Located in the heart of the French Quarter is a little old fashioned grocery store / deli. This 110 year old store is called Central Grocery. Here tourist and locals alike can buy Italian imported pastas and olive oils along with cheeses and Italian cured meats. However, the main reason people flock to Central Grocery is for their muffuletta.
Central Grocery is considered the home and creators of the muffuletta. A muffuletta is a sandwich that contains layers of salami, ham, provolone cheese and mozzarella cheese topped with olive tapenade on fresh Sicilian bread.
People line up all day to have one of these muffulettas. I too waited in line, but it moved fast. The folks behind the counter know how to prepare them quickly.
I got half a sandwich because I did not think I could have eaten a whole one.
The bread that they use for this sandwich is freshly made. It did not fall apart when I took a bite, even with all the layers of meat and cheese. The cheese was cut into nice thick slices. Its creaminess went perfectly with the salty meats. Those elements of the sandwich were great but what elevated the muffuletta to the next level was the olive tapenade. They make if from scratch there. It was the best olive tapenade I have ever had. The olives were cut up into chunky pieces. Now I understand why they sell it in jars. I could have eaten this by itself. This was the best sandwich I have ever had. I ended up regretting not ordering a whole one.
If you are in New Orleans, make time to stop by Central Grocery. Make sure to order their famous muffuletta and don’t worry about the wait, it is totally worth it. You can get it to go or enjoy it there.
Learn about their history at http://centralgrocery.com/
Enjoy!
T
