Buffalo Rising Online

Mar 21st 2007, 8:40am By Christa Glennie Seychew

On any given weekday, you may have to wait 10 minutes or so for your order at Chris’ Sandwich Co. (if you didn’t have the foresight to call it in), but if you can put aside the lack of elbow room and the friendly but hurried staff, the delay is rather entertaining. The menu board is a good read, huge and full of tantalizing descriptions: “…garnished w/ toasted pine nuts and our homemade creamy basil vinaigrette dressing…” “…sirloin topped w/ sautéed spinach…” or “…melted Fontinella cheese and Jamaican Jerk seasoning…”. The only difficulty is that once you’ve placed your order, you stand there reading the board, wondering if you’ve ordered too hastily or if it’s too late to ask them to throw a cup of the homemade chicken soup in.

If you’re with a companion, or even just a newspaper, step to the left through the small door and you can be seated in the dining room, buzzing with conversation; high-ceilinged and full of plants, colorful art and sunlight.

It’s a little hodge-podge, but three major expansions in 15 years will do that. And from the looks of the lunch crowd, another one wouldn’t hurt. Dining capacity at Chris’ NY Sandwich Company is around 75, but in the spring when the weather warms and the sidewalk patio opens, they’ll have room for closer to 100.

WNY native Chris Vendetti began selling sandwiches floor to floor at Children’s Hospital close to 20 years ago. Business grew so swiftly, that he was forced to rent a small space with a kitchen in order to prepare the number of sandwiches he was selling every day. It wasn’t much later that he opened the door to people looking for take out. He offered only ham, turkey and tuna sandwiches. Simple, but very fresh and very, well—large.

“Why the NY Sandwich Co.?” I ask. “I wanted people to understand the size of the sandwiches we were serving, the reference to NY helps people get that,” Chris tells me. And they are more than worthy of the title, stacked with high-quality meats, cheeses, veggies and condiments. The menu is no longer just turkey, ham and tuna. On my count (not including specials) there are 32 sandwiches, 14 salads, and a handful of sides as well as steak, burgers and fish fry on Fridays.

Check out the rest of this feature on Chris' NY Sandwich Co. in the March edition of BRM. Or, better yet, stop by Chris' for lunch today. Happy Eating!

Chris' NY Sandwich Co.
395 Delaware
854.6642