ABOUT US
The idea for The Loyalist Market started in 1989 at the age of 7 years old. I had just moved from Winston-Salem to Pittsburgh, and like most kids, I didn’t know much about food or cheese. At that time, there wasn’t much to brag about in the US when it came to domestic cheeses and charcuterie. In fact, the most popular cheese was a single slice of a “Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product” in a plastic wrapper. Powdered macaroni and cheese was another favorite of mine. How things have changed…...
It wasn’t long after I moved that my mom took me to a place that changed the way I looked at food (and cheese) forever. I will never forget the barnyard aroma when I first walked into Pennsylvania Macaroni Company in the Strip District. Penn Mac is a very inspiring and special place to me. While some people walk in holding their nose - I kept wafting the smell closer, attempting to locate the source. As I walked through the front of the store, I was in awe of all the candy, pasta, coffee, breads, and olive oils that surrounded me. Then I turned the corner and saw this never-ending wall of cheese, the deli case full of Italian salumi, and the buckets full of olives. I was hooked. The cheesemonger that helped us that day was a wonderful woman that had been at the cheese counter for 5 years. She let us sample whatever we wanted and helped us choose a couple wedges of cheese and a stick of salami. I remember eating them with a locally baked loaf of bread from Mancini’s Bakery, dreaming that I wanted to surround myself with this for the rest of my life. I was on Cloud 9. This was perfection. Carol “Dearheart” Pascuzzi would go on to serve the family-run Italian market for another 26 years and retired as a local legend. Two years after her retirement, I’m finally able to make my dream a reality - hoping to share that same experience that I had as a little boy, with you.
It wasn’t long after I moved that my mom took me to a place that changed the way I looked at food (and cheese) forever. I will never forget the barnyard aroma when I first walked into Pennsylvania Macaroni Company in the Strip District. Penn Mac is a very inspiring and special place to me. While some people walk in holding their nose - I kept wafting the smell closer, attempting to locate the source. As I walked through the front of the store, I was in awe of all the candy, pasta, coffee, breads, and olive oils that surrounded me. Then I turned the corner and saw this never-ending wall of cheese, the deli case full of Italian salumi, and the buckets full of olives. I was hooked. The cheesemonger that helped us that day was a wonderful woman that had been at the cheese counter for 5 years. She let us sample whatever we wanted and helped us choose a couple wedges of cheese and a stick of salami. I remember eating them with a locally baked loaf of bread from Mancini’s Bakery, dreaming that I wanted to surround myself with this for the rest of my life. I was on Cloud 9. This was perfection. Carol “Dearheart” Pascuzzi would go on to serve the family-run Italian market for another 26 years and retired as a local legend. Two years after her retirement, I’m finally able to make my dream a reality - hoping to share that same experience that I had as a little boy, with you.
