BATON ROUGE - Step inside Anthony’s Italian Deli and you don’t just smell fresh bread and simmering sauce, you hear it, too, sometimes in Italian.

Since 1978, Anthony’s Italian Deli has been serving muffulettas, homemade sausage, lasagna and its signature olive salad to generations of loyal customers. What started as a 450-square-foot shop on Florida Boulevard with just seven tables and one employee has grown into a Baton Rouge staple, still family-run and still rooted in tradition.

“Some people come in here, they enjoy listening to us talk, and they wonder why we’re always mad,” said Marco Saia. “We’re not mad, we’re just Italian.”

Anthony Saia and his wife, Marie, immigrated to the United States from Italy in search of opportunity. Anthony was born in Sicily, Marie in Bergamo, north of Milan. Neither spoke English when they arrived in Baton Rouge, but Anthony brought with him a baker’s background and a clear vision for how food should taste.

“My parents actually lived the American dream,” Saia said.

Anthony learned to bake as a teenager in Sicily, an experience that would later shape the foundation of the deli.

“When he was around 12 to 15, he used to be a baker in Sicily,” Saia said.

In 1978, Anthony and Marie opened Anthony’s Italian Deli, pouring their heart into a small neighborhood eatery. From the beginning, bread was everything.

“He went and found a local bakery in Gonzales and taught them how he wanted his bread to be made,” Saia said. “Now all they do is bake my father’s recipe.”

Today, the deli operates on Government Street, with Marie and their children, Marco and Margaret, continuing the same approach their parents started decades ago.

The restaurant is best known for its muffuletta, a Sicilian-style sandwich inspired by the New Orleans classic, with Anthony’s own personal twist.

“He thought to himself, maybe I could do it a little better or put a little twist on it,” Saia said.

That difference comes down to the olive salad — finely chopped, made in-house, and beloved by customers.

“People eat it with salads, they put it on their sandwiches, and some people even buy it and eat it straight,” Saia said.

If olives aren’t your thing, Marco recommends the Italian Deli Special, his personal favorite, which skips the olive mix but keeps the flavor.

“We put lettuce, tomatoes, and marinated onions on it,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite sandwiches.”

There’s also the meatball po-boy, a longtime customer favorite.

“It became a special, but we also do it on po-boy bread, and we call it Meatball Monday,” Saia said.

Another standout is the lasagna, layered with lean beef, homemade sauce, and béchamel instead of ricotta cheese, using a recipe Anthony created himself.

“You feel the smoothness of the béchamel,” Marco said. “Instead of being clumpy, it’s very smooth. That’s what makes our lasagna better than most people’s.”

For the Saia family, the food is only part of what makes Anthony’s special.

“We not only do most of the prep and cooking here as a family, we also show our faces,” Saia said. “We sit down with our customers, chit-chat, and enjoy listening to their stories.”

Nearly five decades later, the recipes remain, the Italian language still fills the room, and Anthony’s legacy continues through his family, one sandwich at a time.