By Teri Bayus ~
The making of the perfect sandwich is an art form. If you add to it an authentic Italian sensibility and innate knowledge of food, you are in for a “between the slices of bread” phenomenon, and something you’ll find at Kona’s Deli in San Luis Obispo.
Mattia Tedeschi and Filippo Giordano purchased Kona’s Deli in June 2014, heralding from Italy and starting a new life in SLO. They maintained the surfer’s atmosphere that Kona’s was known for, but sought out to get the best local ingredients to create their American masterpieces.
Kona’s sandwiches are made from scratch with quality ingredients delivered daily. They use no preservatives, no substitutes, nothing frozen, just premium meats combined with local ingredients for their own unique recipes. The bread is delivered daily from Edna’s Bakery, the avocados from Cal Poly, and the cookies made fresh right in the deli.
On my first visit, I had the “Beach Break” on a Dutch crunch roll with turkey, sliced avocado, and provolone. I had the works and added pepperoncini, too. The Dutch crunch bread was a flawless combination of rough and soft.
The portions on the sandwich were impeccable. I really prefer the shredded lettuce, to leaf, which comes standard on each sandwich. You can also add jalapeños, pickles, olives, tomatoes, sauerkraut, sprouts, and spinach at no extra charge.
My friend has a gluten allergy. It was her idea to come to Kona’s as she had returned to her love of hoagies after trying their gluten free bread and not having anything go amiss in her tummy.
Kona’s has developed a new dedicated gluten free production line inside the deli that made all the difference. The bread was a sliced white version and quite delicious. You can choose any sandwich on gluten free bread and she choose the “Full Boat” with turkey, ham, pastrami, salami, pepperoni, and Swiss
cheese.
The chips from Taco Work were her choice of many to choose from, with both traditional to new fangled flavors.
The second visit included my husband, the Cookie Monster. He sampled every cookie first and deemed them all “grandmother” worthy. He was delighted by “The Swell” a virtual Thanksgiving feast on bread with sliced turkey, cranberry jam, cream cheese and any of the fixings you want.
I tried the salad using the ingredients for the vegetarian that had carrots, cucumbers, avocado, pepper Jack cheese, pepperoncini, pickles, olives, tomatoes, sprouts, and spinach (whew!).
All the ingredients were fresh and tasty. In fact, I loved them so, I hired Kona’s to do the catering for Saturday’s lunch at the Central Coast Writer’s Conference (Sept. 29- Oct. 1, see: www.centralcoastwritersconference.com).
Mattia and Filippo said Kona’s Deli is committed to the health of its customers. They desire to provide the perfect food experience. They pride themselves on “fresco e delizioso,” as this is what makes Kona’s homemade sandwiches unsurpassed.
Kona’s Deli, they said, offers their customers the same things offered in every Panini and sandwich shop in Italy.
The Italian influence is bringing a new way to enjoy lunch with a big variety of organic products, choice meats and delicious bread. Located at 977 East Foothill Blvd., Ste. 108 in SLO. You can phone your order ahead at (805) 546-0369. Open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. They deliver, too.
