Andreoli's Italain Grocer

In preparation for a dinner we were hosting on Saturday night, my husband and I headed to Andreoli in hopes of finding some good Italian table cheese. Not knowing exactly what we wanted we were very happy to be helped by the owner himself, Giovanni. He knew a lot about cheese and was able to offer us a variety of selections. What was really surprising was when he started cutting hunks of cheese for us both to taste. It's always a nice touch to be able to sample products before you buy them. I wish more specialty shops would do this. After trying several different varieties of cheese, we finally settled on two and were about to check out when Giovanni came over with a slice of homemade Italian bread for us to try. "You can't have good cheese without good bread," he said. One taste told us he was right. The bread was delicious and would make a great accompaniment to our cheese plate. Although I think it's a bit expensive at $5.50 a loaf, it was really good, so we bought it. Realizing it was nearing 2:00pm and we still had several hours before dinner we decided to grab a quick bite to eat. Andreoli's offers several different panini's, a few pizza's and some Italian antipasto items. They also have a nice sized pastry counter. My husband and I decided to share the prosciutto, roasted pepper and mozzarella panino and the Gorgonzola, prosciutto and zucchini panino.

All of the panini's are served with a boring green salad, which in my opinion could have been omitted. Both sandwiches we had were very good with ample amounts of filling and just the right combination of flavors. Next time, yes there will be a next time, I think I will try the roasted pork or maybe the fillet Mignon panino. As we sauntered out to the car with smiles on our face and food in our bellies we both decided that Andreoli's is a keeper. With Giovanni's knowledge and passion for Italian food shining through in everything he does, how could you go wrong.