Randy Carter, chef-owner of Jack Flaps in Ohio City and Jack Flaps Luncheonette in 5th Street Arcades, will open a quality-driven sandwich shop in the North Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland. Sammich (651 E 185th St., 216-350-6888, sammich.co) is taking over the property previously occupied by Old World Meats, which closed a couple years back following a debilitating fire.

“Both of the Jack Flaps restaurants are really busy and they’re both small spaces,” Carter explains. “We can’t fit all the foods we need to prep and store so I was looking for a production facility where I could do some of that stuff.”

What he landed on was a 7,000-square-foot building with an old world smokehouse, deli cases and plenty of room needed to produce all the items needed for his Jack Flaps restaurants.

While the production portion of the operation will take some time to fully sort out, the carryout sandwich shop should be up and running in about six weeks. The sandwiches will all be built around quality meats that are roasted, braised, cured and/or smoked in house.

“Sandwiches have never left, but I think over the course of the corporate takeover of America we’ve lost quality in our sandwiches and in our products,” Carter says. “You’re not getting those great flavors and unique differences. The idea is to do something fresh and unique.”

The shop has adopted a pugilistic theme, with sandwiches all taking the names of marquee boxers. The Lewis combines Cajun turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, bacon mayo and cheese, while the “Gorilla” Jones features cured country sausage, ham, grilled peppers and onions, bacon mayo and a pickled egg. The Marciano is a classic Italian stack of capicola, sopressata, lettuce, tomato, onion, provolone, pickled cherry peppers and tomato vinaigrette.

Sandwiches are priced between $7.50 and $10. Sides ($2) include coleslaw, baked beans, kimchi, macaroni salad and potato salad.

In addition to the prepared sandwiches, Sammich will sell sliced meats by the pound as well as whole house-smoked hams and turkeys.

This article appears in Dec 21-27, 2016.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.

3 replies on “Coming Soon: Sammich Sandwich Shop in North Collinwood”

  1. This is technically in Euclid – just so you know.
    Regardless, couldn’t be happier to have a place like this here in our town.

  2. I wish you the best of luck,however that neighborhood has changed for the worst and don’t see it getting any better. One time e185 was great with the bars and the fair but, now very questionably.

  3. My comment is a very late addition to this story, but wanted to stand up for the East 185th neighborhood. We bought our house here a little over a year and a half ago and could not be happier. Excellent middle class neighborhood with kind, supportive neighbors. I’ve talked to many individuals who used to live in this area many years ago and hear similar comments to Chaz. My only retort is that diversity makes us stronger.

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