It’s been almost exactly four years since the original Nearly Famous Deli location burned (May 2006), so it’s almost embarrassing to admit my last visit was also my first to the new location in the Brentwood Center. Though I’d eat there a few times a month when it was a duplex off Glenstone, I let it fall through the cracks while the new place was still building. When sandwiches were the topic in our recent top five, it was brought back to mind. The only difference is the size. It maintains the feel and ambiance of the original spot, but now you can stretch your legs. The staff appeared to have grown considerably.
Nearly Famous is a soup and sandwich shop stuck in a fancy restaurant’s body. And that’s a good thing. It’s a nice change of pace. Most sandwiches are built in front of you so you can sprint off to another errand. Not Nearly Famous.
Nearly Famous has a full sandwich menu, starting at $5.79 with triples in the $7-8 range. You can even build your own. Every sandwich comes with chips, pickle and pepper. I ordered the pastrami with Swiss, sour cream and onions on pumpernickel which was brought out warm, but not toasted. The flavor was incredible and while not filling on it’s own $6.79 is appropriate for the setting. My wife ordered the Tuna Melt and was pleased. She did mention there wasn’t much flavor, though. We aren’t very grabby with salt and pepper – tending to leave that part to the chef – but I noticed she made three or four passes with each.
Our total was $12.19 for a couple of gourmet sandwiches with top-notch service and fine-dining atmosphere. We were in for lunch and out in 30 minutes, but it felt like a nice, long break in the middle of the day. We didn’t tackle it, but Nearly Famous has a full dessert menu (tiramisu looked like the leading candidate had we opted for it), as well as an espresso bar, full wine menu and a selection of beers. They serve entree specials in the evenings. You can find each day’s specials on the home page of their web site.
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