Marzullo Pastry Building

**UPDATE** 656 Grand now appears to host Tainos Cafe.

Hunched on the sidewalk like a small concrete bunker, 656 Grand Avenue is a one-story storefront built in 1962 by the New Haven Redevelopment Agency. The unassuming brick and concrete facade replaced a thriving pastry business in the heyday of urban renewal. The site has ample parking space, reflecting Grand Avenue's mid-20th century transformation into an automobile-centric streetscape. From pastries to pasta to its current specialty, Mexican food, the Marzullo Pastry Building represents a cross-section of the many building uses in the Elm City.

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Before the current structure at 656 Grand Avenue, this location hosted two three-story buildings with shops below and apartments above. One of the tenants was Marzullo Pastry, co-owned by Emilia Marzullo Esposito (also known as “The Marzullo Girl”). Marzullo Pastry had originated on Wallace Street in New Haven in 1907, and later moved to the Grand Avenue location.

The mixed-use structures on Grand were demolished in the early 1960s as part of the New Haven Redevelopment Agency’s Wooster Square project, which constructed permanent structures for bakeries (like Lubicello's further down Grand Avenue) in order to soften the disruption caused by urban renewal. 656 Grand was purpose-built for Marzullo Pastry, which had established itself as a New Haven landmark through its wedding cakes.

In 1981, Emilia's son Anthony closed the pastry shop. 656 Grand was then used for storage and office space. In 1989, the building was bought by William Rush Sr., who renovated the interior and exterior (architect was George Buchanan). Rush operated a roofing and urethane installation company called Urethane Application Inc. out of the newly refurbished structure. Rush sold to Patrick Palmieri, proprietor of Palmieri Foods Inc., in 1995; 656 thus became Palmieri’s Food Terminal.

Long before moving to Grand Street, the Palmieris had built a business off their home-style pasta sauces. After renovating the structure in 2005 and 2006, they sold it to Tortilleria de Michoacana, a restaurant run by Saul Novoa and Bianca Paez. Although the name remains, Tyquan Ford now owns 656 Grand, selling freshly made tortillas and what some call the city's best tacos.

The setting is a commercial avenue with many business buildings equipped with parking lots. Within walking distance of downtown, the property is embedded in an urban renewal–era streetscape. Its neighboring parking lot is one of many parking spaces between clusters of buildings characteristic of the reshaping of Grand Avenue to accommodate the car culture ushered in by the construction of Interstates 91 and 95.

The building is a brick masonry box with exterior walls built of cinder block and concrete. In 2005, the structure's occupant, Palmieri's Food Terminal, expanded into a single-story addition, designed by architect Anthony Giordano and built from cast concrete with a steel structure base. In 2006, architect Lou Rotondo submitted plans for a takeout-only restaurant. Renovations in 2007 included plumbing, electrical, and ventilation work for the kitchen.