Salumeria Adds Lanci's bread

Salumeria, the Italian grocer, hoagie-maker and cheese-monger (not just Italian) at the Reading Terminal Market, had added bread from South Philly's Lanci Bakery to its offerings. Lanci's continues to use the coal-firerd brick oven installed by its founder in 1920.

Cheese at the Reading Terminal Market

Fair Food always has an enticing display of artisinal cheeses

With the opening earlier this year of Valley Shepherd Creamery it's easy to forget other vendors also offer fine examples of this basic foodstuff at the Reading Terminal Market.

Longtime vendors Ed Sciamanna of Salumeria and Jack Morgan of Downtown Cheese are the go-to stalls when your tastebuds crave a fine brie, traditional geitost, genuine Swiss emmentaler or many of the world's other great cheeses. Fair Food concentrates on cheeses made within a half-day's drive of Philadelphia which you would otherwise have to obtain by visiting the farm or seeking out at one of the city farmers' markets. (Before Valley Shepherd opened its RTM shop Fair Food frequently carried one or two of that North Jersey producers varieties.)

Sometimes, however, it's not the fancy, $26 a pound cheese you crave, but that flavored spread for crackers, or just some sliced domestic Swiss for your sandwich. If that's the case, head over to either Hatville Deli or Riehl Deli (L. Halteman Family), two Pennsylvania Dutch vendors. The pimento spread at Riehl's makes a fine, easy and cheap accompaniment to a bottle of beer while watching the game.

A more limited but specialized selection can be found at Wursthaus Schmitz, with a few German dairy products, like Quark.

Another spot for specialized ethnic cheeses is 12th Street Cantina, with a strong inventory of essential Mexican cheeses if you plan on making queso fundida or other South of the Border dinners.

And Hershel's East Side Deli will cut you a hunk of creamy cheese to bring home to accompany their smoked fish.

 

Cherry Grove Cheese at Salumeria

One of the region's better artisinal cheesemakers is Cherry Grove, located between Princeton and Trenton. The Fair Food Farmstand was the only stall where you could find Cherry Grove at the RTM, but now Salumeria has added their product. Cherry Grove also sells at a couple of the farmers markets, including Rittenhouse, which has been going strong all winter long.

St. Louis in Philadelphia

Pasta By George added cheese steaks and french fries last year, and along with them is a food I associate most with St. Louis: toasted ravioli.

Of course the ravioli is not actually "toasted". It's deep fried. Think fried wonton.

It's not the first St. Louis connection at the market. When I first started shopping there nearly 30 years ago, Salumeria featured some Italian deli meats from Joseph Volpe of that city's "Hill" neighborhood, home to Yogi Berra, Joe Gargiola and the Gateway City's closest approximation of South Philly. You can still buy Volpe product at a number of stores in the area, including DiBruno's. Before the U.S. legalized importation of Italian prociutto, Volpe's was one of the best you could buy; it's still an excellent product with good value.

Another St. Louis-Philadelphia similarity: German buttercake. Not all that surprising considering both cities have long-established German-American communities. But St. Louisans (who call their version Gooey Buttercake) are much more passionate about this baked good than we are. It comes in all sorts of different varieties. If you want to try it locally, take a trip to Haegele's Bakery in the Lower Northeast (Tacony), just two blocks off Frankford at the corner of Erdrick and Barnett.