Tony's Italian Deli & Subs

Tony's Italian Deli & Subs
6708 North Northwest Highway
Chicago, IL 60631
773-631-0055

This might be my new favorite place for lunch in the entire city of Chicago. I've been about 3 or 4 times since a Rosemont-based co-worker turned me on to this wonderful classic Italian Deli/Grocery store. 80% of the store is an Italian market, with Olive Oils, Pastas, and cooking equipment, with the other 20% being the back deli. The sandwiches all feature Boar's Head meats and cheeses, they are on soft italian bread, and are put together by hand in front of you to order. Plus there are numerous side salads (pasta/potato/macaroni) to choose from. The best part? It's very inexpensive: prices on most sandwiches range from $2.99 for a 6" sub to $4.99 for a 15" sub!

Tony's is like taking a step back in time to visit a real neighborhood italian deli. There is even an elderly Italian woman who works the register and scowls if you add anything at the last second (which I did when I spotted homemade fresh canollis next to the register for $1.50.

Has anyone been to Tony's? I did a search and only found a couple mentions. If not, it is well worth the trip for lunch if you're within a 20-30 min drive.

P. Channon wrote: The sandwiches all feature Boar's Head meats and cheeses, they are on soft italian bread, and are put together by hand in front of you to order.

IMHO, Boar's Head meats and cheeses + SOFT Italian bread do not constitute the proper ingredients for a great sub sandwich.

I have eaten at Tony's a few times, and although the place doesn't suck, its sandwiches do not rival the quality or taste of what you would get at Bari or Riviera.

cito wrote:

P. Channon wrote: The sandwiches all feature Boar's Head meats and cheeses, they are on soft italian bread, and are put together by hand in front of you to order.

IMHO, Boar's Head meats and cheeses + SOFT Italian bread do not constitute the proper ingredients for a great sub sandwich.

I have eaten at Tony's a few times, and although the place doesn't suck, its sandwiches do not rival the quality or taste of what you would get at Bari or Riviera.

Amen to that. I find the bread particularly insipid, though I like the store and some of ther prepared items well enough, I suppose. I'll get the occasional arincini or some sausage, but there's no way I ever choose Tony's for a sandwich.

stevez wrote:

cito wrote:

P. Channon wrote: The sandwiches all feature Boar's Head meats and cheeses, they are on soft italian bread, and are put together by hand in front of you to order.

IMHO, Boar's Head meats and cheeses + SOFT Italian bread do not constitute the proper ingredients for a great sub sandwich.

I have eaten at Tony's a few times, and although the place doesn't suck, its sandwiches do not rival the quality or taste of what you would get at Bari or Riviera.

Amen to that. I find the bread particularly insipid, though I like the store and some of ther prepared items well enough, I suppose. I'll get the occasional arincini or some sausage, but there's no way I ever choose Tony's for a sandwich.

Your telling me $5 for a 15" sub with Boar's Head meat is not worth an occational lunch stop? Come on... Considering the millions of idiots who eat $5 Subway sandwiches with fake meat, Tony's is a gem!

Sure, the sandwich may not be the most traditional sub you've ever had, but it's still a very good sandwich.

P. Channon wrote:Your telling me $5 for a 15" sub with Boar's Head meat is not worth an occational lunch stop? Come on... Considering the millions of idiots who eat $5 Subway sandwiches with fake meat, Tony's is a gem!

Sure, the sandwich may not be the most traditional sub you've ever had, but it's still a very good sandwich.

I'd just as soon drive to GNR Riviera if I want an Italian sandwich or GNR Nhu Lan if I want something else. It's all about the bread for me. I'm not saying that I've never eaten a sandwich at Tony's, but it's always been at the request of someone else. It's certainly not my preference.

P.S. I don't eat at Subway, either.

Riviera Deli
3220 North Harlem Avenue
Chicago, IL 60634
(773) 637-4252

Nhu Lan Bakery
2612 West Lawrence Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 878-9898

stevez wrote:

P. Channon wrote:Your telling me $5 for a 15" sub with Boar's Head meat is not worth an occational lunch stop? Come on... Considering the millions of idiots who eat $5 Subway sandwiches with fake meat, Tony's is a gem!

Sure, the sandwich may not be the most traditional sub you've ever had, but it's still a very good sandwich.

