Starbucks New Piadinis 'Sandwiches' vs. the Original Italian Piadinas
Yesterday, Starbucks launched a new "breakfast sandwich" called the "piadini," inspired by the Italian flatbread-like "piandina" usually filled with meat and/or cheese and eaten at lunch or snack time. Starbucks' piadina introduction was basically screaming for a comparison, and once we got real Italians involved, the taste test results weren't pretty.
Initial reaction from Giancarlo Quadalti and Maurizio DeRosa: skepticism.
A call up to chef Giancarlo Quadalti of New York's Teodora, Celeste, Bianca, and Fiore—he is from Ravenna, Italy, the home of the piadina—inspired a serious chuckle on the other line. He was equal parts intrigued and frightened. Starbucks is really attempting what sweet, hunched-over Italian women make at streetside kiosks?
When we brought him and his good friend, Italian wine expert Maurizio DeRosa, the two available flavors (portobello mushroom with ricotta, and sausage with cheddar), they thought the Starbucks sticker and tightly-wrapped package was cute, but the contents, not so much. At first, Quadalti shook his head. "Uh-uh. I'm not trying that." He left the room for a bit to griddle his own piadina, a staple appetizer at Teodora, served with choice of cured meats, broccoli rabe, or stracchino cheese. Returning, Quadalti lifted up the Starbucks version, bending it like silly putty. "It should not do that."
He demonstrated the opposite reaction with his version. "See how it slightly crumbles? It breaks if you try to fold it."
The Starbucks piadina, on the other hand, felt like pancake batter. DeRosa pointed to an especially white, doughy part. "It's not even cooked either! That's raw!"
Though neither of them spat out the Starbucks rendition, they were not going back for seconds. They were both forgiving because, hey, it's warm bread. How can warm bread be that bad? Like a warm bed, it's comforting, and Starbucks amps up the comfort quotient by zapping its piadinas in cool mini-ovens. That doesn't mean these piadinas are delicious, just warm, and they get less delicious by the minute.
Starbucks' Piadini
Portobello mushroom, spinach, eggs, ricotta.
Sausage, eggs, cheddar.
Teodora's Piadina
Served with stracchino cheese.
Served with cold cut meats.
The Differences
Flatbread Ingredients: At Teodora, the dough is made of lard, salt, and flour. The lard is the magical ingredient here, providing a significant taste and texture difference from the Starbucks version.
Folding Style: Starbucks went for a folded corner approach. Teodora does not mess with folding, opting for triangular shapes instead, creating an open face effect with piled-on toppings. The old Italian women are so-so on folding. Not crazy Starbucks folding, but a simple taco-like fold.
Food Fillings: Starbucks goes for mini balls of sausage and eggy bits in one version, chunks of portabella with eggy bits in another. Teodora goes for mortadella, salumi, prosciutto, the soft stracchino cheese, and brocolli rabe. No eggy bits.
Price: At Starbucks, $3.25 for each. At Teodora, $13.50 for the appetizer plate, usually split amongst a table.
Nutritional Info: At Starbucks, the portobello mushroom piadini contains 370 calories and 18g fat. The sausage, egg, and cheddar piadini has 500 calories and 32g fat.
At Teodora, psst. They don't want to know. They don't seem to care. They just eat it.
The point is: Maybe you can't afford the Teodora version every day, but one bite and you know it's the real deal. The Starbucks piadina is tasty enough, but it quickly loses its allure as it cools. And if Starbucks is looking to its piadinas to compete with McDonald's breakfast sandwiches, the serious eaters say Starbucks stil has some work to do. We'll take a fried chicken biscuit or an egg mcmuffin any time.
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16 Comments:
Apples and oranges, anyone? When's the comparison of a Big Mac with a burger made of Kobe beef?
CVilleBilly at 9:59AM on 10/01/08
This was a whimsical post. We weren't really doing a serious side-by-side comparison. That's why we included the line at the end about McDonald's breakfast sandwiches. That is a more apt comparison, I think.
Ed Levine at 10:09AM on 10/01/08
No whimsy allowed before 10am or until a sufficient quantity of caffeine has been ingested! Seriously, though, I find myself in arguments of this kind frequently (OK, OK, I find myself in arguments of all kinds frequently). Given the opportunity, I'd love to sit in a pizza joint in Naples and have a few slices. However, I must make due with what I have nearby.
Is that prosciutto in the bottom photo? I've got a serious jones for some real piadini now.
CVilleBilly at 11:44AM on 10/01/08
Mortadella, salumi, and prosciutto, yes.
How timely -- October 1st is also World Vegetarian Day.
Erin Zimmer at 11:49AM on 10/01/08
Am I the only one who thinks that the Starbuck's one looks like a Hot Pocket?
erelmartin at 4:04PM on 10/01/08
In no way am I the grammar police, but I'm really tired of people playing so free and loose with Italian words and their plurals. It's not paninis, nor is it a panini -- panini is plural for panino. I'm not sure if there is such a thing as piadini (I somehow doubt it and just sent an email to an Italian friend -- as in born in Italy -- to find out.), but the plural of piadina is piadine. I'm sure the Starbuck's marketing dept thought Americans would mispronounce piadine and went with a safer, albeit made-up, piadini. Boooo.
