Love a Muffulatta!

The KPO Photo office is located in downtown Carrboro, nestled among wonderful places to eat shop. One of my favorite stops has been Neal’s Deli. At first I was pretty much addicted to the muffulatta sandwich. I have since switched to the italian sub. They are receiving a lot of press right now as they were featured in a New York Times article last week and are going to be featured in Food & Wine Magazine soon. They asked me to help them tell their story for their many upcoming promotional opportunities. This has been such a fun project to work on! I love seeing this family work together to create something wonderful. Here is what I came up with.

Neal’s Deli is located by the Open Eye Cafe. They are open for breakfast and lunch.

I met the Neal Family at their Carrboro Mill House on Saturday morning. This home is a part of the story too as it has housed a few generations of Neal’s. Matt Neal grew up surrounded by the food business and could often be found at his mother Moreton Neal’s place, La Residence, or at Crooks Corner, where his father, chef Bill Neal, presented his famous version of southern cooking. This photo shows Matt and their son, Hank, in the same famous kitchen eating. Note the New York Times article as well.

Talk about buying local– they are able to walk or bike to the Carrboro Farmer’s Market and they use ingredients from local farmers in their deli food. Sheila is holding their five-month-old daughter, Anne and Matt’s sister Madelline Neal is pusing four-year-old, Hank, in the stroller. Matt uses the bike to buy food and to deliver catering jobs locally.

Sheila used to run the Carrboro Farmer’s Market and Matt shops there every week so they seemed to know everybody. Matt brought a large bag of biscuits to share with some of his favorite vendors.

A portrait of this busy family in front of some incredible flowers.

Back at the deli, they have many constants on the menu but change their specials and sides depending upon what is fresh and in season.

They are quickly becoming famous for their pastrami.

Matt or Sheila either know already or quickly get to know their customers. While I was there shooting the food a couple on their way from Florida up to New York made a detour just to come try their food. They said they will be back when they come back down to Florida next fall.

Busy, busy, busy!

Making the Italian Sub.