Di Palo’s
I decided to write my post on Lou because I admired his stories and enthusiasm about his fifth generation ownership of Di Palo. I learned a lot from what he told the class about how his business came about. Also, it is great to hear about family helping one another. It’s rare to see family help each other without getting greedy, especially in my experience. Culinary tourism is expanding diversely and it will continue to grow as fast it can soar. Di Palo’s mission is great and their products are authentic and cheeses are made in-house.
He will have his own book coming this fall too about his family’s storied establishment and a guide to the most beloved elements in his cuisine.
I agree with Doris about Di Palo’s mission. I also find that it is kind of sad that the area is changed so much, and that the Italian groceries are a dying breed in Little Italy. I check out the prices and they seem a bit expensive but I don’t think they are as expansive as Eataly. I would choose to go back to Di Palo’s but not Eataly because at least Di Palo’s is not charging me twice as much for hazelnut wafers when I can get the same brand from a store two blocks from my house.
Di Palo’s was my favorite stop on our tour. Listening to owner Louis Di Palo talk about his family’s history and their fifth generation owners was inspiring. When he spoke about his grandfather leaving Italy to come to America in search of a better life, leaving his family behind, venturing into the unknown was a brave and scary thing to do, but he did it for his family. Also when Louis talked about visiting Italy and going to the different parishes and talking to the locals, breaking bread with them, learning from them, and hearing their stories about centuries of olive oil making, or meat curing, aww it was so awesome in the way he described it, you can tell that Louis is very passionate about what he does and that in itself is very inspiring.
I really appreciate Di Palo enlightening us about the step he and his family has to take in order to run a successful business. It was my alternate favorite place because of the history and the fact that they took time to go meet with people from all part of the production, so that they themselves could have a better understanding of the product and appreciation for every level of production.