Ralph's Italian Deli

601 Palms Ave., Ishpeming, MI - (906) 485-4557

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Posted By Michael Stern on 1/26/2012 1:16:00 PM

If you plan to visit the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame this winter, we have a great dining suggestion for you. Across the street from the winter-sports shrine and cattycorner from a boring Pizza Hut, you will find Ralph's Italian Deli. It is anything but boring; it is an Upper Peninsula gem.

From the house bakery come sweet rye, cardamom loaves, and Italian breads as well as enormous frosted apple-cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The butchers in back make sausage of all kinds, including the local fave, cudighi. Pronounced cud-a-gee with a hard G, it is such a specialty of Ralph's that there is a map posted on the back wall of the dining room where pushpins indicate all the places in the U.S. and beyond to which the butchers have shipped their sausage. The map is titled "Where has all the cudighi gone?"

A cudighi (sandwich) is available made with a grilled patty of mild, medium, or hot sausage on a house-made white or whole wheat roll. Standard dressing at Ralph's is mozzarella, mustard, ketchup, and onion. It's a strange combination of condiments, but somehow on this dense, crusty-edged sausage with perfumy seasoning, it works. For those interested in reducing their calorie intake, Ralph's makes turkey cudighi.

Of course, the menu offers pasties. They are juicy enough that they need no gravy, although the waitress will supply some if you ask. Their savory crust, reminiscent of a good, sturdy pie shell, encloses shreds of beef and onion and little cubes of potato and rutabaga. It comes with a fork, but would be easy to eat out of hand like ore miners of long ago might have done on lunch breaks.

Scorecard

Overall: One of the Best - Worth a Trip

Cudaghi	Apple Cinnamon Roll
Pasty	Apple Cinnamon Roll

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Reviewers Photos [Upload Your Photos]

"Beef stew in a pastry pocket: the pasty is a great cold-climate rib-sticker."
Michael Stern

"The U.P. loves big sweet rolls."
Michael Stern

"If you grew up in the U.P. eating cudaghi, you likely will miss it when you move. No problem, Ralph's ships!"
Michael Stern

"Cudaghi almost always is served as a sandwich, here with mozzarella, onions, and ketchup."
Michael Stern

"Close-up view of Cudaghi shows how dense it is. Its most distinguishing feature is the floral quality of its spices."
Michael Stern

"Despite the French welcome to the dining room in the upper left of the photo, Ralph's is most definitely Italian-American."
Michael Stern

"If you are hungry in Ishpeming, this is the place you want to know about."
Michael Stern

"The waitress told us that when the Womens Horseshoe League gathers at Ralph's, they put their scores in the wooden box."
Michael Stern

"There's no mistaking Ralph's pasty for one that is machine-made."
Michael Stern