Been to L. Mancuso & Son, the East Passyunk Italian deli, lately? It reopened last month, after making some major updates.
A fire in January 2024 in an apartment upstairs forced a two-week shutdown of the store, a fixture on East Passyunk Avenue near Mifflin Street since 1939 (as the awning says).
That prompted owners Jimmy Cialella and John Denisi to take a hard look at the building. “We decided that during the slower months [of the winter], we were going to do a little remodel,” said manager Jake Santini.
“We thought it was going to be a one- or two-month project. This building is just so old, and when you start ripping fridges and shelves out, you run into more headaches. I mean, there were holes in the floor under the fridges that a human could have fallen through.”
That one- or two-month project turned into five or six. The repairs were top to bottom, including new refrigeration, a slate floor, and counters.
Most important, they’ve also upgraded the food.
Santini and co-manager Chris Ciliberto are still hand-making mozzarella and ricotta from the original Mancuso owners’ recipes, and the new shelves along the side wall are still filled with the line of Cento tomatoes, tinned fish, and other groceries. Baked goods fill the counter. The familiar fake cheese wheels and neon sign? Just where they left them.
The new iteration includes a line of specialty sandwiches, to supplement the hoagie menu that began in 2022, after Cialella and Denisi bought the deli from Edda Mancuso, widow of the charming, opera-singing Phil Mancuso, who had run his pop Lucio’s business from the 1970s until his death in 2021.
The house mozz stars in six of the nine new sandwiches, available not only on Cacia’s rolls (seeded or unseeded) but on schiacciata, a Tuscan flatbread from Baker Street that’s like a crunchy, thinner focaccia.
That schiacciata and the mozz deftly balance sweet and heat on the bold Partenza ($17), with its hot coppa, nduja spread, long hots, and hot honey.
L. Mancuso & Son, 1902 E. Passyunk Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19147; 215-389-1817; hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misstated how long the deli had been closed for repairs.
Dining and Cooking