When sommelier Mike Sammons and chef Fernando Rios teamed up to open their East End Italian restaurant Mimo in 2023, they did so by serving sandwiches that eventually went away once the restaurant moved to only being open for dinner with full service.
Thankfully, the sandwiches are back at La Rosa, the duo’s new sandwich restaurant that, like Mimo, is located in the East End’s Tlaquepaque Market shopping center. Currently, it’s open Tuesday-Sunday with sandwiches for lunch (12-3 pm) and gelato until the early evening.
“I have always wanted to do a sandwich shop. That’s always been a weird dream since an experience I had in Italy when I was younger,” Sammons tells CultureMap. “Even back in the days at 13 Celsius, that was a big driver for the mortadella sandwich we still do there.”
La Rosa’s menu is as compact as its space, which has four indoor tables, a little dining counter, and a couple of outdoor tables. It consists of three sandwiches:
- Mortadella, with fior di latte, arugula, pesto di pistachio, mostarda, and garlic aioli
- Formaggio, a vegetarian sandwich with corn and zucchini fritters, arugula, pesto di pistachio, mostarda, and garlic aioli
- A daily special that, on April 29, was made with bresaola, pecorino, horseradish crema, capers, arugula, and lemon.
“We R&D’ed the hell out of them,” Sammons says about the sandwiches. “I can’t tell you how many mortadellas we’ve tasted and how many different kinds of fior di latte. Even the way we do the pesto di pistachio — dry as a bone or super wet with lots of olive oil.”
Alright, Mike, explain how nerdy you and chef got with the ingredients in the mortadella sandwich.
“First of all, when it comes to the mortadella, you have to be able to cut it so thinly you can look through it. It has to have a certain integrity and still have bite to it,” he explains. “The fior di latte has to be creamy and snappy. You have to be able to crush it flat so it oozes all over the sandwich. The pesto di pistachio has to have a real presence of raw pistachio.”
The duo applied a similar discipline to finding the right platform for La Rosa’s sandwiches. Sammons says he and Rios tried all kinds of bread, eventually settling on a telera roll from Houston favorite El Bolillo.
“It’s more of a vessel. Bread is always the star of a sandwich, but we want the star of the show to be almost a little hidden, like an uncelebrated special guest,” he says. “It’s crisp and crunchy with a toothsome bite that’s light and airy in the middle. It holds everything together but doesn’t dominate.”
Similarly, they’re sourcing gelato from Houston’s SweetCup Gelato. Sammons says he tried multiple vendors, but Sweet Cup’s lemon sorbet is the one flavor that most reminded him of Italy. In addition to classics like pistachio, chocolate, and strawberry, chef Rios can work with Sweet Cup on flavors that will be exclusive to La Rosa.
Rios is already rotating the specials. The opening weekend’s meatball sandwich quickly gave way to this week’s bresaola. Diners have plenty to look forward to, including favorites from the old days like Italian beef and chicken parm.
Sammons has some aspirations, too. He plans to add beer and wine to the current non-alcoholic offerings of soda and sparkling water.
The little shop has been surprisingly busy, he adds.
“We sold out Sunday, which was unexpected,” Sammons says. “If we keep doing that, we’ll make more. So far, everyone has been supportive. I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be great.”
