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By Will Bredderman
Brooklyn Daily
Cangiano’s may be gone, but a little Italian flavor will soon return to the legendary salumeria chain’s last location at the corner of Ovington and Third avenues in Bay Ridge.
A Staten Island entrepreneur will open a combined bakery, deli, and grocery store in the spot where the 92-year-old salami dynasty finally came to an end in 2011 — and while Cangiano’s famous sausage and mozzarella are a thing of the past, the businessman says he’ll be serving up classic cold cuts and homemade Italian-style salads and entrees along with fresh-baked bread and bagels.
Zee Enj — who owns Hylan Deli and Bagel and Get It and Go Bagels on the Rock — said by mid-May the shuttered salumeria will re-open as Freshco Bagels and Supermarket and will start slicing up Genoa salami and Boar’s Head meats, dishing out lasagna, antipastas, and macaroni salad, and turning hot loaves and bagels out of its ovens every hour. The store will also sell fresh produce and small household items.
“It will be mostly Italian stuff, but we’re going to give it our own touch,” said Enj. “It’ll be a one-stop shop.”
Enj said that the heavy foot traffic on Third Avenue and the impending opening of the Green Church school at Ovington and Fourth avenues convinced him he could do good business on the corner.
“I’m counting on the neighborhood. I see a lot of people walking by, and when the school opens there should be a lot more, so we hope to capture a lot of customers,” said Enj.
Pasquale Cangiano, a butcher from Naples, opened the first of his eponymous markets on 14th Avenue between 65th and 66th streets in 1919. His wife Anna turned the store into a success after Pasquale’s death, and opened locations in Gravesend, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Staten Island. The Bay Ridge location opened in the early 1990s, but Pasquale’s son Gus said that interest in keeping the family business alive had died out in the younger generation.
“My sons didn’t want it. It was too many hours,” he said. “My nephew went to college and it was too much work for him.”
Enj is the second Staten Islander to take over a moribund Bay Ridge institution this year. Mike Moudatsos, owner of five Greek diners on the Rock, bought the struggling 65-year-old luncheonette Hinsch’s in March.
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at wbredderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4507. Follow him at twitter.com/WillBredderman.