I wandered into Bottega Falai (267 Lafayette St) totally clueless. I was hungry, it was lunchtime and they have that minimalist all-white design with all items in tiny-bottles that just screams ‘European’, and my was I hungry for some European food. I looked around and didn’t see much of anything beyond the anemic little panninis in the cooler. Then I saw a cut-out of Ed Levine’s review of their Mortadella panini ($8) and realized I’d dun good. It turns out they actually do have a ‘sandwich menu’ on the back wall, in mostly illegibly various fonts, there are some options for sandwiches (meat n veg). For a fancy European coffee shop in soho, $8 for a sandwich ain’t bad at all.
The sandwich was wonderful. First of all, unlike their brethren across the pond, this sandwich was huge. Not American-obscene-huge, but European-huge. The focaccia was soft and fluffy and oil. The Mortadella was salty, wonderfully thinly sliced and *bountiful*. The mozzarella was actually flavorful and not the cold slug you often get. The tomatoes were pretty bland, oh well, three out of four ain’t too bad.
Simple enough to make, but wonderfully tasty ingredients
It’s a quarter loaf!
See, no short changing on the Mortadella
2 Comments
Man oh man does that bread look good. I’ve had a number of experiences lately pairing phenomenal bread with unimpressive-to-sub-par ingredients and it has been a wonderful reminder of just how g-d *good* good bread can be.
Delicious,but learn to spell:
M O R T A D E L L A
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