Salumi

I've never been to Babbo, mostly because I haven't made it to New York in a really long time. I do have Mario Batali's most recent cookbook, though, and have made a couple of dishes from it, using meat from Mario Batali's dad's salumeria/deli in Seattle, Salumi. This week I finally made it to Salumi for lunch--it's only opened 20 hours a week, and I'm usually at work when it's open. We missed the ferry we had originally planned to take, so we didn't make there until around noon, which meant that we stood in the line that snakes out the door and onto the sidewalk. Once you get inside the door, it starts smelling really good. You order at the counter, and then if you're eating in you can find a spot at one of the tables. There are a couple of little tables and one long table. There are lots of people in line at lunchtime, but there was table space available because so many people take theirs "to go." They serve sandwiches, platters o' meat, and various other items. I had a porchetta sandwich, served on a baguette, which was really good. It wasn't quite as good as the one I had at that stand (where WAS that stand, and could I find it again?) in Florence, probably because the latter was just cut off the pig and served on one of those round Italian rolls rather than a baguette. Debbie had the Salumi Platter, which had various cured meats, some gorgonzola, fresh house-made mozzarella, some hard cheese (parmesan?), some olives, and a bit of bread. We also had a plate of roasted red and yellow peppers. They do sell wine, served in 1.5l bottles on the table--grab a tumbler and go for it. Magnifico!