West Hollywood's Italian Mamie Deli makes the best paninis in Los Angeles

To fully appreciate Granny, the Italian sandwich shop in West Hollywood, created five months ago, you have to understand its schiacciata. The bread is made by hand several times a day by store owner Mikael Choukroun, using a recipe from his Italian grandmother. The dough made from equal parts water and flour and fermented for 72 hours is kneaded in the same way as focaccia but has a distinct texture, with a crisp crust and a light, fluffy center. Olive oil and flaky salt are added to the dough several times after its initial stretching. We cannot control schiacciata, says Choukroun. Schiacciata controls you.

At Mamie, bread constitutes the basis on which the entire menu of paninis and pizzas rests. The restaurant functions like a European café, a place where diners can soak up the pulse of the city while sipping frothy Italian cappuccinos or meeting friends for a bite to eat. Mamie is the latest in a wave of Italian delis and sandwich shops that have taken Los Angeles by storm in recent years, including Ferrazzanis in Pasadena, Bread Head in Santa Monica, Venices AllAntico Vinaio, Lorenzo California in Beverly Hills and Ggiata Delicatessen with locations in Venice. , Melrose Hill, West Hollywood and soon Highland Park, among others. In a crowded sandwich market, Choukroun is betting that his schiacciata filled with thoughtfully sourced ingredients will stand out. My intention is to offer gourmet quality ingredients in a casual way. I wanted my food to be unpretentious, he says.

Growing up in Paris, Choukron spent his summers in Rimini, Italy, with his grandmother, known to him and his 36 first cousins ​​as Mamie. (Coincidentally, the word also means my bread in Old French, he says.) Choukroun spoke no English when he moved to the Bay Area at 19 and remembers finding work while standing on the edge of the highway to wait for a construction company to arrive. hire him to paint apartments or do yard work. After learning some English, Choukron worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant and eventually managed the front desk.

Choukroun moved to Los Angeles in 1996 and continued to manage restaurants at places like the now-closed Patina, the 208 Rodeo in Beverly Hills and the French-Moroccan Restaurant. the little door. Although he appreciated the high standard of cuisine and quality ingredients found in these fine dining establishments, their environment seemed too pretentious to Choukron. When the pandemic hit in 2020 and the restaurant industry shut down, Choukroun took the opportunity to bring Mamie to life.

Each slice of meat present in the signature Mamies panini is carefully selected by Choukroun and delicately placed on the schiacciata as if it were fine porcelain. Charcuterie options including prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, salame Toscana, bresaola and guanciale are sourced from DOP certified Italian producers. Each sandwich contains only one type of meat to allow its unique textures and flavors to shine. (When you have good products, keep it simple, Choukroun says.) The relationships Choukroun built with suppliers while running restaurants allowed him to source Mamies products at an affordable price. While ingredients like artichoke hearts, stracciatella, and preserved lemons are also imported from Italy, the bulk of store vegetables, like wild mushrooms, eggplant, and zucchini, are purchased at farmers' markets. local. Many of these same ingredients are used to top rectangular store pizzas.

The memories of the Choukrouns spending their summers with family along the Adriatic coast inspire the panini side of the menu. The Rosselini is made with Toscana salame, sautéed wild mushrooms, truffle cream and arugula, while the Diva is topped with mortadella, stracciatella, chopped pistachios and baby arugula. The essential turkey option, the Cardinal, comes with artichoke heart cream, oven-dried tomatoes, Comté cheese and arugula. Many sandwiches include a creamy house-made spread, such as gorgonzola dolce, pesto, lemon curd or spicy Calabrian chili. Cream is part of every table in Italy, explains Choukroun.

In addition to her range of panini, Mamie prepares simple salads using arugula or butter lettuce accompanied by warm schiacciata crostini and sometimes topped with 48-hour marinated goat cheese. To drink, the Mamies café brews Kimbo, the famous Italian roaster from Naples, and imports soft drinks with lemon and blood orange from the Sicilian brand Lurisia. Mamie also hosts a small market offering a range of Italian specialties like Gentile pasta and Cafona artichoke pots.

These days, as Choukroun works with schiacciata dough or layers meats for sandwiches, he often thinks of Mamie and the summers he spent in Italy preparing dishes alongside her. She would recognize herself here, said Choukroun. She would be home.

Mamie is located at 7900 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90046, and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

7900 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90046