Setting sales records, ‘stupid-busy’ Meridian restaurant opens in Boise. You’re next, 2C

There’s a simple reason why, after more than a decade, Fat Guy’s Fresh Deli just expanded to Columbia Village in Boise.

“The place in Meridian is stupid-busy,” explains Bob Bradley, the shop’s enthusiastic, slightly frazzled owner-operator.

Never heard of Fat Guy’s? Don’t feel dumb. Opened 13 years ago, the deli has earned a diehard following — “tucked,” as Bradley puts it, in a strip mall at 1626 S. Wells Ave. “This isn’t like in The Village, bright lights,” he points out.

Recently, though? Things have gotten livelier. Since purchasing the restaurant last September, Bradley, 46, has watched Fat Guy’s get “out-of-control busy” at peak times. Lines often stretch to the door.

As a former longtime customer, he isn’t exactly shocked.

“If you haven’t eaten here — this stuff is the bomb. It’ll never change, and it’s so good.”

Starting Wednesday, Boiseans have their own Fat Guy’s in the former Quiznos spot at 2250 E. Gowen Road. Bradley plans to launch a third Fat Guy’s in early 2023 at the intersection of Smeed Parkway and Idaho 26 (aka Chinden Boulevard) in Caldwell.

“Fat Guy’s, the empire, is taking over the Valley,” he quips.

Deli menu

Customers choose from a chalkboard menu of 34 specialty sandwiches costing anywhere from $7.95 to $12.95. They range from the Grilled P.B.J. (a triple-decker that includes bacon) to The Wally Special (a surprise) named after original co-owner and operator Chef Wally. Or maybe you want The Triple Chin, aka “the best club around.”

“Life is short, eat the bacon,” urges the Fat Guy’s website. Another motto? “Never trust a skinny sandwich.”

One Fat Guy’s sammy outsells others by a ton: The Trevor Melt. Served with a side of au jus, it’s a hedonistic pile of roast beef, hot capicola, pepperjack cheese — and, yep, bacon. “I have, like, three a week,” Bradley admits with a chuckle. “It’s basically a French dip on steroids.”

The rotating, housemade soups are popular, too. At least one customer brings her own Tupperware dishes to load up on clam chowder to take home, Bradley says.

The way he sees it, resistance to Fat Guy’s is futile. “I think it needs to expand 100-percent,” Bradley declares. “And it’s going to be fantastic. Just knowing how far people come to eat here: Caldwell, Middleton, Star, Boise.”

Going nuclear

Back when he was a nuclear medicine technologist (true story), Bradley often drove from the Boise VA Medical Center to Fat Guy’s, grabbing lunch for co-workers and himself. That’s a 20-minute haul each way. Made more sense just to buy the entire deli, right?

OK, maybe not. But imagining the place multiplying was something that he and Chef Wally had done over the years. “I told him he should open up one in Boise,” Bradley remembers. “He wanted to expand. He just couldn’t get out of the kitchen. He’s a culinary guy.”

By throwing down fresh bread in Boise, Bradley is following Chef Wally’s vision. (Opening day, May 4, is Chef Wally’s birthday, incidentally.) “This is Wally’s monster,” Bradley says. And while making soups and sandwiches has been a slight career change for Bradley after 21 years, it’s also a twist for regulars seeing the New Guy, not the Fat Guy.

Chef Wally was — still is, in spirit — the face of the place. “He’s a big, Jewish, loud, obnoxious deli guy,” Bradley says fondly. “... An absolutely fantastic, great guy.”

After he sold the business and got his check, Chef Wally stuck around for a bit. Several weeks, actually. He taught Bradley every made-from-scratch recipe and detail. The men remain in regular contact, Bradley says. “If every business would turn over like he turned this over to me,” Bradley gushes. “He was here two solid months — 2 a.m., 3 a.m., making soups, all the prep.”

Pulling a few late-nighters himself, Bradley has had time to ponder why business at Fat Guy’s recently went nuclear. Is it pandemic rebound? Is it increased social-media presence thanks to help from his wife, Jennifer, a registered nurse with St. Luke’s Health System? Is it all the newcomers from Idaho’s population influx? Heck, maybe it was that “best deli in your state” listicle at msn.com.

Last Friday, the lunch barrage lasted until 4 p.m. Another record sales day, Bradley says. “We got bombed ... It just never stopped.”

“January, February, March has been higher, higher, higher sales. ... It’s just up and up and up.”

In Boise, Fat Guy’s will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays to start. Bradley hopes to add weekends by summer. Both restaurants offer seated dining and takeout, but currently no delivery (including from third-party services).

And if you’re a Quiznos fan still sad about it closing in Fat Guy’s new Columbia Village space? Bradley sympathizes. Working at St. Luke’s back in the day, he devoured a few of that chain’s sandwiches.

“It was my jam before I found this,” he admits. “100 percent! I would go there. And then I found this 10 years ago, and I’ve never gone anywhere else.”