New sub shop sports Chicago style

The Beef Depot & Deli is a new business in North Fort Myers, located at the corner of Business U.S. 41 and Bayshore Road.
With his restaurant sporting Chicago-style subs, the owner reports that many from the “Windy City” have already gotten the news he has opened and are stopping by to share some Chicago memories.
The owner is John Cunningham, who also owns Fisherman’s Pub next door. Both located in the northwest corner of the North Fort Myers Plaza.
You can see his van as you pass by, advertising the new shop.
“I’ve been wanting to do this (open a sub shop) for a couple of years but didn’t have the time then. Now I do,” he said.
It is a great complement to the pub, he said. “I thought this area needed a good, old-fashioned sub shop — with a taste of Chicago.”
He said he was born and raised in Chicago, and has been in this area since the mid-1990s.
Cunningham uses Chicago Italian beef for the basis of most of his subs.
“Chicago Italian beef started in the early 1900s. It was used during the Depression by Italian Americans who found if the beef was sliced thin, put on bread with gravy, they could get the most out of it. It was a staple.”
His Chicago Italian beef sub has the thinly sliced Italian beef, gravy, sweet or hot peppers and spicy giardiniera.
Giardiniera is a relish mix of peppers, olives, celery and more, he said.
He himself helps cut the beef thinly in the mornings, along with his staff.
Other ethnic favorites there include Polish-style subs, used for specials. Maxwell Street in Chicago is the influence, he said, with Chicago having at one time the second largest Polish population outside of Warsaw. His Maxwell Street Polish sub has Polish sausage, grilled onions and sport peppers. Sport peppers are hot and spicy.
“Monday through Friday we do lunch specials every day,” Cunningham said. “Once a week we have smoked barbeque pulled pork. Right now we are doing that on Wednesdays.”
Even with the shop just opening a short time ago, he said he is happy with North Fort Myers locals coming by.
“We have had a very good reception. And so far, a lot of Chicagoans have been coming in, trying the subs, and say it tastes like home,” he said.
The Beef Depot & Deli is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For information, call 997-SUBS (7827).