Latest news with #LaPecoraNera
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Menu Highlight: Mortadella is having a moment
One day, I looked up, and mortadella was everywhere. It's always been on the menu at my go-to sandwich spots — Rocco's Italian Deli and La Pecora Nera — but soon, it was also a topping on local pizza specials. Then it was in a sandwich at the hip new 10-seat wine bar in one of the city's swankiest hotels. It turned up in other cities. At bakeries and on cheese boards at fancy restaurants. I became attuned to the deli meat's ubiquity, particularly in a town with a proclivity for corned beef. The pink sheets of cured pork are fitting for sandwiches. On a spectrum of deli meats, mortadella sits somewhere between bologna and spiced ham. It's salty and sweet, buttery and herbaceous, and spotted with fat, pistachios and various spices. Its balance in flavors makes mortadella perfect for layering with more pungent meats and bold ingredients, as in the muffaletta. The New Orleans staple sandwiches mortadella with saltier, more umami cured porks like salami and spicier varieties, such as capicola; a sharp tapenade and provolone between a round loaf of bread freckled with sesame seeds. But no mortadella sandwich of recent memory compares to the Spicy Mortadella at Tall Trees Café, a soup, salad and sandwich shop opened by Mike Finsilver in Ferndale last year. The space is adjacent to the award-winning Secret Bakery, where it often sources from-scratch breads. Finsilver is a master sandwich-maker, having worked at local joints like Mudgie's and the sandwich-focused food truck he co-founded, Satellite. The Spicy Mortadella allows the meat to shine on its own — no supporting cast, just ruffles of thinly sliced mortadella that eclipse a tough sesame seed semolina roll. Finsilver punches up the flavor with a Calabrian chili spread that stains the surface of the bread a shade of red-orange. Fresh herbs, namely parsley and dill, add depth to a crisp slaw of iceberg lettuce tossed in a creamy buttermilk dressing. The sandwich is perfect. It's simple yet decadent at once. Paired with a crisp cabbage salad topped with slivers of pear and a coconut chai sweetened with raw carrot juice, it makes for a light but satisfying lunch meal on a warm, spring day. Though mortadella is everywhere at the moment, the only place I want it is from a corner seat at Tall Trees Café. 817 Livernois Ave., Ferndale. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tall Trees Cafe is the only place I want to eat a mortadella sandwich
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
La Pecora Nera, an Italian deli with two metro Detroit locations, to open in Birmingham
An Italian deli noted for its signature sandwiches is opening a third location in early March. La Pecora Nera, which already operates in Detroit and Farmington, is heading to downtown Birmingham. On the La Pecora Nera menu will be its traditional Italian sandwiches and other sandwiches, plus salads, gelato, and coffee. La Pecora Nera translates to 'the black sheep" in Italian. Its website describes the place as 'where tradition meets culinary delight.' In Birmingham, La Pecora will take up about a 1,000-square-foot space at 135 Pierce St., the former home of Planthropie. 'It's right in downtown Birmingham, which we love,' said David Ayyash, one of the owners of the La Pecora Nera. 'It's a great community to be a part of.' Ayyash said they are excited to branch out. Their focus is on sourcing high-quality ingredients and products, he said. Become an insider: Subscribe to our Eat Drink Freep newsletter! 'Our sandwiches use the highest quality Italian meats and fresh vegetables,' Ayyash said. 'All our dressings are made in-house.' On the menu, La Pecora Nera features more than a dozen sandwiches with ingredients such as genoa salami, mortadella, and prosciutto. There are also breakfast sandwiches, and a trio of salad offerings. They also offer catering. In 2017, the first La Pecora Nera opened on Washington Boulevard in downtown Detroit. In 2023, a location in downtown Farmington opened. Ayyash is also an owner of the recently opened Chaos Burger in downtown Detroit. On Clifford Street around the corner from La Pecora Nera location on Washington Boulevard, Chaos Burger is known for its smash burgers. Chaos Burger is mainly carryout, though there is some seating. Its smashburgers feature a custom blend of beef sourced from Fairway Packing Co. in Fraser. You can order burgers as a single, double, or triple as a classic, Chaos burger with Chaos sauce, or a deluxe version. More: HopCat to open first Downriver location in Southgate Also on the menu are Chaos fries, described on its menu as ultra-thin fries topped with prime beef, whole milk American cheese, house-pickled honey jalapenos, sweet Vidalia onion, and chaos sauce. There are also French fries tossed in its house seasoning. Chaos is also known for its house-made honey pickled jalapeños. Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@ Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: La Pecora Nera set to open third location in Birmingham
