Spencer Alben: On Arthur Avenue, also known as
New York City's real Little Italy,
you'll find the appropriately nicknamed
King of Mozzarella, who, accompanied by his son,
churns out the best mozzarella
and Italian deli sandwiches this side of the Atlantic.
Customer: Been coming here for about 20 years, and
it's the best Italian food on Arthur Avenue,
best mozzarella I've had,
even all across the country
and all across the world,
there's not better mozzarella than this place.
Spencer: Hey guys, it's Spencer,
and today, we are on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.
I'm super excited because we're heading over
to Casa Della Mozzarella.
This place is known for their epic hand-pulled mozzarella
and amazing Italian sandwiches,
so let's go check it out and meet the King of Mozzarella.
Walking into Casa Della Mozzarella,
you're instantly transported to Italy.
The narrow shop is full of dried pastas,
hanging deli meats, and, of course,
lots and lots of mozzarella,
which the owner and his son
make from scratch every single day.
With countless awards and media coverage,
Orazio Carciotto and his son Carlo are
now local celebrities,
but they didn't start out that way.
Carlo Carciotto: The story just
is incredible if you think about it.
I call it the American Success Story, the American Dream.
He came here from Sicily.
He was about 27 years old.
My mother said, "If you wanna marry me,
you have to move to this country."
He came here with no English,
and, slowly and surely,
he built his name through sacrifice,
through hard work, sweat.
Carlo: Special.
Carlo: Yeah.
Spencer: In the first years after he moved to America,
Orazio worked odd jobs, ultimately ending up here.
When the shop's original owner wanted to retire,
he helped Orazio buy the business.
It officially became Casa Della Mozzarella in 1993,
and the family's success has skyrocketed since then,
thanks mostly to the fact
that their mozzarella is really, really good.
Carlo: To me, mozzarella is like art.
I find food is art, of course, in general.
But for me, you know, we started
with a blank canvas, as you saw.
We started from just
a box of curd, and then we blended it, we molded it.
And then we just formed different things.
And as you see, throughout the process,
we'll form different shapes.
We'll do bocconcini as we're doing right now, knotting it.
We'll do mozzarella, we'll stuff things with prosciutto,
or the typical famous burrata,
it's been so famous of late.
It's so simple but yet it's not.
Spencer: One of the reasons they're
so successful is pure dedication.
In the early days, Orazio made everything himself,
working nonstop to ensure his products
were of consistent quality.
Now that Carlo is around, he's finally able
to take a small step back.
Spencer: How's it looking? Is he doing a good job?
Orazio: Very good.
Carlo: I learned from the best, I guess.
I don't know if I surpassed him yet.
We'll see in a couple years.
Now remember what I said, that, to me,
mozzarella is an art, because look how we just started.
We started with a canvas of curd, and now,
we have
a finished product.
Spencer: While everything starts out the same,
the finished product could be one of several things.
Carlo: Prosciutto mozzarella,
scamorza,
bocconcini,
burrata,
and, last but not least,
the traditional fior di latte mozzarella.
And here at Casa Mozzarella, we have a motto,
and it goes like this: "It's just different."
Just different, that's why I say, it's just different.
We wanna keep it just different.
It's just different.
Make sure you remember that.
Spencer: Obviously, we had to put it to the test.
One, two, three.
Wow.
Carlo: Spencer, Spencer, honestly,
it's just different, I think, right?
What do you think?
Spencer: It's just different. Carlo: It's just different.
At Casa Mozzarella, that's how we do over here.
Spencer: It's just different.
Can I have another one?
Producer: Do you have any words, Ben?
Ben: You know, it is just different.
Carlo: I told you, huh?
Cheers, salud.
Spencer: It really was just different,
and if the mozzarella was
that good on its own, I couldn't leave without trying it
on one of the shop's signature sandwiches.
What are your most popular sandwiches here?
Carlo: The most popular sandwich?
Boys, what would you say, the Casa?
Staff: The Casa, of course.
Carlo: The Casa, for sure,
which is mozzarella, prosciutto di parma,
sun-dried peppers, a little bit of balsamic glaze.
Kind of like, you go to McDonald's,
the Big Mac is the way to go.
Staff: Here you go, your Casa sandwich.
Spencer: Oh, thank you.
Staff: Thank you very much.
Spencer: Thanks.
We're gonna do this like real New Yorkers
and eat it right on the street because
that's how we do here.
Oh, yeah.
That is exactly what you want in a sandwich.
The mozzarella on there obviously is the main event.
I mean, that's why we're here today, and it definitely is
what you taste the most in the sandwich,
but for whatever reason, it's not overpowering.
It's creamy, it's light, and then, of course,
you get a little bit of that sweetness
from those sun-dried peppers in there,
which really just kind of brings it all together.
It's, like, a little salty from the meat,
creamy from the mozzarella,
and then a little sweet from those peppers,
all wrapped up into this beautiful bread.
I could eat this every day.
Customer: The cheese is incredible.
The prosciutto is really great.
The sandwiches are huge.
They keep me full the whole day.
Just feels really authentic.
Like, It feels like I could be in Italy right now.
Carlo: This, to me, represents what this city can do.
A man comes here from another country with a dream,
creates the dream, passes it down to his son.
I always said to myself, there's two main,
two main things in life.
Make yourself proud, and make your parents proud.
And when I go outside, that for me,
the biggest accomplishment would be,
people would say, "Hey Carlo, how are you?
You're doing good, you remind me just of your father."
I don't think I could have more accomplishment than that.