Little Italy’s hidden gems

Parisi Bakery

Great pasta deserves to be paired with great bread. To score a loaf, we saunter down the road to Parisi Bakery (198 Mott St., 212-226-6378). The neighborhood institution is adorned with plaques and black-and-white sports pics.

"You want a nice Italian?" the tattooed clerk asks, holding up a long, crusty loaf. Nope, we want bread that's as unhealthy as a stick of butter. "Do you have any prosciutto bread?" we ask hopefully. He looks like we've just asked if we could shave his shoulders. "Of course we have prosciutto bread," he says, grabbing a browned circular loaf, studded with nubs of crisp, luscious meat.

"I was watching Richard Simmons on TV, and he was making lasagna with cottage cheese," he says. "That's not eating the right way. This"—he points to the prosciutto bread—"is eating the right way."