A. was making the rounds through Brookfield and spotted this: All’Antico Vinaio, the famous sandwich shop out of Florence, is opening a branch in the food court upstairs from the Winter Garden. “It’s going to crush everything in here,” she wrote.

Certainly the company has taken the US by storm. They first popped up in LA in 2019 and then began to expand, landing in Midtown West in 2021. They also have spots on the Upper East Side and Soho, on Sullivan and Bleecker. Each opening elicits crowds and gushing reviews.

From Eater’s Robert Sietsema when they first opened here: “While the typical Italian sandwich available here has been a torpedo-shaped panino with a meager slice or two of ham or cheese, pressed or not, this sandwich is quite different. Square and stuffed, it’s made on a Tuscan flatbread called a schiacciata (“smashed”), a very plain focaccia much like Sullivan Bakery’s pizza bianca. But while the schiacciata — the same word became the name for the sandwich — is familiar enough in various parts of Italy, All’ Antico Vinaio has transformed it into something more opulent, with a larger portion of meat, and all sorts of condiments and garnishes, making for a very gloppy sandwich.”

All’Antico Vinaio was first opened in 1991 by the Mazzanti family and has three locations in Florence selling their special breed of sandwich. The New York shops have their own menu, including The New Yorker with roast beef, onion porcini cream, tomato and arugula. A. tells me the most popular is La Paradiso: mortadella, stracciatella, pistachio cream and pistachio for $18. NB none of them come cheap — La Summer with prosciutto and mozzarella rings up at $20 — but you can get a caprese for $12.

More soon, of course.

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