BrianPrestonCampbell at 5:17PM on 10/01/08
The real question is: how does it stack up to the new DD flatbread sandwiches, which I've heard have received equally unflattering reviews. Two coffee chains selling breakfast sandwiches on flat bread. That is your true battle royale!
greyrussian at 5:31PM on 10/01/08
It looks disgusting. I am known as the piadina queen in Umbria. The thicker version like Quadalti makes is more Emilia Romagna and quite often known as tigelle, but let's say that doesn't matter, even if the Teodora guy seems to have forgotten the thin olive oil Roman version . What matters is that thing from Starbucks looks just like those pastries you put in a toaster which name I cannot remember. The piadina is usually heated in a dry griddle or occasionally slid into a pizza oven for a second. It's light, chewy, never very filled and almost always threaded with a tiny bit of oil before serving.
I really think Starbucks owes all of us an apology for the many missteps they market, starting with their burned coffee, but this time we are in time to save ourselves. Don't eat that. It is not a piadina. Even if they spelled it right, they still wouldn't be piadine.
Judith in Umbria at 10:38AM on 10/02/08
BrianPreston: your comment is totally valid, and also so funny, I think! Reminded me (I'm not even a big tv-watcher here, btw, so maybe that's why this stuck out) of this Dunkin Donuts commercial...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2y_GwKzxck
jarjar at 11:21AM on 10/03/08
Judith In Umbria: you may be correct on this new pastry from Starbucks, hope they improve it. And they just might , since they do often listen go constructive comments/critiques ? However it does seem hard to listen to you, your comment about "burned coffee". This is because when I go into a Starbucks I see hundreds of people buying coffee, they in fact serve what?... 3 million cups a day or something, how can I take you seriously ? how can the coffee be burned if that many people love it. There are so many other choices nearby ( many started because of starbucks in fact). Why would such huge number of People buy something that is burned? It just does not make sense, you must be just wrong. You of course a welcome to you opinion, just don't put it on me please.
sbuxfan22 at 4:56PM on 10/04/08
For me, it was a revelation since someone brought me two bags of Starbucks back before they were nationwide. I like their products. And while I'm not likely (nor can I afford) to go to Teodora, or Umbria any time soon, there is a Starbucks across the street. Accessibility has it's value.
Tonecat at 11:33PM on 10/04/08
Is this a case of "the perfect" is the enemy of "the good"?
peekpoke at 2:06AM on 10/05/08
The " Dumbing down of America " is nearing it's completion
( And they buy it )
kanopemainer at 9:59AM on 10/06/08
I agree with sbuxfan22 - Why would millions of people buy 'burned" coffee? Starbucks coffee is great! It's a better cup than anywhere I've been and they have a wonderful variety. When I was out of town, I went to another one of those coffee chains (only because there wasn't a Starbucks around) and had one of their frappuccinos and it didn't even come close to a Starbucks frappuccino. No way, no how! I like the way Starbucks introduces a variety of foods into their othewise coffee/pastry world. I've had their fruit salad plate, their turkey & chicken sandwiches and many of their pastries and I can't complain about anything I've had, maybe except for the price - it is a little high, but I don't mind paying that if I'm there buying a coffee anyway.
And to Judith in Umbria - those toaster pastries are called Pop-Tarts and there's another one called Toaster Strudel and they aren't filled with meats or eggs and that's why they're called a pastry - not a piadina.
MLMLW at 2:19AM on 10/08/08
The Starbucks "piadini" may not be the authentic Italian version, but I've tried the portobello mushroom version, and it sure is a refreshing change from your typical fast food breakfast fare! Every restaurant offers the same, boring sausage and egg combination. Who else offers something as unique and (dare I say it?) tasty on our hurried American schedules?
Maybe, it would be more satisfying if Starbucks changed the name to something less glamorous, less "provocative". At least it would avoid the inevitable comparisons to its Italian cousin.
Living in Southern California, I can't make it out to Italy or to New York's Teodora often enough. So, I'm hoping Starbucks keeps it on their menu!!
ldenichilo at 2:38PM on 10/16/08
Judith, you may be the queen of piadina in Umbria but you do need a couple of corrections.
1) there is no umbrian, roman or emilian piadina. Piadina is only romagnola (from the eastern side of Emilia-Romagna region, where Ravenna is. Thank you Quataldi).
2) tigella is one of the various flat breads made in Emilia-Romagna but far from being a piadina. Very good, but not the same. You might want to name also Crescentina (from Bologna) and gnocco fritto (from Modena and Reggio) torta fritta (from Parma).
3) the flat bread from Umbria (also very good) is called Torta al Testo. Cooked on the same surface (terra cotta) that the original piadina romagnola where cooked on (Testo di Monte Tiffi). Not too far from Umbria, but still in Romagna, you may even find tortello alla lastra, a specialty from the alta val di savio.
The point is that calling such a product (Starbuck's) a piadini sandwich is to say the least, misleading for the people that do not know the real thing. So next time somebody comes to my Osteria in Seattle, where I have been making real piadina for 10 years, and criticize mine as not being the right thing what should I tell my friend Howard who lives about ten blocks from my restaurant and has had my food several times before? Another lame exploitation of the Italian culture.
spigalo at 3:49PM on 10/24/08