How This Father-Son Team Makes NYC's Most Legendary Mozzarella | Legendary Eats

On Arthur Avenue, also known as New York City's real Little Italy, you'll find the appropriately nicknamed King of Mozzarella, who, accompanied by his son, churns out the best mozzarella and Italian deli sandwiches this side of the Atlantic. I've been coming here for about 20 years, and it's the best Italian food on Arthur Avenue. Best mozzarella I've had. Even though, of course, the country, even though, of course, the world, there's not better mozzarella than this place. Hey, guys, it's Spencer, and today we are on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. I'm super excited, because we're heading over to Casa della Mozzarella. This place is known for their epic hand-pulled mozzarella and amazing Italian sandwiches. So let's go check it out and meet the King of Mozzarella. Walking into Casa della Mozzarella, you're instantly transported to Italy. The narrow shop is full of dried pastas, hanging deli meats, and, of course, lots and lots of mozzarella, which the owner and his son make from scratch every single day. With countless awards and media coverage, Orazio Carciotto and his son Carlo are now local celebrities. But they didn't start out that way. The story just is incredible if you think about it. I call it the American success story, the American dream. He came here from Sicily. He was about 27 years old. My mother said, if you want to marry me, you have to move to this country. He came here with no English, and slowly and surely, he built his name through sacrifice, through hard work, sweat. No, I did it. Little by little, everything, nobody. I can say in front of God, nobody asked him or nothing. Nobody give him one penny. So they make you feel like a... Special. Proud, proud. No disrespect. Proud of myself. Yeah. In the first years after he moved to America, Orazio worked odd jobs, ultimately ending up here. When the shop's original owner wanted to retire, he helped Orazio buy the business. It officially became Cassodella Mozzarella in 1993, and the family's success has skyrocketed since then, thanks mostly to the fact that their mozzarella is really, really good. If you want to put a recipe out of yourself for mozzarella, man, you have to know everything about mozzarella. Start it from the beginning. To me, mozzarella is like art. I find food is art, of course, in general. But for me, you know, we started with a blank canvas, as you saw. We started from just a box of curd, and then we blended it, we molded it, and then we just formed different things. And as you see throughout the process, we'll form different shapes. We'll do Bocconcini, as we're doing right now, knotting it. We'll do mozzarella. We'll stuff things with prosciutto or the typical famous burrata that's been so famous lately. It's so simple, but yet it's not. One of the reasons they're so successful is pure dedication. In the early days, Orazio made everything himself, working nonstop to ensure his products were of consistent quality. Now that Carlo is around, he's finally able to take a small step back. How's it looking? Is he doing a good job? Very good. I learned from the best, I guess. I don't know if I surpassed him yet, but we'll see in a couple weeks. Now, remember what I said, that to me, mozzarella is an art, because look how we just started. We started with a canvas of curd, and now we have a finished product. While everything starts out the same, the finished product could be one of several things. Prosciutto mozzarella, scamozza, bocconcini, burrata, and last but not least, the traditional fior di latte mozzarella. And here at Casa Mozzarella, we have a motto that goes like this. It's just different. Just different. That's why I say it's just different. We want to keep it just different. It's just different. Make sure you remember that. Obviously, we had to put it to the test. One, two, three. Spencer, Spencer, honestly, it's just different, I think, right? What do you think? It's just different, right? It's just different. At Casa Mozzarella, that's how we do it over here. It's just different, can I? Do you have any words, Spencer? Yeah, it is just different. I told you, right? Cheers. Salud. It really was just different. And if the mozzarella was that good on its own, I couldn't leave without trying it on one of the shop's signature sandwiches. What are your most popular sandwiches? The most popular sandwich, boys, what would you say, the Casa? The Casa. The Casa, for sure, which is mozzarella, prosciutto di parma, sun-dried peppers, and a little bit of balsamic glaze. It's kind of like if you go to McDonald's. The Big Mac is the way to go. Here you go, your Casa sandwich. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks. We're gonna do this like real New Yorkers and eat it right on the street, because that's how we do here. Oh, yeah. That is exactly what you want in a sandwich. The mozzarella on there, obviously, is the main event. I mean, that's why we're here today. And it definitely is what you taste the most in a sandwich, but for whatever reason, it's not overpowering. It's creamy, it's light, and then, of course, you get a little bit of that sweetness from those sun-dried peppers in there, which really just kind of brings it all together. It's like this, a little salty from the meat, creamy from the mozzarella, and then a little sweet from those peppers, all wrapped up into this beautiful bread. I could eat this every day. The cheese is incredible. The prosciutto is really great. The sandwiches are huge. They keep you full the whole day. Just feels really authentic. It feels like I could be in Italy right now. So, if you work hard, believe me, you will reach the place you want to reach. I come every day, get up every morning for 30 in the morning, I'm up to go to work. I can do now, I can take it easy. I got him, I got other people that work with me I can trust them. This is my routine. This, for me, represents what this city can do. A man comes here from another country, with a dream, creates the dream, passes it down to his son. I always said to myself, there's two main things in life. Make yourself proud, make your parents proud. And when I go outside, that, for me, the biggest accomplishment is when people say, hey, Paul, how are you? Doing good. Remind me just of your father. I don't think I would have more accomplished.