The long-tenured family-owned Italian deli was once a staple in California — and not just in the metros. Each small town could lay claim to a place where the red sauce (or gravy) was done, by hand, by a little old lady in the back who went by Mama something-or-other.

Theirs was a business model that relied on the symbiotic relationships of growers and vendors long before that kind of movement became overrun by corporate suppliers or became so unique it’s now accompanied by obligatory fine dining prices.

Now, there are only a handful left, and those that survived can lay claim to existing for a nearly century or more. Molinari Delicatessen in San Francisco, Bay Cities Italian Deli in Santa Monica, Luigi’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Bakersfield and Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno are some of the standouts in the increasingly shrinking cohort.

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Piemonte’s was started by Lawrence “Gino” Porasso, who was born in Northern Italy and emigrated to the U.S. with his family in the early 1900s at age 14. They settled in Madera. In the late 1920s, he got married and started a butcher shop and deli in Fresno called Piemonte’s, opening the business downtown on Fresno and C streets.

Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

The Piemonte special at Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

The business took off, and by the mid-1960s, he had switched the format to a deli only and opened the storefront that stands today in the heart of Olive Avenue, the main drag of Fresno’s most walkable and inviting neighborhood. Porasso, along with his wife Olga, and his two sons Joe and Lawrence Jr. — who eventually took over the business — ran Piemonte’s until his death in 1988.

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Through the decades, Piemonte’s became a lot of things to a lot of people. Most of it has transcended the menu filled with Italian deli standards like specialty sausage, macaroni salad and pre-made lasagna that still can be found on offer today. However, Piemonte’s may have one signature item that supersedes even its sterling reputation: the deli’s eponymous sandwich.

The Piemonte, which is ordered hundreds of times a day, is a combination of two salamis, mortadella, ham and provolone served on a French roll. About 8 inches in length, the cylindrical sandwich is swaddled in white butcher paper and handed over in a brown paper bag. Upon unwrapping and inspection, the ingredients aren’t stacked high but rather swirl together for the most delightful pinwheel of color and flavors.

“I’ll answer the phone and, ‘I want a Piemonte.’ That’s it. Give me a name and they hang up, that’s it,” Piemonte’s previous owner Neil Eberwein, who owned the deli with wife, Nancy, told KFSN-TV last fall.

Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

The Eberweins, who purchased the deli from Joe and Lawrence Jr. Porasso in 2001 and ran it for almost a quarter century, sold it in January to Madison Lindsey-Martinez, 26, who was the deli’s manager under the Eberweins, and her mother, Julie Catanzarite, 60, a hospitality industry veteran in Fresno county. The pair told SFGATE the transition has been a smooth one thus far — business is booming this year.

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“I got some help from my mom to get a job over here,” Lindsey-Martinez said of her entry into working at the deli at age 18. “I wasn’t working as much when I first started, but I gained more hours. They liked my work ethic.”

Lindsey-Martinez admitted that she never thought ownership of the deli was in the cards, but as time crept closer for the Eberweins to retire, she knew that she could turn to her mother for guidance.

Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

“I’ve been working at a restaurant since I was 16,” Catanzarite said. “I’ve been doing this for, what, 44 years? I’ve gone from waiting tables to wedding coordinating to fine dining.”

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A big chunk of Catanzarite’s career was spent managing Livingstone’s Restaurant & Pub, a popular bistro just down the street, also in Fresno’s Tower District for a quarter century. Catanzarite decided to retire from Livingstone’s about the same time the Piemonte’s opportunity came up.

“I knew we could do it,” Catanzarite said, then paused. “Actually, I knew she could do it.”

Co-owners Madison Lindsey-Martinez and Julie Catanzarite of Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

The mother-daughter pair made a promise to the previous owners to keep things at the deli the same, an extension of the same promise the Eberweins made to the Porasso family nearly a quarter century earlier. While Luigi’s just down the 99 in Bakersfield is on the fourth generation of family ownership, there’s something about different families carrying on the same tradition that is also unique, Catanzarite said.

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“It’s a promise,” Lindsey-Martinez continued, noting that the fulfillment of that promise has to be seen — and tasted — by most longtime customers to be believed.

