Stopped by the sandwich shop on the north side of Little Santa Monica between Rodeo and Camden, next to Joe’s Pizza.
Small shop with bistro table seating for about 8-ish inside and 10-ish outside. Order at the counter and they call your name when ready or bring it out to you. There is no room to wait inside unless you are seated. One very nice woman taking all the orders, in-person and phone, and two guys assembling sandwiches.
Lorenzo: Mortadella, Parmigiano sauce, toasted pistachio, roasted red bell pepper, fresh basil
Cross section:
The focaccia is a good foil for the fillings - thin and light with plenty of air pockets, neither dense nor crusty but a touch closer to pillowy and crisp. Not the star, but good as a background player.
Mortadella was great quality, pistachios (naturally) were a textural complement. The Parmigiano sauce had the texture of cream cheese, with a few discernible shards of Parmesan mixed in. Personally found the combination of sauce and roasted red pepper to be overpowering and reminiscent of…roasted red pepper cream cheese, but this may be because mortadella + bread = happiness in our household. Can see lots of other people really liking this.
Today’s Special Tripe Sandwich: Tripe in tomato sauce with burrata and arugula
Tripe close-up:
The thin bottom layer of bread became soggy, fast, on this one, which was disappointing. The tripe, however, was meltingly tender with just a bit of a bite, stewed in a light tomato sauce, topped with burrata and arugula, and served warm. A very good sandwich if tripe is your thing, minus the soggy bottom.
The ~$16-22 range (minus the MP Zola sandwich with shaved black truffle) is expected for the neighborhood, and the 2 sandwiches were filling enough to be shared by 2.5 of us. I’d gladly go back to try the other sandwiches.
A couple of notes:
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Parking is not bad. Meter spots out front and a public lot right around the corner on Camden.
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Card only.
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They are busy. In the first 20 minutes there were already ten customers plus constant phone orders.
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There will be a wait. First guy got his single sandwich maybe 15 minutes in? The customers just after me seemed to wait ~30 minutes for orders of various sizes. Either be there as they open or call in your order and show up in a half hour.
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They seem to make the sandwiches in the order received, including phone orders, which is fair but can mean being “second” in line can feel deceptive due to the long wait.
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They also slice the meat fresh, which, again, is great, but feels inefficient when you’re going from mortadella to prosciutto for one order and then back to mortadella and prosciutto for the next. Time switching out the meats for multiple orders adds up and adds to the wait. I had time today but noticed others getting antsy. It was clear it was their first visit, and the shop probably didn’t anticipate such a rush at open but such is the power of Jenn Harris perhaps. (I also didn’t know she wrote about it until @js76wisco mentioned it in another thread.)
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If for some reason you are hoping to get a prepackaged salad or a fresh pasta dish, call first. Overheard them tell a customer they did not have pasta, and there was one salad in the cold case.
I liked the place and am looking forward to trying their other offerings - just wanted to give an honest perspective of the visit so others can know what to expect. Namesake or not, would’ve gone with the Salamino over the Lorenzo if it were up to me today! 
Lorenzo California
9529 S Santa Monica Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(424) 332-2949
