Add Italian market and deli to downtown's retail scene WHAT'S IN STORE >>

DOWNTOWN Fred- ericksburg has been without a grocery store for decades.

But new specialty shops such as Olde Towne Butcher and Pa Dutch Tea & Spice Company are helping to fill the void.

Now Luigi Castiglia, who has a restaurant on the corner of William and Charles streets, is about to add to their number.

He plans to open Bella Italia Market, Italian Deli, Bakery & Gourmet Food next door to Castiglias Italian Restaurant on Dec. 7. It will be stocked with a variety of imported and domestic Italian ingredients, sell boxed lunches featuring sandwiches made with Boar's Head meats, and offer catering.

"We're trying to establish more of a market than a restaurant," Castiglia said. "We'll offer the ability for a customer to come in and buy a pound of freshly made ravioli, or preorder [by calling 371-DELI] lasagna or chicken parmigiana and we'll make a platter for them."

Bella Italia's shelves and display cases will be filled with a variety of fresh and dried pastas, marinated vegetables, olive oils, cheeses, wine, pastries and gelato. It also will carry fresh pasta sauces made specifically for the shop, as well as eggs, bread, free-range turkeys and vegetables from several venders at the Fredericksburg Farmer's Market.

For the holidays, Bella Italia will sell gift baskets of such items as salami, Italian chocolates and panettone, a tall, cylindrical, fruit-filled sweet bread from Milan that's popular at Christmas.

"During the summertime, we'd like to put a little stand out front with tomatoes," he said. "It will make it look like Europe."

Castiglia isn't the only one opening a new food-related venture in Fredericksburg. Dixie Bones, a full-blown barbecue restaurant in Woodbridge, will launch a slimmed down version called BBQ Post 401 in late February in the former Lenny's Sub Shop and the vacant space next door in Westwood Shopping Center.

"The menu is going to be barbecue--pork, beef and chicken--coleslaw, homemade fries and iced tea and sweet tea," said Nelson Head, the family-owned corporation's chairman of the board. "These are all foods that we serve in our existing restaurant, but we serve more at Dixie Bones."

Paring down the menu at BBQ Post 401--the numbers are the last three in Fredericksburg's ZIP code--will allow him to hold down overhead and prices.

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