Genio Ienzi makes everything from scratch at Little Italy's Sanguiccio Deli

Genio Ienzi doesn't compromise. The owner-operator of Sanguiccio Deli-Cafe on Preston Street makes his own sausages, bakes his sturdy panini buns with crispy exteriors and light, absorbent crumbs, grinds his pepper, and crumbles his oregano by hand.

"This is all my mom's cooking; I was watching her when I was growing up," Ienzi says. "A lot of things you can't buy. You have to make them."

He also makes his sandwiches to order at his own pace, working solo in a tiny eatery. A wait of 15 minutes or so isn't unusual. But that investment pays off. The sausage — while admittedly salty — bursts with other flavours. A recent porchetta sandwich that took 15 hours to prepare came alongside a simple but super-tasty tomato salad. The chicken sandwich is so good Ienzi says customers ask him to cook multi-course dinners for them.

There's no printed menu. Sanguiccio survives by word of mouth and customer loyalty. Posts on social media show what's available that day. Some afternoons are quiet; the day before a recent visit, Ienzi had 15 customers. Articles praising the place dating back almost 15 years hang near the door. The entrance and dining area, which seats maybe six or eight, are a little cluttered and a little dark — how Ienzi likes it.

He was born in Cleto, in the Southern Italian region of Calabria. "I'd live there if I could, if it was possible," he says. His mother still lives in Ottawa; he still asks her advice on cooking. At 65, Ienzi says he can't afford to retire. But the sandwich-making goes on.