HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Central Grocery
OR:
Central Grocery on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Central Grocery Co. is a small, old-fashioned
Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...
grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...
with a
sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
counter, located at 923 Decatur Street in the
French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...
of
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
,
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. It was founded in 1906 by Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant. He operated it until 1946 when he retired and his son-in-law Frank Tusa took over the operation. It is currently owned by Salvador T. Tusa, Salvatore's grandson, and two cousins, Frank Tusa and Larry Tusa. The store was one of many family-owned, neighborhood grocery stores during the early 20th century, when the French Quarter was still predominantly a residential area. Though tourists are more common in Central now, it has retained much of its old-world market feel. The Central sells not only the sandwiches as take-out or eat-in, but also the ingredients of the
muffuletta The muffuletta or muffaletta is both a type of round Sicilian sesame bread and a popular sandwich that originated among Italian immigrants in New Orleans, Louisiana, using the same bread. History The muffuletta bread has origins in Sicily. T ...
—including
olive salad Olive salad is a salad or giardiniera made from green olives, black olives, olive oil, celery, cauliflower, carrots, sweet peppers, onions, capers, parsley, pepperoncini, oregano, garlic, vinegar, herbs and spices. It is used to make the muffalett ...
by the jar—for people who want to make the sandwich at home. Because of the muffuletta, Central Grocery was featured on national television, in the
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
special program ''
Sandwiches That You Will Like ''Sandwiches That You Will Like'' is a 2002 PBS documentary by Rick Sebak of WQED. The unique sandwich offerings of cities across the United States (although excepting two from California, the remaining sandwiches all originate no further we ...
'', and on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's ''
The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...
'' (five best sandwiches series). Central Grocery sells Italian, Greek, French, Spanish, and Creole table delicacies. They also carry less-mainstream selections, such as chocolate-covered grasshoppers and bumble bees in soy sauce, which are perennially displayed in the store's front windows. Marie Lupo Tusa, Salvatore's daughter, is author of the cookbook ''Marie's Melting Pot'', which has hundreds of Sicilian, French, and Creole-style recipes. Following
Hurricane Ida Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 200 ...
in August 2021, Central Grocery sustained damage to the roof, exacerbated by the rains of
Hurricane Nicholas Hurricane Nicholas was a slow and erratic Category 1 hurricane that made landfall in the U.S. state of Texas in mid-September 2021. The fourteenth named storm, and sixth hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, Nicholas originated from a ...
in September.


See also

*
French Market The French Market (french: Marché français) is a market and series of commercial buildings spanning six blocks in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as a Native American trading post predating European colonization, the market ...
*
Italians in New Orleans Italians have had a presence in the New Orleans area since the explorations of the Europeans. Many Sicilians immigrated to New Orleans in the 19th century, traveling on the Palermo-New Orleans route by ship.Maselli and Candeloro, p7Maggi, Laura ...


References

{{Restaurants in New Orleans French Quarter Italian-American cuisine Italian-American culture in Louisiana Restaurants in New Orleans Restaurants established in 1906 Sicilian-American cuisine 1906 establishments in Louisiana