Johnny's Italian Market, which opened this week in Westwood, is offering wood-fired pizzas, made-to-order doughnuts, homemade pasta, house-made mozzarella, imported cheeses and more. "We want to offer all that good stuff you'd get at an Italian market – what you can get on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx," says John Vitale, who with his family owns the new place, along with Café Anello and Sogno Coffee House, also in Westwood. Johnny's Market is just around the corner from Vitale's two other establishments.
"It's like a salumeria gourmet with grab-and-go options," says sous chef Matthew Borgersen, director of operations at Johnny's. The pizzas, cooked in a wood-fired oven, are Neapolitan-style, Vitale says. Among those offered: mushroom with white truffle oil ($10), and sausage and peppers with caramelized onions ($12). All day long, an Italian pasta maker will be churning out pasta right in the shop's window "so that people can watch the pasta being made," Borgersen says.
