{"id":3838,"date":"2021-04-23T15:29:28","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T15:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eatmcr.co.uk\/?p=3838"},"modified":"2021-05-13T13:21:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T13:21:02","slug":"gabagool-and-gravy-bada-bing-bring-italian-american-deli-culture-to-manchester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eatmcr.co.uk\/culture\/gabagool-and-gravy-bada-bing-bring-italian-american-deli-culture-to-manchester\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabagool And Gravy: Bada Bing Bring Italian American Deli Culture To Manchester"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Gabagool? Over here!<\/em>“<\/p>– Silvio Dante<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Comfortable Italian leisurewear and cured meats. Tony Soprano and his crew may not have known it when they debuted on our televisions back in 1999, but they were actually pre-empting the ultimate aesthetic for global pandemic life over 20 years later. Now, almost a decade-and-a-half on from everything fading to black in New Jersey, Tony and the lads are enjoying a nostalgia driven renaissance through food and social media.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And part of said renaissance is happening right here in Manchester, at Bada Bing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of you familiar with the show (for those of you who aren’t, fuck’s tha matter wit’ you?) no, North Jersey’s premiere gentlemen’s lounge hasn’t opened up an offshoot in the North West. Instead, Manchester’s answer to Bada Bing is serving some of the best sandwiches in the city right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born out of furlough binge watching and a borderline obsession with slapping fillings between slices of bread, couple Sam Gormally and Meg Lingenfelter launched their hole-in-the-wall hoagie hut back in February, taking up residence in the kitchen of Piccadilly pub B-Lounge. In just two short months they’ve already had more business on the street than a North Jersey capo, with pre-orders selling out in rapid fashion and ravenous customers flocking to their bolthole on the corner of Piccadilly. Now, they’re set to move into a more spacious setting, suitably in Ancoats, Manchester’s one time Little Italy, as they level up their operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was just supposed to be a bit of fun while we were furloughed,”<\/em> explains Sam, as we plonk ourselves on a couple of well worn Chesterfields in the rear of B-Lounge’s bar area. The mahogany coffee table separating us hosting a plate of Gabagool and in-house giardinara that would be enough to generate effusive hand gestures from Silvio and Paulie were they to drop by during their weekly collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oof Marone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Meg and me said \u2018ah let\u2019s just do that for a laugh\u2019 and it\u2019s ended up snowballing. There was obviously a gap in the market for these types of sandwiches and people are loving it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe developed the menu over about five weeks. We were originally just gonna sell the sandwiches to our friends cos we\u2019re all into The Sopranos, but then it just got bigger and bigger.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing such a small operation has been good for us. People have loved coming to that window, telling us that it feels a bit dodgy, they feel like they\u2019re in the know and it\u2019s a little secret spot. Even in Ancoats it\u2019s not gonna be a shop front, it\u2019s going to be a little dark kitchen but then eventually in the summer we\u2019re hoping to have a little courtyard outside.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Admiring a work of art<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But, given that Manchester has long been home to one of the UK’s largest Italian communities, dating back to 1865 when thousands of rural villagers left Italy and settled primarily in Ancoats, in the Roman Catholic parish of St.Michael’s, it’s quite a stark surprise that the city hasn’t been more resplendent with Italian delis or sandwich shops over the years. Such a lack of representation on this front is something that was not lost on the Bing team when they planted their flag in Piccadilly a couple of months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m massively surprised it\u2019s never really been done before. I\u2019ve lived in Manchester for seven years now and I don\u2019t understand why there\u2019s not more Italian delis. There\u2019s a couple, like Salvi\u2019s but there\u2019s not really anything like that and I don\u2019t understand it because there\u2019s such a huge Italian community here.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Ya know how hard it is to have a sausage and peppers without a cold one?!<\/em>“<\/p>– Christopher Moltisanti<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Of course, when it comes to Italian Americans, especially on the East Coast of the US, delis and sandwich shops are their second homes. Much like the sidewalk and backroom of Satriale’s was always populated with Chrissy, Benny, Patsy and maybe a visiting New York consigliere, playing cards and breaking balls over prosciutto and provolone, countless neighbourhoods across the five boroughs have longstanding hangouts, dating back generations but also proving wildly popular in the modern day. The camaraderie and community spirit, combined with heart stopping sandwiches as big as your head is something that Roman Grandinetti<\/a>, owner of Regina’s Grocery<\/a> on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, grew up around and has continued with the deli he operates with his mother, of whom the establishment is named after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Howyadoin? Image: Regina’s Grocery\/instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in Brooklyn, Roman was immersed in the deli\/social club culture, but as time wore on, saw it slipping away. After successfully launching his own marketing agency and, y’know, casually working with Travis Scott, Bob Dylan and Alexander Wang among pretty much everyone else in the fashion and music industry, he returned to his roots, setting up shop with his mother on Orchard Street in the LES. And for Roman, the sense of community is what drives his passion behind Regina’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We built what the neighbourhood needed. Everyone needs a place to go. The food being good is a bonus. I felt as if we were losing these places in NYC. The guys were getting older and closing up. So we built this to keep it going.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“One hundred percent the place is for family and friends. Get out of the house and have a place to go always.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few thousand miles west, in Los Angeles, Noah Holton-Raphael and his two childhood friends Jack Biebel and Max Bahramipour are representing their New Jersey upbringing at Ggiata<\/a> – a former dark kitchen turned full blown deli sandwich joint launched in June of last year that evokes all the atmosphere of the sandwich shops the trio of best friends grew up around back east. In little under a year, they’ve become local heroes, with their trademark Italian sesame subs earning significant head nods not only from The Infatuation<\/a> and Eater LA<\/a>, but also Don fucking Draper himself, Jon Hamm, who even collab’d on his own charitable ‘Hamm Sandwich’ with the boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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