The family-owned Pandolfi's Deli spans four generations. The youngest
-- Jake Hendershot -- has been tasked with launching the business here
in Kansas City.
"People have been stopping by to wish us luck for months. They think
it's good for the neighborhood and I agree," Hendershot says.
Hendershot
has been renovating the space at 538 Campbell since February. He
knocked out two interior walls in the former storefront to create an
open feel from the front door to the kitchen. Working alongside him has
been his grandfather, Robert Pandolfi -- the owner of the building --
as well as his mother, Linda (Robert's daughter), and father, Mike.
"We're a real family business," Hendershot says. "I can't do anything without them."
The first Pandolfi's opened
in 2002 in Liberty. It was sold in 2004 and continues to operate today
as Sorella's. The family retained the right to the name.
"We had a good thing going there, and we want to bring that back," Hendershot says.
As
his grandfather, 80, prepared to scrape paint from the front of shop on
Tuesday, Hendershot told me about the logo that features his
great-grandfather Guiseppi Pandolfi. Guiseppi, who was a tailor and a machinist, apparently hated
hats, but he cut a striking figure in a fedora and suit.
Hendershot will also be wearing
a lot of hats -- managing the floor, baking pastries and manning the
kitchen. Besides helping to launch Pandolfi's in Liberty, he worked as
a server at an Outback Steakhouse and a Cheesecake Factory in high school
and college. He was also a line cook at the former Greaser's Diner in
the Metro North Mall, where he learned what he sees as the secret to
running a restaurant.
"The owners were there, and I saw that as a huge reason the business was initially successful," says Hendershot.
Next week you'll walk into a traditional Italian deli, focusing on lunch and boxed lunch service, with cold-cut sandwiches (averaging $6 to $9) made with Boar's Head meat. The two special sandwiches that will definitely be on the menu are the meatball sub and the muffaletta.
"We make it a point to make everything from scratch and I think that sets us apart," says Hendershot.
The meatball sub has homemade ground-beef meatballs on a hard Italian roll from Le Monde Bakery. The muffaletta, served hot, is black forest ham, salami, mortadella, provolone and a green-olive spread. There's no cauliflower, but otherwise Hendershot isn't saying what's in the proprietary recipe. Also, keep an eye out for pasta specials, including Linda's manicotti with handmade crepe shells, ricotta and tomato sauce. The house soup -- made by Mike -- will be pasta fagiole.
Showing 1-18 of 18
What's with all the hostility? Congrats to Pandolfi's Deli! BTW, they are open until 6pm.
Lasalas Deli is the original and still the best deli in Columbus Park. I have been eating at Lasalas Deli all my life. Many places have come and gone but Lasalas Deli will still be here after like it has for 88 years. So come on with your best sandwich or meal I'll Be at Lasalas Deli getting the best for over 88 years. When I think of of Kansas City I think of Lasalas Deli.
Not exactly the best of times in the restaurant business, is it?
How smart is it to open one now, and especially with such a difficult location?
A fool and his money.....
These schmucks come into a neighborhood, buy a building, and proceed to do whatever the hell they want.
"Good for the neighborhood"- my ass. Maybe if they were located on 3rd Stret, 5th Street or even on a corner for God's sake.
But not on a stretch of street that is already overused, mid-block with residences on both sides, and across the street from a true neighborhood anchor- Holy Rosary Church.
Watch them crash and burn.
RE: ANON 10:57
They will park in front of your house and in the parking lot of the church, the Don Bosco Center, blocking the streets, alleys, etc.
With all these restaurants closing at 4 they're not really 'neighborhood' places are they? I mean, most of us that live here work during the day.
When are we going to get evening service?
Also, where the hell are people going to park?
Up until just a couple of years ago, wasn't this space occupied by a funeral home/ embalmer/mortician service?
I wonder if they plan to use that in their marketing (instead of corpses we now serve capicola; instead of the mortician ask for mortadella; we bury the competition!). Come to think of it, Grandpa Giuseppe kinda looks like a funeral director, too!! Buon Appetito- Or Else!!
I also think they have ZERO off-street parking, either. Not that you have to have it, but that's not exactly the set up for the convenient "in & out" place Henderson talks about.
There is also a whole lotta traffic on that narrow little street. It's hard for two cars going in opposite directions to pass each other, especially around lunchtime when the foreign language school just down the block lets its 100+ students out. When I go to Vietnam Cafe, I have to fight the traffic and then all of the on street parking is always taken. Of course, Vietnam Cafe is unique and delicious, so it's worth it. And when the church across the street has a wedding or funeral-- FUHGETABOUTIT!!
The food here better be REALLY, REALLY special for the hassle it will be to get at it.
Overall, this place doesn't seem to me to have a very good recipe for success, but I guess good luck, guys. You're gonna need it.
Happy Gillis a "hang-out place"? He hasn't seen the lines at lunch. . .
It will be interesting to see how if Pandolfi's becomes part of the neighborhood.
Omg did the Pitch just flog me and cut out my remark? I've just lost all my respect for the pitch in the freedom of free speech. Bender go get bent!
I think you mean Giuseppe?
And I agree - I wouldn't see them as competition for either LaSala or Happy Gillis. Oh, I hope the muffaletta is good.
Jake Hendershot was simply talking about how he felt there was enough room for all three sandwich places (and many more restaurants in Columbus Park). He doesn't see either La Sala's or Happy Gillis as competition, but instead sees the market growing. In the interview we also talked about the Vietnam Cafe which is a half-block away and the idea of whether Columbus Park could be the next restaurant row, similar to the development that's been seen on the West Side and Main Street corridor.
like
dislike
