Repeat destination? 🏝️ Traveling for merch? Lost, damaged? Tell us What you're owed ✈️
GREAT AMERICAN BITES
Food Travel

Florence's famous panini shop opens New York City outpost

Larry Olmsted
Special for USA TODAY
The slightly spicy #9 seems unconventional for a panini of Italian origin but it is very popular, because it is very good.

The scene: Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance, the place where artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo got their start. But Italy’s most famously creative city does not limit its artistry to canvas and marble — Florence has fantastic food, from Tuscan specialties to gelato to the city’s sandwich obsession, the panini. And for 70 years, no panini establishment has been so beloved as hole in the wall, Antico Noè, a storefront in an arcaded alley on an ancient piazza.

Now two devoted fans have brought the real deal, authentic Antico Noè, outside of Florence for the first time ever, to New York City’s Midtown East. An MBA working in corporate restructuring, Michael Grant spent a college semester studying art history in Florence, where he became such an addicted regular at Antico Noe that he had his own custom panini recipe. While living in Florence, he befriended Italian restaurant manager Vinny Dautaj, and after much negotiation, the two convinced Antico Noè’s family owners — who had turned down many similar requests — to let them open a spinoff in the States. Part of the agreement is based on authenticity and staying true to the dishes and flavors, and the result, which opened on Leap Year Day, February 29, has been wildly successful. Because of the portability of panini makers, catering has also flourished — they catered Jennifer Lopez’s birthday bash on a yacht. The duo is already eyeing additional locations in the Big Apple and elsewhere, but for the time being, Florence’s best panini reside on East 53rd Street.

It is a humble space, like its Italian predecessor, a single narrow room with a counter down the left in which the various panini are displayed behind glass awaiting pressing in a lineup of commercial grills. In the back is the small counter where you pay, set at a right angle to the panini station. The only hint of the exotic nature of the place is the lineup of Italian sodas and flavored sparkling waters behind the register. In good weather the entire front opens to the sidewalk. There are a few counter spots for eating in, but the bulk of the business, as it is in Florence, is to-go — and unlike Florence, via delivery services like UberEats and Caviar. The restaurant is also adding breakfast paninis and a coffee bar shortly to open for breakfast in addition to lunch and dinner. Given that is has been open less than a year, the entryway is covered with a shocking amount of reviews and praising clips.

Reason to visit: Any of the panini

The food: The panini sandwich, though widely available, is one of those seemingly simple concepts that has proven extremely hard to execute in this country. Failed efforts range from a glorified grilled cheese with indistinguishable ingredients to better loaded versions that simply will not stay together and slide apart as you eat. The proper panini becomes a single integrated unit, and requires the prefect bread, quality ingredients and the perfect ratio of ingredients — overstuffing leads to failure, under-stuffing to tastelessness.

The panini at Antico Noe are perfect one and all, though individual tastes will instantly gravitate to certain choices. They are all made on a choice of two breads, classic Florentine white or seven grain, the foundations for this excellence are custom made by a bakery using the recipes from Florence, though the owners had to test several bakers before finding one that could execute it properly. Ingredients are first rate and often imported, like the real prosciutto di Parma, the “King of Ham” (most “prosciutto” isn’t), and all the signature Noe sauces Florence is famous for are made here from scratch to original recipe specs: pesto, walnut sauce, rose and olive spread.

The Zingerman's empire offers more than famous sandwiches

The Italian original has 25 sandwiches, all sold by number, but because Italians are very leisurely about long waits for food, and New Yorkers are not, the streamlined outpost cherry picked the top 10 bestsellers using the same number system, so the menu skips from #2 to #4 to #9 and so on. One of the sandwiches, #23, is the custom version Grant had the eatery create for him when he was living there — very spicy salami, marinated sun-dried tomatoes, brie and Antico Noè’s famed house pesto. Given that no heat is added except by the salami itself, the sandwich is very spicy, and the brie, though seemingly odd for an Italian delicacy, melts and tastes perfect. This is a killer choice for anyone who likes it hot. “Twenty-three is a great sandwich but spicy, and a spicy that lingers. No. 9 is the kind of spicy that’s just when you eat it,” says Grant. This one has house roasted turkey, roasted onions, brie and Noe’s secret “spicy sauce”, and is also delicious. Though long popular in Florence, several combos are not overtly “Italian,” but for purists, there are choices like #10, classic caprese (tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar) and #21, the all-around bestseller — basically the #10 with prosciutto di Parma and pesto added.

The selection is surprisingly varied for just 10 choices, with something for everyone, and all the sandwiches I tasted — most of the menu — were excellent. I even loved the vegetarian choice, #13: marinated eggplant, roasted onions, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and both Noè’s famous olive spread and pesto. Number 21 is hard to beat, but #24 was a sleeper hit with prosciutto, brie, peppery arugula and the walnut sauce, a weird but perfectly balanced combination of flavors. Another standout is perhaps the most unique of all, #4, Noè’s “famous stuffed chicken” with prosciutto, mortadella, sautéed mushrooms, fresh mozzarella and “rose” sauce. The stuffed chicken in this creation is a poultry take on Italian comfort food fave, porchetta, stuffed with prosciutto cotto, mortadella, herbs and spice, roasted in house, and then sliced thin on a deli slicer — better than you ever thought chicken could be. The only things on the menu other than all the great sandwiches are two salads and an appetizer of caprese skewers, four cherry tomatoes on toothpicks with mozzarella, basil and olive oil, but these are window dressing to the main event — the panini.

“The hardest thing to do in the restaurant business is to make something that is really good and really fast — people are in and out of here in six minutes,” says Grant. To that end, the panini are pre-made throughout the day and loaded behind the glass, then heated to order, making custom creations impossible at this time. For this reason, other Florence classics not in the top 10 will rotate in as specials. “Every single day we get people who walk in and say ‘Oh my God! I ate at the Florence one,’ two years ago or 25 years ago. People love it and they keep asking for favorites, like a #5, so we’re going to be doing those as rotating weekly specials.”

Pilgrimage-worthy?: Yes, if you’ve been to Florence and are craving a repeat experience, and in any case, if you love a good sandwich, it’s likely the best panini in New York City — if not the country.

Rating: OMG! (Scale: Blah, OK, Mmmm, Yum!, OMG!)

Price: $$ ($ cheap, $$ moderate, $$$ expensive)

Details: 220 East 53rd Street, New York, NY; 212-750-0802; anticonoe.com

Larry Olmsted has been writing about food and travel for more than 15 years. An avid eater and cook, he has attended cooking classes in Italy, judged a barbecue contest and once dined with Julia Child. Follow him on Twitter, @TravelFoodGuy, and if there's a unique American eatery you think he should visit, send him an e-mail at travel@usatoday.com. Some of the venues reviewed by this column provided complimentary services.

Featured Weekly Ad