Muffuletta - Central Grocery, New Orleans

Lunch on one day of my trip to New Orleans was (part of) a Muffuletta from Central Grocery (923 Decatur Street). It's reported the sandwich was invented by the proprietor of the store in 1906 and has been a New Orleans tradition ever since. The muffuletta is about 10 inches in diameter. This is a description from Wikipedia:

A typical muffuletta consists of one muffuletta loaf, split horizontally. The loaf is then covered with a marinated olive salad, then layers of capicola, salami, mortadella, emmentaler, and provolone. The olive salad is considered the heart of the sandwich, and consists primarily of olives, along with celery, cauliflower and carrot. The ingredients are combined, seasonings are added, covered in olive oil and allowed to combine for at least 24 hours.


The store (pictured above) is a neat little place with many interesting things to buy. (Based on the dust on some items, I'm not sure what the merchandise turnover really is!) This will probably be my one and only muffuletta dining experience, however, as I really didn't care for it.