The world’s most famous butcher opened a downtown Sacramento sandwich shop
Eighth-generation Tuscan meat maestro Dario Cecchini, the world’s most famous butcher, is expanding stateside. He’s opened sandwich shops in two cities: New York and Sacramento.
Cicci Di Carne opened July 15 at 500 Capitol Mall, Suite 120. It’s a “ghost kitchen” open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, with only to-go and delivery service available through Uber Eats, Grubhub, Seamless, Postmates and parent app GO by Citizens, the last of which allows customers to pick up their orders themselves.
Cicci Di Carne’s 7-inch sandwiches tower tall with meat, as seen with the Nonno Dario (mortadella, burrata, arugula, lemon aioli and pistachio pesto) or the Grande Tulio (salami, truffle salumi spread, mortadella, fontina and arugula), both $14. Cecchini created the recipes and helped source the ingredients, including his own proprietary salts, a Cicci Di Carne spokesperson said.
The menu rounds out with non-meat items such as polenta wedge fries ($5), a grilled artichoke and arugula salad ($8) and a caprese sandwich ($12). Sliced meats such as sopressata, mortadella and prosciutto are also available by the pound, as are cheeses.
Cecchini left veterinary school to take over his family’s Panzano, Italy butcher shop in 1976 after his parents’ deaths. The Dante-quoting, mustachioed butcher garnered international acclaim for his gregarious personality and wholehearted embrace of off-cuts. He catapulted onto American viewers’ screens in a 2019 episode of the hit Netflix show “Chef’s Table.”
He opened a snout-to-tail Chianti restaurant called Solociccia in 2006 but resisted expansion until recently, lending his name to a fine dining restaurant called Carna in Dubai that opened in May. Cicci Di Carne is owned by ghost kitchen conglomerate C3, which stands for Creating Culinary Communities, and also owns Umami Burger, Sam’s Crispy Chicken and Krispy Rice.
C3 eventually plans to open about 20 Cicci Di Carnes around the United States, including locations in Los Angeles, Milpitas, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Walnut Creek.
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.