Lunch at Salumi

[Ye-Ye Girl]

Yum, I had that sandwich a couple of weeks ago. It was bizarre (but not unpleasant) to taste vanilla in a meat product. The leftovers were good the next day, too!

[Blue Heron]

I enjoyed a flavorful grilled lamb w/roasted red pepper & grilled onions sandwich today. The only complaint is the one many of us have made before... too much bread (they should consider another sandwich roll all together I and another eGer were musing, or maybe serve them all on baguettes?). mb70 and I have learned a decent trick to get around their thick sandwich rolls. You remove half the thick bread and then fold your sandwich over. Messy, but delicious sandwich, and the flavor of the meat shines through instead of being overwhelmed by bread.

Klink's cottechino sandwich looked fabulous as did someone's meatball sandwich. I would order either of those next time.

Jim... once again, I did not see a short rib sandwich on the menu. I wonder what's up with that? They also did not offer a pork belly or pork cheek sandwich today, either. Hope you get to feeling better soon Jim.

[col klink]

From what I hear, you basically have to know the family these days. They used to have a 2 year waiting list and then stopped taking reservations.

edit: This is what Armandino does for his retirement; the fact that he serves dinner on occassion is a blessing to the blessed few who get to experience it. What's cool is that it's not a matter of having more money than anyone else, it's a whole different level of exclusivity.

Edited March 14, 2003 by col klink (log)

[Blue Heron]

From what I hear, you basically have to know the family these days. They used to have a 2 year waiting list and then stopped taking reservations.

edit: This is what Armandino does for his retirement; the fact that he serves dinner on occassion is a blessing to the blessed few who get to experience it. What's cool is that it's not a matter of having more money than anyone else, it's a whole different level of exclusivity.

Since his dinners are so exclusive (which is understandable), it's a bit of a tease for them to post the full mouth watering menu on the wall for everyone to drool over.

[nightscotsman]

Since his dinners are so exclusive (which is understandable), it's a bit of a tease for them to post the full mouth watering menu on the wall for everyone to drool over.

Tease!? Try cruel and inhumane. That menu looked amazing - including a break in the middle for "a walk in the park". I don't know if I would kill to have dinner at Salumi, but I might be willing maim.

And Schielke - just kidding, dude!

[col klink]

If you ever get the chance to try the stuffed veal breast sandwich, I highly recommend it (just like every other sandwich there). So very tender and tasty.

[nightscotsman]

Killer veal breast. Soooo teeeeennnnder!

Hey, I've got a question: some of the pancetta I bought has a bit of green mold on it. Is it still safe to eat if I cut the mold off? Or is that the best part?

[mamster]

Yes, cut it off and eat it. I mean eat the stuff left behind. It's cured with nitrites, so anything you find growing on there is benign.

[col klink]

I ordered some lamb prosciutto to go and it's out of this friggin' world. It has the same texture as pork prosciutto but has the gaminess of lamb. The gift of the garlic salami was also quite good but not nearly as mind blowing as the prosciutto. I was very tempted to order the guanciale & mozarella pizza but knowing I could barely finish the veal breast sandwich I didn't go for it.

[tighe]

I ordered some lamb prosciutto to go and it's out of this friggin' world. It has the same texture as pork prosciutto but has the gaminess of lamb. The gift of the garlic salami was also quite good but not nearly as mind blowing as the prosciutto. I was very tempted to order the guanciale & mozarella pizza but knowing I could barely finish the veal breast sandwich I didn't go for it. 

I had the lamb prosciutto sandwich last time I was there and agree that it is fantastic. I could have eaten it for days. I'm a big fan of lamb in general and wonder if the gaminess of it that I loved would turn some other people off.

There's something thats been bugging me about Salumi for a while and I hesitate to even bring it up because it certainly isn't going to stop me from going there. However, I have to say that the treatment I've gotten from Armandino himself has consistently ranged from luke-warm to downright rude. I've read numerous places about what a gregarious guy he is and have seen how people who I presume to be regulars get treated, so I'm left a little puzzled. Am I exuding the "I'm a prick" vibe without realizing it?, is it because I'm not a regular?, is there a secret password I need to mention?

[trillium]

From the gossip I've heard (it's second hand) Armandino has some health problems and his family is trying to get him to cut back on working because it's stressing him out too much. He was supposed to be retired! Maybe you just caught him on a bad day a couple of times. I'm not a regular, but when I went I was badgering him about a bunch of stuff and we were comparing notes on olive curing, and why American won't eat raw pancetta etc. He was very gregarious, but still had that vibe that reminds me of my grumpy Italian grandpa (my partner is still terrified of grandpa, without reason...). I wouldn't take it personally. My mum goes to pick up stuff for me regularly, and it's just him.

regards,

trillium

[aaustin]

So sorry if this is the wrong salumi thread to post this question, but honestly there are just too many and I quit looking after 4 pages!

Question: Does anyone know if Salumi is usually open during the holidays or do Armondino and co. take a week off? It will break my heart if they aren't open when I'm home for the holidays so I thought I'd check ahead of time....

[little ms foodie]

So sorry if this is the wrong salumi thread to post this question, but honestly there are just too many and I quit looking after 4 pages!

Question: Does anyone know if Salumi is usually open during the holidays or do Armondino and co. take a week off? It will break my heart if they aren't open when I'm home for the holidays so I thought I'd check ahead of time....

