Where to buy the best proscuitto in LA.

[runcmg727]

Hello fellow hounds. i am a proscuitto monger on a quest for the best proscuitto in LA. So far my favorite is the Italian Style from Bay Cities. Any suggestions?

[gregg1]

I alternate between Gelsons and Whole Foods. Both are very solid which they should be at $20 a pound.

Living in the Valley I also will buy from Italia Deli in Granada Hills and Cavarettas Deli in Canoga Park when I go to each for top notch sandwiches

[Kaisgraham]

Bristol Farms has delicious prosciutto. You might also try Claro's Italian Market; I know there is one in Tustin and I think they have a couple of other stores in LA but I don't now exactly where. They have delicious meats and bread.

[pamm5959]

Tama Trading Co is a wholesaler than distributes to restaurants. They import all things Italian. I buy the b/in kind, has better flavor.

[JudiAU]

Beverly Hills Cheese Shop has an excellent product that is sliced well. Other places have a good product but just mangle it with slicing. All purchases at Whole Foods have been a disaster. About 75% of the employees at Bristol Farms (Chasens) do an excellent job and then someone will do something horrible.

[kproq323]

Hands down, Bay Cities Deli on Lincoln Blvd. in Santa Monica. They also carry Boar's Head deli meats and cheeses, which is always a big plus. Very old school but has all the goodies.

[FED]

i've got to say that bay cities has come a long way in many aspects--good cheese, good rice, good pasta and olive oil. but their salumi/prosciutto selection is still out of the 1970s. there is MUCH better available than what they have (mostly the usual suspects, citterio, boars head, etc.)

[FED]

absolutely best prosciutto i've tasted is at the cube on la brea. they have two, one is tosini ... really a superb product. they also have salumi from bertolli and batali and spanish products from la espanola. they take VERY good care of their meat and are very careful in slicing and wrapping.

[Dommy]

Thanks for the reminder... did they have the lamb procuitto from Batali? I have to get some for a dinner I'm having in November... I can't wait to go to Cube... :)

--Dommy!

[FED]

yes, they have the lamb prosciutto. i haven't been in a while, but i've heard they also have new stuff from another bay area producer called fatted pig, or something like that, that is all the rage up north.

[Dommy]

Ooo!! Can't wait to go... goo... goooo!!! :)

--Dommy!

[JudiAU]

Fatted Calf? Really? They are based in Berkeley and make lovely stuff. Thanks for the excellent tip.

http://www.fattedcalf.com/menu.html Weekly menu.

Unless you are thinking of FraMani from Paul Bertolli, ex-Olivetto

[FED]

they have fatted calf, framani and batali.

[Bon Vivant]

The last time I bought Prosciutto di Parma from Claro's, at nearly $25 per pound, I found the prosciutto to be extremely bitter which is not a good sign.

For the same price I've bought wonderful Prosciutto di Parma from the Silver Lake Cheesestore.

[George]

I am local to West Hollywood/Hollywood. Buying prosciutto at Whole Foods Market is one of the banes of my existence.

It happens due to laziness, lack of time to make a special trip to someplace better, etc.
A procession of nice young people, hipsters and goths, make their way to positions manning the "deli" counter. Almost without exception a look of fear jumps into their eyes when you ask for prosciutto. NONE OF THEM know what they are doing; they need to be TRAINED by someone how to do this! I would like to send them all to boot camp in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, my old neighborhood. Sometimes they try to begin slicing the so-called "Serrano" ham (it's American product) instead, not recognizing the difference. Sometimes they think they need to cut it so thin that all you get is unusable shreds of flesh when you open the package at home. Sometimes they take upward of 15 minutes to produce 1/3 pound. The variations in disastrous cuts of expensive delicious prosciutto that I have seen has become comical lately, if it wasn't such a waste and expensive too. Am at wits' end!

Beverly Hills Cheese Shop: hate the prices, but they do have excellent salumi, especially the speck and the bresaola. When persimmons are in season, I always make a trip there for the salumi.

