Ggiata: What’s on the menu?
Ggiata Delicatessen
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Ggiata Delicatessen -
LA’s
new favorite Deli
Meet one of the newest spots proving delis are not exclusive to the East Coast. Ggiata Delicatessen is the brainchild of three friends who were, not surprisingly, raised in New Jersey. Let’s talk about the origin story, menu, unexpected collabs, and locations.
Ggiata Delicatessen
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Ggiata Delicatessen -
Behind the Scenes
Ggiata Delicatessen, or Ggiata if you want to save yourself five syllables, is a Los Angeles restaurant in its third year of selling deli-style sandwiches.
It was co-founded by childhood friends Jack Biebel, Max Bahramipour, and Noah Holton-Raphael. The three New Jersey natives moved to LA in 2018 with a Ggiata vision in mind. Their mission was to create an Italian-inspired deli like the restaurants they frequented while growing up on the East Coast. Ggiata opened its doors in June 2020 at a small joint in Koreatown. After gaining street cred and a reputation for Jersey-approved sandwiches, they moved into their current Melrose location.
Dubbed LA’s best sandwiches
11 hot sandwiches, 7 cold subs, 9 breakfast options, 7 salads, and 4 baked treats. That’s the menu at the time of writing - enough choices that you could, hypothetically, (or irl, we don’t judge) order something new every day for one month. The Masterpiece is one of the most popular items. Each mouthful features prosciutto di parma, marinated eggplant, tomato confit, roasted red peppers, stracciatella, arugula, and red wine vinaigrette all sandwiched between charred ciabatta.
These are deli-inspired sandwiches with chicken, fresh mozzarella, basil pesto, and heirloom tomatoes across the board. But, there are still options for non-meat and allergy-friendly eaters. They have three vegetarian sandwiches, including The Eggplant Parm, and one vegan sandwich, The Madeline made with grilled mushrooms. Since September, they’ve offered gluten-free bread at all locations.
Another favorite is The Don Pepe made with grilled balsamic chicken, stracciatella, roasted red peppers, arugula, balsamic glaze, garlic aioli, and charred seeded baguette. Take our advice and save room for dessert. Ggiata has cakes in three flavors: limoncello olive oil, coconut carrot, and lemon basil. Or try the tri-colored rainbow cookies with green, white, and red stripes for Italy’s flag.
The restaurant has been featured in The LA Times, Eater LA, KTLA, and ABC7 New York, to name a few publications. They have a following of over 28K on TikTok and 49K on Instagram. One fan said, “Their Spicy P sandwich blows my mind.” Another New Jersey transplant shared, “The bread reminds me so much of back home.”
Bread from the Bread Lounge in LA (H3)
Aside from the gluten-free bread from Eat Original Sunshine, all their sandwich rolls are supplied by Bread Lounge in Downtown Los Angeles. Bread lounge preps and bakes their loaves in-house. Since 2010, they have served bread with a base of four simple ingredients: water, flour, natural yeast, and salt. The bakery also serves sesame bagels, chocolate challah, cherry raspberry muffins, cinnamon rolls, and anise biscotti.
Collabs & Products
Ggiata hasn’t stopped at delis.
Ggiata beverages
In October, they dropped five soda flavors based on Jersey locations. Root beer is named after the township of Raritan, and Ginger Ale embraces the Golden State title. Birch Beer gives a nod to Brick City, while Black Cherry represents Hoboken, and Vanilla Cream claims Jersey’s entirety. Each option comes in a 12 oz. glass bottle with a golden cap. All five varieties are available in person or for delivery.
Collabs
This summer, Ggiata collabed with Jumbo Time Wines for a limited-edition fruity, red wine called Family Reunion. The result was a berry-blend with strawberries, brambleberries, and other red berries. It was available at the West Hollywood location and was part of their move to offer an unexpected beer and wine selection to pair with your go-to sub.
They also tackled some non-edible goodies. In an unlikely collaboration, they joined teams with Interscope Records and the apparel brand Dickies to release clothing in October. There were t-shirts and jackets with retro logos for sale in-store. This was a few months after they teamed up with Where is Anywhere, a clothing brand, to celebrate their Venice grand opening. They created a 5-panel hat with Ggiata's name, “Est. 2020” and the phrase “Your favorite neighborhood Italian Delicatessen.”
Locations
You can pick up The Chicken Parm with a side of eggplant fries at three locations. All spots are open from 9 am- 7 pm with breakfast hours from 9-2 pm and lunch between 11- 7 pm. But, they also list a PSA stating they will close earlier if they run out of bread. Don’t be that person who expects a full menu selection five minutes before closing.
The Original
The first brick-and-mortar Ggiata sits on Melrose Avenue, just a short drive from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has three years of food service under its belt and sits among other newer restaurants in the Melrose Hills area. Keep in mind that it’s at the intersection of two main streets so you’ll circle the block twice before finding parking.
5009 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Tel: (323) 798-5713
West Hollywood
The trio’s second location celebrated its one-year anniversary in November last year. You can pregame here with sandwiches before heading over to any of the iconic WeHo bars or nightclubs.
7998 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046
Te: (323) 380-5338
Venice
You can now also grub onThe Classic Italian or Chopped Salad while you people-watch on the board walk, at the newest Ggiata location in Venice.
83 Windward Ave, Venice, CA 90291
Tel: (310) 310-2416
The Bottom Line
Ggiata has created an East Coast restaurant staple in Los Angeles. The three locations have been featured in LA food publications and both locals and former-Jersey residents contributed to their 4-star Yelp review. Depending on your preferred meat-to-veggie-to-cheese ratio, it might be a miss for you. If the subs aren’t impressive, maybe their sodas or apparel are more your style?
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