In the never-ending search for a replacement to my favorite deli of all time, I came across a deli in Mount Pleasant South Carolina which had many of the things I appreciate about deli’s; Mozzo. Mozzo Deli & Caterer in Mount Pleasant South Carolina has a full menu of all your standard deli fare, comfortable leather couches, Fox Business, CNN, ESPN, & CNBC all playing in repertory depending on where you’re sitting, and a cryptic message on their sandwich board which my genius brother and even I together couldn’t figure out.
Mozzo Deli Sandwiches: I found this deli not by accident; my always cosmopolitan younger brother and his girlfriend recommended it highly; they even took us out for a recent lunch. The Mozzo Deli selection has all sorts of fun names for their deli sandwiches. “The Godfather” is Genoa salami, ham, pepperoni, and provolone; The Cluckin’ Russian is a breaded chicken cutlet with bacon, Muenster cheese, and Russian dressing, the Coal Miners Daughter is fried bologna, American cheese, with lettuce, tomato, and mayo, and The Jerk is jerked flank steak, grilled peppers, onions, and mango lime mayonnaise. Mozzo also has a sandwich they like to call the Veggiewich which is any and all of their vegetables, choice of cheese, and hummus (it says in parenthesis on their website; “it kind of defeats the purpose, but this is really good with bacon”) – at least they know what “Veggiewich” is supposed to imply.
Mozzo Deli Our Choices: When my brother, his girlfriend, my wife, and I were there we each dipped into familiar versions of classic favorites. There were literally probably 80 different in house types of sandwich and salad in addition to the “make your own” sandwich option; my wife and I got the same thing (of all the sandwich boards in all the world, we had to pick the same thing off the same one). If that’s not true love, we’re just inexorably corny. Anyway, we got this sandwich called the “Fusion” which had roasted turkey, brie, chipotle raspberry sauce, and field greens. I can only speak for myself when I say that this sandwich was alright. My wife was more perturbed that her sandwich, unlike the rest of ours, was not cut in half. I thought that the field greens (which were lettuce leaves which looked like they had been picked fresh for our sandwich) were a bit much. The brie pieces were too thick and far too numerous (though I guess I could have just picked some of them off) but the turkey was okay and the raspberry was tasty. I kind of wish there had been tomato and no field greens; just regular (even green leaf) lettuce would have made this sandwich far more enjoyable.
My brother got the buffalo chicken sandwich which had hot sauce soaked chicken cutlet with the Mozzo house blue cheese dressing. He didn’t say much all of lunch so I’m going to have to assume he liked it. His girlfriend got Mozzo’s “Dig the Fig” which had prosciutto, grilled onions, asiago cheese, and fig preserves. She didn’t finish her sandwich but took the remains with her so she must have liked her sandwich too.
Mozzo Cryptic Message: So the sandwich board at Mozzo has this really strange message attached to the bottom, written in aggressive arpeggio white chalk handwriting: “Drag your sandwich through our garden at no extra charge. Get too funky and the deal is off.” My brother asked me what I thought that meant; a million things came to mind; most of them not really suitable for sharing in this outlet; still, Mozzo put it up so it must mean something. When we got to the front of the line I queried the man behind the counter to which he replied, “Well what does it mean to you?”
…mmm.
I hate it when businesses try to be cute.
Mozzo Conclusion: Even though their strange message makes me flustered, the food was pretty good, the portions were big enough, and the proximity to a variety of other things means that I’ll probably be back at Mozzo sooner than later.
