Oozing in Italian/Italian-American references, Luca Brasi’s Deli at the intersection of Park Avenue and First Street is yet another café-meets-old-world-grocery that tells, or rather shouts, the tale of Hoboken’s heritage.
I really wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Rave reviews and numerous recommendations aside, with a name that references The Godfather, and menu items named after Sopranos characters, I was afraid the whole thing would seemed forced. The outside doesn’t shout “I’m Italian,” which is a good sign, but it’s not exactly hard to miss. The inside seems cozy but leans more toward café than grocery, as the walls are filled with pictures of famous people and whatnot rather than the usual imported items for purchase.
Now to what’s actually important — the food. Figuring most students, and customers for that matter, wouldn’t really be ordering actual dishes per se, my partner and I opted for sandwiches.
The cold sandwich, the “Fuggeda’ Boudit” ($10) (if you don’t know how to pronounce it, I shake my head at you) ordered off of the Sopranos-inspired “Meat the Family” menu, is composed of ham, salami, cappicolla, mozzarella, and roasted peppers. After having spent part of winter break in the land of flavorless food, or as I affectionately entitle it “15 minutes outside of the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania,” I was excited to say the least. I was looking forward to the salty creaminess of mozzarella mixed with the various spicy and subtle meats, all topped off with tender peppers dripping of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I don’t know if I over-exaggerated the experience in my mind, but I was sadly disappointed. Everything seemed fresh, but my taste buds were left wanting more. The mozzarella and bread both had barely any flavor, and there weren’t nearly enough peppers to provide any dripping of juices.
The chicken parm hero ($8.50), on the other hand, was a treat. Ever since I was little, my mom has always been drilling into my head the idea that good chicken cutlets have to be pounded thin and tender and coated with breading that actually sticks to the cutlet, and this sandwich got that right. The cutlets practically melted in my mouth, and didn’t become a mess of breading that had been easily stripped via friction from the bread. My partner agreed that this sandwich was much better than what he gets at Gio’s. Again, the mozzarella was a bit of a letdown, but the cutlets more than made up for that.
To finish off the meal, we then ordered the staples of popular Italian-American desserts: tiramisu and a cannoli. The cake of the tiramisu tasted dry, which is strange because, for those of you who don’t know, tiramisu is cake soaked in coffee and rum layered with the equivalent of Italian cream cheese. The cannoli was definitely the better of the two, but the filling was a bit too dry (probably too much confectioner’s sugar), and since the cannoli had most likely been filled earlier that day rather than fresh upon ordering, the shell was a bit soggier than I prefer.
I would probably go back: the prices are a few dollars cheaper than Vito’s and the sizes are similar. Also, the distance is just right to get off campus and see a little bit more than your classrooms and dorm for a bit. However, I would still take Fran’s mozzarella and Fiore’s bread any day.
