We went over to Little Italy this afternoon. Ours is not the Touristy Little Italy of Downtown Manhattan, but rather the Little Italy in the Bronx. We like this area because it is an authentic Italian New York neighboorhood without the hype of the Manhattan Little Italy.
There are great cheese shops, butchers, bakeries, pasta stores, restaurants, cafes and everything which is genuinely Italian. The shop owners are friendly and if you are regular, you are treated like family. We also like because it is a quick 20 minute drive from where we live...So today, we stocked up on Italian (food) stuff.