Garbarino Bros. Italian market opens in Verona
A new Italian market is serving up a taste of Italy in Verona.
Garbarino Bros. Market opened Tuesday at 737 Allegheny River Blvd.
Co-owner and chef Andrew Garbarino of Verona is continuing the Italian legacy begun by three generations of Garbarinos of New York. He named the market to honor his late grandfather, Andrew Garbarino Jr., who owned and operated the original Garbarino’s Brothers Market alongside his brothers, Donald and David, on Long Island during the 1930s.
Garbarino, 37, wanted to re-create what he said World War II put an end to.
“They all got drafted and had to go to war, so the market was closed during the war,” Garbarino said.
Their original Italian restaurant, Garbarino’s, operated from 1946 until 1998 in Lynbrook, Long Island.
“My whole life was like an Italian festival,” said Garbarino, who also is the co-owner and chef of Garbarino’s restaurant in East Liberty.
Running a market may be new for Garbarino, but he’s eager to provide the items customers want.
“I’ve never been in retail in my life. This is a whole new world for me,” Garbarino said of branching out from the kitchen of Garbarino’s and setting up a specially curated market filled with homemade pasta meals that include his late grandmother’s signature Bolognese sauce, made with a blend of veal, pork and beef.
Products include items from Italy or those with a connection to Italian culture and heritage, such as specialty extra-virgin olive oils, hand-picked tomatoes, specialty pastas, Ragu, olives, Italian butter and cheeses, pasta meals, sauces, meats, fresh-ground veal, pork and beef.
Homemade meals-to-go from Garbarino’s restaurant offer customers ease and heat-and-eat convenience.
Andrew prepares the meals in his restaurant and delivers them to the market.
“They’re perfect for those nights when life is too busy to cook or clean,” Garbarino said. “It’s hard for some people to cook for one or two people, so we wanted to focus on individual dinners.”
Whole lasagna trays are available for feeding large groups, but the majority of the meals are single servings that only require heating and eating.
Vegetarian options in the meals-to-go section include tomato cream rigatoni, red pepper bisque and eggplant parmesan.
Current soups are vegetable minestrone, wedding and red pepper bisque.
Bonnie Wilhoit of Verona said she had been waiting for weeks for the market to open.
She bought two bags filled with pastas, sauces, pizzelles, drinks, pistachio pesto and Italian coffee.
“Everything appeals to me here,” Wilhoit said. “I’m not even a little tiny bit Italian, but I love to cook. Having this here in Verona is fantastic because there’s nothing like this around here.”
Kathleen McCafferty of Plum visited Verona for a haircut and left with homemade pizza dough.
She noticed large cans of Italian tomato sauce stacked high and walked in for her first visit, but not her last, she said.
McCafferty loves making pizza, but doesn’t always have the time to make from-scratch dough.
“I love to shop local, and I will do anything to help a local business,” McCafferty said. “It brings back the personal touch, shopping local. I love seeing this here. There’s a really nice variety.”
Garbarino grew up in Johnstown and studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
His previous Pittsburgh-based restaurants were Spoon and The Twisted Frenchman, but those closed during the pandemic.
Garbarino and his wife, Estelle, moved from East Liberty five years ago to Verona because of its neighborhood feel.
Pondering what his late relatives would say about the new market, Garbarino chimed in that more desserts (there’s currently cheesecake) may be needed.
“My grandmother would probably tell me to stock more sweet things, and my grandfather would want to sit all day long and watch people come and go. It’s been an honor of my life to bring a family tradition back with the restaurant and all of this,” Garbarino said.
Joyce Hanz is a native of Charleston, S.C. and is a features reporter covering the Pittsburgh region. She majored in media arts and graduated from the University of South Carolina. She can be reached at jhanz@triblive.com
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