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I would call them and check!

Contact Info

[ScorchedPalate]

Please let us know what you find. We want to get some provisions for New Year's.

~A

[vengroff]

I stopped by for lunch last week and they were closed. The sign in the door simply said, "Closed," with no indication of when they would reopen for business.

[ScorchedPalate]

Contact Info

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Actually, that's the info for the commercial operation; the store/deli is (206) 621-8772. But, unfortunately, there's no word on their machine about when they'll reopen. Wah!

[aaustin]

I did call before I posted--I guess I should've mentioned that.

So, if Salumi is closed over the holidays, would you all recommend I pick up sandwiches from Baguette Box or is there another good place around that I don't know of. The Other Coast in ballard is too far to drive for me...

Edited December 22, 2004 by aaustin (log)

[MsRamsey]

I did call before I posted--I guess I should've mentioned that.

So, if Salumi is closed over the holidays, would you all recommend I pick up sandwiches from Baguette Box

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A bunch of us did that once, and it worked out great. Get a big variety of sandwiches, cut them all in half and put on serving platter. It will cost a lot more than a plate of salumi, though, which turns out to be pretty darn cheap because you get beaucoup slices in just one pound.

[lala]

I just called, and got a live person. They're open this week, closing at 2:00 on Friday, then closed next week.

[aaustin]

I did call before I posted--I guess I should've mentioned that.

So, if Salumi is closed over the holidays, would you all recommend I pick up sandwiches from Baguette Box

←

A bunch of us did that once, and it worked out great. Get a big variety of sandwiches, cut them all in half and put on serving platter. It will cost a lot more than a plate of salumi, though, which turns out to be pretty darn cheap because you get beaucoup slices in just one pound.

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I just looked and didn't see a post in the baguette box thread but I'd love to know which of the sandwiches you thought was best.

[mamster]

Meatball, drunken chicken, and kobe beef are my favorites. The latter only appears occasionally. We once had a pork confit sandwich that was awesome; the braised pork with red wine isn't that great, though.

[reesek]

i finally made it to salumi. what a wonderful first impression.

i got the hot lamb sandwich (it was between that and porchetta...next time i'll have porchetta) and a meat and cheese plate to take home. the m&c plate is massive. for 12.50 i think i got 4 or 5 slices of 12 different things. maybe i'll photograph them and someone can tell me what i've got?

the cashier today was armandino's ...brother? looks a lot like him...i think the name was bill - not sure but he was so nice. i was delighted. as i was leaving (we even managed to snag a table - beginners luck no doubt) i wished him a happy holidays and he came out from behind the register to bestow cheek kisses!

the lamb was good - not amazing...not quite heated enough for me to be a "hot" sandwich, but i opened my m&c plate (you should see me with presents) and a piece of something magically delicious found it's way into my mouth. so intense!

visions of finnocchio dance through my head.

oh - on the board it said gnocchi on tuesdays (not sure why or if it's permanent, but thought you should all know)

[Fay Jai]

It gets talked about enough here, it may as well have its own.

For real and I promise and if I don't do it I'll...I don't know, I'll think of something, FULL report (and hopefully pix) of my visit to Salumi on Monday the 17th.

I'll post it to this thread.

OH! And after next Thursday, I'll post what lunch was. The owners of Pagliacci are taking us there so that we can "get to know" the product.

Yeah, I'll get to know a lot of "the product". The Fast starts now....

Edited January 22, 2005 by Fay Jai (log)

[Fay Jai]

Ok... here goes...

Here for pix...

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=mo...album&album=664

Hope that it takes you where I think it will. Looks like I was an idiot and posted the pix in reverse order...Sorry, (It's my first time! )

So, Matt, Jeff and I went down to Salumi and arrived about 9 am. Armandino, Marilyn, Brian, Gina and Dewey and Jose were all at work already. Brian had us suit up and showed us around. BRRR....cold back there! Brian explained that it needed to be to keep the bacteria count down. It was very, um, white, too. Looked like a stripped down hospital. First thing that you see to your right is the curing room. My God. Seattle's very own Cathedral of Meat. High, high ceilings, and all manner of proscittos, salamis, sausages...Man, what a sight. We went into the spice mixing room first, where they made the different spice mixtures for the meats. Then, into the cold room, where we met Dewey and Jose and watched as Jose mixed up the sausage in the horizontal mixer while Dewey washed the casings. After mixing the Pig and the spices, into the extruder it went. This is where the fun started. Over the course of the next 2 and a half hours or so, we helped stuff and tie the Finocchiona, which we will be using on the Salumi Primo. I'll say this, for Dewey and Jose's sake I was glad that we were only there for a little while, as we were slowing them down . It was a lot of fun. Brian answered any of the questions that we had, and really had a good chuckle when I asked if it was ok if I posted on egullet about the visit. After that, he showed off the curing room and gave me some time to snap some pix.

After that, LUNCH! . Plate of Salumi, Spaghetti with meat balls, Gorgonzola, Provolone, and cream of tomato with macaroni. Man, it was good! Too Good, the food coma that resuled was what has delayed this post so long!

Hope that you are able to view the pictures!

Jason

[little ms foodie]

Thanks for sharing! Now when does that pizza go on sale??