Brisbane Times September 2023
Is this NYC-inspired deli Brisbane’s best sandwich shop?
Follow the queue down a CBD laneway, where it’s serving stacked sangas, kewpie and caviar-laden lobster rolls, mac-and-cheese croquettes and natural wine.
Let’s get it out of the way straight-up: no, the sandwiches at Joe’s Deli are not famous. Not yet, anyway.
“People come up and say, ‘Is it the meatball sub that’s famous?’” operations manager Josh Franko says, laughing. “‘Mate, everything’s famous. It says it right there [in the name].’”
Which leads to another misconception: no, Joe’s Deli did not originate in the US.
“That was also intentional,” owner Patrick Killalea adds, “to make people think that it’s this brand we’ve dug up from America and brought over.
“We just wanted to have that same nostalgia. That’s why we called ourselves ‘famous’ before we even opened.”
It’s true, Joe’s Deli – with its tiled floors, exposed brick, booths lined with fluted glass, and brightly lit hanging menus – captures the feel of a classic New York delicatessen, but Killalea’s influences range more widely.
The eye-catching branding by freelance designer Sam Dean of the 'The Seekers Co' was inspired by Killalea’s childhood in Auckland surrounded by iconic Kiwi brands such as Frosty Boy, and Four Square with its Mr 4 Square character. And the very idea to open a sandwich shop came from Italy, not the US. “My first international job was in Sardinia,” Killalea says.
“I was a head chef out there at Porto Cervo. Me and a good mate were running a restaurant on the beach. You’d pull up at these little panini bars and there’d be an old boy on the slicer, and there’d be fresh mozzarella, tomato, mayo. It was just f---ing mind-blowing. I thought, ‘I need to bring this back to Australia and New Zealand’."
Joe’s Deli opened at Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast last year before Killalea expanded up the M1 at the start of September, unveiling a second space in a laneway just off Albert Street in the CBD.
All of a sudden, in 2023, there’s no shortage of funky sandwich shops scattered across Brisbane, but Joe’s feels like a step-up in quality.
“A lot of planning has gone into this,” Killalea says. “I’d had the idea for over 10 years, and started on the branding two-and-a-half years ago … I think we did everything properly from the start. And put a lot of research into finding the right breads and the right small goods.”
Joe’s Deli’s menu is simple but effective. There are nine sandwiches, all served on toasted sesame milk rolls. You might order a JD Classic with double-smoked leg ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, piccalilli and aioli; an Original Deli with salami, mortadella, cured ham, iceberg lettuce, provolone, pickles, red onion and mustard aioli; or the Famous Meatball Sub with pork and veal meatballs, napoli sauce, parmesan, Swiss cheese, aioli, salsa verde, pickles and red onion.
There are also five hot dogs, ranging from the Brooklyn Dog (cheese kransky sausage with sauerkraut, spicy ketchup, aioli, hot seeded mustard, onion and cucumber pickle) to the Crisp ’n Fresh (beer battered snapper, tartare, iceberg lettuce, black caviar, chives and lemon) and a lobster and crab roll (kewpie mayo, iceberg, chives, black caviar and lemon).
Supplying the small goods is Salumi Australia in Billinudgel. Killalea won’t be drawn on the name of his baker, only to say it’s “based in Brisbane”.
The rest of the menu is dedicated to a short selection of salads, sides (shoestring fries, prosciutto mac-and-cheese croquettes, crispy chicken pieces, and so on), a couple of sweets, and some toasted sandwiches for kids. For booze, there’s a pilsner, a ginger beer, a Margarita and natural house wines.
It’s an unapologetically straightforward formula that leans hard on the quality of its produce. And so far it’s proving effective, with lines out the door most lunchtimes.
“The hardest things to do in food are the simplest,” Killalea says.
“With a sandwich, you don’t have anywhere to hide. If the bread isn’t fresh, it’s not on point, or your ingredients aren’t balanced right, or the ratios aren’t right, it won’t work. A lot of people overcomplicate it and just chuck heaps of stuff in it. Stripping it back, you’ve got to get it right.”
*Find the original article here
