THE VALLEY'S DOOR TO ITALY
Sam’s Italian Deli & Market has been the Valley’s door to Italy for nearly half a century. Founded by Sam and Angela Marziliano, the family’s legacy of making authentic Italian products and cuisine readily available to Central Valley natives and travelers alike is now carried on by their son Nick. The collective efforts at preserving tradition through food help to keep more than culture and heritage alive. Even for non-Italians, Sam’s Italian Deli & Market is transcendent thanks to its commitment and ability to consistently maintain the exceptional quality and authenticity that the generation after the next has come to value, appreciate, and continue to seek out.
Sam, a butcher by trade, and Angela individually immigrated from Italy to Toronto, Canada, where they met, married, and set up their first Italian market together in the late 1960s. It was located in and catered to a little Italian neighborhood and its surrounding community. The family would regularly come out west to visit Nick’s Aunt Stella, who lived in Fresno. “My dad had always wanted to get back to the climate and the agriculture from the province of Puglia, where he was from, so we moved here in 1979, and we opened up Sam’s Deli, right here, same location, in May of 1980,” recounts Nick of the First Street and Clinton Avenue spot.
Nick has been part of Sam’s Italian Deli & Market since its inception. He was 12 years old when the move was made and the store opened, and has been helping with the family business ever since. “My Saturdays—not going to school—I was at work. Spring break and my Christmas breaks were spent here.” Nick upholds the same commitment to quality, authentic ingredients that his parents were so devoted to, all while expanding the offerings of the deli and market. His mother ran Sam’s kitchen like her own at home. His father was “Mr. Personality” behind the counter. “They we’re a great team together because my dad was more of the front of the house, my mom was more of the back of the house. … It was definitely a true partnership between the two of them.”
And they nurtured that same passion and sense of excellence in their own children. “One of the things my dad always instilled in me, and my mom too, is it’s really easy to make good food out of great ingredients,” imparts Nick. “You don’t have to mask anything; you’re not trying to cover anything up. You use minimal but the best ingredients, and it’ll show up in the food.” Sam’s Italian Deli & Market is renowned for authenticity and “quality products that I would serve to my family, or my family would serve out to yours,” Nick emphasizes of excellence being key.
That is in addition to the service offered at Sam’s. “We do a really good job of it,” Nick exults over their customer service. “I have a really great team that’s been with me, many of them, in the 15 to 20-year range. I’ve had many people retire from here.” You’ll often recognize familiar faces behind the counter, and it’s not uncommon for customers to come in requesting help from a specific Sam’s employee, of which there are about 40. “That means that they’ve developed a relationship and they have that connection,” which Nick is proud to see.
Sam’s has plenty to offer. At the deli counter, guests can savor meats, cheeses, delicatessen items such as pastas, salads, olives, meatballs, or their famous sandwiches—you can even place an online sandwich order on Sam’s website. Many of their ready-made items also come pre-packaged and are displayed in the adjacent cold case to grab-and-go. Their dried and fresh pastas are inexhaustible. Specialty foods such as house-made sauces, cookies, and desserts are prolific, as are imported and domestic market items.
“We make a lot of sandwiches, but it’s only a fraction of what we do here because the deli counter is our mainstay of the business,” Nick acknowledges, noting that Sam’s has many different departments. It’s a great catering option for those looking to pick-up or have food delivered for a crowd, “from charcuterie boards to pans of lasagna,” for which they are famous and make hundreds of monthly. “And the fresh sausage,” he goes on to list. “We make all our pastas here in-house. Meatballs are still rolled by hand. There’re a lot of things we do that draw people in and make them feel like they’re going to have the same meal their nonna made for them.”
At Sam’s Italian Deli & Market, you’ll find everything you need to cook like an Italian in your own home. Their popular brands include DeCecco, Cento, Anna, Mezzetta, Rummo, Boar’s Head, Alessi, and Rustichella d’Abruzzo, amongst many, many more. Angela’s Kitchen, named for Nick’s mother, and Sam’s Italian Deli & Market are their house labels. Locally, they carry Enzo and Valley Lahvosh, and Busseto is Sam’s house salami. “I will say that we are the Valley’s door to Italy, and it’s true,” Nick boasts proudly. So many local people, he elaborates, “when they visit Italy and they see and eat all the wonderful food, they come right to Sam’s,” where they’ll find everything from traditional to trending items.
Nick, like his father before him, is keen to preserve not only his own but also other families’ food traditions. Italian immigrants are often devoted to specific brands because that’s what their family recipes particularly call for. “I want to make sure that I bring those items in still for those families to keep the tradition,” he attests. “That’s really important to me.” Even if that means having his team make 10 pounds of Mafalda pasta annually, for example, especially for the five families he knows use it for their Christmas Eve meal. “If I don’t have the Mafalda for them, they’re just going to lose that tradition and move on to something else.”
