Potbelly Sandwich Shop – Grandville
3076 44th Street SW J4Whenever a little taste of home pops up in Michigan, I get all nostalgic. I’m not even sure how I came across it, but recently, I noticed a Potbelly Sandwich shop opened up in Grandville. It’s not much of a surprise. Anything new seems to open up in that area.
It’s taken me a while, but I finally got time to head out to 44th and Ivanrest to indulge in this Chicago sandwich joint. The small restaurant is right in front of the Cabela’s that opened last year. It shares the Bucktown Shopping Center outlot with several other food joints including a Chipotle and a Five Guys.
I was somewhat amazed at how packed the parking lot was on a Saturday night. It was actually fairly hard to find a parking spot. Five Guys was pretty packed, so I’m guessing a lot of those cars were in there although the Potbelly I was heading to had a steady stream of people coming and going.
I started this entry by talking about a little piece of home. Potbelly is a Chicago company headquarted in the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago. I worked for a while in “The Mart” when I was in college, so Potbelly is a sandwich that I have been enjoying for many years.
As far as Michigan stores, there are a number in the Detroit area as well as one in East Lansing which I used to eat at when I worked at MSU. Because of my history with this little sandwich shop, I pretty much knew when I walked in what I wanted.
There was a little bit of a line in front of me, so it took longer than I had hoped for. I grabbed a bottle of Pepsi out of the cooler near the order counter then stepped up to start the process.
I ordered the Italian in the “Bigs” size. My choice of bread was the multi grain and after getting loaded with meat, my sandwich was passed on to the topping station where I added on hot peppers ( a true Chicago Giardinera mix), oil, and Italian spices. In addition to the sandwich, I added on a cup of chili just because it’s winter and who can turn down chili in the winter?
Once the sandwich was completed, I was handed a tightly wrapped and bagged up, it was handed across the counter for me to take to the cashier. She had my cup of chili waiting for me. The total cost was a little over $11.
When I got back to work, I cracked open the cup of chili first. It came with crackers, but I didn’t even bother. The thick, meat and bean chili wasn’t anything that really stood out, but it was yummy.
The sandwich, however, was a different story. The toasty bread was filled with Capicola, mortadella, pepperoni, salami, and Provolone cheese as well as the aforementioned hot peppers which made this sandwich incredibly tasty. The sandwich was very juicy…probably from a combination of the oil I added on as well as the oil from the hot peppers. It actually soaked through the three layers of butchers paper and the brown paper bag it was wrapped in. All of that juice made for a great sandwich that really makes me wish there was one of these in Kalamazoo.
As it always has in the past, Potbelly Sandwich Shop really delivered for me. The sandwich market is getting more and more crowded and doing something that stands out gets harder and harder, but I really like what Potbelly has to offer and I will look for reasons in the future to head to this part of Grandville.
Cup of Chili
Italian w/Hot Peppers
SW Michigan Dining 