Welcome to Delicacies Gourmet

While schools and businesses throughout the North Shore shuttered due to the snowstorm last Thursday, one deli in Roslyn made a point of keeping its doors open. “We pride ourselves on being open every day of the year, except for Christmas,” said Jim Zanfardino, the owner of Delicacies Gourmet on Old Northern Boulevard. “As long as we have electric, we make sure everyone in the neighborhood gets fed.” Zanfardino, of Syosset, said the store served approximately 200 walk-in customers and 300 delivery customers on Thursday, including corporate offices and cafeterias. “Everyone starts digging out their snow gear and sleds, and heads to Roslyn Pond Park,” he said. “Then they wander in here around noon.” Zanfardino said he equips his delivery people with four-wheel drive vehicles but one of them got stuck on Thursday. “The driver went to make a left and went up on part of the grass median,” Zanfardino said. “He kind of got welled in there. One of the trucks went with a chain and pulled him out. He had just delivered; he didn’t have food in the car.” Zanfardino said the store has remained open during every big storm since it started doing business in 1990. “Hurricane Sandy was crazy,” he said. “One side of the street, the electricity was out. The other had electricity. It went on for three days, and people came down here to get coffee, recharge laptops and phones — just to get some civilization.” “If that was an indication of what the zombie apocalypse will be, we better have a lot of coffee,” he added. He recalled past snowstorms that proved more challenging than Thursday’s. “Back in 2007 the whole front of the deli was covered with snow because of a drift,” he said. Delicacies Gourmet serves breakfast, lunch and dinner items ranging from muffins and omelettes to wraps and calzones. Zanfardino said “it’s always an adventure in a snowstorm” but he shied away from praise. “We’re not like the Red Cross,” he said. “Just want to make sure people get a bagel if they want.”