Dan's Papers - May 22, 2009 - CITARELLA OPENS NEXT DOOR TO DAN'S PAPERS

Dan's Papers is always looking for the news. Sometimes it just shows up right at our doorstep. In March, we began to hear all sorts of banging and sawing going on at Bob's Country Market, the grocery store that is right next door to the Dan's Papers office on Main Street in Bridgehampton. I walked over to check it out.

What I found was not Bob, who had closed his market to go on what was said to be a vacation, that was apparently a permanent vacation, but Joe Gurrera, the owner of the wildly successful food chain Citarella who told me he was moving in. Citarella already has four supermarkets in Manhattan and three in the Hamptons - one in Water Mill and the other two in East Hampton. Why would he want still a third one in Bridgehampton, right next door to me?

The old Bob's Country Market moved at a slow pace, was pretty run down and in need of a facelift, at the very least.

Joe was bringing Citarella, and it would be open by Memorial Day. I figured he'd fix it up a bit and then, after the summer, would transform it into the sensationally beautiful supermarket that is his trademark. With luck he'd have it done in May 2010.

No, he told me, we're going to transform it NOW into a sensationally beautiful supermarket. We're tearing the old place down to the bare walls. Everything will be new. And we'll be open Memorial Day.

About 20 years ago, a tornado charged up Main Street in Bridgehampton. It was the only one to hit this town in my lifetime. It came up Main Street from the east, took the roof off Thayer's Hardware Annex, knocked down lots of trees and just before it reached Dan's Papers took off into the sky for points unknown.

What happened after I spoke to Joe that day in March reminded me of that tornado. The following day, a team of about 40 people came to work at 6 a.m. They worked night and day, every day, six or seven days a week. They were going to open by Memorial Day.

They didn't. They opened five days before Memorial Day, on Tuesday, May 18.

"It's a soft opening," Joe told me. "There are still a few departments that are not entirely ready."

I have never seen anything like this. I'm told the Empire State Building was built in eight months. I've seen pictures of that going up. This is what it was like with Citarella going up.

Joe would like to thank his wife, Yusi, and his kids, Helen, Nancy and Anthony. The firm of Fountainhead Construction built this place. They had built a house for the Gurreras in Bridgehampton. He knew they could do this. Joe also wants to thank his long time crew of Citarella, some of whom have been with him for 20 years. They are John, Charlie, Lee, Mike, Robert, Fedele, Lau and Keith.

This Citarella in Bridgehampton, at 9,000 square feet, is the largest of all the Citarellas. The place makes its own bread and pastries, has local produce, meats, smoked fish, caviar, cheeses, prepared foods and, on its own label, olive oils, vinegar, coffee, rugelach, tea cakes, cookies and homemade pasta sauces. This newest Bridgehampton, uniquely from all the others, will have a salad bar, a juice bar and a hot table with fried chicken, rice, beans, burgers, paninis and prepared dinners. There are also smoothies, crab cakes, lobster rolls, burgers, hot dogs, cheeses, homemade cookies and a full line of gourmet groceries. They open every day at 6 am for breakfast.

The smoke has cleared. Six weeks and its done. Welcome to Bridgehampton, Joe.

"This fall, we hope to do Phase Two on this place," Joe said. I can hardly wait.