The best sandwiches in the world are coming to Las Vegas
Updated March 17, 2023 - 7:34 pm
What becomes a sandwich most?
Rectangles of freshly baked schiacciata (skia-CHA-tah), the chewy Tuscan flatbread, a thinner cousin of focaccia; sliced meats like capocollo or Tuscan prosciutto; cheese that runs to Gorgonzola or stracciatella (mozzarella soaked in cream); produce like tomatoes or spicy eggplant; swipes of truffle or onion porcini cream; perhaps gusty basil or a jab of arugula to finish.
These essentials (and more) are layered to craft the sandwiches at All’Antico Vinaio, the famed sandwich shop founded in 1991 in Florence, Italy. Saveur, the journal of global gastronomica, named All’Antico sandwiches among the best in the world, an example of that particularly Florentine art of placing things between bread to yield something splendid.
And now that sandwich sprezzatura is coming to Las Vegas, the Review-Journal has learned. An outpost of All’Antico Vinaio is set to debut this fall at the UnCommons development in southwest Vegas, following the launch of the first U.S. shops in New York City in 2021 and 2022.
“Las Vegas is one of the most important cities, and for me to say to people, ‘I’m opening my first store in Vegas,’ it’s incredible,” said Tommaso “Tommy” Mazzanti, whose family founded All’Antico Vinaio (The name, “at the ancient wine merchant,” refers to a wine bar across the street from the original store in Florence).
Jim Stuart, partner at Matter Real Estate Group, developer of UnCommons, sounded equally excited.
“This is remarkable, a brand of that distinction, that type of following,” he said. “We’re almost giddy on our side for All’Antico. The hyperbole, in this case, it’s justified.”
Stacking up
The menu, Mazzanti said, will be the same as the New York stores, with about 16 sandwiches, a baker from Italy and ingredients imported from the old country, too. “They are the secret of All’Antico Vinaio.”
Look for sandwiches like La Summer, a stack of schiacciata, Tuscan prosciutto, tomato and basil, in the classic Italian tradition of less is more.
“It was the first sandwich I prepared with my parents when I started to work in Florence,” Mazzanti said.
All’Antico Vinaio comes courtesy in the U.S. of the Mazzanti family and famed restaurateur Joe Bastianich.
At UnCommons, the sandwich shop joins The Sundry food hall (which Stuart said has reached its full complement), independents like Wineaux from James Beard Award-winning chef Shawn McClain and at least two other concepts Stuart did not identify. Visit allanticovinaionyc.com and uncommons.com.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ItsJLW on Twitter.