This is really like my home. I spend more time here than anywhere,” he said.
What You Need To Know
A&C Superette in Manor Heights has served Italian staples for 50 years
The Fazzino family opened it after immigrating to Staten Island from Italy in the early 1960s
Many of their extended family members also own Italian restaurants locally and nationally
The market, founded in 1975 by his parents, Angelo and Clara, has become a Manor Heights staple, serving Italian classics and feeding generations of Staten Islanders.
“It’s just a lot of pride and joy that I put into this place because [it’s] carrying on a family tradition,” Fazzino said.
Fazzino’s parents immigrated from Italy in the early 1960s, moving to Manor Heights like many others from the country.
In fact, the U.S. Census estimated that between 2006 and 2010, more than a third of Staten Islanders identified as having Italian ancestry.
At one point, the area around Manor Heights and Great Kills had the highest concentration of Italian ancestry in the city. But census estimates show the percentage of Staten Islanders with Italian ancestry has since dropped to under a quarter.
Fazzino’s mother, Clara, comes from a family of nine siblings, and they aren’t the only ones keeping their Italian roots alive.
Her two oldest brothers opened Joe & Pats, less than a mile from A&C, in the 1960s, and it quickly became famous for its thin-crust pizza. That restaurant is still in the family, run by Clara’s youngest brother, Gennaro Pappalardo.
Members of Fazzino’s extended family have opened a slew of other Italian-centric businesses on and off Staten Island, including a summertime pop-up in the Hamptons and a spot in Aspen, with eight locations spreading Italian culture and cuisine around the country.
Though, they all got their start spinning dough at Joe & Pats.
“I kind of get chills thinking about it. I’m up there making pies like my father was. [I was] 10 years old making pies in this exact spot,” said Casey Pappalardo, co-owner of Joe & Pats and owner of Ciro’s Pizza Cafe.
Jeremy Pappalardo, Gennaro’s son who owns Pier 76, said he grew up standing on milk crates to reach the pizza oven.
“I wasn’t tall enough to reach the top of the oven to reach the pies,” he said.
Even though a number of family members own similar but different businesses, they root for each other’s success.
“It’s nice to not be competitive with the family. We’re here to help each other. If I’m out of mozzarella or tomatoes, I’m calling up my cousin or my father looking for a quick fix because I can’t always get everything right away from your purveyor. Sometimes you’ve got to wait a week for the next order,” Pappalardo said.
He hopes his own son will take over the business someday.
“I want my son now — he’s 16 months — to continue on the tradition and I can’t wait to bring him in and have him start pressing on the dough. I was saying that this is his Play-Doh.”
Dining and Cooking