JP Graziano’s February special, the Muffaletta
In celebration of Mardi Gras, for the month of February J.P. Graziano (who make what is my absolute favorite sandwich in Chicago, and who are part of the inspiration for this site) are offering a muffaletta sandwich in addition to their regular sandwich menu. The muffaletta is a signature item in New Orleans cuisine and though I was late to the party, I finally heard about its availability today, just in time to get one for Fat Tuesday. Boy am I glad I did.
Jim Graziano is very proud of this current incarnation of his muffaletta, and deservedly so. In addition to genoa salami and sharp imported provolone (my favorite), he’s using locally-made mortadella from The Butcher & Larder and a fantastic imported porchetta. As he was assembling my sandwich, he handed me a piece of wax paper cradling some incredibly thin slices of the porchetta and it was like trying to eat gossamer made of fatty herbacious pork only to have it melt on my tongue. So much flavor, yet so light, so subtle.
He started by laying the provolone down on some wax paper, then salami, mortadella, and porchetta. He then used the wax paper to invert this stack of meat and cheese onto a muffaletta roll provided by d’Amato’s Bakery that he’d dressed with a drizzle of olive oil. He then added his house-made olive spread over the cheese and, at my request, piled on a good portion of the house-made hot giardiniera as well. Cut in half and wrapped in plain white paper, the resultant package was quite literally the size of my head.
Pretty close, anyway
That’s when the fear set in–a fear that I was able to quickly overcome due to my dedication to sandwich-eating and my absolute selfishness.
It's a humbling moment when you realize you'll need help to finish a sandwich, but empowering when you decide no, fuck sharing.
— Sandwich Death Panel Czar (@JimBehymer) February 17, 2015
Take a look at the strata on this thing.
I majored in Sandwich Geology
You’re going to want to make sure you get to J.P. Graziano before February is over, ’cause this is not a sandwich you’ll want to miss.
A peek at the porchetta. Trust me, you want this
Jim G. says he’s got another sandwich in the works that will further showcase this amazing porchetta which, to be honest, gets a bit lost in the strong flavors of the muffaletta. I’m looking forward to that, but I would not hesitate to get another one of these.
Next time I’ll probably share it though.
I like sandwiches.
I like a lot of other things too but sandwiches are pretty great
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