Paninis and More at Bosa Foods

Although Bosa Foods is very close to home, I didn't actually have a chance to try it until recently. I had known that there was a deli inside this store, but I had no idea just how busy the store itself was. It was packed with lots of Italian specialties, baked goods and deli meats, many at very reasonable prices. Since it's never a good idea to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach, we wandered to the back of the store to grab our lunch first. 

 

This is the Arancini, a Giant Risotta Ball. I have had Macaroni and Cheese balls before, at HouseGuest and Society, but both were the size of golf balls or ping pong balls. This one was more like a baseball.

 

At $4.99, this could be a meal or a very filling appetizer. Because we had heard so much about the paninis, we decided to get one of these and share. The breadcrumb coated risotto layer is just thick enough to hold all the ingredients inside, but not so thick that you feel like you're just eating dough. The crust is very crispy with a soft comforting layer of risotto on the inside. The filling is a blend of ground beef, onions, peas, tomato sauce and both mozzarella and parmigiano cheeses. Beef is the dominant flavour here with the peas giving each bite a sweetness you wouldn't expect. Eating a full half of this, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish my panini.   First up is the Soprano, with a mix of Hot Calabrese, Hot Capicollo, banana peppers, some provolone cheese and a spread made with sundried tomato and mayonnaise. This again was $4.99 so nothing overly pricey so far.  

 

Check out the perfect grill marks on the bread! It doesn't just look good, but it really enhances the sandwich by giving the bread a slightly crunchy crust. All the meat inside gets warm to better release their spiciness. The peppers were finely sliced, so each bite had a bit of heat to it. The cheese could have been melted a touch more, but that's a rather minor complaint considering how well the whole sandwich comes together.

 

Next up was the Spicy Club, at $5.99 this was still a good deal. Given that Spicy was in the name, I expected lots of heat from this sandwich, but it really wasn't there. There's a thick layer of oven roasted turey, a bit of bacon along with a layer of sundried tomato. The cheese they used for this sandwich was cheddar, and the only spice came from the slightly spicy mayonnaise spread. I am guessing that the turkey and bacon was the reason for the slightly higher price of this sandwich, but upon close inspection, we noticed that Soprano was a square sandwich but mine was rectangular and quite a bit larger.
 
  
As I mentioned, they had lots of Italian groceries but I was drawn to the pastas...lots of shapes and sizes that I hadn't seen before. Good thing we ate first but I still managed to bring some of these home with me to experiment with.

Take Note: 

• Lots of hot and cold sandwiches available for under $5 
• Great variety of salads 
• Staff at the meat counter really knows their stuff, ask questions if you're not sure about anything!