64 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM to market ilmercatodichefico.com market’s deli, David lets the enormous Lamortazza sandwich speak for itself. As our interview nears its end, he produces a marvel of mortadella, mozzarella, demi-sec tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and pesto loaded between generous hunks of focaccia. Watching me puzzle over how best to bite into this beast, cocking my head from side to side, he offers some sage advice: “Don’t be afraid of it!” Attack the sandwich. Got it. Setting table manners aside, I take big bites, ignoring my messy pesto fingers. “I love food that isn’t gimmicky,” David says with a satisfied nod. “I like food that’s meant to satisfy your soul.” Served on a nice plate at an upscale restaurant or wrapped in deli paper and passed over the counter—both meals can be magical. {food coloring} One must-try item at the market? Che Fico’s house-made Calabrian Chili Bomba sauce. “This is probably my favorite ingredient in the whole store,” says David. “People flock to it and at the restaurant, we can’t keep enough of it.” to agree on everything. That’s why you have a partner.” To this he adds, “We both have very different strengths and weaknesses, but we have very similar morals and values.” One deep-seated belief? “In America, everything is about finding the fastest, quickest way to scale—and we did it to food,” David muses. But in the quest to make things uniform, “we’re stripping away the romance and stripping away the idiosyncrasies.” David wants to see nutritious, local food and quality ingredients given their proper due. Behind him, lending credence to his words, is a picture-perfect produce aisle, with precisely stacked broccoli and artichokes, neat rows of rainbow chard and dinosaur kale, and tidy bundles of lemongrass. In this everyday space, there is beauty. But rather than wax poetic about the
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