Neighborhood Guides
A Food Lover's Walking Tour of Arthur Avenue in the Bronx
A food lover's walking tour of Arthur Avenue in the Bronx — Italian delis, bakeries, sandwich counters, and restaurants.
Arthur Avenue in the Bronx is the Italian neighborhood people from outside New York don’t know exists. Little Italy in Manhattan gets the postcards; Belmont, up in the Bronx, gets the actual old families still running the shops their grandfathers opened. A food walking tour of Arthur Avenue is one of the great days of eating in the city, and it costs less than a single sit-down meal in Midtown.
How to get to Arthur Avenue
The B or D train to Fordham Road, then the Bx12 bus east for a few stops, or a fifteen-minute walk. Metro-North gets you there faster from Grand Central — the Fordham stop drops you a quarter mile from the market. Come hungry. Come around 11 a.m. on a Saturday if you want the shops fully open and the crowds manageable.
Start at the Arthur Avenue Retail Market
The indoor market at 2344 Arthur Avenue is the anchor. Inside, Mike’s Deli has been slicing prosciutto since 1954 and the mozzarella they pull that morning is the mozzarella you want. Order a sandwich — the Yankee Stadium Big Boy is the famous one, but any of the classic combinations on a fresh hero roll will end the argument about the best sandwich in New York. Peter’s Meat Market next door does the meat side, and the Bronx Beer Hall in the same building will pour you a Peroni to drink with your slices of soppressata.
The bakeries that make it worth the trip
Madonia Brothers Bakery on 187th Street has been baking since 1918. The prosciutto bread — a savory loaf studded with cured pork and pepper — is the specific thing to buy. Around the corner, Terranova Bakery does the Italian lard bread that half the neighborhood grew up eating. Cross the street to Egidio Pastry Shop for a cannoli filled to order (never before — a pre-filled cannoli is a soggy cannoli). If you like sfogliatelle, this is the place.
Restaurants worth sitting down for
Roberto’s on Crescent Avenue is the sit-down Italian meal you’d hope for — handmade pastas, a wine list that respects the region, and the kind of service that makes you feel like a regular on the first visit. The rabbit ragu with pappardelle is the order. Zero Otto Nove down the block does Neapolitan pizza with a proper wood oven and the arancini are worth the drive. Ann & Tony’s has been open since 1927 and the veal parm there is what everyone else’s veal parm is trying to be.
Sandwich counters that don’t disappoint
Casa Della Mozzarella on 187th makes the mozzarella and then puts it on a sandwich with roasted peppers and prosciutto for less than you’d pay for a bad panini in Manhattan. Full Moon Pizzeria across the street does a coal-oven slice that’s a different animal from anything downtown — thin, blistered, and eaten in a corner with a Coke. Neither place takes reservations. Neither needs to.
The cheese, the meat, and the wine to bring home
Come with an empty tote bag. Calabria Pork Store on 187th makes their own sausage and cures their own soppressata — the sweet sausage with fennel is the giveaway to a good Sunday sauce. Vincent’s Meat Market does the meat you’d buy for a special dinner. Mount Carmel Wines at 612 East 187th is the wine shop that’s been advising the neighborhood for generations, and the guys behind the counter know exactly what to open with the food you just bought.
What to skip and what to know
Skip the touristy chains that have opened around the edges — they exist and they’re fine, but they’re not why you came. Cash still works at most of the older shops, and the produce vendors will absolutely give you a better deal if you’re buying more than a pound of anything. Most shops close on Sundays after 3 p.m., so plan around that.
Building a full day around Arthur Avenue
Belmont is a two-hour eat, if you’re moving fast. Combine it with a walk through the New York Botanical Garden a few blocks north, or Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus. If you want to eat your way through the borough more broadly, our guide to Ethiopian restaurants in Harlem covers a piece of the map most food guides miss entirely. And every spot mentioned here is on the NewYorkEatsguide map so you can plot the walk.
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