Dairy Maid Ravioli

I love this place! I live in the city now and actually go there just to stock up on stuff like delicious ravioli’s and manicotti, sometimes for going on vacation too. It like fresh Italian home cooking and I love the woman who works there. She always asks about my family who used to live nearby who moved a few years ago.

I had business in the neighborhood and decided to shop at some of the Italian businesses that are in the area, so I stopped in at Dairy Maid Ravioli. I brought home the portobello mushroom and also the broccoli raab ravioli, as well as some fresh tagliatelle. My wife sauteed the raab ravioli in a butter /​olive oil /​garlic sauce and the results were fantastic. The next night we had the tagliatelle tossed with sauteed ramps from upstate and the meal was heavenly. I can’t wait to try the mushroom ravioli. The woman who waited on me was courteous, patient, knowledgeable and friendly. I will make Dairy Maid a regular stop every time I find myself back in the neighborhood.

Pretty good place but there are better in Brooklyn, I prefer Queen Ann Ravioli on 18^th Avenue and Pastosa Ravioli also in Brooklyn .what irks me the most is the service. I’m Italian. My girlfriend is Asian She picked up a bag of Pizza dough and asked the woman who worked there what kind of CHEESE it was, and the woman rolled her eyes and laughed with the other employees, .I hate rude service. It embarrassed my girlfriend. I’m sure they wouldn’t know the first things about Asian food. They better get used to it, that whole area is going Asian overnight, There is NO need to be RUDE and to make someone uncomfortable when they are in an Italian store learning about the great foods of my culture. I’m Italian and proud of it. I’ll never go there again. Aside from the RUDE woman who works there, the products are ok if you know what you are buying, I rate their ravioli ok, but NOT as good as Pastosa or Queen Anne. Also, the other two places are POLITE and not condescending if you are not Italian. The owner should fire them. I would.

I’ve always loved ravioli, but whatever reason I didn’t get into ravioli shops like Dairy Maid until the past year or so. Boy have I been missing out. Places like this make you wonder why you’d buy any other pasta. Dairy Maid is a tiny shop with some general Italian deli staples, as well a large variety of ravioli – around 20 varieties, some fresh and some frozen, but all freshly made. I was bringing the stuff all the way upstate and my family wanted to stick to the basics, so I just grabbed some cheese ravioli. It was $ 6 for a box of medium sized, which was actually really cool with old school retail branding. I got 2 from the friendly but clearly busy counter woman, and was on my way.
This was one of the best examples of fresh ricotta ravioli I’ve found. The ricotta was wet, with a clean taste to it that made it seem like it had just been made. It went perfectly with my Mom’s sauce, and I was forced to promise to get more. Now I don’t get down to this neck of the woods that often, but I definitely have another reason now. After eating around quite a bit, I can safely say that Dairy Maid is one of the best pasta shops in NYC. Go!

What a gem.
I love these kinds of places. When you reflect on «old school» New York, you think of mom & pop shops specializing in a food craft from the old country… Polish sausages, Ashkenazi Jewish pickles, the Ukrainian knish. Unfortunately these neighborhood staples are being replaced by Starbucks, Dunkins, chain drug stores and the other Staples.
In the late 1800s/​early 1900s, 4 million Italians emigrated to the U.S., mostly through NY. 4 million from a country of 14 million at the time. And while the Italian neighborhoods have gradually dissipated or been replaced with newer immigrant groups, there are still pockets and holdouts, swimming upstream against FreshDirect and a population who’d rather eat out than cook.
This is one such stalwart. Part store, with loads of dry goods and jarred/​canned items, they also crank out scores of fresh/​frozen hand made pastas which you can take home and cook right away, or put in the freezer. There are similar places in other parts of greater NY, so it’s not totally unique. That said, I’ve lived in several major Western U.S. cities and can’t recall anyplace offering real, fresh, retail ravioli — except in a can. Let alone 20 different types.
While I was in the store there was an early 20’s-something couple also shopping, speaking to each other in the thickest Brooklyn accents. Shame on me for thinking Jersey Shore casting. She had obviously never been there before and he was dutifully showing her the selection and explaining how everything was made daily. He then surprised me by switching to Italian and having an animated discussion with the staff. Something about an important family dinner and needing to impress. The staff member switched back to English and asked the young lady if she’d like their pasta to al dente, and then explained how to prepare it accordingly.
It made my day. Here was a young couple respecting tradition and intent on passing it on. May they have lots of kids who will grow up to be regulars at Dairy Maid, hopefully preserving a gem. In the meantime, go & buy some pasta here before the only alternative is Boyardee or Olive Garden. Forget tourist favorites. These are the places that make New York special.

Like an Italian bodega this little Italian makes ravioli plus sells imported pasta, olive oll, preserves is a mini gourmet shop. It always looked bigger when I was a kid, but is quite intimate inside.
We bought ravioli with fontina and aspargus. The ravioli was dusted with flour. Luckily, I cooked it perfectly al dente with some fresh made marinara sauce (I grew up in Brooklyn), This ravioli was slammin’. The fresh mozzeralla we bought was also salty, melty and lovely. Like Leos in Corona, Dairy Maid makes it’s pasta in small batches. Reall old school. Here’s to Ave. U.