Cucina Fresca Italian American Specialty Market opens in Berkeley Township

Southbound drivers on Route 9 in Berkeley Township are familiar with Bud the Bayville Dinosaur, a movie prop-turned-roadside attraction that watches over Heritage Square shopping center.

But there is something new worth stopping for on this stretch of highway: Rich and Maria Panassidi's Cucina Fresca Italian American Specialty Market, which opened in early November. The couple previously owned Giordano's Italian American Eatery in Old Bridge, and many of the recipes are the same, said Rich, 56,

He makes almost everything in the store — "it's called Cucina Fresca for a reason," Maria said with a smile — from fresh mozzarella, which was flying off the counter on a recent weekday morning, to tomato sauce to freshly ground sausage and house-roasted roast beef, pork loin and turkey.

"We do a lot here," said Maria, 58, from one of several window-front tables where customers can enjoy a cup of coffee and a pistachio bomboline, or a chicken cutlet sandwich with Rich's fresh cheese and vodka sauce on garlic bread. "For a small place, we have a wide variety."

Their food, she said, "is all from the heart."

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Whatever Rich does not cook is imported from Italy, including cannoli shells that are baked at the market and filled with housemade cannoli cream; chocolate-filled sfogliatella pastries; spinach-stuffed rice balls; and a line of Italian cold cuts.

Rounding out the market are pantry items like dried pastas, panettone, jars of hot peppers, lupini beans and pine nuts, and bottles of Crodino, an herbal, nonalcoholic apertif, plus fresh bread.

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Go: Cucina Fresca Italian American Specialty Market, 510 Route 9, Suite 3, in the Bayville section of Berkeley Township, is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays; 732-506-4346, cucinafrescamarket.com.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Cucina Fresca in Berkeley Township has fresh food, imported items