Mailbag: Oregon Observer: Local Deli Owner Living the Dream ( reprinted with permission)

Deli owner living the dream after five years in business
By Hannah Disch
Observer Correspondent
Theresa Alberici always dreamed of opening her own deli. Five years ago she achieved that dream when she, along with her husband Tom, opened Alberici’s Delicatezza located on Hwy. 14 in Evansville. Today Alberici is happy to be doing what she loves, even if business isn’t exactly booming.
Fresh out of high school, Alberici spent 10 years working at Fraboni’s deli in Madison. She later worked for 10 years at the Wild Iris Café, owned by her sister. She and her husband moved to Evansville in 1999, and when the last two places she worked at closed and she couldn’t find an employer who would let her cook what she wanted, she decided to make the leap to owning her own business.
At the time, Evansville was a quickly growing community with people from New York, Chicago, Madison, and all over passing through. With choices of local eating establishments limited to a few fast-food places and a couple of family restaurants, Alberici saw the need for a deli where busy people could purchase quality homemade food and specialty items.
For the first several years, business climbed steadily, but with the recent downturn in the economy, Alberici’s has suffered along with everyone else. Costs have escalated as food prices have risen. And business has slowed with the closing of nearby plants and increasing gas prices.
“My people from out of town aren’t coming,” said Alberici. “Normally I get people from all over. I had people coming in from Gays Mills coming in just to buy my sausages. You don’t see that as much now because gas prices have gone up so high.”
The 115 mile trip from Gays Mills to Evansville might seem like a long drive for some sausage, but the food at Alberici’s is not your typical fare. Alberici stresses quality and substance over style and price. She serves deli meat from Boar’s Head in New York because it contains no fillers, glutens, artificial colors or flavors. Deli meat at Alberici’s is sliced at the time of purchase and not before in order to preserve freshness and flavor.
Food at Alberici’s is unprocessed, homemade, and in some cases, homegrown. Alberici chops her ingredients by hand and makes everything from soups to salads to sauces to ravioli and manicotti herself. In the summer she grows her own vegetables and uses them at the deli. She tries to use organic and locally grown ingredients as much as possible in her cooking. “I work with Pecatonica Farms out of Hollandale, Wisconsin,” said Alberici. “They’re not certified organic, but they do grown their own feed and they don’t use antibiotics or hormones. I eat only their meat at home.”
Alberici is on a mission to get people to eat better. She feels that when people eat cheap processed foods they don’t realize that they are paying with their health, and they’re not getting their money’s worth either.
“I try to teach people too, you eat at a fast food restaurant – you’re getting a by-product. You’re getting fillers,” Alberici said. “Yes, it may cost you a dollar less for that sandwich but you’re hungry an hour later because you haven’t eaten a meal, you’ve eaten fillers and by-products.”
According to Alberici, government regulations only mandate that a product labeled ‘meat’ contain 30 percent actual meat. The rest can be water, sugars, flour, cereals and carrageenan, the seaweed based “glue” that holds everything together.
She feels that the rise in diseases such as diabetes and celiac disease is directly related to the amount of sugar and gluten-based fillers found in meat and other processed foods.
Alberici has several customers who come to her specifically for gluten-free products. Not only does she serve gluten-free deli meat, but the mayonnaise she uses is gluten free, and she sells gluten-free pasta as well. And because she makes almost everything the deli sells herself, she knows exactly what’s in it without having to read the label, which is not the case at many delis.
A love of good food and creative cooking runs in Alberici’s family. Her sister Anna not only owned and cooked at the Wild Iris, but is a co-owner of the popular Greenbush Bar in Madison as well. Her mother cooked at Smoky’s, the Continental, and other Madison establishments, while her father had a side job catering part-time. Growing up, Alberici ate homemade food and her family never frequented franchises.
Now Alberici is proud to own and operate “a real deli” with a friendly hometown atmosphere where she not only knows customers by name, but also remembers their favorite foods as well.
“I get people from everywhere,” she said. “They try the food and they love it. People call me all the time asking how do I make this or how do I do that. That’s what I’m here for. I tell people how to make things or what’s good on this or with that. That’s what original delis were made of, good food and good company.”