A new Italian deli that has opened in downtown Lewiston is rooted in family tradition.Evan Mancini moves at a pace of 100 miles per hour inside his microdeli on Park Street, where he and his staff make everything from scratch.”We make all the pasta, the breads, the sauces, all the desserts in 300 square feet,” Mancini said.Mancini’s great-grandparents came from Umbria, an area bordering Tuscany in the central part of Italy. His grandparents, Bob and Ida, immigrated to the United States.The inspiration for some of the options at Mancini’s Italian Deli come from cookbooks featuring recipes handwritten by Evan’s grandfather.”The truffle lasagna is a white-based lasagna that we got from the book,” Mancini said. “When we started to dive deep into: ‘What did we want Mancini’s to be? What was the differentiating factor between us and other places?’ was we want to be culturally significant to my family.”Mancini also drew inspiration from his grandmother, whom he made pasta with when he was just 4 years old.”My grandma would always try to fatten us up and my mom would always get super upset about it, but that’s where my love of prosciutto came in,” Mancini said.Mancini’s father works in the middle of the night to make the focaccia bread that is used for the deli’s sandwiches. His mother also works at the deli, too, and Evan said she’s still the boss.Jennisha Warner, a customer and friend of Mancini’s, shares food reviews with thousands of followers on TikTok and loves the prosciutto and fig sandwich.”It’s sweet and salty, and the bread is so crispy and crunchy and soft on the inside. It was really good,” Warner said.Mancini’s Italian Deli is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and is not far from the intersection of Main and Park streets. The microdeli is strictly carryout only.Related content:
LEWISTON, Maine —
A new Italian deli that has opened in downtown Lewiston is rooted in family tradition.
Evan Mancini moves at a pace of 100 miles per hour inside his microdeli on Park Street, where he and his staff make everything from scratch.
“We make all the pasta, the breads, the sauces, all the desserts in 300 square feet,” Mancini said.
Mancini’s great-grandparents came from Umbria, an area bordering Tuscany in the central part of Italy. His grandparents, Bob and Ida, immigrated to the United States.
The inspiration for some of the options at Mancini’s Italian Deli come from cookbooks featuring recipes handwritten by Evan’s grandfather.
“The truffle lasagna is a white-based lasagna that we got from the book,” Mancini said. “When we started to dive deep into: ‘What did we want Mancini’s to be? What was the differentiating factor between us and other places?’ was we want to be culturally significant to my family.”
Mancini also drew inspiration from his grandmother, whom he made pasta with when he was just 4 years old.
“My grandma would always try to fatten us up and my mom would always get super upset about it, but that’s where my love of prosciutto came in,” Mancini said.
Mancini’s father works in the middle of the night to make the focaccia bread that is used for the deli’s sandwiches. His mother also works at the deli, too, and Evan said she’s still the boss.
Jennisha Warner, a customer and friend of Mancini’s, shares food reviews with thousands of followers on TikTok and loves the prosciutto and fig sandwich.
“It’s sweet and salty, and the bread is so crispy and crunchy and soft on the inside. It was really good,” Warner said.
Mancini’s Italian Deli is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and is not far from the intersection of Main and Park streets. The microdeli is strictly carryout only.
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