photo by: Richard Gwin

Jess Maceli has seen how the sausage is made. And he’s not fazed in the slightest.

For the last 10 years, Maceli and his wife, Renee, have held onto the dream of opening an Italian market and deli in the tradition of Pallucca’s Meat Market and Deli, where Jess spent countless hours as a kid in Frontenac, the small southeast Kansas town with a significant Italian-American heritage.

He didn’t work there, but Maceli says he basically “grew up” in the multigenerational family-owned shop. Miceli’s Market and Deli, which recently opened inside the former Miller Mart at 3300 W. Sixth St., now sells the same brand of Italian meats (Volpi, a St. Louis-based company) Maceli remembers seeing behind the deli counter at his old Frontenac stomping grounds.

photo by: Richard Gwin

“It’s been good so far,” Renee Maceli says of business at Miceli’s, which launched in December. “Each week we start seeing more and more people.”

A few of those people, she adds, still wander in asking what happened to Harolds Fried Chicken and Donuts, which closed sometime last spring and was the last eatery to occupy the space before the Macelis bought the Miller Mart in July.

Unlike previous occupants (brick-and-mortar restaurants Tortas Jalisco, Biemer’s BBQ and the Basil Leaf Café all got their start there) that rented the space, the Macelis own and operate the entire building.

photo by: Richard Gwin

But Renee doesn’t like to compare her business to past tenants or even the few Italian restaurants in town. She and Jess don’t have any plans to convert the former Miller Mart into a “fine dining” locale, but the deli section does offer a few tables and chairs where customers can munch on Miceli’s rotating pasta specials, about a dozen different kinds of panini, and Italian desserts like tiramisu and cannoli. There’s also a large selection of breakfast eats, plus some salads, soups and American treats like potato salad and a fluffy, pink dessert called Strawberry Surprise.

Some items (for example, the homemade marinara and meatballs) are based on old Maceli family recipes, while the panini menu takes inspiration from other Italian delis across the country and overseas, says Renee, a pharmacist by trade who decorated cakes at her family’s bakery in Lamar, Mo., as a teenager.

These days, “I do mostly everything on the deli side,” says Renee. “Yet he has opinions on what meats we carry,” she adds, perhaps poking a bit of fun at her husband’s particular tastes.

Jess stocks Italian favorites like salami, prosciutto, capocolla, sopressa, mortadella and pancetta. A good chunk of the cheeses (provolone, mozzarella, Parmesan, et al.) are imported. They’re all sold by the pound. Miceli’s also sells large plates of penne pasta with meatballs and breadsticks for families and large groups.

“It’s amazing how many people from back East come here and say, ‘this really reminds me of back home in New York,'” says Jess, who says he’s not surprised to see comparatively exotic items like anchovies, caper berries and balsamic ketchup fly off the shelves in the market area.

We live in a foodie culture these days, he notes, and most customers are already fairly informed before stepping foot in the shop.

“You have people with money who have been to Italy, who have gone on these culinary vacations, and they come back to see if they can find anything (from their travels) here,” Jess says, adding, “If it’s something somebody will buy, I’ll carry it.”

photo by: Richard Gwin

Like the Frontenac store that inspired it, Miceli’s (no relation to Maceli’s, the downtown Lawrence caterer) is a family affair. The name of the shop is a nod to Jess’ grandfather, who craftily reworked his surname’s spelling while bootlegging during Prohibition. Now, the Macelis’ twin daughters, Lauren and Natalie, occasionally help out in the Miceli’s kitchen.

“They definitely know how to follow my recipes,” Renee says of the girls, both freshmen at Lawrence High School.

Jess, who as of July was still working as a sales representative for a plastics company, plans to start making and selling his own Italian sausage soon.

He learned how after seeing it done “hundreds and hundreds of times” back home in Frontenac. He’s just waiting for the equipment to come in.