The Original Gonella’s (Detroit)
295 Oakwood BoulevardSunday in Chicago, Monday in Detroit.
It was another long week for me. I did technically get a day off, Sunday, but I used that day off to go to a Bears game in Chicago. It didn’t actually feel like a day off because it was still a long day with a lot of driving.
Monday I needed to meet some co-workers in Detroit around 4 PM. I didn’t have to pick them up in Lansing this time like I usually do because there were two of them coming. I do that when it’s only one so they don’t have to make a long drive, usually very late at night, home all the way from Detroit by themselves.
This gave me an opportunity to search for something to eat either in Detroit or on the way before I met them downtown. I had a few options and a few places I wanted to try but it’s a longstanding sandwich shop that won out.
I headed to The Original Gonella’s on the corner of Oakwood Boulevard and Powell Street in the Oakwood Heights Neighborhood in the far southwest corner of Detroit. The location opened over 75 years ago in this very industrialized neighborhood. The Marathon refinery is just down the street and there is very little actual housing in the area. Gonnell’s two story brick building stands alone on the corner just a couple of blocks away from the rows of storage tanks at the Marathon plant.
I hadn’t done a ton of research on the place before I made the trek. I really just saw that their sandwiches are highly rated and I do love me sandwiches. I didn’t realize this is a grocery store as well but it makes sense seeing as how it’s an Italian deli. There are a few rows of Italian staples and a few rows of coolers for drinks other cold foods.
There’s even a pretty impressive self-serve olive bar at the back of the store. It takes a little bit of self restraint to not just reach in there and grab a couple of olives to snack on while waiting.
The part of the store I was looking for was all the way in the back. There is a huge deli counter where they slice fresh meats quickly to build these massive Italian sandwiches. The menu hangs behind the counter and it does something I’ve never seen outside of Detroit. You order you sandwich by layer. They all come with the same meats, cheese, and veggies so your only option really is how big do you want it to be. I had never seen this before until I stopped at Vinnie’s Italian Sub Shop in Romulus last spring. Not sure if this is a Detroit thing or I just haven’t been to a lot of Italian deli’s.
I had thought I was just going to sit there and eat but there is no place to sit and eat. I grabbed my sandwich and a bottle of Coke and paid at the front register. The cost was right around $15.
I headed to my job site downtown to eat. I had to parking in one of the ramps downtown so once I got situated, I just got out of my car and unwrapped the white butcher on the hood to dig in.
I chose the 12 layer of meat, 2 layer of cheese combo. The sandwiches come with Hard Salami, Salami Cotto, Mortadella, Smoked Ham and Capicola. It’s built up until there are twelve layers of meat. The two layers of cheese are both provolone and I opted only for the lettuce and Italian dressing on top. You can also get tomatos and onions but I thought it’d be better this way. The 12 layer sandwich is a beast. The sandwich comes on a soft Italian roll and it’s densely packed with the meat. Each bite is like ripping a piece of meat off carcass. I make it sound crass but it’s really quite tasty. The lettuce and Italian dressing give the sandwich a little bit of crunch and a little bit of tanginess. It’s a really simple concept but a really tasty execution.
The Original Gonella’s ha been on my to-do list for a while but I don’t always get to Detroit with time to venture outside of downtown. Places like this survive for three quarters of a century for a reason. It’s never an accident. Gonella’s is a really hearty sandwich with a pretty cheap price considering how much food you get. It’s gotta be a hit with the factory workers in the area. I know it would be for me if I worked in the area.
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