Central Grocery & Deli

Central Grocery & Deli stands at 923 Decatur Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It is an Italian grocery founded in 1906 by Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant credited with creating the muffuletta. The sandwich began when farmers bought cold cuts and cheese with olive salad at the counter along with the round Sicilian bread called muffuletta. Lupo's daughter Marie Lupo Tusa recorded the story in her 1980 cookbook Marie's Melting Pot. Today the store is owned and operated by Tommy Tusa and Frank Tusa, the third generation of the family. Shelves hold imported pasta and olive oil while cured pork and aged cheeses scent the air. Meats are sliced in house, the bread is baked locally by hand, and the olive salad follows the family recipe. At Mardi Gras the shop has sold as many as 1,200 sandwiches a day. Hurricane Ida struck in 2021, and a ten-foot brick wall from a neighboring building crashed onto the roof, leaving only the side walls and the facade. PBS NewsHour followed the restoration in 2023. The store reopened in December 2024 after more than three years closed. Muffulettas also ship nationwide through Goldbelly and are sold at Zuppardo's Family Market in Metairie. Central Grocery has been featured on PBS and Thrillist as well as USA Today.