Ordering a sandwich at a deli counter is an act of localism steeped in history. You’re not just making a lunch run, you’re engaging in a tradition first brought to the United States by immigrants, including the Italians who moved into Madison’s Greenbush neighborhood. Alimentari, a deli at 2623 Monroe St., is the product of food memories shared by brothers Dan and Enrico Bonanno.
Their parents grew up in the Calabria region of Italy, and they fondly remember their dad operating Tenuta’s Deli in Kenosha. The Bonannos and business partner Bonnie Arent originally opened Alimentari on South Brearly Street in 2018, then moved to a bigger location on Monroe Street in February 2025. The trio plans to open a second location in the building they own at 940 Williamson St., the former home of their restaurant A Pig in a Fur Coat, which closed in September 2025.
When Alimentari first opened, sandwiches weren’t meant to be the main offering, but that’s certainly changed.
“We went from maybe averaging 100 sandwiches a day in the first year to now 400 to 500 a day,” says Dan Bonanno. The sandwich board features mainstays like the spicy soppressata, porchetta, mortadella and smoked turkey, plus one rotating option per month. Dan Bonanno says it’s the quality meat — and the Madison Sourdough Italian white bread baked exclusively for Alimentari — that have made the sandwiches a Madison favorite…