All’Antico Vinaio

The Great Italian Sandwiches All’Antico Vinaio and Galioto’s

"The midtown branch of a Florentine panini parlor turns out an elevated, nostalgia-inducing signature sandwich called La Paradiso: yards of mortadella paired with creamy stracciatella and a spreadlike pistachio cream studded with chopped pistachios, yielding a porky, nutty, oozy, creamy, and crunchy experience that riffs on peanut-butter-and-bologna. Other standout offerings follow the same maximal, ingredient-forward logic — La Toscana (salami, Pecorino, and truffle honey), La Favolosa (fennel salami with spicy eggplant and artichoke/Pecorino creams), L’Inferno (porchetta with ’nduja cream), and a recently added New Yorker (roast beef, tomato, arugula, and an onion-porcini cream reminiscent of French onion dip). Everything is served on a house-baked schiacciata with a thin, crunchy crust and cool, creamy crumb that makes these large-format sandwiches excellent value ($9–$18 and often big enough for two). For now sandwiches are takeaway or eaten at a narrow ledge inside the shop; an adjacent dining room and a beer-and-wine license are reportedly in the works." - Grub Street