☞ SHOP: Marrone Bakery in East Harlem

We never really got a chance to duck into the Marrone and Son bakery on 324 East 116th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenue, before it closed but the storefront that has been there since 1956 still stands.  There doesn't seem to be a lot of bakeries in town anymore that offer various kinds of fresh-baked breads (instead of cookies and cakes) and Marrone might do well these days since there are quite a few better restaurants that probably could use them as a wholesaler.  Word has it that they had great, brick oven-baked black olive loaf and prosciutto bread as part of the selection. This East Harlem institution was one out of four remaining shops that were still around today from the years when the neighborhood was mainly Italian.  Now there's only Rao's, Patsy's and Claudio's barber shop.  Get more details on the closing of Marrone back in 2007 from the New York Times: LINK.