CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Fanelli’s Deli & Market is the most recent addition to the new, indoor mini-mall City Market at 120 Franklin Street, and the owner’s goal is to bring a touch of Upstate New York and Italy to downtown Clarksville.
“This is our home away from home now,” Fanelli’s owner, Lynn Sodeman, told Clarksville Now.
Sodeman is from Rochester, New York, but moved to Clarksville in 2013 to be closer to her son and his family.
“Growing up in Rochester, it’s like little Italy. I grew up in an Italian family, and we miss our delis. We don’t really have that here,” Sodeman said.
Fanelli’s is Sodeman’s family name. She actually worked at the Ragu Sauce factory in Rochester in the late 1980s, but has never owned a business before.
“My grandmother was an amazing cook, they’re Sicilian, and we used to tell her all the time, ‘Nonna, why don’t you open a restaurant?’ And she never did, so this is kind of in her honor,” Sodeman added.
Sodeman’s family is mostly still in Rochester, and she will be using of her grandmother’s recipes as well as some of her own, and plans to continually offer rotating specials and new menu items based on leftovers to conserve food usage.
A few things to look forward to on the menu will be Sodeman’s “Sunday sauce,” a “steak bomber” sandwich that is traditional to Rochester, and a Taylor Pork Roll sandwich on a hard kaiser roll.
There will also be a variety of Italian breads, curated Italian desserts and homemade meats like roast beef. Sodeman plans to offer specials outside of what is on the menu, and other packaged items shipped from Rochester and Italy.
Along with the sandwiches, Fanelli’s Deli will sell pre-packaged dishes like baked ziti and eggplant Parmesan to-go.
The store’s marketplace will feature local jellies and snacks, imported olive oils and vinegars, and other unique, local finds.
“We’re just doing different and unique things that you can’t really find here that we miss,” Sodeman said.
The shelving in the deli is also unique: the wood is salvaged from the original basement of the Woolworth’s building where the deli is located. Sodeman’s husband Robert made them, and they still have the original inventory stickers.