Spread and Co.

By Nadia Lepoutre

Picture a grocery store in rural Italy. At the deli counter an American (me) orders a sandwich with two different sliced meats: prosciutto and mortadella. The butcher stares me down and incredulously says “Nel stesso panino? … Algouri.” Translation: In the same sandwich? Cheers, you idiot. His disgust revealed a hidden truth: Americans underappreciate simple, single-meat sandwiches.

Spread & Co. has no blind spot when it comes to high-quality, authentic, and single-meat Italian sandwiches. This is a great place to take your friend who continues to claim that bologna and mortadella taste the same.

Their mortadella sandwich melts in your mouth with fresh and simple Italian flavors, which are surprisingly difficult to find in Austin. All you need are mortadella, fresh focaccia, and pesto to make an excellent sandwich.

The ambiance is quaint, maybe to a fault, making it difficult to eat your lunch at one of five two-person tables while a line of hungry patrons wait three feet away strategizing how to steal your table. But then again, when such a great single-meat sandwich is at hand, it’s hard to blame them.