By far this is the closest thing I’ve found to traditional Italian panini.

When I lived in Florence, one of the apartments I lived in was a block away from the famous All’Antico Vinaio known for their delectable sandwiches. Back then it was just a tiny shop and over the past decade they’ve expanded with multiple locations in Italy and abroad and have become viral. Gusto Mio in Walnut Creek is serving up these delicious Italian style sandwiches as well as Roman style pizza slices and of course Tommaso was skeptical but once I told him the owner was Italian, he was less apprehensive.

We decided to skip the Roman style pizza slices and ordered two sandwiches to share. All of them sounded great so deciding was a challenge. All sandwiches are served on their signature focaccia bread and they have 16 sandwiches on the menu or you can build your own.

The Pistacchio (8.5-9/10).

One of their most popular sandwiches is the pistacchio (meaning pistachio in Italian) with mortadella, Stracciatella cheese, pistachio cream, and pistachio crumble. I loved this sandwich with the silky mortadella, the creamy tangy cheese, and the fragrant pistachio cream. Tommaso thought that the pistachio cream was a little sweet (almost seemed like it had a little bit of honey in it or some sort of sweetener) while I thought the pistachio cream could have been thicker but that’s being very nitpicky.

The Porchetta (8.5-9/10).

The porchetta was another fantastic sandwich with thinly sliced porchetta, nduja, eggplant, Mozzarella cheese, and arugula. The nduja added a bit of heat and I love any type of marinated eggplant. I wish they added more porchetta as the other ingredients slightly overpowered the pork but it was still really good.

Both Stellar!

These sandwiches easily transported me back to Italy and while they weren’t as big or as cheap, the flavors were spot on so my rating is an 8.5-9/10. I cant wait to come back and try their other sandwiches and maybe even the pizza slices next time!