DOWNTOWN, UPTOWN, ALL AROUND

CHRIS YTUARTE

NEW YORK -- When Balducci's, one of this city's leading gourmet markets, decided to open a second store here, it only ventured a few miles north to do so. But, with different demographics, the new grocer on the block has added new elements to its store mix.

The additions include a service sandwich bar, an entire display case filled with a variety of olives and a full production kitchen under the store, officials told SN during a tour of the unit, located just steps from Lincoln Center, and in the middle of a neighborhood of high-rise office buildings and residential complexes.

Having spent more than eight decades in a somewhat quiet residential downtown neighborhood, the gourmet market's second location now welcomes the rushed, bustling traffic of local businesspeople. Indeed, it was they who helped the specialty retailer, now owned by Sutton Place Gourmet, Bethesda, Md., to install a sandwich bar at the store.

"We did a lot research into this neighborhood before we arrived at the new location, and it's a very big sandwich crowd up here," said Alan Butzbach, vice president of operations at Balducci's. "So we made the necessary adjustments, and the sandwich bar was born."

Situated along a wall in the rear of the store, the sandwich bar is comprised of an 8-foot service counter and a long glass display case full of meats and breads. In a nod to food safety, a digital thermometer is evident. Slabs of unique, imported meats hang from the ceiling above the entire area, and more can be found on shelves behind the display. Similarly, a short menu of Balducci's signature sandwiches is suspended over the service counter, though all kinds of sandwiches can be made to order, using a wide selection of roasted or cured meats, grilled and fresh vegetables and artisan cheeses.

The sandwich menu, which includes panini, is comprised of such specialty items as Balducci's Nicoise Tuna Sandwich, Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Saltinboca Sandwich, and Panini Tuscana, featuring one of the store's many imported and rare cured hams.

Each menu item costs $6.99, and panini come on either rosemary, olive or sourdough bread, while the sandwiches are made on hearth-baked ciabatta or focaccia.

"I think what really distinguishes us from a lot of other markets is the diversity we maintain in all of our departments and in each category," said Butzbach. "But especially in the new sandwich bar, where we have an unusually wide variety of artisan-style salamis and other meats, as well as five different types of prosciutto."

Below the sandwich bar's service counter is a refrigerated display case full of Balducci's prepackaged, homemade sandwich spreads and sauces, including chili lime mayo for $3.49, blood orange grain mustard for $4.99. and Sicilian black olive tapennaise for $3.99. Here again the case is outfitted with the digital temperature monitor, and each individual container of food is labeled with its date of manufacture and use-by dates.

According to Butzbach, many of the meats and cheeses used at the sandwich bar are personally tested in Italy by Balducci's employees before being imported to the stores in New York, further enhancing their selection and making the sandwiches "pleasing to everyone's palate."

The new location is also one of the first in New York to offer consumers mortadella bologna, which had been banned by the federal government until very recently over concerns of food safety.

Directly across from the new sandwich bar is a display case full of homemade, prepackaged dishes of side helpings and smaller meals, such as the ready-to-go side of macaroni and cheese for $4.99, or a chicken pot pie for $9.99.

A cheese department offers a world tour of international creations as well as domestic cuts, some of which are Balducci's own, aged on the premises and often marinated, such as the bocconcini for $7.99 per pound and the brie torta with roasted red peppers and basil that was being sampled during SN's visit.

All the breads that go into making Balducci's new sandwiches and panini are created fresh everyday as well, one story below the market itself, in the 6,500-square-foot kitchen, a center of constant activity that has 12 people working at most times of the day. According to Christina Baxter, vice president of marketing and customer relations for Balducci's, the daily baking and preparation of the market's entrees, breads and featured meals begins early every morning and continues almost until closing time.

"The neat thing about having such an active kitchen right on the premises is that we can alter our offerings in all the prep cases and most of the departments according to almost anything, including, very often, the day's weather and temperature," she said. "One of our strongest assets is that we can cater to the seasonal shopper very easily and very quickly. The proximity of the kitchen to our display cases, being almost nothing, makes us very adaptable as far as what we can offer the consumer on any given day -- rain, sun, hot or cold."

The kitchen, which is only 500 square feet smaller than the market itself (the remaining space is used for storage), churns out the market's everyday offerings, including the meals, side dishes and breads, which are made using a French-style artisan technique that does not require yeast, said Butzbach.

For a pre-fixed price, consumers can get a large portion of a main entree as well as their choice of any two side offerings, such as veal chop Panzanella and any two sides for $19.99, or filet of sole Francaise with two sides for $11.99. Each entree in the display case has a large sign next to it with the price, while the side dishes are designated by smaller signs.

"Basically, we make everything we possibly can from scratch," said Baxter. "People may say 'Your store is expensive,' but we think it's definitely worth it."

Within its Salumeria, which consists of the sandwich bar and other deli-like display and service areas, Balducci's has begun to offer a wide variety of a somewhat overlooked edible - the olive.

"I'm not sure what has caused it, exactly, as of late, but there has definitely been a huge jump in olive demand over the last few years," said Baxter. "It may have something to do with that new Zone Diet, and I think Oprah Winfrey has been really hyping up olives as great dietary food too. There is a definite olive boom though, that's for sure."

Nearly one-half of a 12-foot display case angled against the sandwich bar is dedicated to olives -- some big, some small, some black, some green. Among the selection are such offerings as picholine, cerignola and green herb olives, as well as Spanish Arbequina olives, all selling for $5.99 per pound.

A small sushi-bar service counter and display case next to the sandwich bar offer more quick and easy meal solutions for those on the run, with prepackaged offerings made with fresh fish, such as salmon maki for $4.75 and an eight-piece nigiri for $8.95. A la carte sushi meals can also be purchased here, ranging from $3.50 for inari to $7.95 for a rainbow roll.

Another lunchtime favorite, which Baxter said sells just as well in the summer as it does in the winter, is Balducci's selection of homemade soups. Four different varieties are offered each day at a price of $3.99, such as Momma's Minestrone or Straciatella, and the selections change daily as well as seasonally. There is also a selection of homemade stock, including fish, vegetable and chicken for $3.99 and lobster for $6.99, for those interested in creating their own soups.

The new branch of Balducci's made sure it employs staff capable of selling the new products and providing an upscale level of customer service, said Butzbach. Some of the associates were brought over from the original Greenwich Village store, while others were hired and trained for very specific duties.

"What we like to have at Balducci's are employees who are very good at something, a specific skill, and they are the ones who do that particular thing all the time," said Butzbach. "If someone is exceptionally good at slicing meat, we have them do it every time rather than someone who isn't as skilled in that area, and we do that with all of our positions here, from service, to cutting, and so on."

With a new location, new clientele and new departments, Balducci's moves into the 21st century as an old, familiar favorite making the necessary adjustments to keep up with modern consumer demands and the competition for fresh-food dollars.

"In more ways than one, this store kind of tells a story," said Baxter.