cured meats, warm olives with preserved lemon

A couple weeks ago, a group of us went to lunch with our pair of birthday friends, Dion and Michelle. Booking out the backroom at Salumi has been somewhat of a birthday tradition for us for a few years now, and we were happy to be a part of Dion and Michelle’s festivities.

crostini–one with chicken liver, one with fresh hand-pulled mozzarella and chorizo

Salumi does a busy sandwich/specials lunch from Tuesdays-Fridays, but their backroom lunches (Wednesdays only) need to be booked weeks in advance. These are family-style affairs, and usually begin with some cured meats and nibbles. Then, they typically move onto a round of appetizers, then some sort of pasta dish, a meat-heavy dish, and then dessert–all for about $45 a person (that’s with a bit of wine, too.)

sweet peppers stuffed with anchovies, oiled bread crumbs, and pine nuts

the creamiest frittata I’d ever had. Truly, the center portion was more like a flan than a frittata!

carrots and onions

(And I’m missing a dish of cotecchino and lentils here–it was so good, I started eating right away and forgot to photograph it!)

braised short rib pasta

a Porkalicious platter of salumi-wrapped broccolini, cinnamon pork chops, and a new, slightly piquant sausage that Salumi is rolling out

Lunch is always a leisurely affair, and stretches on well into the afternoon. The highlights, for me, on this particular day were the sweet peppers stuffed with anchovies and bread crumbs, the impossibly creamy frittata, and the cotecchino and lentils, which I forgot to photograph. But it was all very good, and very hearty.

red wine poached pears and honeyed ricotta

(The next birthday is my husband’s in March. Can’t wait for that feast!)