David Cingari – culinary director of the Cingari Family Markets, with 12 ShopRites in Fairfield and New Haven counties https://cingarifamilymarkets.com/locations/ – is unlikely to forget his interview with the Westfair Business Journal.
While we’d like to think it was our incisive journalism, we know it was because it was a moving experience – literally.
We were in the midst of our phone conversation with Cingari when a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck the metro area. Though the epicenter was near Whitehouse Station, N.J., Cingari felt the effects at the markets’ 6,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art kitchen in Stamford, just as we did in Westchester County, the tea sets rattling on the hutch in our home office. Cingari meanwhile could see telephone poles swaying – it probably wasn’t the best thing to run to the window, he said after with a chuckle – and looks of concern on the faces of the 30 workers making the leafy salads that along with prepared meals and sides like white and sweet potatoes are part of the markets’ Grade Above brand.
Yet through it all, he kept us calm and laughing – a good quality for someone in the high-pressured world of food preparation. Adding to that challenge: The company is in the midst of renovating all 12 stores, with Norwalk, Shelton and the two in Stamford (Shippan Avenue and Commerce Street) completed. The refurbishment includes redone exteriors and interiors, with new flooring and lighting, upgraded refrigeration and doors on dairy cases for greater energy savings.
“It makes everything look beautiful,” he said. And that is a great marketing tool, he added: “We find an increase in traffic once the stores are renovated, 10 to 15% within four weeks of a renovation. We were kind of surprised. Food service increased 20 to 30%, depending on the location. It’s all about the merchandising.”
These have not been the easiest times in the food industry as inflation lingers in pricing for such products as canned goods; fish; and meats, especially beef – although chicken prices, through the roof in Covid, have stabilized, Cingari said. Labor costs, trucking, animal diseases and weather all contribute to the picture, he added.
“As soon as Covid prices came down, we came down,” Cingari said. “Is every supermarket around the country doing this? I can’t say. But we stay in line within our margins.”
Still, Cingari added, “You can’t stop people from shopping. People have to eat.” What are Cingari customers loving? “All year long, chipotle chicken and black-bean quesadillas. I didn’t expect them to be best sellers. We must make hundreds a day.”
Besides this dish, a kind of Tex-Mex answer to pizza, Cingari’s Grade Above offerings include chicken pot pie with a puff-pastry crust; fettucine Alfredo with chicken and peas; and a sesame-glazed salmon with basmati rice and roasted carrots that Cingari himself has once or twice a week.
As cool temperatures linger into the early spring, beef stew has flown out the door, he said, along with shepherd’s pie, whose recipe is included here. (Cingari has regularly contributed recipes to our newsletters.) Need something handy when guests drop by? Cingari makes a quick baked Brie with raspberry jam, with the recipe also included here.
Cingari has always loved cooking and food. Growing up in Stamford, he’d help his mother make meatballs and man the grill at family barbecues. While at the now-defunct St. Basil’s Preparatory School in Stamford, he took cooking classes at night.
Still, his ambition was to be a skateboarder in California, he said, imagining that this must’ve horrified his parents. But en route, he visited his brother John in Dallas, which led to jobs in a kitchen and at a country club, where the creations of the Culinary Institute of America-trained chef so impressed him that he enrolled in the CIA in Hyde Park, New York. Cingari began his career as a chef in Manhattan. After several years working in hotels and restaurants there, he returned to Fairfield County to open the restaurant David’s American Food and Drink (1987-97) and David’s Soundview Catering (1990-2021).
In October of 2020, he joined the Cingari Family Markets, a four-generation business that began when Salvatore Cingari, an Italian immigrant, retrofitted an old school bus as a traveling grocery stand in Stamford after losing his construction job during the Great Depression. In 1991, the Cingari stores became part of the Wakefern/ShopRite cooperative.
Today, they’re headed by President and CEO Thomas Cingari, David’s older brother.
“He’s definitely older,” Cingari said, laughing, as apparently there is some good-natured ribbing between the two as to whom others think looks older. Thomas’ two sons and various cousins are also among the roughly 2,600 employees.
Cingari still makes his home in Stamford with his wife, their three children now grown. They’re not in the food business, he said.
And, he added with one final laugh, “they’re definitely not skateboarders.”
For more, visit https://cingarifamilymarkets.com/.
Shepherd’s Pie,
Courtesy Cingari Family Markets
Ingredients:
- 1 and ½ pounds ground beef
- ½ onion, minced
- 4 ounces green peas, frozen
- 4 ounces frozen corn or fresh, cut off from cob
- 6 slices of white American cheese
- Salt and white pepper
- 1 pound mashed potatoes, store-bought or homemade
- 8 ounces of beef gravy, homemade or jarred
For the mashed potatoes:
Peel and boil until fork tender, about 20 minutes, and drain. Place back into pot or mixing bowl and mash by hand, adding ¼ pound of butter, cut into pieces, and 4 fluid ounces of milk. Keep mashing and stirring to incorporate. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.
Directions for the filing:
Sautée onions on medium until clear or slightly golden brown and jammy. Add ground beef and cook while mixing beef into the onions. Drain off any excess grease. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes.
Place ground beef mixture into a baking dish or pie pan. Combine the frozen peas and corn and mix well. Sprinkle the peas and corn atop the ground beef. Cover with white American cheese slices. Drizzle with 3 to 4 ounces of brown gravy. Top with warm mashed potatoes.
Bake dish in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 40 minutes until it is bubbly around the edges or until it registers 165 degrees. Scoop serving into a bowl and top with some hot gravy. Serves four.
Baked Brie With Raspberry Jam,
Courtesy Cingari Family Markets
Ingredients:
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough
- 1 cup raspberry jam*
- 1 egg
- 1 8-to-12-ounce Brie cheese, round
- Parchment paper or Silpat baking mat
Directions:
Place puff pastry sheet down on a lightly floured surface. Let it slightly defrost for 10 minutes. Place raspberry jam in the center of the pastry sheet. Place the Brie round atop the jam. Fold the sheets in to cover the Brie, cutting off any excess. Crimp all seams by pressing down or pinching.
Turn covered Brie onto parchment paper. Place Brie in freezer for 30 minutes to firm up the pastry.
When ready to bake, brush the top of the Brie with whipped egg. Place parchment paper and Brie on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 40 minutes. When golden brown, remove from oven and place on a platter with sliced French baguette, crackers, cut vegetables or sliced apples and enjoy.
(*You can use any flavor of jam or preserves – fig is a natural pairing with Brie – whole berry cranberry sauce or a chutney. You can also add sliced or chopped nuts, such as almonds, pecans, walnuts or pistachios.)
