Un Posto Italiano, an Italian Store in Brooklyn

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Today we are going to talk with Christopher Lehnert. He is my cousin and he lives in Brooklyn, New York.

He won’t answer to the interview as we are used to, he is going to tell us about a place he loves: Un Posto Italiano, an Italian store in Brooklyn.

Hi Chris! Please tell us everything about Un Posto Italiano!

“If you are in Park Slope, Brooklyn around 7:30 AM, you might see Antonio Capone walking to work.

Antonio, a native of Abruzzo, Italy, is the owner of Un Posto Italiano, a shop he started in 2015 specializing in fresh artisanal pasta.

Around this same time, you can also find Davide Rubini biking in from Carroll Gardens. Davide, a native of Milan, joined Antonio a year ago. Together, they make fresh pasta every morning before opening the store at 12:30 PM.

Antonio Capone e Davide Rubini at Un posto Italiano. © Christopher Lehnert

While their menu is not fixed, you will often find ravioli, gnocchi, and chitarrina, a pasta native to Antonio’s Abruzzo, similar to spaghetti. They also sell an assortment of imported Italian goods including preserved tomatoes and olive oil.

Catering mainly to local retail customers, Antonio says they have seen “a renaissance of fresh pasta” in the US.

“Even 10 years ago, there wasn’t the real fresh pasta you find in Italy…America is changing.”

And as the rent in Brooklyn rises, and restaurant prices follow, “people, they buy fresh pasta…and they cook at home.”

Antonio and Davide are grateful for these customers and are happy to “teach people how to cook pasta, what kind of sauce is better, and how to cook in a healthy way.”

Un Posto Italiano is a proud member of the New York chapter of Slow Food.

Slow Food, started in Italy in the 1980s, is an organization and movement promoting local food and traditional cooking. Davide describes it as an organization promoting “good, clean, and fair food for all.”

Antonio and Davide meetup and work with fellow Slow Food businesses in the area and, when possible, source their ingredients locally, including basil from Gotham Greens and Brooklyn Grange, and meats from Fleischers Craft Butchery. Fresh organic eggs, an essential ingredient, are sourced from Lancaster Farms in Pennsylvania.

Of course, to get the quality of pasta found in their native country of Italy, you need ingredients from Italy. Flour, the main ingredient in pasta, is one of these. The primary flour used at Un Posto Italiano comes from the Molini del Ponte company in Sicily. They also use flour from Molino Pasini in Lombardy and import various cheeses including Parmigiano Reggiano, Buffalo Ricotta, and Buffalo Mozzarella.

In the end, the quality of ingredients, combined with expert skill and dedication, results in nothing less than wonderful food.

Menu, Un Posto Italiano. © Christopher Lehnert

For anybody interested in buying some of the freshest pasta in Brooklyn, be sure to visit Antonio and Davide at Un Posto Italiano. But come early. By closing time, they are usually sold out.”

© Christopher Lehnert

Un Posto Italiano

704 Sackett St, Brooklyn, NY 11217

http://www.unpostoitaliano.com/

Thank you very much Chris for letting us know about this beautiful place. I will surely buy some fresh pasta here next time I will be in Brooklyn!

This was Chris telling us about Un Posto Italiano, an Italian store in Brooklyn. If you liked this post you will find other interviews on #USAByALocal every last day of the month!

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