THIS EAST WILLIAMSBURG CHEESEMAKER CELEBRATES 40-PLUS YEARS IN THE BOROUGH, AND NOW ANNOUNCES A SPECIALTY FOODS STORE

BY ERIK SCHONING

If this reader is a fan of Brooklyn shops Williamsburg Pizza and L’industrie pizzeria, or Scarr’s Pizza on the Lower East Side, odds are he or she has tasted Pecoraro Cheese, Inc.’s products. An East Williamsburg institution, the company has been making mozzarella since 1976 and is one of a tiny handful of independent cheese makers remaining in the borough.

In the 1950s, the Pecoraro brothers (their last name derived from the Latin word pecurarius, meaning “shepherd”) arrived in Brooklyn from Colliano, in the Campagna region. They set up a shop, called C&P Foods, on the corner of Leonard Street and Metropolitan Avenue.

“Along with specialty items, they made fresh mozzarella every morning,” said Claudio Sottile, sales and sourcing manager at Pecoraro. “And they quickly gained notoriety for it. People would start lining up before the store opened, and by 10 a.m. they were sold out.”

Like most pre-mega-supermarket Brooklyn food businesses, it had to adapt to changing times, but remains, as its ownership will be quick to point out, something of a throwback: a small staff shop with emphases on local distribution, quality ingredients (usually just whole milk curd and sea salt), and freshness. In its production facility, just down the street from the old shop, current proprietor Tito Pecoraro makes eleven varieties, from fior di latte (semi-soft and slightly tangy) to burrata (a combination of mozzarella and cream), ricotta to classic smoked mozzarella. Little machinery is used, and Pecoraro can tell quality usually by sight alone, and certainly by the first cut.

“For typical cheeses, they add lactose powder and put them in a tub with filtered water,” he said. “Because of that powder, the mozzarella absorbs water, so you have this really moist product and the texture is great when cutting, but you don’t taste the milk.” Sottile, for his part, offered the unvarnished assessment that “conventional smoked mozzarellas taste more like barbecue chips than cheese.” Both pointed out that attention to detail and true quality is incompatible with scaling, and it’s a major reason why this company has remained a small but steady player in a competitive industry. Happily, Sottile referenced an increasing demand for well-made smaller scale products.

“I felt for a long time that America was lacking this sense of the artisan,” he said, “…people who make one thing, focus on it, and do it exceptionally well. But now there’s been this renaissance.”

Such growing consumer enthusiasm has fueled plans for a specialty store, as it happens on the exact site of the original C&P Foods. Called Pecoraro Latteria (in Italy, a latteria is a dairy shop), it will open in late fall and feature a variety of cured meats, coffees, olive oils, pastas, and harder-to find items like truffles and caviar.

“We want that European café feel, where you can come in and grab a snack,” Sottile said, “as well as products you might not find in a supermarket that pair well with our cheese.” e idea, he added, was inspired by Rome’s famous Roscioli Salumeria deli and restaurant. In this stateside variation, the focus will be on American goods, however, another nod to the burgeoning local artisanal food scene (the Latteria aims to source 80 percent of its products from the U.S.).

Asked what keeps him going, Sottile smiled: “Some people would say that it doesn’t make sense. ‘Why are you working so hard?’ But we’re doing something that’s as old school as it gets. There’s a beauty in that.”

“Beauty in business” might seem trite, but here, the results are genuine, and remarkable.

Pecoraro Cheese, Inc.
287 Leonard Street / 718.388.2379 / pecorarocheese.com