A Decade After Its Sudden Closure, Baysiders Mourn Salumeria

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — A decade after a family-owned Italian deli in Bayside suddenly shuttered, locals are still mourning the loss.

In April 2011, M&S Italian Food Specialists, a salumeria formerly located at 34-23 Francis Lewis Boulevard, left a sign in the window announcing its closure after 62 years of business.

“[Customers] were coming in hysterically crying,” third-generation owner Joseph Prestia told the New York Daily News about the shop’s last days in business. Now, over ten years later, locals are still lamenting the salumeria’s closure — this time on social media.

“Growing up I'd go get cold cuts and milk for my folks” wrote one Baysider on a neighborhood Facebook group, recalling that Prestia — then much younger — used to work behind the deli counter and ask about his parents.

“Parents shopped there all the time when I was a young kid,” commented another — one of the dozen or so locals who reacted and commented on a post about the deli.

And, M&S isn’t the only salumeria that Baysiders have been reminiscing about as of late.

Another post, this one about Bayside Salumeria, which used to be located at 40-02 Corporal Kennedy Street, garnered hundreds of likes and comments from former customers.

Several said that the shop used to sell the “best Italian sandwiches” and one commented that they got their morning coffee at the deli every morning.

“I remember and miss it every day,” wrote another.

Bayside Salumeria has been closed since at least 2014, according to Yelp.