Turns out that that Anthony Bourdain fella was pretty crafty in putting Salumi – a Seattle charcuterie shop – in his “Top 13 Places to Eat Before You Die” list. At top left is their punchy, aromatic finocchiona, spiked with fennel and black pepper. At bottom left is the mole salami. The latter is fierce: chocolate, cinnamon and two different kinds of smoky pepper – in a salami.
Ahem. My favorite Mexican dish, mole poblano, thrown into a salami. I hate myself for loving you, mole salami.
We made a mean chef’s salad with the two of these, some hard-boiled eggs, butter lettuce, and a mustard-based balsamic vinaigrette. (I take my vegetables the way my dog Queenie used to take her pills — wrapped in cold cuts.) The shot above was taken at 4pm in Portland, Oregon, with two friends and a bottle of red in tow. Because that’s how they roll there.
So yeah, hie thee to Salumi, because it’s the sort of place where, no joke, you can cruise in 5 minutes past close and instead of giving you the boot when you moan “but I’m flying back to New York Cityyy” they hand you a free charcuterie sampler. Seriously. I was not going to end with “this would not happen in New York” but oh look I just did.