I'd just as soon drive to GNR Riviera if I want an Italian sandwich or GNR Nhu Lan if I want something else. It's all about the bread for me. I'm not saying that I've never eaten a sandwich at Tony's, but it's always been at the request of someone else. It's certainly not my preference.

P.S. I don't eat at Subway, either.

Riviera Deli
3220 North Harlem Avenue
Chicago, IL 60634
(773) 637-4252

Nhu Lan Bakery
2612 West Lawrence Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 878-9898

OK, thanks Steve. I'll put these both on my to-do list. Looks like Riviera is pretty close too.

I think the issue is that Chicago has a bunch of stellar Italian delis offering better ingredients on better bread for a similar price. Bari, Riviera, Graziano's, Conte di Savoia, Alpine to name a few.

P. Channon wrote:
Come on... Considering the millions of idiots who eat $5 Subway sandwiches with fake meat, Tony's is a gem!

Classic example of this---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damn_with_faint_praise

We have enjoyed sandwiches from Tony's Deli for years. along with the prepared foods in the deli. Great olive salad, fresh mozzarella, seafood salad, hot entrees and arancini. We also stock up on items from the frozen-food case -- very good marinara, meat and vodka sauces -- such as the frozen pastas and entrees.

Vito and his family are delightful and very helpful, as well as rabid BlackHawks fans (the Stanley Cup was brought to the store). If you want to get a real scowl out of Nonna (aka Emilia Pontarelli, the original owner), ask her where she buys the lemon knot cookies. But, stand back when you do. It's a trick question, because she bakes them.

I seriously doubt that Bari's ingredients exceed Boar's Head by much, if any. As for Da Riv, their subs are on a soft(er) bread, and the bread itself is not stellar. Da Riv is about the meat. Bari with its D'Amato's crispy bread, has become, I think, the standard (or one of them) for Italian subs for many here. But the truth is, a lot of East Coast-style Italian subs are not made on bread as toothsome as D'Amato's.*

*P.S. For those mocking Boar's Head, do you like Franks n Dawgs?

Bari
1120 W Grand Ave
(between Aberdeen St & May St)
Chicago, IL 60622
Neighborhoods: West Loop, Near West Side, Noble Square
(312) 666-0730
http://www.bariitaliansubs.com

Some thoughts: Didn't mean to harshly criticize Boar's Head, though the quality has dipped there over the years; pan the bread. The fact that bad hoagies grinders and subs can be found in Philly Boston and NY is not an excuse to eat them, as many good ones on decent bread abound. I thought one had a wide variety of bread choices at Riv from various artisan bakeries out that way (I'm partial to Liborio when it's available). I think the choice of BH dogs at FnD is a shame, not because they are bad but because several local and regional dogs exist and are at least as good. At least they use good local bread. And, to be fair, plenty of otherwise solid Italian markets do use squishy bread because that's what the people (not me) want.

stevez wrote:I'm not saying that I've never eaten a sandwich at Tony's, but it's always been at the request of someone else. It's certainly not my preference.

At least a couple of times its been at my request, I like Tony's for subs. Not only do I like Tony's I sometimes get turkey with giardiniera and, no, the turkey is not sliced off a big ol' tom in the backroom, house made tuna salad with a load of giardiniera is a delicious combo. Roast beef is roasted in-house, they also sell beef w/gravy, and not all the meats, in particular Italian, are Boar's Head, though I will eat, but not search out Boar's Head.

Tony's has freshly prepared foods, Wedding Soup, Lasagna, stuffed artichokes etc and fresh well maintained Italian cheese and dry goods. The family is friendly in a reserved sort of way, though the grandma at the register always looks about to swat someone behind the ear, and there is a small dine-in area.

Steve is always harsh when I mention Tony's, he and disagree about the place, which is fine by me.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:

stevez wrote:I'm not saying that I've never eaten a sandwich at Tony's, but it's always been at the request of someone else. It's certainly not my preference.

At least a couple of times its been at my request, I like Tony's for subs. Not only do I like Tony's I sometimes get turkey with giardiniera and, no, the turkey is not sliced off a big ol' tom in the backroom, house made tuna salad with a load of giardiniera is a delicious combo. Roast beef is roasted in-house, they also sell beef w/gravy, and not all the meats, in particular Italian, are Boar's Head, though I will eat, but not search out Boar's Head.

