Popular New Hyde Park deli seeks zoning to survive

In the 1930s, milks and eggs were sold at a dairy farm on Herricks Road in New Hyde Park. Over the years, long after the dairy stopped operating, the items sold there expanded into a deli.

Now, Dominick's Italian & American Delicatessen is popular among locals as a quaint, nearby place for quick shopping. But because the property is zoned residential, the Town of North Hempstead had tried to shut it down. The Zito family, owner of the property since the 1980s, has been in a legal battle with the town to allow the deli to remain - and many residents are on their side.

"The deli was here before the town code was written," Pasquale Zito, 27, an attorney whose mother owns the property, said Friday.

The residential zoning was sufficient for when dairy products from the farm were sold, but as it evolved into a deli, "Nobody said anything because it's very well-liked in the community," said town Councilman Angelo Ferrara, who lives nearby.

In 2006, the town realized the zoning discrepancy, when it shut down a garden center operating on the property, Ferrara said.

Then the Board of Zoning Appeals denied a variance to allow the deli to operate there, but the Zitos obtained a temporary injunction in court, Zito said.

At a community meeting last week, residents overwhelmingly said they want the deli to stay no matter what.

On Friday morning, Dominick Grosso, who has rented the deli from the Zitos for 16 years, was bracing for a busy lunchtime. Grosso, 52, of New Hyde Park, runs the business with his family.

"All the customers we know by name," he said. "It's the last of the stores like this. It's more or less a mom and pop shop."

Longtime customer David Orland, 46, of Manhasset Hills, stopped by for coffee and a roll. "This is a landmark," he said. "His prices are incredible, his food is incredible."

Property records from the 1950s show diagrams of barns and chicken houses. The original farm house remains on the 1-acre property, which has been maintained and is rented to another family.

Zito said his family wants to upgrade the property and develop an office building, if the town is willing to change the zoning to commercial, which will allow the deli to remain.

Ferrara said if the town doesn't change the zoning, the Zitos have proposed building homes there. Residents say privately they would prefer houses be sold instead of rentals or apartments.