BENANTI’S

Charlie Benanti

Photos by Max Ryazansky

By Tara Ryazansky

Photos by Max Ryazansky

Charlie Benanti has been making sandwiches for so long that he’s acquired a special skill.

“A er so many years, if you say, ‘Make me a sandwich.’ I’ll know what you want,” he says. “We got a good prosciutto, we’ve got a good soppressata, we’ve got capocollo, the rosemary ham is fantastic, too. e mozzarella is the best in the sandwich because cold cuts have salt, and the mozzarella has no salt. It makes it perfect. It balances everything. I can make you one right now.”

Charlie gets to work at the slicer. He has been running Benanti’s Italian Delicatessen for more than 45 years. e place carries Italian groceries and delicious homemade foods to go. Customers grab their bread from the front of the store and line up for a sandwich.

“What’s up, kid,” Charlie calls out to one customer.

“I’ve been coming here since I was a baby,” Cli Latko tells me.

Now, he comes in from Bergen County when he visits his mother in Bayonne.

“We see the kids grow up here,” Charlie says.

He’s watched Bayonne grow and change, too.

“ ank God Bayonne is still good,” Charlie says. “Change is not bad; I know we were a di erent generation. But me, I don’t change much.”

Neither does the inside of Benanti’s.

“ ings go up, and they don’t come down. It’s like Christmas every day here,” jokes Charlie’s friend, David Solari, as he

gestures toward an oversized jingle bell that dangles from the ceiling.

David and a group of guys join Charlie for breakfast most mornings.

“It’s like the mini Sopranos. In the summer time, you’ll nd ve or six of us outside with co ee, and I mean espresso, not the American co ee.”

Most of the group are longtime customers or friends through the Sicilian Club and its bocce team. Charlie came to Bayonne from Sicily in 1966.

“We’re close-knit friends here. We’re almost family,” said David, adding that he’s been coming to Benanti’s as a customer since it was in its original location across the street when he was a kid. Later, it became his local hangout.

“I was delivering the Community News to Charlie’s house one day and he goes, ‘Why don’t you come to the deli once in a while?’ It just started o there.”

Today, Charlie and David are joined by Mario Esposito from Ace Endico food distributors and Mark Squitieri, a recently retired mathematics teacher from Bayonne High School.

“I don’t know how he puts up with us,” David says with a laugh.

Charlie gives me my sandwich and some supplies for dinner later.

“ e most popular thing is our cold cuts. ey are the best. A er that, we have the ravioli, we have the manicotti, we have the meatballs, we have the sauce, we have the mozzarella; I make it every day. We make the sausage, too. We’ve got everything,” Charlie says “We’ve got good food. We’ve got good friends.”

I say goodbye to Charlie and his crew and head home with my gigantic sandwich.

Charlie got it right. I’m not sure if it’s some sort of Italian deli ESP or if all of his ingredients are so good that there’s no combination that would be wrong. Either way, Charlie made me the perfect sandwich. It had that balance that he described. e thinly sliced cured meat paired with the fresh mozzarella. Plus, it was big enough to feed a family of four.

Later, I heated up Charlie’s sauce and meatballs for a quick pasta dinner. It was ready in just over 10 minutes but it reminded me of the Sunday suppers that I used to have at my grandmother’s house when I was a kid. e sauce was fresh and rich, and the all-beef meatballs were delicious. It disappeared quickly.

I don’t know what Charlie’s secret is, but I know I’ll be back to Benanti’s Italian Delicatessen for more. It’s like Charlie says, “Italian food is No. 1!” —BLP

Charlie Benanti

Photo by Max Ryazansky

Photo by Tara Ryazansky