This isn't a restaurant review or a last meal before you die type of post. This is straight up about the most delicious, comforting, nostalgic food there is to have. Rossi's Deli is located Poughkeepsie, New York about an hour from where I grew up. They've been around since 1979 (a while) and have been making college students and they're parents and they're friends and then everyone they know, talk about this deli worldwide.
I love this place more than any on the world. I can't remember the first person to take me to Rossi's. But it was either my good friend Alex or Austin, either way they deserve a noble prize because it impacted my life forever. It will be forever the place where I would wait in line for hours and I would pay an absurd amount of money just for one bite of they're mouth altering sandwiches.
Everyone I've met in my professional career I have told about Rossi's. Every time I make a sandwich or even something delicious that I want other people to try, I want to make it as good as my first bite of Rossi's. I've probably been to Rossi's over 50 times spent more than a thousand dollars, just. on. sandwiches. It's that good. Now, I'm going to try to describe their chicken cutlet sandwich but, I really can't because you need to go there yourself. 45 South Clover St, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. It is a once in a lifetime type of sandwich. People sometimes say I hype things up and then they're just okay. From my best friend, to my girlfriend, to my mom, to every stranger I've met in line there, no one has ever even thought about complaining. You get the salamis showing off, the cheeses magnificently displayed, the aroma of the drying oregano, the ultra tempting Italian pastries, the fresh Stromboli rolling in and out of the worn down line to wait impatiently in. Buy everything. Taste everything. Back to the sandwich.
The Chicken Cutlet (the #4)
The sandwich of all sandwiches. So modest. So beautiful. So, so, so delicious. It's got 4 humble ingredients laid elegantly between the yeasty, golden pillows. Prosciutto, fried chicken cutlet, fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers. That's it. I tell everyone though, when I arrive, I step it up. Get the herb mayo, and balsamic drizzle. Credit to Nestore Polce on that one. Ladies and gentlemen I haven't even told you the best part yet. They're homemade focaccia. (the golden pillows) They panini press each bread to perfection on they're greased up irons that have the flavor of olive oil meets crispy pork fat with a lot a bit of succulence. Every time they toast the bread it's beautiful, never burnt, cheese melted to the perfect temperature and the chicken impresses your tongue buddies with it's textural component tasting like somehow they deep fried it while it was inside the panini press. It's the most magical transformation of basic cold sandwich, to hot, sexy, deliciousness.
My other favorite part about this deli is the owner an aging Italian man who speaks very little english is always there sweeping the grounds, giving out little treats to the customers he sees more than once and just being the friendliest neighbor you can be. I believe he's raised almost his whole family to work inside of the deli, and let me tell you I don't think there's a more efficient family out there than this one. Communication, hospitality, efficientness, and straight up hustle make this the smoothest running operation in the service industry.
I could talk forever about the different sandwhiches, and little sides and deserts and the temperature effect of eating a hot sandwich while its snowing outside. I haven't even mentioned the breakfast sandwiches.
But I can talk to you about that in person. What's hard for me to talk about in person is the comfort that this sandwich brings me. On the worst day of my life, the day I found out my sister passed away in New York City. We had to make the long drive back home to Troy which took about 3 hours. I needed comfort, I needed to feel okay, I needed something to reassure me that there is good in the world, and just something to get your mind off of the worst. So we stopped to get some sandwiches. I don't really remember much about the rest of that day as I've tried to block it out of my mind, but I remember biting into that sandwich and smiling for a second and remembering all the good times I had with my sister, the barbecues we had at her apartment, the laughs, the family reunions with all the fatty delicious food.
For me, the best part of food is the memory that comes along with it. It brings us to a completely new place, a calm, surreal, nostalgic place that makes us remember all the good times. On that sad, grief filled day, food let me escape for a moment in time. That bite of sandwich saved me for a minute from breaking down completely, it let me hold strong and appreciate all that life has to offer and how oh so fragile life can be.
These food memories are what I want my life to be about. To make people truly reminisce. That can be through cooking, writing, and just talking. I love food and food was there for me when I needed it the most. I want to thank Rossi and Son's Rossticeria for comforting me in my time of need and for having the best damn food and attitudes in the food world today.
Tim Buell
May 20, 2020
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