Joe Kishfy, pointing, owner of the Academy Supermarket, talks about its very profitable deli department.

Some might be tempted to write off Chalkstone Avenue as a viable, vibrant neighborhood when viewing the abandoned Castle Cinema with only the L and E still standing on one side of the sign.

The area of Chalkstone bordered by the intersections at River and Academy avenues has other abandoned businesses and homes to be sure, but it also has some fun food spots and the promise of even more.

This is the place Tommy’s Pizzeria has called home for 53 years. It’s where, eight years ago, the Mattielos relocated Pranzi Catering and Café and watched their busy business grow and added a darling casual restaurant. It’s where Guatemalan-native Byron Juarez opened a bakery five years ago and where Juan Garcia opened La Poblanita, a Mexican bakery, long before that and continues to expand his business by enlarging his space. Soon a young woman will open a Laotian and Thai restaurant next to an Asian market.

Looking for a taste of the world along Chalkstone? You can go to Rafi’s Market (No. 916) for a homemade empanada for a snack; order a $4.75 luncheon special at China Garden (No. 1011); have an Asian dinner at Thai Star Restaurant (No.1088); or enjoy tamales and pupusas, El Salvador’s version of the tortilla, at Rincon Salvadoreno Restaurant (No. 1019).

And if you want to save money on your meat or deli bill, you could do some serious grocery shopping at the bargain-filled Academy Market.

Here are a few of the neighborhood stories.

Lisa Mattiello wanted to grow her Pranzi catering business and Chalkstone Avenue gave her the opportunity. She had to convince her husband Nick that the mess of the building that was a beauty salon at 996 Chalkstone Ave. was a good investment and she should move from Seekonk.

It paid off. Today, the couple work together (Nick left a job in the food distribution business as Pranzi has grown) and they’ve even purchased the coin-operated laundry next door. What started with Lisa as a one-man band has now grown to a staff of 50 which increases to 90 at the height of wedding season. She hires many workers from the neighborhood. Recently she gave a presentation at nearby Mt. Pleasant High School and has since hired three of the students.

She is open about her goal to revive the neighborhood and make it viable for business. Working with the city, she’s found there’s grant money to add benches and signage.

“It makes it nice for people who live in the neighborhood,” she said.

Ninety percent of Pranzi’s business is catering — weddings, business luncheons and more (Nick has been known to pack up a party and deliver it to Westerly in 45 minutes). But the building on Chalkstone gives them a nice café space to offer some 15-30 dishes for eat-in (weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday) or take-out. There are chicken and pasta dishes, soups, sandwiches all from chef John Calia and a wide variety of desserts from baker Joe Gesualdi.

Pranzi was recently in the news as one of 32 hospitality companies awarded the first Green Hospitality Certifications by Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management.

Tommy Sacco is the third generation — and the third Tommy — to run Tommy’s Pizzeria at 936 Chalkstone Ave.

His grandparents Tommy and Eva lived in a house at that address while his grandfather worked in a mill. They converted their basement into a deli and pizza shop, living the American dream to build their own business. They both worked in the shop as did Tommy, starting at 15, and his father, also Tommy, who ran the business for many years.

In 1976, they celebrated America’s Bicentennial along with everyone else and renovated the space and decorated with an Americana theme that still is there today.

“Every time I try to change the décor, I hear it from my fourth-generation customers,” said Sacco. They tell him stories like “When I was dating my husband, I carved my name into the wall.”

Customers feel that if he changes anything, he’s changing their memories.

Back when his grandfather opened Tommy’s, the neighborhood was predominately Irish-American and the Pizzeria was where everyone went after dances and the like. Most of those folks moved out of Providence and into the suburbs but they still come back to Tommy’s, he said. They find the same pizza and sandwiches, and take-out boxes piled by the front door, but new homemade soups have been added to the menu.

In a few months, Sacco will open a second Tommy’s in Cranston on Oaklawn Avenue where Barney’s Bagels used to operate. There he will be able to design his own décor and an updated menu, but one with all the favorites. On the walls will be photos of his grandparents.

