Mangia Mangia

The first thing to know about Mangia Mangia is that it exists. The deli and catering company is hidden in the SouthBridge building behind Ruth Chris and Embassy Suites off Red Mountain Expressway.

There, owner and chef Richard Lamoureaux serves up quick breakfasts, fresh deli sandwiches and Italian fare — all practicing what he learned from his Sicilian family to “mangia bene” (eat well).

After attending Our Lady of Sorrows and then Homewood High School, Lamoureaux went to culinary school at Johnson and Whales and then spent five years in Steamboat Springs and Denver working for caterers before returning home to Birmingham.

“I figured I could take what I learned there and do it at home where I have connections,” he said.

Once back in Birmingham, he worked for a food distributor for several years while catering under the name “Magia” (the expression for “eat!” in Italian, pronounced “mahn-jah”) and then opened his own catering kitchen and deli in SouthBridge two years ago.

While catering, he built a repertoire of Italian dishes, mostly his Sicilian family recipes with his own twist.

“I have tried to mimic what I saw in Sicily,” he said, “but there everything — even the flour and water — is different.”

Popular catering selections include Baked Ziti, Chicken Pesto Pasta, Greek Chicken and Meatloaf.

In the style of New York delis, Lamoureaux bakes sub rolls, white and wheat, fresh daily and slices sandwich meat and cheese to order for lunch.

“My dad grew up in Brooklyn, so I have a little New York in me,” he said.

Lamoureaux encourages regular customers to try something different from their usual turkey or ham sandwich.

“For our muffeletta, we use olive salad and bread from New Orleans,” he said. “For our reubens, we slice the meat fine fresh and thin and pile it high.”

One of their most popular items, the chicken salad, is made with grapes, almonds, honey and a few secret ingredients.

In addition to sandwiches, they serve chicken salad on a bed of greens or a trio of salads, which

can include a fresh pasta salad, tuna salad or fruit. Daily soup selections, also popular, rotate through selections like Roasted Red Pepper,

Lobster Bisque, Tequila Chicken and Chili. The lunch menu also includes pizza and burgers.

They offer daily lunch specials that they post to their Facebook page: a pasta on Mondays, sandwich on Thursdays, fish on Fridays, and dishes like Hamburger Steak or Chicken Parmesan the other days of the week.

To complete the meal, Lamoureaux’s mom, Sara, who still lives in the same house on Woodbine Drive where Lamoureaux grew up, bakes cakes for the deli from scratch using the recipes her aunt first started teaching her at age 5. Selections include Strawberry Cream Cake, Italian Cream Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Sour Cream Coconut Cake and Chocolate Roulage. Cakes are available by the slice or can be ordered whole for $35.99 with two to three days’ notice.

If any of these items intrigue you, try Mangia Mangia for lunch, and if you get confused finding them, just give Lamoureaux a call and he will direct you there. Here’s a hint to start with: if you park on the right side of building 2100 B, they are located just inside the entrance by the loading dock.