Salumi :: Seattle

Eyes glazed over when the man wanted a porchetta sandwich at Salumi. Pork pork pork and cured meats. Cannot deal with so much pork. I only wanted to pop by to order cured meats for the friends for the holiday season.

Salumi has been around since 1999. It was set up by Armandino Batali and his wife Marilyn, and nowadays, daughter Gina and son-in-law Brian D'Amato run it. Salumi at Pioneer Square has always been located round the corner from where Armandino Batali's grandfather's used to own a grocery store. Armandino Batali is Mario Batali's father; strangely Singapore is home to two of Mario Batali's restaurants at Marina Bay Sands. Errrrr both of which I don't bother hopping in often.

[Update- January 2018: Salumi had been quietly sold to a corporation to raise funds for expansion plans. The family eyes nation-wide distribution lines via e-commerce, and a brand new production facility. Dunno how long more Gina and Brian would manage it, although they still hold minority shares and a seat on the board. Mario Batali has been outed as an unapologetic bastard. He has stepped away from his restaurants, which carried his name, and those have been rebranded to carry the Nancy Silverton brand.]

Fresh gnocchi is served on Tuesdays. We didn't go on a Tuesday. I didn't get those little clouds of puffy goodness. :( It's a tiny eatery. Most people do take-outs. But if you want a seat, remember it doesn't work like how it does at home. At all tiny eateries, DO NOT CHOPE SEATS BEFORE YOU ORDER. Find a seat after you put in your orders.

The breads were fabulous. The shop offers an ox-tongue sandwich. We didn't want a sandwich. Asked if we could order it as part of the platter or something or pay for a few slices. The shopkeepers were very nice and said that they don't do that, but were more than happy to give us a few slices on our cured meats platter! YAYY. The ox-tongue was beautiful. I didn't mind a few slices of the different salami on the platter. But that wasn't my lunch. Muahahaha. It was more of sitting down with the man to his lunch.