Salumeria 104 Succeeds at Serving Affordable Regional Italian Fare

Photo by billwisserphoto.com

Spaghetti alla bottarga.

A salumeria is a neighborhood shop that specializes in cured meats and other prepared foods for take-out. Often it provides table service and a limited menu of antipasti and simple home-cooked meals as well. Salumeria 104, which opened in midtown in December, is Miami's first such operation. This collaboration among chef Angelo Masarin, Carlo Donadoni, and Graziano Sbroggio of the Graspa Group brings a lot of local Italian restaurant experience to the table: Masarin, a native of Treviso in northern Italy, earned his chops at Casa Tua, Sardinia, and Cecconi's; Sbroggio co-owns and manages the Van Dyke Café, Tiramesu, Spris, and Segafredo. Their seasoning shines through at Salumeria.

Just like a traditional meat market, the restaurant's walls are lined with shiny white tiles. Storefront windows take up the front of the nearly 50-seat space (with 30 more seats outside), while the back wall is a photo mural depicting an idyllic scene of a pastoral Italian vineyard. The rest of the space is a tidy arrangement of antique wooden tables on a polished concrete floor, with globe lights dropping from the ceiling and a counter running along the right side of the room -- behind which the salumi are shaved on fire-engine-red Italma slicers. The only disconcerting decorative notes are plastic prosciutto ham shoulders suspended along one wall; in Italy, they hang real hams.

The salumi selection encompasses two types of prosciutto (di Parma and San Daniele) along with mortadella, bresaola, guanciale, salame, cacciatorino, cotto al tartufo, and speck. The prosciutti are $10 and $12 (or a taste of both for $16); the rest are $5 each. Diners are likewise given the option of choosing one of the dry-cured hams to go along with any two or four salumi ($14 or $20). Three cheeses -- Parmigiano-Reggiano, pecorino Toscano, and bufala -- are tendered as well.

At lunchtime, you can order some of those cold cuts (plus porchetta) in sandwiches made on fresh focaccia from Spuntino Bakery (also owned by the Graspa Group). Dinner breadbaskets bring thin slices of crusty, chewy baguette from the same bakery. For $3 you can get an assortment of breads, but baguette goes best with the charcuterie.

Read the review of Salumeria 104 here.

View photos of Salumeria 104 here.

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