It all started when Chris Deane was a 12-year-old working in Brunetti’s Market in Connecticut. He yearned to open his own place, offering porchetta and meatball sandwiches.
Last year that dream was realized with Deane’s Market & Deli.
Chris and Vicki Deane, longtime Geneva residents, wanted to open a place where someone could run in for a sandwich.
“There was no place in Geneva for a sandwich that’s not sit-down with table service. It’s a foodie town,” Vicki Deane said.
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The clean-label/local food deli with its scratch kitchen is “a mash-up of Panera, Whole Foods and Mariano’s,” Vicki Deane said. “Most are family recipes and everything is made fresh in-house.”
The meatball sandwich recipe is 34 years in the making. Specials such as a salad with roasted Brussels sprouts, goat cheese and honey vinaigrette are created from experiments and food trends, she said.
The Deanes and their two additional chefs keep the menu limited to sharpen their focus and niche. “We can’t be everything to everybody,” Vicki Deane said, “but we’ll make adjustments if people want it.”
A mother of grown kids, she offers this tip to get picky youngster to try new foods: “Chopsticks. We give a thank-you sample in a cup. If you give kids chopsticks, they’ll have so much fun they’ll eat anything.”
Another component of the business is the market. Freezers and refrigerators are filled with chilled and frozen versions of popular menu items meant for take-home, including chicken pot pie, roasted fennel soup, shepherd’s pie and baked mostaccioli. Many patrons from nearby businesses place a lunch order and then come in to take home another meal for dinner, Chris Deane said.
“This is a bigger part of our business than we anticipated,” Chris Deane said. “We’re all about being able to offer food you could make at home if you had the time, talent and inclination.”
Pricing: Sandwiches are $7.95 for nine varieties from roast beef to caprese wrap. Sandwich daily specials are $8.95 for five varieties from Italian sausage and peppers to a chef’s choice on Fridays. Salads are $6.95 for six varieties from kale and quinoa to tuna salad. Soups are $6.95 for a bowl and $4.95 for a cup for five varieties from beer and cheddar cheese to black bean and a chef’s choice on Fridays.
Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday.
Deane’s Market & Deli is at 500 S. Third St., Suite 141, Geneva. Contact 630-402-0139 or go to www.deanesmarket.com
Shonda Talerico Dudlicek is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.