MALTA — I’d heard many good things from Saratoga County-based friends and relatives about Pellegrino Imports of Malta and its delicious food. Virginia and I got in the car and checked it out.
First, there are three Pellegrino locations — and their names are slightly different. On Central Avenue in Albany there’s M. Pellegrino Importing Co.; and on Route 4 in North Greenbush you’ve got Pellegrino Importing.
They are related but individually owned, said Steve Ferrotti, who owns the Malta location with his wife, Carmela. There are some differences between them, he noted.
The Malta location, opened in 2013, is a new building set back a bit from Route 9. It’s a large, open space with meat counters, coolers and freezers, and imported dry products for sale. In the summer there are tables outside.
The menu is extensive, with seven kinds of ham, not including the three kinds of capicola. Beautiful whole Cittero mortadella, with and without pistachios and peppercorns, can be found alongside sopressata and salamis. There’s imported prosciutto, liverwurst and anything else you can think of to stuff a sub, including a wide range of Boar’s Head products. Hot subs are made with homemade meatballs and sausage, eggplant parm and chicken parm.
I’d heard about a catered meal at which everyone raved about the food. The signature catered dishes are lasagna; chicken parm; eggplant parm; and penne with meat sauce, broccoli, vodka sauce. It’s a sampling. There’s more, including cold-cut and sub platters.
Ferrotti said Pellegrino prepares 30 to 40 trays and half-trays each week; on Christmas Eve there can be up to 90. The chicken marsala and lemon chicken are the most popular. Pellegrino’s even sells the sauces in pints ($7.99).
We had a good time at the store, perusing the imported pastas and frozen ravioli while we waited. Virginia purchased some imported chocolate bars with pistachios, as well as bars of Ferrara Torrone nougat for Christmas stockings.
These people know what they’re doing, I thought, as I watched my order packed into one bag by someone who could have had an engineering degree from RPI.
Husband Eric had studied Pellegrino’s menu carefully, finally choosing a lasagna dinner ($16.99) to go, which includes a side of homemade meatballs or sausage and salad and bread.
At home I unpacked and photographed everything. It all looked very appealing — the lasagna especially, swimming in homemade, brilliant red marinara — and two meatballs. As I plated it up, strings of bright, white mozzarella stretched toward the plate. It was a picture.
I couldn’t help but scoop up some of the melted cheese left behind in the container and, holy cow, it was that perfect marriage of melted mozzarella and sauce, exactly the way you want it. The sauce was thick and delicious. You could eat it with a spoon. I did.
“Delicious,” said Eric, then “mmm.” He said the lasagna filling was mostly ricotta cheese with bits of ground beef. “The sauce is nice, not too sharp,” he observed. The lasagna wasn’t as structured as he usually finds it, but that might have happened moving it to the plate.
There was plenty of cheese and not much sauce between the layers, but plenty on the side. The meatballs were quite good, he reported. I thought they were excellent — tender and seasoned with onion and garlic.
The accompanying side salad was generous, a bed of deep green romaine lettuce topped with very ripe chunks of red tomato, thinly sliced red onion, peeled and sliced cucumber, and small olive hoops, with a sprinkling of grated cheese on top. Eric would have liked more dressing.
I started with a 12-ounce serving of homemade Italian wedding soup ($5.99) with lovely, mildly seasoned tender meatballs. The soup is fortified with bits of white-meat chicken. The escarole was chopped into small pieces and there was lots of acini di pepe pasta. By the next day it had absorbed most of the liquid, making a pleasant stew.
I ordered the antipasto salad ($14.19), Romaine lettuce layered with ripe tomatoes, marinated vegetables, chopped meats and small pieces of provolone. Pellegrino gets points for a salad you don’t have to cut up. The lettuce is manageable and the rest of the ingredients are chopped, quite small. It’s nice to have several elements of an antipasto in one forkful.
There’s a generous amount of meat, cheese and vegetables here. Two or three people could share this as a first course.
But the flavors of the ingredients came right through; this was no muddle. The thick-cut salami pieces were my favorite: If I lingered over them the flavor went on and on. The pepperoni was distinct, the capicola added its heat, the provolone buttery and a little sharp.
Then there were the marinated vegetables: cauliflower, artichoke hearts, carrot, mushroom. My mother would make these, layering the sliced vegetables in a glass jar, always adding the hot pepper. They’d sit in the refrigerator for quite a while, pickling and getting hot as anything. No one else would touch them. Pellegrino’s weren’t nearly that hot, thank goodness.
There was a dusting of grated cheese and chopped parsley and it was packed tight into a clear plastic container. I used all the balsamic dressing. “That was delicious,” I told the others.
Virginia had a 12-inch Italian mix sub ($11.49) made of Genoa salami, mild capicola (“fatty cappy”), mortadella and lettuce, tomato and onion. She added provolone ($1.50 more). There was plenty of dressing; it leaked through the white paper but didn’t make the sandwich soggy. The sturdy, flavorful bread holds together well and is delicious. Eric had some with his meal. He enjoyed it, too.
Pellegrino buys bread from Rockland Bakery, which sells to many businesses in the Capital Region. Based in Nanuet, about two hours south of here, Rockland has a distribution center in Albany to deliver products daily.
Although we have excellent, closer bakeries, I am always delighted to come across Rockland Bakery products. The bread and rolls are more downstate-style with the crisper crust I prefer.
For dessert there were two cannoli ($3.49 each). “They weren’t skimpy with the chocolate chips,” observed Eric. The filling was sweet, subtly flavored and cold. The shell was crispy. Pellegrino’s cannoli are a generous size.
There were leftovers. We were all pleased with the food, sitting around the table long after we’d finished to talk about what we ate.
The tab for all the food to go was $58.58, with an additional charge of 3% for using a credit card and a bit added to the tip jar. Everyone in the shop was friendly and helpful, and the place looked very clean.
So Pellegrino Imports of Malta’s food was terrific. I’d use them if I needed to cater an event or to invite a crowd over to share a half pan of lasagna. You’ll be quite pleased with the food, too. Better order your holiday trays soon.