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The big cheese is back in town.
America’s oldest cheese shop, the famed Little Italy staple Alleva that dates back to 1892, is reopening Sunday in Chelsea Market.
Alleva, which was on the corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets for 130 years, closed in March 2023 after its owner, Karen King, fell behind in rent payment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
King’s loyal customers — who have been patiently waiting for their lasagna, sausage and peppers and cannoli for the three and a half years since they closed — could never fuggedabout the beloved store.
“People came yesterday when I was putting this sign up and they were from the neighborhood and they were screaming and saying how much they missed Alleva. I told them, ‘We’re opening Sunday,’ and they said, ‘Will you give us a break?’” King recalled, laughing.
“And an Italian man came two days ago, he said that when he was five years old, he used to go to the store, and he was kissing my hand and he goes, ‘You are so brave.’ I said, ‘I’m not brave. We belong here.’”
Although Alleva’s iconic 15-foot street sign is still in storage, King was able to hang the original signs from the store, which are over a century old.
“And we kept the phone number,” she added.
King left her original location after coming to an agreement with her landlord, Jerome G. Stabile III Realty, who allowed her to break her lease and not pay the back rent.
She said saying ciao to Little Italy, where she made 500 meatballs for the Feast of San Gennaro, happened for the best — because her new home in the Meatpacking District is a definite culinary upgrade.
“This is like the feast every day here in Chelsea Market,” she told The Post of the food hall, which welcomes over 6 million visitors a year.
“Little Italy was mostly Italian, this is international. Chelsea Market is a place where people come from all over the world and you experience all the different heritages and foods that they bring. I feel like I’ve been raised up coming here. I feel like my brand means something now.”
King, a native of Whitestone, Queens, bought the original shop in 2014 with her late husband, Little Italy native John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia, from Robert Alleva, whose family’s fifth generation was not interested in keeping it.
Ciarcia, a “Sopranos” actor and the “Unofficial Mayor of Little Italy,” sadly died a year later, leaving King, a professional singer, to run the business with her nephew, Sean Wilson.
The shop, whose fans include Chazz Palminteri, Vincent Pastore, Michael Imperioli, Vin Diesel, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sebastian Maniscalco, will pivot from its grocery store model, and offer more prepared food.
Their new menu consists of 13 signature sandwiches such as the “Cha Cha,” which King crafted in honor of her husband, filled with his favorite cold cut, mortadella, and topped with provolone, crushed pistachios and Dijon mustard.
“My husband loved mortadella and I love pistachios, so I added those,” she said.
There is also the “Siciliana,” which is served with caponata, stracciatella and arugula and the “Paesano,” made with Milano salami and Prosciutto di Parma.
Their new chef, Carlo Palandri, hails from Livorno, Tuscany, and “Il Toscano,” served with housemade porchetta, roasted garlic cream and sharp provolone, is named after his region.
They will also be peddling classic Italian entrees such as ravioli alla vodka, rigatoni bolognese, gnocchi marinara, and for dessert, cannoli and tiramisu.
After she shuttered the original, Chelsea Market offered her a spot, but King reconsidered after Jack Morris, co-owner of the Hard Rock Hotel in Atlantic City, proposed a shop in New Jersey, and the potential to expand to 30 stores — but she backed out, because didn’t like the contract.
King said she talks to her late hubby all the time about her new endeavor, and he gives her signs that she made the right decision.
One came from him in January 2024, when the Little Italy building that Alleva was kicked out of partially collapsed due to an illegal renovation, leading to its demolition — ironically on the same day as his show “The Sopranos” 25th anniversary party at Da Nico Ristorante next door.
“It all came down and now we’re building here,” she said. “Isn’t that unbelievable?”
