Stepping into Albanese Meats and Poultry, at the northern edge of New York’s Little Italy—now known as Nolita—is a time-traveling experience. At 238 Elizabeth Street, sandwiched between luxury clothing stores and perfumeries, stands the bright red painted bricks of this historic butcher shop.
The store, opened in 1923, takes pride in being “the last butcher in Little Italy,” a relic of the Italian-American neighborhood. Its faded signage, surprisingly not original, was put up by Francis Ford Coppola, who featured it in The Godfather Part III.
At the butcher block, wearing an apron embroidered with her name and a contagious smile, is Jennifer Prezioso. She is the great-granddaughter of the original owners, and granddaughter of Moe Albanese, the most recent icon of the butcher shop, known to locals as “Moe the Butcher.” Formerly an actress, Prezioso took over when Albanese passed away in April 2020 due to COVID-19, and now takes care of the meats and poultry herself.
Inside Albanese Meats & Poultry, a Little Italy fixture in New York City since the 1920s. Photo: Marta Biino
Around her are pictures of family members, vintage books about Little Italy, and a small collection of Italian pop vinyl. On the door hangs a prayer to San Gandolfo, the patron saint of Polizzi Generosa, a small town in Sicily that is the ancestral home of the Albaneses.
“I started helping out my grandfather in 2017 when he was 93,” Prezioso says. “I knew he was getting tired, and I offered to give a hand. He was so independent and he refused to stop working. He would commute every single day from Brooklyn.” Once, Moe lost his way as he was driving back, and conceded to accept his granddaughter’s help to drive him at night. “The morning after he got lost, he called me and went, ‘So, are you gonna pick me up?’” Prezioso says, laughing at the memory.
From then on, things flowed naturally. “No one else in my family cared to continue it, but I couldn’t let this place disappear,” she says, sitting on a chair in front of the store the way Moe did. Every so often during the interview, a passerby stops to say hi and chat about the day, or to buy pork chops for dinner.
Jennifer Prezioso at Albanese Meats & Poultry, which she took over after her grandfather, known as “Moe the Butcher,” passed away due to COVID-19. Photo: Marta Biino
“Jen basically runs a community service,” a customer says as she walks in. For decades, Prezioso explains, Albanese was not merely a butcher shop, but also a place for people to gather and have a laugh with Moe. “He would sing old Italian songs, clapping to the rhythm and inviting clients inside,” Prezioso says. “He was such a fun guy.”
Sometimes he told anecdotes about his life growing up, or joked around with his local Italian-American friends, sometimes in Sicilian dialect. Prezioso understood the importance of capturing these moments and started sharing videos of Moe on social media. She thought one day to make a documentary. “I’m a storyteller,” she says. “I needed to find a way to keep telling the family stories. Also, our relationship was really special to watch.” Instagram became a way to collect memories and reach new people. New customers started shopping at Albanese’s.
While she works to preserve the family heritage, Prezioso also found strategies to revamp the business and cater to a wider clientele. She recently started selling branded T-shirts and tote bags, plush toys shaped like sausages made by an artist friend, and salumi and salami from an Italian couple in Upstate New York.
Only the meat stays the same, including the renowned “I got’cha steak,” a rib-eye that Moe nicknamed. Once you tried it, he would say, you’d be riveted. The perfectly marbled, big chunk of beef is proudly showcased in the counter display. “It comes from the Meatpacking District, where my grandfather went all his life,” Prezioso explains. “Some of the suppliers grew up selling to Moe.”
But running a family business in downtown Manhattan is not always easy. Due to high rent prices, the area is transient, with people moving in and out constantly. “It’s hard to become an everyday business with everyday customers,” Prezioso says. But Albanese Meat and Poultry becomes a place to cement the sense of community, “like the glue that connects the people who have been here for a long time and those who are just moving to the area.”
Despite its challenges, the pandemic has helped its future. It brought the support not only of loyal clients but also of other entrepreneurs who took over their family businesses. “It was surprising to me because I never rationalized what I was doing. I just did what my gut told me to do,” Prezioso says.
Now, she is thinking of new possibilities at the store. She may start making her own sausages, supplying more local meat, or having pop-up food events. The options are endless, and Prezioso is confident. “Continuing Moe and my ancestor’s legacy was what mattered to me most. I have faith that whatever I end up doing, it will be successful, and it’ll keep our story going.”