A Visit to Cucina Fresca, an Italian Market on the Jersey Shore

Owners Rich and Maria Panassidi started Cucina Fresca in Bayville, NJ, after moving back to the Jersey shore from Florida. It was a business they thought they had retired from, but when family needed them nearby, and the job market wasn’t favorable, it made sense to return to something they knew well.

Their Italian-American deli and market features high-quality ingredients and local resources. The olive oil is from a friend in Sicily. The cookies are sent over from another friend on Long Island. Rich makes the fresh mozzarella and sausage, respectively, each day in house. He makes his own sauces too, which can be picked up by the quart. Nothing is made from a recipe.

“Did your grandmother give you a recipe?” Rich asked me.

Mine didn't, and I don’t many Italian grandmothers who ever shared recipes. They all cooked from the heart and used their instincts. This is something Rich continues to do with his food, cook from his heart. He even set up a small dining area where customers can sit and have a hot meal as opposed to taking the food Cucina Fresca out the door. That said, customers can also grab sandwiches for the beach, shop the market for oil, vinegar, tomatoes and more, or hit the butcher case and the bakery for some fresh bread and taralli.

Rich thinks he’s the last of a dying breed: those who cook like the previous generation. He says he’s doing his best to hold on to tradition and bring it to others, and he hopes, someone younger will take the baton and keep it going. Until then, he says, he’ll keep making the food he remembers from childhood and serving it to steady and seasonal customers alike.