The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
NEW EATERY OPENING SOON
Lockwoods opening fourth family business in the city
MIDDLETOWN >> Carmela Lockwood grips a pastry bag of whipped cream frosting and begins to pipe cherry-red flowers on a chocolate ice cream birthday cake, skirted with a lacy paper doily. She creates a nice fat rose at the center and finishes it off with a generous sprinkle of chocolate shots.
Her son Antonio, 20, and husband Matt, 42, intently watch her expert hand squeeze out the decorations one by one — almost like they’re a part of the process. And they are. The Lockwoods — who own Jerry’s Pizza and Matty’s Next Door on South Main Street and Carmela’s on the Extension near Middlesex Hospital — will open a fourth family eatery, Antonio’s Market & Catering, at 650 S. Main St., on April 10, across the street from Jerry’s and Matty’s, in the former South Side Market space.
The color scheme, red, off-white and black, is echoed throughout the four businesses.
Like Jerry’s, the pizzeria Carmela Lockwood’s father Jerry ran at the now Home Depot Plaza from 1968 until the couple bought it five years ago, Matty’s, and Carmela’s breakfast spot, this newest endeavor bears
the family name.
And customers can expect their trademark welcoming service.
“Everyone asks how this is going to be different,” Carmela Lockwood said of Antonio’s. “It’s still going to be a market but stepped up a little bit. We’ll have a variety of prepared foods to take home and reheat, and hot food to go for lunch — something quick for those who don’t have time to wait.”
The concept is a return to the days of true customer service: a place where anyone who steps through the door is treated like family.
“It’s going to be old-fashioned like that — a mom that comes in with her little kids, somebody’s going to carry her groceries,” Carmela Lockwood said. “If there’s that elderly Italian lady in the North End, her husband passed away, her kids are working, she needs groceries, we’ll deliver it there.”
Antonio, who helps out at all their businesses, still marvels at the idea of a namesake.
“When I was little and worked at Jerry’s, I never thought that I would have a place,” said the Coginchaug Regional High School graduate. “The sign got put up yesterday, so seeing the sign — it was definitely cool to look across the street and see my name.”
“We are a team, a family team,” said Matt Lockwood. “Antonio will eventually take over the businesses. I’m building this for my kids,” which include sons Terry, 15, and Matteo, 14.
The Lockwoods are indebted to their son. “It’s because of him that we’ve been able to have the food truck and Carmela’s because he’s been so involved in both restaurants,” his mother said.
Already in the 4,000-square-foot shop, Scalfani pasta, sauce, beans and vinegars share shelf space with a variety of extra virgin olive oils, biscotti, San Pellegrino Chinotto, Lavazza espresso and Scappi Red Bitter. By opening day, there will be a butcher, deli counter, small selection of baked goods, seafood — cod, shrimp, mussels and more — homemade bagels, including rainbow; and heart-healthy and vegan options. Carmela Lockwood, 36, a Mercy High School alumnae, said there will be signature paninis, grinders, fresh salads, Jerry’s Sicilian pizza, Boar’s Head cold cuts and cheeses, pierogies, Spanish selections, kielbasa, rotisserie chicken, chicken legs, ribs, homemade pasta and ravioli — even gluten-free soups.
Gluten-free, something the family has discovered over at Jerry’s Pizza, is a quickly growing market.
“When I make chicken noodle soup, I don’t put pasta in until they order it,” Carmela Lockwood said.
“And we thicken it with cornstarch instead of flour,” Antonio Lockwood added, so those who can’t digest gluten can enjoy a hot bowl.
“I didn’t want this to be a cookie-cutter Italian market. It’s more than that,” she said.
Every day, there will be a special: meatloaf, pasta, hot dog, pot roast and more, Matt Lockwood added.
“If you came in here for some Land O’Lakes cheese and you realized you forgot something, you need peanut butter, macaroni and cheese,” customers can find it at Antonio’s ... “just a few things, not a ton of stuff,” Carmela Lockwood said.
“I think the town needs a place like that,” said Matt Lockwood, who graduated from Vinal Technical High School.
“Because of people’s busy lives, and your kids have sports, and this and that, you don’t want to feed them Kentucky Fried Chicken all the time, you don’t want to feed them McDonald’s,” Carmela Lockwood said.
“It’s like we’re taking care of everybody in Middletown for every meal. You can get something reasonable at Carmela’s, you can get your cold cuts and simple sandwiches here; at night time, if you need dinner, pizza, you’ve got Jerry’s; then if you want to go out for date night, you’ve got Matty’s. Really, it’s kind of all there,” she added.
The couple’s younger boys are still in school so don’t work in the restaurants. “They work on driving me crazy,” Matt said with a laugh. “They want to help. They’re young, so they think they’re coming down for a half-hour and busting my (chops), and then when they’re all done working for a half-hour, ‘Can I get money?’” he joked.
Matt Lockwood has dreamed of making sure city residents get their ice cream fix year round. “I was looking at the empty building next to Jerry’s. I wanted to do an ice cream shop over there,” he said. “Then I finally got an opportunity here and put everything under one roof here.”
Antonio’s will have 14 flavors of Giffords hard ice cream, including sugarfree flavors, and a soft serve with 10 percent butterfat.
Carmela Lockwood can’t wait for customers to taste the gluten-free, handmade cones from the Conery in Brooklyn, New York, in red velvet and birthday cake flavors. The woman-owned business, she’s happy to report, has its products in six states.
The expansive kitchen will allow them to prepare all their catering orders there — and for once have an ample amount of room.
“We do a decent size catering between Jerry’s and Carmela’s. In Jerry’s kitchen, what you see is what you get. It’s a line. That’s it. There’s no back magic kitchen where we have all this room,” said Carmela Lockwood.
“Sometimes on a Friday at 5 o’clock, we’re in the middle of doing all the normal business for the bar, for the delivery, for the inside, and then we have maybe 150 people to feed for a catering order. Then we’re all fighting for this two square feet of counter space; it’s just crazy,” Carmela Lockwood said. “So now, anything that’s not pizza can be made here.”
The philosophy is the same at every eatery, Matt Lockwood said. “All the food I serve my customers, I’ll feed my family. I take pride in my cleanliness and take pride in my our businesses. If I’m not happy with the product, I don’t serve it. I won’t serve that item, I throw it away.
“I may lose the money but I don’t lose the person.”