The Italian Job: Focaccia Sandwiches and Gelato Make Piazza Pelino Worth a Visit

Piazza Pelino, a new Italian sandwich spot in the Short North, is laser-focused on delicious bites. Its menu, which features six focaccia sandwiches and eight types of gelato, might seem limited, but don’t be fooled. Each dish offers a rich array of complex and Old World flavors.   

Housed in the former Piece of Cake bakery spot on North High Street, this second location for chefs Vinny and Christina Pelino opened last November as the sister to Pelino’s Pasta, their 2-year-old restaurant on King Avenue.   

Naturally we began with Il Top sandwich ($15.25), named for its starting position on the menu and its status as a bestseller. It stars mortadella, the original Italian bologna studded with pieces of lard, peppercorns and pistachios, combined with creamy stracciatella cheese, and a rich, nutty pesto made with Sicilian pistachios. The Tricolore ($16.00), a savory cousin to Il Top, subs a saltier speck ham for the slightly sweet mortadella, offering an equally delicious but totally different result.   

For a slightly more unusual flavor profile, consider the Calabrese ($15.25), which contains a fluffy, bright-orange filling of blended spicy ’nduja (spreadable sausage) combined with tomatoes, ricotta, other cheeses and Calabrian chile oil. The result is spicy and salty and totally unique.  

All of Piazza Pelino’s sandwiches come on a generous, six-inch square of housemade focaccia, and they are easily shareable. A bestseller from their pasta spot, the focaccia has pillowy air bubbles, rich pockets of olive oil and a salty, caramelized crust. A star on its own, it’s available to buy in single pieces or in whole or half sheets.  

By carefully wrapping each sandwich in branded parchment paper with the tops exposed, Piazza Pelino mimics the Italian takeaway shops that let you tear into your lunch while you stroll. Which may be the point, given the Short North shop’s limited number of tables. 

Other clues indicate how much the Pelinos want your experience to be authentically Italian. An installation of colorful umbrellas adorns the ceiling, a look borrowed straight from the owners’ favorite Sicilian plaza. Signs on the wall emphasize their use of high-quality, imported ingredients and commitment to artisanal production methods. Retail shelves are lined with hard-to-find imports like 00 pasta flour, squid ink and a curated assortment of Italian wines. You can also find Pelino’s brand candies—colorful, sugar-coated nuts from a Pelino cousin’s centuries-old business in Abruzzo.  

Anchoring the space is Pelino’s large, mechanized, glass-top gelato case that both churns and chills each homemade flavor in front of you. The spinning motion is dazzling and beckons you to taste them all, which you should. On one visit, we enjoyed a combination of gianduja (chocolate hazelnut) with espresso and a second dish of raspberry sorbetto—a nice palette cleanser. I’ll be back to try more soon, whenever the next urge to escape to Italy strikes. 

Piazza Pelino 

772 N. High St., Short North, 614-849-5019, piazzapelino.com

This story is from the March 2024 issue of Columbus Monthly.