Jennifer and Collin Preziosi had both worked in hospitality since they were teenagers — she in the front of the house, he in the back — but after they got married last year, they set about putting into action their plan of working together in a family business.
Everything came together on May 22 when they opened Off the Wheel, specializing in fine cheese and charcuterie, things made with them and things that go with them.
Collin trained at BOCES, Niagara Falls Culinary Institute and in Calabria, Italy and worked in local kitchens including La Tavola in Sayville. He conceded that opening a Preziosi-run restaurant seemed like a logical move but, “it seemed like too big a step for our first venture, and I didn’t really want to be working 16 hour days, six days a week — though I pretty much am.”
Jennifer said they “fell in love” with the tri-level space on South Country Road that had been The Storefront gallery/boutique. As residents, they knew that the 2023 closure of the IGA had put a major dent in the village’s food shopping options: “Bellport needed this.”
The main floor of Off the Wheel is devoted to dozens of international cheeses and cured meats. Highlights from the cheese collection (most $18 to $40/pound) include 12-month aged Manchego from Spain, 24-month-old Parmesan and Taleggio from Italy, Gruyère and Ossau-Iraty from France, Stilton from England, Humboldt Fog from Harvest Moon from New York’s Hudson Valley. On the charcuterie front ($18 to $35) are Spanish chorizo, Italian prosciutto (both di Parma and di San Daniele) and Italian-style bresaola, capicola and soppressata from Salumeria Biellese (the Manhattan deli whose production facility is in New Jersey).
Collin and Jennifer Preziosi, owners of Off The Wheel in Bellport. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Collin makes his own mozzarella every morning, roasts his own prime beef, fries his own chicken cutlets and gets bread from Orwashers. All of this comes to bear on sandwiches ($14 to $16) such as the #1 (prosciutto, stracciatella, roasted red peppers, arugula, truffle honey and truffle aioli), the #2 (roast beef, caciocavallo, fried onions, sun dried tomatoes, garlic aioli) and the #5 (chicken cutlet, fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, prosciutto, arugula and garlic aioli).
Catering is available — from charcuterie platters for an intimate dinner to sandwiches for a crowd.
Upstairs is a small butcher counter where you’ll find a small selection of grill-ready items such as steaks, burgers and franks, and wild cards such as Moulard duck breasts. There’s also a selection of specialty grocery items such as cultured butter, crème fraîche, blini, imported tomatoes, pasta (Martelli), olive oil and more. Grab-and-go platters (three cheeses, two meats and fruit) are $17.99.
Downstairs there’s a 18-foot-long, communal table that the Preziosis hope to put to good use as a setting for classes in making mozzarella and pasta.
Off the Wheel Meat And Cheese, 139 S. Country Rd., Bellport, 631-803-0115, offthewheelcheeseshop.com. Open Wednesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Erica Marcus, a passionate but skeptical omnivore, has been reporting and opining on the Long Island food scene since 1998.
Dining and Cooking