Peck

The Shop That Supplied the Royal Household

4 of 5

In 1883 a pork butcher from Prague named Francesco Peck opened a shop in Milan to sell the smoked salumi of central Europe to the Milanese. By 1890 he was official supplier to the royal house of Savoy. Most shops would retire on that. Peck kept going, and the flagship on Via Spadari, a short walk from the Duomo, is still where this city goes when it wants to buy food that shows off.

Lunch is upstairs. Piccolo Peck is the café on the first floor, and the menu reads like a greatest hits of the counters below. Vitello tonnato. Salame Po aged a hundred days. Riso al salto with taleggio fondue. Ossobuco in gremolada with risotto alla milanese. If you want to make a statement, there is a veal cotoletta on the bone listed at 400 grams and 60 euros. I respect a menu that prints the weight next to the price. Downstairs the cooks run a tavola calda of traditional dishes that changes through the week, and the salumi and cheese counters are what Peck built its name on.

None of this is cheap, and none of it pretends to be. You are paying for a shop's judgement, tested for more than 140 years. The bistrot opens at nine Tuesday to Saturday, only in the afternoon on Monday, and not at all on Sunday. Eat upstairs, then walk the counters and leave with something wrapped in paper. Someone raised between Gulf souks and Punjabi kitchens knows a serious food market when he sees one. This is Milan's.

Order this: Vitello tonnato Peck, Riso al salto with taleggio fondue, Ossobuco in gremolada with risotto alla milanese, Salame Po 100 giorni from the Spigaroli selection
The damage: $$$
Go: Tuesday to Saturday at lunch, upstairs at Piccolo Peck; request a table through the site
Find it: Via Spadari 9, 20123 Milano
Website: peck.it