New London County rejoiced this April when the word got out that Norwich’s D’Elia’s Bakery and Grinder Shop was reopening! This downtown Norwich institution has served the ultimate grinder since 1929. The shop mysteriously closed a few months into the pandemic, and every time I drove by the shuttered bakery my heart sank.
The Sausage Grinder
See D’Elia’s is not just your average neighborhood grinder shop (no, they are not subs, Massachusetts folks!). This is the absolute real deal with soft freshly baked bread making the best hot and cold grinders. My favorite, hands-down, is the sausage grinder. It’s simple: tomato sauce, cheese, and the best sausage stuffed inside their signature bread.
Other classics include the Italian and even the turkey. Some grinder shops stack the cold cuts piled too high so the only taste is the meat. At D’Elia’s the meat to cheese to topping to bread is the perfect ratio.
Inside D’Elia’s Bakery and Grinder Shop
Stepping inside D’Elia’s is stepping back in time. The shop is narrow with a long counter. The menu is on a board with removable block letters, and photos of religious figures, including Padre Pio, are displayed on the walls. The photos have been there for at least two generations. Other than grinders, they sell chips and soda; that’s about it.
D’Elia’s is owned by Richard Heft, who married into the D’Elia family. The D’Elia family began the business in 1929 and eventually sold it to different owners, not in the family in 1955. Frank D’Elia bought back the family business in 1961. The Heft family are owners currently, with Richard’s son and daughter-in-law Anthony and Wendy running the show. The couple is younger than the old Italian ladies that used to sculpt the sandwiches, but they make ‘em just as well!
After selling in ‘55, some D’Elias moved west to Riverside, California, where they still operate two branches of D’Elia’s Grinders. (Googling D’Elia’s Grinders will actually bring you to this restaurant and not the Norwich one since our D’Elia’s does not have a website.) Located at 272 Franklin Street, the bakery has been here since 1936 after spending its first seven years in a different locale.
A Local Favorite
Ask any local, either still living in Norwich or having moved away, what their favorite grinder shop is, and they will emphatically say D’Elia’s. (Some also say Vocatura’s, another Norwich mainstay for decades. You are either Team D’Elia or Team Vocatura.) A few years back I wrote a piece for Norwich Magazine called “Notable Norwichites.” It profiled individuals originally from Norwich that have made their mark in various fields achieving some level of fame, from musical performers like Chris Faison to museum presidents like Morris Vogel, authors such as Wally Lamb to professional athletes like Bill Dawley. A question I asked them all was, “What are your favorite aspects about Norwich?” More than half answered, “D’Elia’s!”
This little grinder shop may look unassuming from the outside but expect a heavenly grinder and a bit of a wait, especially on a weekend. It’s a gathering place to talk to others in line and converse with Anthony and Wendy while they are putting together the grinders. Literally, customers travel from all over to grab a D’Elia’s grinder. And anyone returning home from afar has to make a D’Elia’s run.
D’Elia’s To Go
Last year, Dave (who often gives ideas for this blog) and I grabbed a grinder from D’Elia’s before a G. Love and Special Sauce concert at Mohegan Sun. It was the first time I had tried the sausage grinder with onions and peppers. (I usually just have it with sauce and cheese.) We enjoyed the grinders as we sipped a few beers at Epicure Brewing Company just down the street. With D’Elia’s closed for almost a year I truly thought that was my last D’Elia’s grinder.
Thankfully, the prayers to Saint Anthony and Padre Pio worked because D’Elia’s is back!
Padre Pio has great powers.