I like Philadelphia’s markets (Italian Market)

One of the highlights of our trip to Rome was the Campo di Fiori but I have to say those of us from Philadelphia are more than blessed with markets.  It’s one of the many things that makes Philly great! There are two notable markets here – the Italian Market and the Reading Terminal Market.  They are very different but are both wonderful in their ways.  I’ll write about Reading Terminal in a couple of days, but today I want to sing the praises of the Italian Market.

The Italian Market is a piece of S. 9th St that stretches several blocks from Christian St. to the iconic Pat’s  and Geno’s Philly cheesesteak restaurants at the intersection of S 9th, Passyunk, and Wharton Streets.  By the way, I don’t care how iconic Philly cheesesteaks are, I just can’t embrace any food where Cheez-Whiz is one of the two primary ingredients.  These days, the market may be most famous for a backdrop to Sylvester Stallone’s training regiment in Rocky but it has been and remains a vital, exciting place lined with fresh produce vendors, meat and fish shops, speciality stores, and restaurants.

This part of Philadelphia was initially settled in the mid-1800s by Irish immigrants who did subsistence farming in what was then undeveloped land.  Over time, African-Americans started moving in from the north and east, Jewish immigrants who had initially lived on 4th St. moved west, but most importantly for this area, immigrants from southern Italy started arriving.  Within a few years the Italian immigrants began to dominate this area between South St. and Washington St. and the curbside market began to coalesce in the 1910s.

The “Italian Market” was chartered in 1916 and it was entirely Italian-American.  These days, while there is still  a strong Italian veneer to the market, it is becoming increasingly diverse.  Mexican and Central American stores dominate the area south of Washington St. and are appearing in between the Italian stores north of Washington.  Many of the produce stands that  line the east side of S 9th are run by Spanish-speaking merchants.  When you get down to Washington St (a major east-west artery) most of the stores that spread out on either side of S 9th St are Asian.  Nevertheless, everyone still calls it the Italian market. Customers are a mix of all ethnicities and include people who shop for produce here because it is much cheaper than in any supermarket and wealthy suburbanites looking to revisit the urban experience while shopping for imported extra virgin olive oil and obscure Italian cheeses at one of the speciality stores.

As I mentioned, the east side of the market is lined with produce stands.  The produce is displayed on makeshift tables on the edge of the sidewalk and the merchants stand in the street while bagging customer selections, taking money, and avoiding the trash from empty boxes and rotten produce that accumulates through the day.  In the winter, trash barrels with holes poked in them warm the merchants who operate the market six days a week (it is closed on Mondays).

When we’ve traveled to markets in other countries, my true love and I always “ooh and ah” over the exotic produce for sale.  I don’t have any idea whether the merchants in the Italian Market are selling exotic fruits and vegetables or not.  Who knows whether someone from Paris or Venice or Albuquerque would consider anything for sale on the sidewalks of S 9th St. to be unusual, but it is always fresh and abundant and cheap.  You won’t find much in the way of Asian produce, although shittake mushrooms and baby boy choy are usually present, but Latin American products like chayote, yucca, and a wide variety of chilis are always available.  And, by the way, I have never had one of the merchants cheat me either through gypping me on change or sticking rotten produce in my bag.

The specialty stores include DiBruno’s and Claudio’s, two impressive Italian specialty food stores with cheeses, pastas, deli meats, olive oils, vinegars, fresh mozzarella, and so on.  In fact, the first time I ever heard of the Italian Market was during an episode of the Frugal Gourmet when chef Jeff Smith visited Claudio’s as part of his American Ancestors season.  Both stores are outstanding and I often spend way more than I can afford in both.

My favorite store, though, is Fante’s Kitchen Shop, a fabulous store for cooks that seems to amble through half-a-dozen different buildings without leaving a single centimeter uncovered with merchandise. They are now my exclusive stop for tools, appliances, tableware, storage, just about everything else for my kitchen.  And (I feel a rant coming on) the experience of buying something at Fante’s is so much more satisfying than ordering from Amazon. For example, about a year ago I needed to buy a new stock pot.  I could have just ordered a new one on Amazon and that would have been that. Instead, though, I headed to Fante’s and spent about 20 minutes talking with someone who really cares about stockpots about the differences between four different items (and who actually told me that “this one is “$20 cheaper because it isn’t endorsed by a famous chef.”  I’ve had so many positive experiences here that no hardware goes into my kitchen that doesn’t come from Fante’s.

There are too many great meat stores to list. There are stores that specialize in pork, in chicken,  in chorizo, and in sausages.  There are stores that do everything.  For the super-expensive (and totally delicious) prosciutto or other dried sausage, Claudio’s and DiBruno’s are the right destination, but for turkey sausage with sage, whole chickens, whole pigs (!), or London broil there are about a half-dozen choices on the east side of S 9th. St.  One vendor who will be missed that closed recently is D’Angelo Brothers, purveyors of what I can only call exotic meat.  I used to go there for the most amazing buffalo steaks and a good selection of sausage, but D’Angelo’s was also a destination for kangaroo, rabbit, ostrich, wild game, and other meats that don’t always hit the top of the popularity charts.  Their display windows used to be, ummm, interesting.  They closed this past Christmas and I miss them.

The Italian Market also has a couple of fishmongers, a spice shop, a shop specializing in vinegars and olive oils, a couple of fresh pasta stores, a used bookstore, a few stores selling cheap general merchandise, a florist, and probably a dozen or more restaurants of varying types.   Surprisingly, there aren’t any bakeries in the Italian Market but Sarcone’s, a block north of Christian, sells what many people consider the best loaf of Italian bread in Philadelphia and Isgro’s, a couple of blocks west on Christian is a classic old-style Italian pasticcieria.