6 Sandwiches to try at Francolini’s, New Orleans’s New Italian Deli | Eater New Orleans
"At 3987 Tchoupitlouas Street I discovered Francolini’s, which opened to much fanfare in mid-July and offers 20 glorious sandwiches (14 hot, six cold) rooted in owner Tara Francolini’s New Jersey deli upbringing. The menu includes Italian-style sandwiches piled with prosciutto cotto, mortadella, salami, capicola, prosciutto di Parma, speck, hot and sweet soppressata, and rare roast beef; stacked options with chicken cutlets, pork and beef meatballs, grilled thin-sliced chicken, and sweet or hot crumbled sausage; and vegetarian choices layering portobello mushrooms and roasted red peppers with fresh mozzarella and arugula, plus an eggplant parm completing a trio that also features chicken and meatball parm. Common accoutrements—marinated artichokes, Calabrian chili vinaigrette, fennel salad, Italian salsa verde, sweet pickled garlic, and spicy broccoli rabe stems—help define each composition, and the bread is a point of pride: a sub roll recipe developed over months is baked by Ayu Bakehouse for hot and cutlet sandwiches, while the in-house focaccia for cold sandwiches is “super pillowy and soft” and makes a massive sandwich. I learned the shop was created with business partner Cesar Nunez after a successful pop-up pick-up out of the Rabbit’s Foot, and that the fanaticism around the sandwiches comes less from novelty and more from real quality—sandwiches that could rival long-standing Northeast delis. Standouts and signature items include the Gandolfini (spicy olive salad with hot sopressata, fresh mozzarella, and arugula in Calabrian chili vinaigrette), the Underdog (very thinly sliced mortadella with salsa verde, a garlic/broccoli rabe/mustard seed pickle mix, and sharp provolone), a carefully grilled chicken with pesto, fontina, roasted red peppers and lemon-Dijon arugula, an uncle‑named spicy crumbled sausage with provolone and grilled jalapeños, a four-meat Italian with Creole tomato when in season, and a cold thin-sliced rare roast beef with horseradish aioli, shaved red onions, fresh dill, lettuce, mustard vinaigrette and fontina that channels classic Northeast roast beef." - Clair Lorell
