D&D MARKET IN THE MEDIA

The produce section by the entrance to D & D Market is stocked with a fine assortment of fruits and vegetables, but the meat cutter and deli counter of this family-run store are likely to attract the most customers.

Those who think Italian sausage comes in two varieties, sweet and hot, are in for a treat. D & D, established in 1932, carries a dozen types, including extra hot, veal, chicken, a couple with broccoli rabe and one with pesto, all made in the store ($3 to $3.29 a pound). In addition to the usual cuts of meat, there are numerous stuffed and seasoned items ($3 to $4 a pound) that are ready to pop in the oven, like chicken breast filled with sautéed spinach, mushrooms and bread crumbs; pork cutlet parmigiana; and boneless stuffed pork tenderloin. D & D even sells pork bones (49 cents a pound) for making your own sauce.

In the deli section an entire case is filled with olives, cured 12 ways ($5 to $9 a pound). Next to that are cold cuts and dried sausages, like ariccia porchetta, sopressata and Calabrese, as well as whole prosciutto hocks ($15 a pound). Nearby are octopus salad, anchovies in oil, salted capers, marinated artichokes, cheese-stuffed peppers and lupini beans (from $6 to $20 a pound).

Along with sundry Sclafani brand staples, the shelves at D & D overflow with eight balsamic vinegars, many more labels of extra virgin olive oil, cans of scungilli, figs in syrup, jars of grape leaves and more styles and shapes of pasta than you can shake a wooden spoon at.

You could call D&D Market the Cheese & Stuff of Franklin Avenue. From blocks of fresh, imported cheese to 4-foot-long whole wheat spaghetti, you'll find authentic Italian food.

Trendy folk from all over the region come to this market in Hartford's Little Italy to fill their shopping carts with extra-virgin olive oil, canned tomatoes bearing the family name of D'Aprile and tri-colored pasta. But you'll also see elderly widows shopping, and young people and families from the South End neighborhood.

Soon the warehouses attached to the grocery will be overflowing with Italian goodies for the holidays. Shop 'til you drop for panettone (fruit cake), torrone (hard nougat candy), baccala (salt cod fish) and Moscioni figs.

D&D Market moved to its current location at 276 Franklin Ave. in 1962, as part of a resettlement program for residents and businesses of the Front Street neighborhood, Hartford's first Little Italy. Front Street flooded in the 1930s and was razed in the '60s to make way for Constitution Plaza.

Achille "Kelly" D'Aprile is continuing the work begun by his father, Vito D'Aprile, who opened the market on the corner of Windsor and Village streets in 1932, where the Travelers Data Processing Center stands today.

"We didn't want to move," Kelly D'Aprile said. "Everyone knew everyone. We didn't have burglar alarms back then. Some nights we forgot to lock the front door, but in the morning nothing would be disturbed.

"If you saw the prices from then, you'd laugh," he said, showing off photographs of Vito and two workers leaning against stacked cans of olive oil. The cans sold for $1.79 a gallon. A six-pack of Coca-Cola would set you back 25 cents.

"It was a drastic change to come to Franklin Avenue," he said. As an apprentice in his father's store, he would often carry a shopper's groceries in his apron before spilling the packages onto the front counter. Prices were tallied with an adding machine or by hand directly on the paper bags, he said.

Vito D'Aprile lived to be 90. He is warmly remembered by Kelly's son Daniel, a third-generation family member working at the market. "At age 89 he was still coming in to work. He would unload trucks. What a worker," Daniel D'Aprile said.

Kelly D'Aprile is now planning to expand the business, much as his father did before him. He said he is doing it for his children, Daniel and Charyl, who have shown an interest in taking over the market.

