Greenwich Village hit Brown Bag Sandwich Co. is adding a new second location in Manhattan this week. The new sandwich shop is opening in Flatiron at 64 West 22nd Street, near Sixth Avenue, on Tuesday, October 28.
Brown Bag’s straightforward menu offers chopped versions of familiar favorites like a turkey club, spicy tuna melt, hot roast beef, and Italian. “Because we chop all our sandwiches, you get the perfect bite of everything,” says co-owner Rozynek Gilli.
Its chopped cheese comes in three varieties (classic, loaded with bacon and fried crispy onions, and spicy). Brown Bag has stiff competition in a city that invented the order, but co-owner and chef Antonio Barbieri says its version stands out for a few simple reasons.
The spicy tuna melt features Albacore tuna, pepperoncini, house pickles, aji amarillo, Swiss, and crispy onion. Brown Bag Sandwich Co./Official
“It’s mainly just ingredients we are using: good ground beef, slicing tomatoes in-house, and making [our own] sauces,” Barbieri says. “The bread is arguably one of its most important parts.”
Parisi Bakery’s hoagies and rolls, which are baked fresh daily, are the building blocks for Brown Bag’s texture-rich chopped sandwiches that swing chunkier than most standard bodegas. Sandwiches ($14 to $18) can also be ordered non-chopped, if you wish.
Over the past year, Brown Bag has made a name for itself in NYC’s crowded chopped sandwich space with help from a chef who has worked at Michelin restaurants. Barbieri worked his way up to executive sous chef at three-starred Eleven Madison Park before the pandemic. His growing sandwich project pays homage to the local bodega he’d go to after long shifts, where they knew his name and order.
“We love meeting the customers, hearing their stories, and seeing their honest reaction to food,” says Gilli. “We’re bringing that same spirit to Flatiron.”
The new Flatiron storefront. Brown Bag Sandwich Co./Official
This location sports a traditional hood system with a fryer, which opens up the possibility to bring back chicken cutlets and debut french fries for the first time; Brown Bag is going with a crinkle-cut version, and the cottage fries doused with Lawry’s seasoning can also be ordered “loaded.” Sides ($6 to $9) also include macaroni salad slathered in a pungent fish sauce and local corn salad featuring Calabrian chile and house-made herb dressing.
“We have ambitions to grow, but first and foremost, we care about the product and quality of the items that we are putting out. It’s why it took us a year to get here,” Barbieri says.
The Flatiron shop opens up the opportunity for catering, thanks to a basement for storage and prep space capabilities. “We look at [this location] as a mini- commissary hub for catering,” she says.
The new store sits a block from the historic Flatiron Building, which is gearing up to reopen as a luxury condo development, and popular lunchtime hangout Madison Square Park.
“The number one thing is we’ve always wanted to be a neighborhood brand,” says Gilli, noting Flatiron is going through a “QSR [quick-serve] moment.”
The sophomore shop, about 200 square feet larger than the original, carves out room for a small row of six counter seats and carries over its old-school retro ambiance with a Coca-Cola logo.
The sandwich-making action intentionally remains on full display in Flatiron. “We want people to be engaged and see the food made,” she says.
Chopped spicy chicken cutlet comes with vodka sauce, hot peppers, mozzarella, and garlic butter on a sesame hero. Brown Bag Sandwich Co./Official