Highly Recommended: Gail Ciampa takes you to a Westerly market offering a taste of Italy

Highly Recommended is an occasional feature that spotlights some of food editor Gail Ciampa’s special finds as she travels across the state looking for the best meals, drinks, shopping and food artisans. 

Any time of day, any day of the week, any week during the year, you're going to find a crowd at Westerly Packing Company. The parking lot will be filled with cars, not just from Rhode Island, but also from nearby Connecticut.

It may seem out of the way there at 15 Springbrook Rd., but this place is on point.

Westerly Packing offers a taste of Italy and more within the aisles of this butcher shop, grocery store, deli and prepared food emporium.

I went in search of soppressata. This dried cured sausage is a specialty in Westerly where it is affectionately known as soupy. Westerly Packing uses a family recipe from Italy to make it in sweet, mild, hot, and "triple hot" varieties. Each stick of soupy is unique, approximately 3/4 of a pound and tied up with string.

But I found so much more.

Farm to table

How committed are they to their meats? Westerly Packing purchased their own farm to raise their own animals and produce natural meats.

They have their own smokehouse on site and produce items including their own hams, bacons and smoked sausage. Drying rooms produce prosciutto, capicola and their soppressata. They also make breakfast sausage and chicken sausage.

Freezer cases have their housemade porchetta, marrow bones and locally raised pork items.  They always have a meat cutter available at their case full of beef cuts and their special meatball mix.

I bought some of their housemade, nitrate-free bacon and smoked kielbasa. I took home a Soupy Grinder but could have enjoyed any of their other offerings from their chicken cutlet to eggplant parm sandwiches.

A well-stocked store

Refrigerated cases include imported cheeses and plump olives. Add them to your soupy purchase and you have all the makings for a perfect charcuterie board.

They have plenty of prepared foods including pesto and pink vodka sauces, Italian dinners and all-American favorites of mac and cheese and chicken pot pie.

They also stock grocery items from milk to fresh produce. They bottle large jars of spices under the Westerly Packing name and you'll find them along with imported balsamic vinegars and olive oils. There's a huge selection of dry pastas from Italy.

Many local Rhode Island products are available, too, including Catanzaro's wine or pepper biscuits, Venda Ravioli pastas and Warwick Ice Cream.

From Bruno's to today

The roots run deep at Westerly Packing. Their website tells the story of Francesco Bruno who came to Westerly from Corigliano Calabria Italy in 1892. He opened a fruit and grocery store in the early 1900s on Pleasant Street where the family lived. His son Rico Francesco Bruno specialized in fresh meats, opening Bruno's Meat Market. When Rico died in 1960, his son Frank Anthony Bruno took over. He passed on the business to his daughter and son-in-law, Palma and Medoro Trombino in 1978, by then located on Springbrook Road. They changed the name from Bruno's Meat Market to Westerly Packing Company in the 1970s, according to their son Bruno. He and his brother Medoro are the latest generation running the family business.

The crowd

The people are the best part of shopping here. The staff takes their time with each person and I found everyone genuinely nice and accommodating even as they faced lines of customers. They'll answer your questions and make you feel glad you stopped in to shop.

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What I really appreciated were my fellow customers. They too, had a joy at being in the store. People in the deli line were quick to say they were waiting for their sandwich and gestured to go ahead and order when the call for "Next" came.

In the checkout line, we all said how we came in for one thing but left with so much more. And, we were all happy about it.

If you go: Westerly Packing Company, 15 Springbrook Rd., Westerly, (401) 596-3404, westerlypacking.com.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Westerly Packing Company a highly recommended stop for meats and more