Growing up in Throgs Neck, an Italian enclave in the Bronx, comedian Mike DeStefano wanted to be a mobster, and, for awhile, even got caught up in the infamous open-air drug markets of the South Bronx. But a lot has changed since then.

These days, DeStefano is a successful comedian who has performed on Showtime, at The Montreal Comedy Festival, and will be appearing at HBO’s Aspen Comedy Festival this winter. Because DeStefano’s act is greatly influenced by his hometown, we caught up with Mike at the Comedy Cellar in the West Village to hear about life above Manhattan. Here DeStefano offers his thoughts on tourists and trust-fund babies, parochial school and where to get the best Italian pastries and pizza:

How would you describe Throgs Neck to the uninitiated?
Mostly Irish and Italian. Tremont Avenue is the main avenue. I live on Vincent, it’s a nice, quiet street with trees, it’s sort of suburban if you can have suburban in the Bronx.

How does one get there?
You take the 6-train to the last stop and then you’re in Pelham Bay Park - then you’ve got to get a bus or whatever.

What’s the park like?
The park’s alright… a lot of Puerto Ricans there having picnics. It’s great - thousands of them.

Where did you go to school?
I went to St. Frances de Chantal in Throgs Neck and that was a sick experience. I hated Catholic school.

Were there a lot of people in your neighborhood who ended up involved in the drug scene?
Yeah, a lot of my friends growing up are either in prison, they’re wise guys, or dead. That’s the kind of environment I grew up in - we were criminals. We believed in crime, in taking whatever we wanted. There was no law, we grew up around the wise guy element - all the guys that had money and nice cars and shit were all wise guys. The mob leadership switches from borough to borough, neighborhood to neighborhood depending on who gets killed and when. Right now, a lot of it’s in my neighborhood but it’s been like that forever.

You grew up there during the 70s and 80s - how has Throgs Neck changed from then until now?
It seems to have been less affected by the gentrification going on in Brooklyn and around the city.

Gentrification being when white people move in?
No, when white people with trust funds move in.

Is there very much ethnic food in the neighborhood, or mainly just Italian?
Nah it’s still pizza and Chinese… I don’t really eat Chinese. That’s all you could get in my neighborhood-- pizza, Chinese, and Italian delis.

If you were going for a sit-down meal where would you go?
A place called Rao’s in Harlem… you can’t get in unless you know somebody, you have to be connected to someone

What’s your dish there?
Steak Pizzaiola.

There’s Little Italy in the Bronx, in Manhattan, and there’s sort of an unofficial Little Italy down in Bensonhurst [Brooklyn]. Would you say the Bronx has the best Italian food in the city?
There’s Arthur Avenue, which is called Little Italy in The Bronx, Morris Park Avenue, and my neighborhood - those are all the Italian sections. Arthur Avenue’s good, with a lot of amazing bakeries. Any bakery there is good.

What’s the best pizza place in the Bronx?
Well you know what, in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island you could walk into any pizzeria and have a good slice, but Louie & Ernie’s is probably my favorite in the Bronx. I live a block away.

Do you get any food tourists there now? I’ve started to see it showing up on a lot of web sites.
Nah, we don’t get no tourists in my neighborhood. I don’t think tourists think they can go to the Bronx.

Speaking of tourists, your shows often include a lot of heavy subject matter and rough language. How does that work that when you’re in Times Square and Midtown doing your stuff for tourists?
Well you know, these people all live in the woods in Nebraska, or wherever, but a lot of them don’t mind my act. Some of them are startled by it, but then I just tell them, ‘Look, you’re in New York, you fucking idiot.’ My act is influenced by my life experience, that’s where I get all my material from, the feelings and things I’ve experienced, and so the drugs and whatever suffering I went through fuels my act. So, yeah, you know you’re going to have you a lot of anger in my act-- things that piss me off I try to turn into material.

So, getting back to your neighborhood, you said there’s nothing but pizza, Italian delis, and Chinese food near you. What’s the best deli? The best deli is called Ann Clair’s, which is on Morris Park Avenue in the Bronx. Go in there and get an Italian Combo. Period. That’s what you ask for. It’s ham, salami, mortadella, pepperoni, and then whatever kind of cheese you want-- usually mozzarella cheese—oil, vinegar, lettuce, tomato. The bread is excellent, the cold cuts are good quality. Performing in clubs I eat late a lot, there’s a great Italian deli that’s open 24 hours, called Pruzzo’s.

What do you think about the Italian delis outside of the Bronx?
Oh, they’re hysterical. They’re just funny.

~Hunter Walker

See It:
For more from DeStefano, and for his live show schedule, check out www.puppiesandheroin.com.

Go There:
Louie & Ernie's, 1300 Crosby Ave, Bronx, (718) 829-6230
Pruzzo's, 2937 Westchester Ave, Bronx, (718) 863-5650