Carlino’s Specialty Foods*
2616 East County Line Road
Ardmore, Pennsylvania
(610) 649-4046
Carlino’s is one of those best-kept secrets… that everyone seems to know about.
The Carlino tradition goes back six generations to the family farm in the hills of Abruzzo, Italy. Carlino’s in Ardmore made its debut in the 1980s, offering homemade pastas, sauces, and fresh pastries & cookies. The business has grown and flourished over the years, becoming one of the best-known specialty food stores in the Philadelphia area, boasting two gourmet markets and a full catering service.
The Ardmore store is a delightful series of culinary cubbyholes, a magnificent maze of moveable feasts… But the bakery department, situated just inside the entrance, grabs you by the taste buds the moment you cross the threshold. The New York-style cheesecake – with or without benefit of cherry tiara – is marvelous… ditto the tart & tangy lemon bars. Another not to be missed denouement is the incomparably delicious peanut butter caramel chocolate tart.
Tear yourself away from the goodies, hang a right, and you’re in the deli department, followed by a slew of house-made sausages and hand-roasted meats. The freshly prepared salads here are all highly recommended, while the pulled chicken, tuna, turkey, tortellini salads and the vegetarian antipasto festooned with pungent squares of Fontinella cheese are particularly noteworthy.
Turn another corner and you find a plethoric variety of fresh pastas – refrigerated and frozen – all present and accounted for. But if you’re on the prowl for something a bit different from the usual spaghetti & marinara, here’s a personal suggestion… Pick up a frozen package of potato gnocchi and small refrigerated container of Carlino’s homemade pesto sauce. When it’s time for dinner, warm the pesto sauce to room temperature (do not heat). Drop the gnocchi into a pot of boiling salted water; once the delicate dumplings begin to float, cook for another four (4) minutes. Drain. Place in a serving dish, toss with the pesto, and sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano (see photo). Magnifico!
Carlino’s also has an impressive selection of ready-made take-away meals. Just pop ‘em in the oven or heat in a saucepan and they’re ready to enjoy. Plenty of strictly Italian offerings here, but also a host of other fish, meat, and vegetarian dishes as well. On one particular visit, for example, a member of the kitchen staff could be seen ferrying an entire tray of vegetable Napoleons from the kitchen… which turned out to be as irresistible to the palate as they were aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
Among the other take-away items sampled was an enormous square of eggplant parmesan. Priced at $10.99 a pound, each square is slightly over a pound and a half, which brings the bottom line to about $18.00. This may seem like an exorbitant outlay for a relatively mundane dish… However, unless you have the appetite of a ravening hyena, it will certainly serve two comfortably, perhaps three. And there’s nothing ordinary about this slice of Neapolitan nirvana. All the ingredients are topnotch: The sauce is satisfyingly rich, the cheese addictively creamy, and the slices of eggplant perfectly cooked (which is to say neither overly mushy nor annoyingly chewy).
The store also has a first-rate collection of Italian groceries, many imported exclusively by Carlino’s, a wonderful selection of cheeses, and an alcove filled with over 40 hand-selected olives oils and balsamic vinegars available on tap from around the world.
Oh, and by the way… when you’re checking out, be sure to grab a couple of those big plastic wrapped peanut butter cookies laced with chocolate. You won’t be sorry; they are the best store bought cookies I have every tasted!
*Note: Carlino’s also has a store located at 128 West Market Street in West Chester, PA, (610) 696-3788. In my opinion, the West Chester facility isn’t quite as charming as the Ardmore outpost; and as anyone familiar with the area knows, parking can be something of a headache. The Ardmore location, on the other hand, has off street parking. If you do decide to make a pilgrimage to West Chester, keep in mind that on Saturdays street parking is free until 5:00 p.m.
Bon Appétit
TAD
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