Everything at Sam’s is good, but a handful of dishes stand apart for their popularity: “our Italian sausage, that we make fresh here,” begins Nick, as well as the ravioli. “The Sam’s Special Sandwich is still the number-one selling item from day one in the whole market.” Dine on-site at Sam’s. Eat your lunch in the room tucked behind Nick’s Wine Corner, where self-seating and tables are plentiful and employees are eager to make your meal feel more like a restaurant experience, complete with wine. “You can pick up a bottle off the shelf, sit down and have your sandwich, and we’ll open it for you, get you a glass. You can have it, and then if you don’t drink all of it, we’ll seal the bottle back up into a sealed bag and you can take it home with you.”
“Our wine selection, that’s another part of our department,” Nick enthusiastically adds. “How can you have an Italian meal without wine?!” If you can stay a moment at Sam’s, plan to enjoy a glass either tableside or at the bar counter—Sam’s will open your bottle or pour a tasting for you right there. “We have our wine manager here that will complement each one of those wines with anything that we have,” he refers to the deli. “I try to have a staff that’s very well-trained and educated in helping people with their meals.” Just ask—Sam’s staff is eager to help customers come up with quick and easy spur-of-the-moment dinners, with wine, for a group of any size.
“Nick’s Wine Corner came about probably in the late ‘90s,” he shares. “I just became much more passionate about wine. We started traveling, drinking a lot of different varieties, and wanted to kind of step up the game that we had here in the market for a wine selection and program.” Nick started introducing a lot more Italian wines from all different regions and types. “We became really well-known for our California selection.” The selection changes constantly. “You can pick up your $10 bottle of wine or you can pick up your $500 bottle of wine, and everything in between—the whole spectrum.” Wine club subscribers get an additional 5% discount and notices about special offers.
Yet it’s not just the promos that keep Sam’s customers loyal. “We have been here for 43 years. That definitely says a lot about our staying power, and I think also the community,” believes Nick. “We have been really involved in the community. We try to help out anywhere we can, and I think that pays back. The community definitely understands that, and they like to support businesses that do that.” Proceeds from the sale of the Dogs Dig ‘Em Peanut Butter & Honey Dog Biscuits at Sam’s benefit the St. Francis Homeless Project, and the Animal Compassion Team was honored to confer a special recognition on Sam’s as their partner in rescue.
And then there’s the national recognition for Sam’s. Yelp’s Top-100 Restaurants list for 2023 ranked Sam’s Italian Deli & Market at number 68 nationwide. The list, which has now been around for 10 years, features 28 Californian restaurants, more than any other State, and Sam’s is the only Central Valley establishment that made the cut. “At first, I thought it was a local recognition number and thought, ‘That’s nice, we love all the recognition that we can get.’” It wasn’t until Nick started getting texts, emails, and saw it on the news that he realized what a big deal this was. “It actually took a while for it to sink in. The recognition to us means that our Sam’s formula must be working. I only wished my dad could have been around to appreciate it.”
Sam’s ability, and willingness, to adapt over the years surely contributes to their success. They’ve been a trailblazer in the Central Valley for over four decades now. “I think we stay at pioneer because we try to stay ahead of all the trends, and we’re bringing new products in all the time,” professes Nick. “Even our menus will change.” Vodka sauce wasn’t really a thing until about 10 years ago, and burrata is a relatively new trend. Now, both are available at Sam’s. “I think you have to change with the times like that.” Nick would love to make their own mozzarella in-house. “But implementing a new item takes a lot longer than it did before,” now that Sam’s is, blessedly, so busy.
With Nick at Sam’s helm, the deli and market seems destined to remain a Central Valley landmark for years to come. “When my dad opened the place up, there probably were a dozen Italian delis around, so he was in a little bit of a competitive market,” reflects Nick. “But I think what made us different from the rest was we were willing to bring in some of the specialty items that were not available in the Central Valley. And then, we also emphasize, again, the quality of the product that we brought in.”
Nick and his wife Kathryn have three children. “We’ll see what the next generation brings,” he wonders. “I think I’ve got some that could do a great job. I think they’ve got the palette and the drive to do it.” But it’s more than that. “You gotta have it. You gotta love it,” Nick says with conviction. “If you work at it, and you love what you’re doing, you’re gonna make a living from it. And you know, you can pass it on to your children, and it can be a family operation without problem. But you got to have it. You got to be passionate about it.” Without a shadow of a doubt, Nick Marziliano has it in Sam’s Italian Deli & Market.
Editorial Director Lauren Barisic
Photographer Ellie Koleen
Wardrobe and styling provided by Patrick James.
Ellie Koleen
Photographer
Ellie is a lifestyle, wedding, and brand photographer based in Fresno, California. An artist behind the lens, her trademark airy, light-filled style and masterful camera angles make her work easily recognizable. She uses her love for all things design related as inspiration for her work. The Fresno Bee named Ellie Best Photographer for the People’s Choice Awards in 2018 and 2019.