"It's not too often you see a family business last for 60 years," Daniel D'Aprile said. "We definitely want to do this." Under the expansion plan, 12,000 square feet of retail space will be added to the front of the market,

building forward toward the street. An adjacent three-family house will be torn down to make room for the addition. A nationally known drug store chain will lease 9,000 square feet, while the remaining space will be home to a smaller retailer. One three-lane driveway will provide access to the vertical strip mall and D'Aprile Package Store, located next door at 288 Franklin Ave. Plans also call for a parking lot that holds 125 cars.

"We have to go forward," Kelly D'Aprile said. "The property needs to be dressed up, and this will give us a chance to work on the inside also. The new tenant will help traffic flow. We will help them and they will help us bring business in."

"It's definitely going to be something nice for the neighborhood," Daniel D'Aprile said. Working in the family grocery store is the business he knows best. "It's in my blood, basically," he said.

It is the lushness, warmth and soul of summer that makes my spirits soar, and one of its irresistible joys is that summer is also the season of grilled sausages with peppers and onions.

Whether you frequent Connecticut's summer fairs in search of them, or you make yourself a frequent guest at your Italian neighbor's home, make no mistake that sausage-and-pepper season is in full swing.

Now, I've had so-so sausage and peppers, which is a travesty when you know how delicious the real thing can be, and that is why I feel it is my duty to reveal my favorite sausage-and-pepper sandwich in Connecticut.

First, the sausage has to be top drawer, the kind that tells you when you take your first lip-smacking bite that this beauty was spiced by an artisan sausage-maker. The pepper and onions have to be good, too, of course, but the olive oil used to coat them before grilling or roasting is crucial to the marriage of flavors that can bring you to your knees with pleasure.

The best sausage-and-pepper sandwich I've had in our state is made at D&D Market, 276 Franklin Ave. in Hartford (860-296-3261).

A dream of a neighborhood market, D&D, owned by Kelly DAprile and family, is filled with all things Italian, whether it's fresh chestnuts, Nutella, espresso, Sclafani canned peaches, pastas, fresh eggplant parmesan or fresh vegetables.

I stopped by D&D the other day for my first sausage-and-pepper grinder of the season. As always, I peered through the deli counter window and thought how ordinary the sausage, peppers and onions look in their little stainless steel bin. Ah, but don't be fooled.

My mouth watered as I watched the Italian woman behind the counter carefully build this culinary delight. She whipped a knife horizontally through the grinder roll in one fluid motion. Then she began layering the whole sausage pieces on the bread, alternating them with peppers and onions. Finally, ever so carefully, as if they were heavenly wafers, she placed three paper-thin slices of Italian provolone cheese on top. She smooshed the roll closed, hard enough so that the oil escapes from the melange and begins to flavor the bread.

I unwrapped the meat cutter paper and there it was, emanating phenomenal aromas that took me back to countless Italian festivals and parties on Franklin Avenue.

It's the first bite that does it when you have one of D&D's specialties. You feel the snap of the sausage when you bite down, and you chew for a second, not noticing anything, really, and then miraculously, the flavors meld and explode in your mouth.

When I called the D'Apriles to compliment them, 1 learned that they make all their own sausages by hand. Their most popular sausage links are made with chicken and broccoli rabe. The sausage used for the sandwich is pork and not hot, exactly, but it has punch, the kind of punch that is balanced with all the other ingredients, including fennel, garlic, red pepper, paprika, salt and black pepper.

Much as I try, and I have a lusty appetite, I struggle to finish a half-sized D&D sausage, pepper and onion grinder. However, two hours later, and I'm not kidding, 1 start wondering if it would be insane to drive back and have another half for dinner.

So, here's what you must do. Wait until you're really hungry, put a wine glass and opener in the car, park in D&D's lot on Franklin Avenue. Buy your sandwich, then wander across the parking lot to their other store, D'Aprile's Liquors, buy a $ 11.49 bottle of Gabbiano Chianti Classico 1998. Have a picnic in the car. Salute!

Faith Middleton is host of "The Food Schmooze" on Connecticut Public Radio. She welcomes news of readers' food finds and adventures Via e-mail at Ftiithwnpr@aol.com