Canned Italian Belly Tuna

[adegiulio]

My friend just presented me with a can of this tuna belly from Italy. Holy moly, is this stuff good. Now I need a way to feed my addiction, though my friend says it is difficult to find. Any ideas where in the city or surrounding area we can score some...

[docsconz]

My friend just presented me with a can of this tuna belly from Italy. Holy moly, is this stuff good. Now I need a way to feed my addiction, though my friend says it is difficult to find. Any ideas where in the city or surrounding area we can score some...

←

Try gustiamo.com.

[adegiulio]

Thanks Doc! Since you are upstate, there is a store in Great Barrington that sells it also. If you are interested i can get the name...

Any stores in Manhattan carry it?

[docsconz]

Have you tried DePola's in Little Italy?

[corinne]

Buon Italia at the Chelsea Market

Edited September 12, 2005 by corinne (log)

[docsconz]

Buon Italia at the Chelsea Market

←

That's a good thought too. Do you know if they actually have it? While they are good for a number of Italian items, I have found them spotty in what they carry.

[weinoo]

DiPaolo's, Agata & Valentina, Grace's, Fairway, & Citarella all carry various Spanish & Italian tunas, including belly (ventresca). Expect to pay top dollar at Grace's and Citarella, with A & V not far behind. DiPaolo and Fairway will be your best prices.

The Spanish brand Ortiz is particularly delicious, too.

[Alex]

As close as your mailbox: Zingerman's

[jeanki]

I am not sure if it is tuna belly, but I enjoy canned Flott tuna from Italy too. I found it at Milano Market (there are a couple branches around the city) for the best price, and also at Gourmet Garage for more. They might have the tuna belly too.

[Bux]

Flott is a good brand of Italian olive oil packed tuna. I believe they do pack ventresca as well as more ordinary tuna. The Italian products shop on Grand Street is Di Palo's. 200 Grand Street, 212 226 1033, if you want to call and ask what they've got, but they usually have ventresca in stock. Italian cheeses and homemade mozzarella and ricotta are their specialties, but they've got excellent prosciutto, speck and a whole range of salumi as well as a range of Italian estate bottled olive oils and other products. Above all, they're really fine people to know and deal with. Lou's son is over in Italy now studying cheesemaking some place associated with the slow food movement, so now there's hope this venerable shop will last another generation. Try not to go on a weekend unless you go early. It's likely to be packed. Prices are also very good.

[mascarpone]

DiPalo's is a great place. Very knowlegable, yet not preachy sales people. Delicious goods.

[corinne]

Buon Italia usually does have it -

[Bux]

DiPalo's  is a great place. Very knowlegable, yet not preachy sales people. Delicious goods.

←

They are in fact, the very opposite of preachy. They will cut that boiled ham and American cheese they carry without any condescension and they won't tell you that you should be using extra virgin olive oil if you don't ask for it. On the other hand, should you begin to ask questions, you may soon find yourself getting samples and a good education in the differences between spring parmesan and that made in the winter, or the nature of the various olives used to make oil. They carry some nice varietal oils as well as blends. Which is best according to Lou, is always the one you like best and he never upsells a customer. On occaision, if he thinks you've got the interst, he may let you know about something he's got that's special, even if it's a bit more money.

And if Sal asks if you want the male or female mortadella, just tell him whether you like it with nuts (pistachio) or without.

[LilianNY]

The NY Times food section about a month back wrote you can get it at Balducci's. My friend stopped in at the one near Lincoln center just last week and they were sold out but keep checking.

[Luckylies]

got it at bon italia a week ago...what should I do with it?

[mikeycook]

I am pretty sure I saw it at Dean and Deluca a couple of weeks ago, but it is probably going to be more expensive than the other places on the list.

If you go to DiPaolo, don't leave without some Parm-Regg. Best in the city (IMHO). The owner's son lives in Italy and hand-picks wheels for DiPaolo (and every piece is fresh off the wheel).

[raji]

I'm sure Managanaro's on 9th Ave would have it... I'll check next time I'm over there...

[muza]

Although many brands package ventresca IMO the hands down best is Tre Torre. I have only seen it sold in one store which is in Great Bearrington MA. or on the net at Gustiamo as mentioned earlier in this thread. I have found one other source which is where I have been getting it for the past four years or so. It's a web site called http://www.buysicilian.it

It's an Italian site with the best price for this product (it's still not cheap) even when you figure in the shipping.

This Tuna has chunks of delicious fat attached to the meat which was described as Tuna pate by the person who started this thread. I considered not sharing this site and keeping it as my little secret but the folks at buysicilian are good people and it’s an incredible product. Besides I don’t post here much but I do follow the threads and have learned from the various people in this community. I looked at this opportunity as a way to give something back.

[bobsdf]

Dean & Deluca has Spanish canned tuna, which is also very high quality. Both regular tuna as well as belly (Ventresca).