Thriving is Academy Super Market at 1052 Chalkstone Ave. Joe Kishfy, who has owned the business since 1987, has a large butcher shop, a busy deli and a big selection of prepared foods for take-out.

By building up sales volume, he said he’s been able to keep prices on the low side.

“The neighborhood relies on us for quality and price,” he said. “This is a neighborhood-oriented business.”

The changing demographics of the neighborhood from Irish-American to a league of nations with people from Bolivia, Colombia and Puerto Rico, has compelled him to change his product mix and create his own niche. He offers, not so much the specialties that ethnic markets serving only one group sell, but the basics like meats with which every culinary culture cooks. Half of all his sales are from the deli and butcher shop.

By having butchers cut all the meat and serve it from a chilled case rather than individually packaged, he keeps his prices down and passes that savings on to customers.

Byron Juarez’s Bakery El Quiche is a small ethnic market with Guatemalan specialties and cheeses from a variety of Latin countries. But it’s also where you’ll find some of the best-smelling sweet breads you can imagine. The aroma of freshly baked bread wafting out of his store at 1070 Chalkstone Ave. draws in visitors. Though the variety of breads is extensive, Juarez said they are all similar and enjoyed for breakfast.

La Poblanita started as a bakery at 273 Academy Ave. and now has added buildings to the corner of Chalkstone Avenue. There one will find a large selection of sweet breads at 50 cents a piece. But there is a full butcher shop, bins of chile peppers and spices, and a take-out business for lunch items too. Owner Juan Garcia said he is continuing to enlarge his store as space becomes available. His wife works at the counter for this family business which has grown to the point there are large delivery trucks bearing the name of the bakery parked in the neighborhood.

Some spots aren’t so easy to find. Three months ago, Nueva San Salvador, a bakery and small market moved in at 1075 Chalkstone Ave. The space was vacated by Domino’s Pizza as it moved down to No. 1010 but the sign remains on the old building. It obscures the banners bearing the name of the new market run by a family from El Salvador. Bergelina Medina is working at the bakery with her husband and son and is very patient when describing all the breads, pastries and cookies that fill the long display case. With her bargain prices you can try one of everything and only spend a few dollars. The aroma of sugar fills the air while fruity sodas of strawberry and orange occupy a refrigerator.

Khamvene Khamsomphou came to Rhode Island from Laos and runs her tiny market, Vene Mini Market, at 954 Chalkstone Ave. The store is packed with Asian specialty items, but she doesn’t want to talk about herself. Instead she is a public relations machine for her niece Chindavanh “Kat” Sounthonevat, who calls herself Cat. Cat is next door renovating the space that was Taste of Asia at 952 Chalkstone Ave.

The Lao Thai Kitchen will be her first restaurant. She learned the space was available just after she returned from three months in Laos and Thailand.

“I felt like I stepped back in time seeing people cook,” she said.

The trip inspired her to join with her father, Lu, who had been a chef in California and in Rhode Island at Haruki, to run her own restaurant. It should open in the coming weeks. The menu is large, varied and cross-cultural. Appetizers include Nime chow, Tod Mon Pla, a Thai snack made with minced fish and Thai spices. Soups specialties include a Laotian Hot Pot made with slices of beef sirloin, shrimp and clear noodles and Khao Piak chicken, made with homemade Laotian flour noodles in a chicken broth. Pad Thai, Sizzling Seafood and Pad Krapow, sweet basil with meat or seafood, are on the entrée menu as is Laotian Larb Beef, minced sirloin mixed with rice powder, mint, lime and other seasonings.

There are signs of failed businesses along Chalkstone. A Peruvian-Bolivian restaurant is shuttered as is an Asian one. But with small business owners staking their claim to part of the food world with authentic dishes, visitors and neighbors will surely eat well.

Chalkstone Avenue slide show with more markets and people: projo.com/food

gciampa@projo.com