“Since 1976, the family-owned Italian market and deli that is Carmine Lonardo's has been a community staple for an assortment of goods, including imported pasta of all shapes and sizes, olive oil, canned goods, frozen foods such as housemade sausages, and so much more. But this is one place where you should shop hungry, because it also has some of the best sandwiches around — huge, messy masterpieces made on freshly baked rolls that you can custom-order with that Italian sausage and a variety of other hot or cold meats”
Best of Denver: Food & Drink, Westword, 2023.
“For his first few decades in America, Italian immigrant Carmine Lonardo worked as a meatpacker in Denver, and while he probably would have preferred the plant didn’t close in the 1970’s, generation of Italian sausage lovers from across the Front Range are pretty happy about it. The house links from Carmine Lonardo’s Specialty Meats and Deli in Lake, which Mr. L. started in making to earn a bit of money all those years ago, is now a staple thoughout the region. The deli, operated by Carmine Jr. and other members of the Lonardo family, does a great cold cut sub, but you’re really here for the straight forward sausage sandwiches, made with provolone and peppers, bathed in marinara.”
The Best Sandwich in Every State: Legends Only, David Landsel, Food & Wine Magazine.
“My dad left his home in Campobasso, Italy after the war in 1956. Once he gained citizenship, he settled in Denver where worked as a meat-packer until the plant shut down in 1970. Shortly after that, he opened an Italian meat market with his wife, my mother, Louis - it’s still here today.” - Carmine Lonardo Jr.