Amighetti's Bakery
Coordinates: 38°37′09″N 90°16′22″W / 38.6192°N 90.2729°W Amighetti's Bakery is an Italian American bakery and cafe located in the Hill, the large Italian neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri; as well as Hazelwood, Missouri and Rock Hill, Missouri. They are most known for their Amighetti's Special Sandwich. The Special is made with ham, roast beef, Genoa salami, brick cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, pepperoncini and a secret recipe of Amighetti's own dressing on freshly baked Italian bread.[1] They also make and serve fresh pasta.
Amighetti's Bakery was founded in 1921 by Louis Amighetti, an Italian immigrant. It was later run by his son Louis Amighetti Jr. (nicknamed "Junior" to all who knew him), who with his first wife Angela and children then later second wife Marge, grew the business to the point that in the late '60's/early '70's it expanded from a small, traditional bakery into a sit-down casual sandwich shop. They later began selling their own in-house made varieties of gelato and also expanded to open another location downtown near Busch Stadium. Years later Marge and Junior sold their business to John Stackle and stayed on for a year to continue running the enterprise.
The Schnucks grocery store chain makes a sandwich called the "King of the Hill" that tries to imitate the Special. However, because Amighetti's bakes its own bread—much less uses its own proprietary sandwich recipe—, Schnucks' sandwich differs from that of Amighetti's.