Zeppieri & Sons Italian Bakery

Carmine Zeppieri started as a baker in this Buhre Avenue shop and in 1968 made it his own — a two-person operation baking only bread. He married Ann, who worked the counter, and their three sons grew up in the back; by the early 1980s they were running it with him. Today Carmine Jr., known as Butchie, leads the bakery, with the next generation behind the counter and packing bread orders.

The cases are full of everything an Italian bakery can make — lobster tails, cannoli, strawberry shortbread, even a rainbow-cookie cheesecake — but the quiet star is the bread. Get a seeded loaf, a pane di casa, or the S-shaped rolls the bakery calls famous. Around Easter, look for the bread studded with candy eggs. It is a few steps from the Buhre Avenue station, so it makes an easy first stop on a Pelham Bay day.