DiFebo’s Market is a culinary experience that combines Italian cuisine, culture and community for the benefit of the Eastern Shore
Written by Ruth Corradi Beach | Photography by Marci Ryan
With colorful shelves brimming with jarred olives, peppers and olive oils—and tempting cooler displays with Italian meats, cheeses and ready-made lasagna—DiFebo’s is known for its deliciously immersive experience.
But beyond the prepared foods and full-service grocery store’s domestic and imported delicacies, the Bethany Beach market encourages patrons to immerse themselves in its weekly live demos of Italian culture and cooking.
Every Tuesday, DiFebo’s Market hosts a Live Demo & Tasting with Lisa DiFebo Osias, Bob DiFebo Sr, its fabulous bakery team and special guests. Their Demo & Tastings include dishes such as “Gnocchi vs Gnudi,” “Pumpkin Risotto,” “Lasagna Bolognese” or even demo’s such as Canning Your Crops 101. Megan Allen, DiFebo’s marketing manager, explains that each live demo and tasting “brings our community together. It’s an opportunity to learn and to do something different. It’s important for people to see that cooking is very achievable,” says Allen, “and that we cook with clean, authentic ingredients which make a difference.”
All of these ingredients are available in the market and used in the prepared dishes in the Grab & Go section. Locally-sourced chicken cutlets are big sellers at all locations. Broccoli rabe, chicken salad, and bakery-fresh scones are especially popular too. Hungry customers can choose from 11 seasonal varieties of panini sandwiches, from crispy eggplant to tender roast beef and caramelized onion.
DiFebo’s Market offers two styles of pizza, both made in-house like everything they serve. The wood-fired brick oven pizza is an 8-cut thin crust pie with playful combos like fig and prosciutto. The traditional Sicilian pizza, sold by the slice, features two varieties daily: traditional cheese, as well as a specialty (veggie, for example, or chicken cutlet Parmesan).
DiFebo’s Market’s offers fabulous second season specials such as Monday BOGO Pizza Day, Tuesday’s Ice Cream Happy Hour, $9 Cheesesteak Wednesdays, Thursday’s Family Meal Deal with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chef veggie and bread for $55, and Sunday Supper includes baked ziti, salad and bread for $55. DiFebo’s Market offers eight different homemade ice cream flavors that are made on the premises once-or-twice-a-week. You may find seasonal flavors such as Fifer’s peach pies in the summertime, apple pies in fall, chocolate covered strawberries around Valentine’s Day—and the list goes on.
DiFebo’s Market sources all of its ingredients with great care and expertise, whether from local growers or from across the globe. With family in Italy, owner Lisa DiFebo Osias travels there three or four times a year. The trips, according to Megan, are true research and development trips to her. Lisa tries different restaurants, takes photos to share with her staff, really does her research and takes her time, asking questions like “How do I get that to Delaware?”
Lisa is also intent on getting the Eastern Shore to Italy. Since October of 2023, she and her husband Jeff Osias, along with Lisa’s parents Charlotte and Bob DiFebo, have hosted twice-yearly Cooking & Culture Tours to Italy. These Italian excursions are open to the public and have included up to 30 people, including some members of staff.
“Lisa and Jeff have perfected the must-sees and must-dos,” says Megan. “We plan everything, from museum tours to exclusive hidden gems, to Vespa tours, wine tastings, cheese tastings and farm tours. Lisa and Jeff have made lifelong connections with people who live there and she wants people to see just how amazing it is.”
The trips are the DiFebo’s ultimate immersive experiences, organized with Lisa and Jeff’s overarching goal of sharing Italian culture and cuisine with people in their Delaware community. CS
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