Stephen C. wrote: > I don't know if any of you have tried Panini, accross the > parking lot from Paul Joes. It's a Italian sandwich place. > They have about 10 sandwiches. It's run by Pauline's (above) > sister and mother. Tina (mom) majes all the deserts and a > soup every day. I like to go just to get my fix from talking > to them. Since I was in the area today and remembered your article, I searched out Panini. I ordered the Siracusa (prosciutto, fontina, oregano olive spread, red onion, tomatoe and lettuce) served with a side of risotto. It was very good. The proscitto seemed very fresh, not dry at all, and not overly salty. All the other ingredients were very fresh. I was moved to add a leaf of fresh basil to each half but I love fresh basil on sandwiches like this. When they first handed it to me, I thought the portion seemed rather small for the $6 price, but found it to be quite adequate. I thought they could be more generous with the risotto and the one olive with two small carrot slices appeared very lonely. Panini very much remided me of the sandwich shops the I remember years ago in downtown Rome (don't know if their still a tradition) accept those Roman shops usually had a glassed in display of all their sandwiches neatly tiered so you could just point at what you wanted. You were also right about the two women who run the place. They were a hoot, very friendly and talkative and at one point the woman who was taking my order slipped into Italian while describing the risotto to me. I just nodded as if I understood every word while she reverted just as easily back into heavily accented english. Not an every day lunch place because of the prices, but I'll be back to try the other sanwiches, the soups, and deserts which also looked good (stuffed canneloni, cakes, etc.) jd
San Francisco Bay Area, CA