One of the Triangle’s best sandwiches should soon be easier to get your hands on
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Ideal’s to open a satellite bakery to boost bread output and hours.
- Owners plan longer hours and more sandwiches. The bakery will supply Ideal’s.
- The bakery aims to cut lines, enable 9-5 service expansion.
One of the most popular restaurants in Durham is expanding this year, but that won’t mean a new location — at least not yet.
Ideal’s Sandwich & Grocery is building a new satellite bakery in an attempt to satisfy the legions of hungry fans knocking down its doors at lunchtime. The four-year-old sandwich shop is often only open two hours a day, when the house-baked hoagie rolls, focaccia and English muffins are sold out. Lines often form before the doors open at noon.
Now owners Ian Bracken and Paul Chirico plan to sell more sandwiches, expand hours and even hint at the potential of a second location. Rumors of an Ideal’s expansion have swirled for months, and Bracken and Chirico confirmed the news in a social media post this week.
“It’s been a long road and a very poorly hidden secret, but we’re finally happy to announce we’re opening a bakery in the coming months,” the post reads.
When will the new bakery open?
The new bakery should open by March, but will not be open to the public for the foreseeable future. The bakery is located at 1005 Holloway Street in Durham, about a mile from the restaurant.
“The main goal of our first phase is to pump out as much bread as we can for Ideal’s so we can be open for more than two hours a day,” the post reads. “In fact we’re shooting to be open from 9-5 breakfast, lunch, and maybe eventually dinner.”
Ideal’s menu
Bracken and Chirico met at the Culinary Institute of America and spent early careers in fine dining. In Ideal’s they created a Northeast-style deli and Italian market. The sandwich menu includes a Philly Roast Pork, a Harlem Chopped Cheese, a cold Italian and a sliced turkey. The shelves are stocked with bottles of wine and dried pasta, tins of fish and olive oil.
But it’s the bread that dictates how the day goes. Because they bake their own, the restaurant closes when it runs out.
“The goal is to reduce or entirely get rid of our infamous line,” the post reads. “We have been super grateful for all of your support over all these years, and it seems like the best thing we can do to say thank you is make you wait less--and eat more sandwiches.”
