Still, in a matter of weeks, Paesano's has risen as rebuttal to those who heard the gong of doom for the South Philly sit-down sandwich eatery when Shank's and Evelyn's, the storied luncheonette a block off the market on 10th Street, decamped last year to - oy! - 15th and Sansom, in the belly of the Center City beast.
The chef-owner, Peter McAndrews, loved the history of the corner: "This was a butcher shop; it's a story, not a strip mall." But he fretted he might have a rough reception: "You know, an Irish guy doing Italian sandwiches."
Any new launch should have such rough sledding. At Saturday lunch it's not unusual for all 45 seats to be filled. And the buzz has gone berserkly viral.
The crew from DiBruno Bros., the nearby cheesery, can't stay away. Guys from old-school Ralph's restaurant are in and out. Frank DeLuca from Villa di Roma picked up a bag the other day.
The northern Italian maestro, Marc Vetri, made a pilgrimage to sample the ballyhooed "Bolognese." And at Bibou, the French bistro on Eighth Street, chef Pierre Calmels and his wife, Charlotte, are unabashed groupies.
How many varieties have they tried? "All of them," said Pierre, pulling the take-out menu from behind the stove.
They are singularly awesome, big-flavor, meal-on-a-roll sandwiches. (And, yes, there are meatless options - a roast eggplant with fennel, a Sicilian chickpea pancake, and a tuna salad with green olives. Oh, and oven-roasted potatoes that are criminally addictive.)
McAndrews, who runs Modo Mio, the popular trattoria at Second and Girard, and across the street from that, his original five-seat Paesano's, says he used George's, the Ninth Street veal-and-tripe stalwart, and Shank's as models, and tried to inject "a little more oomph."