I have never seen Boars Head in the place and they haven't used it on the sandwiches that I have had there, Great place.

jlawrence01 wrote:I have never seen Boars Head in the place and they haven't used it on the sandwiches that I have had there, Great place.

Tony's has Boar's head, but its only part of the deli meat line-up, not the only offering as in some places.

Tony's is good if you're in Edison Park, but I still think Alpine in Elmwood Park makes the best Italian sub. And you can go down the block and get an Italian ice from Johnnie's when you're done enjoying Alpine. Similarly, you can never go wrong with Bari or Riv.

Their hot Italian sausages are my go to place and the lemon knots are heavenly.

Are there any good italian sandwich shops up in the Rogers Park/Edgewater area?

Kid Charlemagne wrote:Are there any good italian sandwich shops up in the Rogers Park/Edgewater area?

I have enjoyed Piatto Pronto.

Piatto Pronto
5624 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL
(773) 334-5688 ‎

Tony's isn't a bad place for lunch if you work in the area, the cannoli are decent (the pizelles are not good!). It sure beats a lot of the chains out near Rosemont. The Italian wedding soup is decent and you get a lot for the price. I feel like that's most of the reason Tony's ever appealed to me was the low prices and large portions. The store is really cute too, and I could pick up some things while I was there for lunch.

Though if you're close to there, you're probably not too far from Rex's on Harlem - which has significantly better bread.

When I worked out there we would always choose Rex's over Tony's.

Rex's Italian Foods
4431 North Harlem Avenue
Norridge, IL 60706-4709

Are there any good italian sandwich shops up in the Rogers Park/Edgewater area?

None in Rogers Park that I have ever seen, and I've lived here for 9 years. Sorry.

Needing lunch for a group I started off to close to my starting point Minelli's for Italian subs, closed on Monday. Quick call to Tony's saved the day, 4 nicely filled 15-inch Italian subs cut in thirds for $20. Pronounced delicious by all, including finicky Uncle Bob who at two sections. Niece Jenny pointed out for the same price as subway Tony's gave you three extra inches of much better quality sandwich.

Tony's closes at 2pm on Mondays, I got there just under the wire.

Tony's Italian Deli & Subs
6708 North Northwest Highway
Chicago, IL 60631
773-631-0055

Minelli's Meat & Deli
7900 N Milwaukee
Niles, IL 60714
847-965-1315

Just visited Tony's for the first time. I was surprised to see Boar's Head meats and cheeses in the deli case, but as an East Coast transplant I'm much more partial to Boar's Head than many in this thread appear to be. The small meatball sub had I think two large meatballs cut in half to cover 6" of bread, with homemade giardiniera added for .50¢--total, $5.49. Good meatballs--good deal!

Store itself was charming as advertised. Largest and best selection of dry pasta and Italian tomatoes I've seen. Pasta brands: abundant--ABUNDANT--De Cecco, much Giuseppe Cocco (my favorite dry rigatoni), and a few others. Tomatoes were DOP Cento, non-DOP Cento, 6-in-1, and at least one or two others in both 28-ounce and 90-ounce+ cans. Also some made in Italy serving platters and other tableware, largest pieces around $40.

Tony's tuna sub with giardiniera for lunch and take-away wedding soup for the bride's dinner. I realize tuna sub does not seem like cold weather food but sure hit-the-spot.



Tony's, Count me a Fan!

The kid and I were in Edison Park today so we stopped in at Tony's based on a recommendation at another forum. Very good subs. We had an Italian and a ham & cheese. Nice bread and other ingredients. Decent value at $5.99 for a king/9". They were roughly as much food as a Subway footlong. I should have substituted for the American cheese, but that was my fault for being distracted.
Since there's no dining on site, we picnicked at Edison Park before it started raining. Note to anyone stopping at Tony's: rather than fiddle with the paid street parking in front of the store as we did, there's a free lot just west on Northwest Highway.
Also had some pizelles and a pint of wedding soup to take home for Ms. R. The pizelles were quite good with just the faintest touch of anise. She reported that the wedding soup was pretty good but not nearly as good as homemade, and somewhat too garlicky. Looked pretty authentic, with meatballs that at least appeared to be veal.