The Grocery List: Genova Deli, Oakland
What a wonderful surprise to end up at Genova Deli. Across the street from Pizzaiolo, close to the border with Berkeley, Genova carries a lot of products I hadn’t seen in a while- and all at very competitive prices!
Flours and Legumes
They really carry all sort of flours used in Italian cooking. Not only the prized “00″ (double zero) used pretty much in all bread, pizza and pasta creations of the homeland, but also corn flour of different types for polenta, chickpeas flour for panelle, and chestnut flour for a lot of other stuff!
In addition, the selection of legumes for zuppa, minestrone and Pasta e Fagioli is impressive!
Bonus feature: dried chestnuts!!
Pasta
Genova’s pasta selection is wide: in addition to the usual de Cecco stuff in unusual shapes, they also carry items I’d never seen before on the shelves: Lumaconi pasta, ideal for a sauce of tomato and peas, extruded from a bronze trafila, and gluten-free rice flour pasta. Ideal for those food intollerant friends!
In addition, you will find Cirio’s Passata di Pomodoro, a tomato sauce in a glass bottle that is actually quite great for bottled pasta sauce!
Cheeses
The cheese counter at Genova Deli is impressive: gorgonzola, crescenza, fontina- and the best prices in town! A chunk of gorgonzola was priced at $9.99, much less than the same brand at a ritzy competitor, who sells it for $16.99!
Other
Genova Deli is particularly famous for its deli counter. Sandwiches are the most popular item, but they also sell homemade pasta and warm dishes for lunch. I would never think of going to an Italian deli for a sandwich, but it appears that’s what Genova is most famous for! In addition, Genova has a large selection of breads and focaccia from Cuneo Bakery, in San Francisco. The pickles and preserves department is quite well furnished: capers in sea salt, large caper berries, all sort of olives, canned tuna and a huge selection of San Marzano tomatoes. The sweets department is also quite nice- over th holidays they ahd a wide selection of Panettone and Pandoro, and also torrone! Now, they carry organic preserves, fancy hazelnut spread, and also panforte.
Genova Delicatessen & Ravioli
5095 Telegraph Ave # A
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 652-7401
Filed under: The Grocery List
I love old Italian delis!
Rainbow Grocery carries the Caputo 00 in bulk…. I was stunned when I realized that!
What a beautiful grocer! I wish I has one of these close to my home… but being in the middle of cowland, we have WalMart and a Giant! The nearest specialty market to me is over an hour away!
I love Genova! They’re not only an excellent Italian grocer, they take call and fax orders for the best sandwiches in the East Bay (in my opinion). I highly recommend calling in your order and picking up, as the place gets packed during lunch hours. In our office, there is a group of us who place orders a few times a month and they always get the order correct.