“Our Kitchen, Your Table”
By Clementina Verge
What’s for dinner at the end of a long summer day? Just about anything your taste buds crave because The Local Gourmet Kitchen & Market in Southbury prides itself on providing customers with a large selection of fresh, high-quality homemade food.
Garlic herb roasted salmon? Eggplant parmesan? Penne alla vodka? Displays are always stocked with deliciousness.
“We rotate our menu daily so our selection is always fresh,” declares owner Christy (Buso) Greco. “I am extremely hands on, spending most of my days at my table cooking in the kitchen. I am on site cooking in Southbury five days a week and I spend one day at our sister store, The Local Gourmet Cafe in Middlebury. I have a great support team behind me, but all of the food that comes out of this kitchen are my recipes or recipes I have adapted over the years from different cookbooks, magazines, and social media. I like to challenge myself every day.”
The result is a variety of foods that ensure exciting options, but also traditional comfort foods. When one dish sells out, Greco and her staff prepare another, while fan-favorites like sauteed shrimp, chicken pot pies, and macaroni & cheese are always on standby.
Brimming with locally-made and gourmet grocery items, including ice cream, chocolates, cheeses, honey and dips, the market is a desired destination for prepared dinners, soups, assorted sandwiches, grab & go salads, and a large variety of gluten-free options, including homemade meatballs and lasagnas. From beef stew gnocchi or bourbon glazed chicken, to vegetarian cuisine such as new grain bowls or shiitake noodles, Greco and her staff cook up something for truly everyone.
“When I see customers out at the case, I always enjoy hearing what their favorites are, or if there is something they are looking for that we haven’t had in a while. We rotate a lot of items based on seasonality, as well. It gives me great pleasure to know that we truly do feed the community,” explains Greco, whose store partners with the Southbury Food Bank every Thanksgiving, providing meals for Southbury community members who are in need.
Greco’s journey in the food industry started as a register clerk at age 15. She worked her way up from a server to a new restaurant opening trainer and corporate intern for a larger restaurant chain. To date, she has opened three successful food businesses of her own, and together with co-owner and General Manager Ashley Bugnacki, she is proud to have grown them through natural disasters, power outages, and most recently a pandemic, and continue sharing her love of food and passion for cooking.
“The Local Gourmet is a culmination of everything I have learned over my years in food service,” Greco states. “Every step has been a lesson that led me here. I couldn’t be happier with what this store and our sister store in Middlebury have become, and I look forward to serving everyone delicious food made with love. ” —thelocalgourmetct.com
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