16 April 2007  Pining for The Fireman's Special  I miss a lot of
things about Latticini-Barese, the old Italian salumeria on
Union Street near Hicks that closed in 2002. But mostly, I miss
"The Fireman's Special."  This was a peerless sandwich made of
various cured meats, cheeses, lettuce, tomato, oil, vinegar and
sweet and hot peppers, all on half a loaf of Italian bread. It
may have been the best goddam sandwich in the city, because I
haven't since tasted an Italian hero that's approached it's
explosive combination of spectacular flavors.  If I had had any
brains, I would have written down the ingredients to the
sandwich before the shop closed. They were listed right there
about the counter, for Christ's sake! It wasn't a secret recipe.
Sopressata, I remember. And probably Capicola. Beyond that I'm
not so sure. I also remember, like I was seeing it yesterday,
the simultaneous application of vinegar and oil from two
different plastic squeeze bottles. It was a little bit of
choreography. As for the peppers, I