I think all pre-packaged proscuitto is a crime, but because of the Whole Foods situation I have in fact bought some, usually from Trader Joes. They sometimes carry a "prosciutto" that is not the American Citterio etc., but says that it is packaged in Germany. And lightly smoked! Obviously not proscuitto at all, it comes closer to speck, but is its own thing, lovely German ham.

I guess I should start trying to go to Surfas for salumi? Other options? Do butchers like Marcondas carry it? I always got my salumi from butchers in New York.

[The Chowhound Team]

The Chowhound Team split a discussion of slicing machines and their effects on prosciutto to the Cookware board. Its new home is here: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/365888

[emily]

For those in OC, Lucca's in Irvine has sliced-to-order proscuitto di parma and san daniele in their deli section. Lots of other cured meats and cheeses, too. Unfortunately, demand for the cheeses isn't high enough to sustain the wide variety they started with...

[pkpk]

The cafe at Surfas in Culver City has a nice little selection of very good Proscuiutto and cheeses. The head chief there is very knowledgable and hosts cheese tasting on Sat. afternoons I think. One afternoon though, when I was there. he did a meat tasteing it was wonderful, he has great taste.

The cafe its self is terrfic as well. Great Pannini's and Salads and cheese plates. Cookies good too.

[PikeOuttaPlace]

The Cheese & Meat master has moved on.

[revets2]

the wine shop next to alcove in los feliz on hillhurst has a very nice selection with great taleggio to boot.

[Liquid Sky]

I don't know if it's the BEST, but we had an excellent one from Monsieur Marcel at the Farmer's Market on Fairfax.

They have Prosciutto San Daniele (excellent) and Prosciutto di Parma.

[Sandra W]

Beverly Hills Cheese shop

[glutton]

I would second this recommendation, if only to watch the sweetest meat slicer known to man. It's a Lamborghini of a meat slicer. The meat is truly excellent and prosciutto could use some cheese as an accompinament, so you'll be in the right place for that.

[oro3030]

The Roma Italian Market in North Pasadena (Mountain and Lake) has good prosciuitto for a good price though I wouldn't necessarily suggest it is the best. The Sicilian owner is certainly a charcter though (think Soup Nazi).

[condiment]

Sometimes Roma's proscuitto is the best. Sometimes Ross just tells you it is the best. He has moved from Parma proscuitto to the San Daniele product recently, and he does know how to slice it.

[Will Owen]

He slipped me a piece of the mortadella he was slicing for another customer one day, and made me his slave for life...

Their sausages are a bit better than Claro's too, I think, and cheaper.

[Jerome]

Try Claro's as well - one in san gabriel - i forget where the others are.
they have a good selection of stuff.

[zack]

Yes, Claro's is awesome!

[elmomonster]

A third vote for Claro's. Multiple locations. Yet each seem uniquely indigenous to the area.

PHOTOS:
http://elmomonster.blogspot.com/2005/...

[mattesq]

Costco carries a Citterio product. It is packaged prosciutto sliced with sheets of some type of platic seperating the product. It is really good.

If you want the Italian deli experience, I have been to most, and my favorite is Monte Carlos in Burbank. The place is like church to me. Located at 3103 West Magnolia Boulevard, Burbank, 91505.

[Marianna215]

costco's huge pack of citterio is a value that cannot be beat -- the down side -- it's quite a bit of prociutto to eat once you've opened it.

[Nicole]

Bristol Farms also has good prosciutto...can't remember the name of the brand I like, but it is easily identifiable by its high price. :)

[SwissMiss]

Whole Foods Market.

[DonnyMac]

Don't bother at the Glendale Whole Foods. The untrained morons in charge of slicing the prosciutto will not bother to separate each set of slices with paper, and they will stick to each other, giving you a very expensive but useless clump of pork that will shred when you try to separate it. Better to stick to Bristol Farms for your cured meats and proper service, IMHO.

[wigglee]

Agree. Bristol Farms has several kinds of prosciutto anyway, Parma, San Daniele and Spanish Serrano Ham, which has a somewhat stronger flavor compared to the Italian ones. All very good.