“There’s a little bit of pressure,” Lindsey-Martinez explained. “I just had a couple today who thought things would be different because of the new owners. But the employees are the same, the recipes are the same. Our customers love it. We’re trying to keep everything exactly the same, and they know. They complain about anything that changes, down to the lettuce changing.”

“Everything is homemade,” Catanzarite added. “We hand-make the sausage, link the sausage. We do the meatballs, the gravy. Everything’s in-house from scratch down to the macaroni and potato salads. It’s fresh, it’s made by hand, and people can tell.”

While Piemonte’s is a valley staple, the reputation, and perhaps the fact that it is one of the last of its kind, has stretched all the way up and down California, Catanzarite said. “I just sent a bunch of sausage up to Walnut Creek,” she noted. “We get requests from all over. We want to keep it the same because that’s what everyone loves.”

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Madison Lindsey-Martinez and Tabatha Hernandez make sandwich orders at Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

Anthony Martinez slices pepperoni on the meat slicer at Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

Tabatha Hernandez makes sandwich orders at Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

And they do. On a recent Friday afternoon, the queue for a sandwich at Piemonte’s stretches out the door and underneath the deli’s awning, past the front patio and onto the sidewalk.

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Once inside, customers are greeted by a cashier and several employees working at warp speed behind a store-length counter that contains all of the aforementioned meats and just about every kind of complementary cheese and side you’d expect. The order is written down on a paper bag and payment is taken — and then you congregate, usually near a fridge full of cold drinks, in anticipation of your order.

And while many have the Piemonte sandwich as their go-to, others swear by the deli’s other favorite: pastrami. Some even put it up against the best on the East Coast.

“They make New York-style pastrami, not as lean,” said longtime Piemonte’s customer Mike Hutchinson. He said the pastrami is so rich and so flavorful, he doesn’t allow himself to get it every time. “Today, I just got the chicken salad sandwich.”

First-time customer and recent Fresno transplant from Sonoma County Austin Whited said pastrami was his order upon recommendation from his friend Jazzel Quintana.

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Priscilla Hernandez holds a hot pastrami sandwich at Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

“The pastrami, heard about it, got to try it,” he said. “I know it’s going to be phenomenal.”

Quintana, who was born and raised in Fresno, said she’s been a frequent customer at Piemonte’s for more than a decade. And while she noted that she samples many of the deli’s offerings, she swears by the pastrami. “Just good pastrami, best in Fresno,” she said.

Owners Lindsey-Martinez and Catanzarite said while Piemonte’s signature sandwich is the clear winner in volume, a close second and third are the turkey avocado and the pastrami. But for those in the know, there is also a Piemonte’s secret menu.

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“Some [items] are named for the regulars who come here,” Lindsey-Martinez said. “We have one this week called the K Dog, which is his nickname, and that’s this week’s special. It’s got honey-baked turkey, oil, oregano, pepper jack, pickles, tomatoes and lettuce.”

Do people often order off the secret menu? “Oh yes,” Catanzarite said. “Everyone who’s been here a while has their own special favorite. And that’s the way it’s always been.”

The Piemonte special at Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

My own Piemonte sandwich didn’t last long. Each half can easily fit into a palm and, if you’re like me and not careful, can be taken down in two or three bites. After unintentionally wolfing down both halves of my Piemonte on the front patio in mere minutes, I asked a few folks nearby whether it was acceptable to eat one sandwich on premises and take another to go. To a person, each held up a “go-bag” of one of their favorites, and I went back in to do the same.

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Once back inside, I saw Catanzarite and Lindsey-Martinez behind the counter helping choreograph a handful of workers who were busing throwing down a big to-go order for a business in town. The sandwich assembly line, like the recipes, is a Piemonte’s tradition that has been passed down from owner to owner.

Priscilla Hernandez, Tabatha Hernandez, Madison Lindsey-Martinez, Julie Catanzarite, Evie Peterson, and Anthony Martinez at Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen in Fresno, Calif., June 30, 2025. Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE

Later, when asked about the rhythm and feel of the place being the same through the generations, Lindsey-Martinez and Catanzarite said it’s all by design, and it all goes back to one thing: Piemonte’s is a family business — regardless of who the family is.

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