DELICIOUS

Al Dente Long

Ducking into Jimmy’s Food Store in Old East Dallas, neighbors are transported to a different time and place. On this rainy winter afternoon, an elderly man in a wide-brimmed fedora hums along to a Frank Sinatra ballad as he sips wine and greets each person who walks through the door.

Inside the Italian oasis, diners chat at cozy tables, and unfamiliar accents bounce between customers and staff. Boxes of peeled tomatoes and balsamic vinegar form walls between lunch tables and the cashiers. Customers wind their way through the packed aisles to the deli counter, where the action picks up. Cheese, salami, steaks and cannoli are ordered at a startling clip.

Regulars head to the back of the store with their Italian beef and Cuban sandwiches, into what looks like the heart of the kitchen, but it’s actually Jimmy’s not-so-secret wine room. A mural of an Italian coastline decorates one wall, and the space feels like it could be the locale for a whispered meeting between the great crime families of East Dallas.

Jimmy’s repertoire did not always include the Italian staples that have made it so popular. The story of Jimmy’s is the story of Old East Dallas, and the neighborhood food store has remade itself with each generation.

Tony Dicarlo, 23, is a fourth generation grocer, whose family emigrated from Italy.