Homemade Cutlets, Giant Meatballs and the ‘3.1’ Panini: Inside Steve Stellato’s Little Deli in King Acres Plaza

NORTH HAVEN — Tucked into King Acres Plaza at 69 State St., across a wide parking lot from the street, is a small deli with a big catering business. If you have been to a church reception, an office lunch or a party in town lately, the cutlets, meatballs or six-foot sub on the buffet may well have come from Stellato’s Deli & Catering.

Step inside and it is a compact room: racks of chips, a deli case, menu boards overhead and a steam table out front with hand-lettered red signs announcing “Homemade Chicken Cutlets,” “Homemade Giant Meatballs” and “Homemade Marinara Sauce.” Samantha, who calls it her favorite lunch spot, described it in a Google review as “small but cozy.”

The steam table at Stellato’s Deli with signs for homemade chicken cutlets, giant meatballs and marinara sauce

Steve’s deli

The name on the sign is the owner’s. State business records show Stephen J. Stellato registered the company behind the deli at 69 State St. in September 2010, under the name One Cute Too Cute DBA Stellato’s Deli & Catering LLC. Customers know him as Steve. When Dorothy wrote a Google review about a catering order for a memorial reception, she closed it this way: “Thank you, Steve and staff for doing such a wonderful catering job!!”

The deli bills itself as a classic Italian and American delicatessen, “serving Italian & American fare as it was meant to be served,” and its website promises food made fresh daily “just like you remember your grandmother making.” Its catering menu says every selection is homemade and prepared on site, and that the kitchen will try to make dishes that aren’t on the menu if you ask.

A specials list, every weekday since 2017

Here is something even regulars may not have noticed: Stellato’s has posted its daily specials on its website almost every weekday for nearly a decade. The first “Specials for…” page went up in April 2017, and the site now holds more than 2,300 of them. They also go out by email to anyone who signs up on the deli’s website and get shared to its Facebook page.

Each day there is a homemade soup ($4.95 a cup, $5.95 a bowl, $10.95 a quart) plus a rotating trio of sandwiches. In the specials posted since late May, homemade chicken noodle has been the soup of the day most often, followed by chicken Florentine, chicken tortellini and chicken orzo. Last Friday’s lineup, for example, was Coco’s Chipotle BBQ Chicken Wrap ($13.95), a Leaning Tower Panini with Genoa salami, provolone, roasted red peppers and arugula, and a Turkey Rancher with Boar’s Head turkey, Colby Jack and bacon.

Sides are made in-house too: homemade potato chips, hand-cut fries, macaroni salad, pasta salad, antipasto salad, cole slaw, tomato and cucumber salad and fresh fruit salad.

What locals say

Stellato’s holds a 4.7-star average across 131 Google reviews, and “friendly staff” is the topic reviewers raise most, mentioned 27 times. The reviews read like notes from neighbors.

Dorothy wrote that she ordered deli trays for about 80 people for a memorial reception at North Haven Congregational Church, and the food ended up serving 115. “The trays of assorted cold cuts on hard rolls or wraps were all piled high and presentation was beautiful!” she wrote, adding that the order arrived on time and there was enough left for people to take plates home.

Debra had been a lunch regular before she tried the deli for a party. “They blew away my high expectations for quality, taste and serving sizes,” she wrote, recommending the chicken cutlets, meatballs and eggplant rollatini.

Samantha’s order is the tuna melt and the southwest turkey wrap, and she wrote that “the service is always quick and efficient.” Christina wrote that Stellato’s makes “one of the best bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches I’ve had,” and told readers not to skip the Reese’s cookies. James, on his first visit, ordered the 3.1 Panini and noted there is “plenty of free parking in front of Deli.”

What to order

Prices below are from the deli’s online menus; specials change daily. Every photo shows food from Stellato’s, from its Google listing.

The 3.1 Panini ($13.95, or $10.95 on a roll). A fried chicken cutlet with thin-sliced prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, tomato and house-made pesto, pressed. James called it a “great sandwich, full of great flavors.”

The 3.1 Panini at Stellato’s Deli, a pressed chicken cutlet sandwich with prosciutto, mozzarella and tomato

Breakfast, from $3.95. An egg and cheese sandwich starts at $3.95, or $4.95 with bacon, ham, sausage or turkey bacon. Bigger appetites go for the Breakfast Bomb ($7.95), two scrambled eggs with your choice of three fillings on a hard roll or wrap, or the avocado toast and eggs ($8.95): two slices of toast with smashed avocado, tomato, red onion and over-easy eggs. The kitchen also makes its own corned beef hash.

Avocado toast topped with over-easy eggs, tomato and red onion at Stellato’s Deli

A specialty wrap ($9.95 to $10.95). The regular menu lists Buffalo chicken, grilled chicken Caesar, grilled vegetarian and southwest turkey with smoked Gouda, bacon and chipotle mayo, Samantha’s pick. Daily specials add more.

A deli wrap with lettuce, tomato and sliced meat from Stellato’s Deli

A spinach wrap stuffed with greens, tomato and sliced meat at Stellato’s Deli

A classic deli sandwich ($7.95 and up). Boar’s Head turkey, ham, salami, capicola and pepperoni start at $7.95 on a hard roll or wrap; house-roasted rare roast beef, fried chicken cutlet and lemon basil chicken salad are $8.95. The specialty list includes the State Street Ruben (spelled that way on the menu), BBQ pulled pork and the JMS Italian Combo with house-roasted red peppers and pickled eggplant.

A grilled deli sandwich on toasted seeded rye at Stellato’s Deli

Hand-cut fries and a cookie. The fries are cut in-house, and the cookies come up in reviews again and again.

A basket of hand-cut french fries from Stellato’s Deli

A large cookie from Stellato’s Deli in North Haven

A party sub by the foot. For a crowd, the catering menu (prices effective Jan. 15, 2026) offers giant subs in 3- to 6-foot lengths, from $21.95 a foot for turkey or ham to $27.95 a foot for the Italian combo, plus half and full trays of baked ziti, eggplant rollatini, chicken Frances, meatballs and sausage and peppers. Half trays feed about 8 to 15 people and full trays about 18 to 25, according to the menu. Even the dinner rolls are local: the menu lists them from Lupi-Marchigiano Bakery.

A giant party sub from Stellato’s Deli laid out on a table for a gathering

If you go

Where: 69 State St., in King Acres Plaza, North Haven
Hours: Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; closed Sunday (per the deli’s Google listing)
Phone: 203-239-5267 (call ahead for catering; the menu asks for plenty of notice for large parties)
Online: stellatosdeli.com, with the full menus, catering menus and the day’s specials

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