Readers’ Choice: Meat-ing success

Photo by Maria Young

When Anthony Messina and Frank Sangiuliano opened Pastificio 12 years ago, they didn’t exactly plan on going into the sandwich business.

Manufacturing fresh pasta was the initial focus. Then something happened on the road to success — the sandwiches just took off. When SPR readers were asked to crown the best specialty sandwich in the south side of Philly, guess who landed in the winner’s circle. That’s right, Pastificio, 1528 Packer Ave.

“We are honored,” Messina said. “In South Philly there are a ton of sandwich places, a lot of well-known places.”

In these parts, the Pastificio’s Italian hoagie is the talk of the town and beyond, and it includes winning Phily Mag’s Best of Philly honor. Messina noted that members of the Philadelphia Eagles and city officials have stopped in to place orders. Others come from Delaware and around the tri-state area to see what all of the fuss is about. Shipping orders to the west coast is not out of the question.

For those who are not fans of the Italian hoagie, the meatballs, which are rolled and made fresh daily are another popular item. So are the chicken cutlets.

“We do a wide variety of sandwiches and specialties,” Messina said. “Everything is made in house.”

PrimoHoagies served up a second-place order while Ricci’s Hoagies earned a third-place filling.