
Along with chicken parms and rainbow cookies, one of Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone’s biggest obsessions is a row of modestly appointed tables for two. The tables reside at Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina in Rome. They’re narrow, wood-topped, and simply set. What’s unusual about them is that they’ve been shoved up against a glass retail case loaded with cheeses and prepared foods. Behind and on top of the deli case lie enough cured pork products and assorted Italian foodstuffs to stock a Luciano Pavarotti panic room. Abundance is everywhere. During the day, the tables are removed to make way for shoppers, but at night they get put back. What’s the appeal? Well, it’s always a bit of a thrill to have a meal in a setting not designed for that purpose. But eating dinner in a place where you shop for dinner elicits an almost Pavlovian response. You see the salumi. You get a whiff of the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Your mouth begins to water. Suddenly, your appetite knows no bounds.