Gusto Deli & Bistro Debuts on Garnet Avenue with Grab-and-Go Pastas, Imports

Gusto Deli & Bistro, the brick-and-mortar outpost of online Gusto Grocery, opened on Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach in December and has been serving freshly made pastas and deli-style Italian sandwiches since the shop rolled out its sandwich-and-pasta program earlier this year. Founders Luca Colasanto and Frances Manai partnered with longtime friend Giorgio Corletti to run the food service side, converting the mail-order specialty market into a neighborhood retail counter and compact kitchen.

Colasanto said the response from the neighborhood has been strong. "The response has been fantastic," he said. "We already have a bunch of returning customers." He added that customers are traveling from outside the immediate area: "People are really willing to travel long distances to get access to some of the products that we carry." Reported shoppers include some driving from as far as Temecula to pick up imported pantry items.

Shelving at the Garnet Avenue shop is stocked with imported olive oils, dried pastas, cheeses, cured meats and other hard-to-find imports that mirror the brands listed on Gusto Grocery's online catalog. The in-store selection closely tracks the mail-order inventory and also features items photographed on site such as pizza slices for quick sale. Gusto Grocery's online operation continues shipping nationwide and its catalog includes meal kits and gift baskets in addition to individual imported staples.

Behind the counter a compact kitchen turns those same imported ingredients into simple pasta dishes and grab-and-go sandwiches to take out. The owners emphasize quality over mass-market deli fare, using the store's roster of imported cheeses and cured meats in both sandwiches and pasta plates. Pizza slices appeared in published photos of the counter, underscoring the ready-to-eat focus alongside packaged pantry goods.

Owners intend the storefront to act as a neighborhood hub where staff can guide customers on pairings and offer cooking tips while the online shop maintains nationwide delivery. After a long search for a location, the team selected Garnet Avenue for its Pacific Beach foot traffic and says the storefront model lets them showcase products they previously sold from a warehouse-cum-office near Morena Boulevard.

The soft-opening style debut has already drawn regulars who pop in for pantry staples and quick meals, and the team of Colasanto, Manai and Corletti is positioning the Garnet Avenue shop as both a local deli counter and a physical extension of their mail-order specialty market. With fresh pastas on the menu, a stocked pantry of imports and a compact kitchen focused on quality ingredients, Gusto Deli & Bistro aims to keep serving both returning customers and destination shoppers.