Cincinnati has been on a roll, so to speak, when it comes to sandwich shops during past three years. From Young Buck Deli, with its massive focaccia roast beef behemoths, to the meatball and rapini sandwich at Danny Boy, in Mariemont, these aren't the kinds of places that serve your standard double-deckers or hoagies.
This new generation of sandwich makers are roasting their own meats, baking their own bread and offering sandwiches never seen in the Queen City before. Almost all of them are run by former chefs, many of whom have worked in top-tier restaurants in Cincinnati and beyond.
One thing they all have in common is they are passionate about what goes between two slices of bread and have raised sandwich making to a new level.
Let's look at
the timeline of the Cincinnati sandwich revolution.
May 2024: 'Top Chef' alums open Young Buck Deli in Over-the-Rhine
It seems appropriate that the person who launched our sandwich revolution came to Cincinnati via Boston. Brian and Cincinnati native Caitlin Young met (and later fell in love) as contestants on the 16th season of Bravo's "Top Chef," after which Brian moved to Cincinnati from Boston and the couple undertook several culinary endeavors, including running the kitchen at Dear Restaurant, in Hyde Park.
After Dear closed, the Youngs launched a series of gourmet sandwich pop-ups called Young Buck at venues such as Binski's Bar in Camp Washington and Longfellow, in Over-the-Rhine, serving interpretations of Chicago-style Italian beefs and Boston-style North Shore beefs. Brian made his own mortadella, turkey and pastrami, which quickly gained a following. It wasn't long before he and Caitlin went on to open the brick-and-mortar Young Buck Delicatessen in the former Hotlman's Donut Shop space in 2024.
Since then, Young Buck has turned into a Cincinnati standby for its massive sandwiches that include Brian Young's take on Boston's famous North Shore 3-way. There's no chili on this guy – just a pile of ruby red roast beef, house-made barbecue sauce, white American cheese and mayonnaise. He tops it all off with fried onions, an homage to the onion roll on which the sandwich is traditionally served. Like all of the deli's sandwiches, it's served on Caitlin's house-made focaccia.
But the most popular sandwich, by far, is the Jive A$$ Turkey, a combo of roast turkey, goat cheese and wine-poached fennel.
While Young Buck has only been open a few years, it already feels like a neighborhood staple. With its paper advertisements and plate-glass window, it resembles an old-fashioned storefront you might find in New York City or Boston in the 1950s. That was intentional, said Brian Young, who apprenticed at a storied 1950s shop called Butcher Boy, in North Andover, Massachusetts.
"That's the vibe Caitlin and I wanted to capture," he said. "A place you could maybe imagine your parents or grandparents might have gone."
Like most of these new sandwich shops, the quality and time-intensive ingredients Young Buck uses means what they're selling ain't exactly cheap. And the $16 price tags have surprised more than one customer. That is, until they realized just how much bang they were getting for their buck.
"There were some comments that I took too much to heart," Brian Young explained. "Some people said, '16 bucks for a sandwich?!?' But they are like a pound each, I used to throw them on a scale so people could see how much they were getting."
Indeed, most of Young Buck's sandwiches are enough for two people. Recently, the chicken parm special I ordered was enough to provide my lunch and dinner.
Brian Young is too modest to say he and Caitlin fired the opening salvo in the city's sandwich revolution. Instead, he credits a predecessor of his, Nino Loreto, and Joe Helm, who owned Panino, which opened in Over-the-Rhine in 2016. Panino was among the first Cincinnati restaurants to focus on whole-animal butchery, which would often end up on their sandwiches. Like Brian, Loreto was practiced in butchery (his grandfather worked at a West Side butcher shop). So at Panino, he served Italian subs with house-made charcuterie, meatball sandwiches with his mother's own meatballs and house-made braunschweiger and concord grape jelly sandwiches.
"I think he was the only person doing whole-animal butchery then," Brian Young recalls. "And when it closed, it left a hole in OTR."
Luckily the Youngs are here to fill it.
1332 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-287-7867, youngbuckdeli.com.
November 2024: Rekas Butchery and Delicatessen opens in Covington
Shelbi Nation and her wife, Ashley, were already selling great sandwiches when they took over Wyoming Meat Market, in 2021. But Rekas Butchery and Delicatessen, which opened three years later on a quiet corner of Covington, has a fully dedicated deli with a wide range of sandwiches, including a belly-busting house-made roast beef sandwich, an old-school Italian and a mortadella sandwich with olives, feta and sun-dried tomatoes. There's also house-smoked pastrami and Swiss on rye and homemade meatloaf with Muenster.
Along with sandwiches, Rekas offers a fully stocked butcher case with New York strips and wagyu beef sourced from a herd of cattle Shelbi purchased from a farmer in Wapakoneta, Ohio. She also stocks chicken, pork and seafood. If you're looking for some molto bene olive oil, anise-flavored cookies or balsamic vinegar, Rekas also has a gourmet grocery store stocked with Italian specialty foods.
Rekas Butchery and Delicatessen, 401 Scott St., Covington. 859-415-0091.
July 2025: Alveo offers Roman-style sandwiches in Mariemont
When Andy Tanner, owner of Cincinnati-based Parisian Pantry (and a veteran of Sotto, Boca and Mita's), opened Alveo on Wooster Pike in Mariemont, he introduced Cincinnati to schiacciata, a focaccia-adjacent Tuscan flatbread that's thinner, crispier and less bready. The bread, it seems, has taken America by storm in recent years, with sandwich shops that specialize in it opening from New York to Los Angeles.
Tanner uses his homemade schiacciata (pronounced “ski-ya-CHA-ta") to make perfectly proportioned sandwiches such as the tacchina (Italian for turkey), a mouthwatering combination of smoked turkey, creamy stracciatella, saba (a tangy vinegar-like condiment), tomato conserva (a deeply concentrated tomato sauce), avocado crema and fresh spinach. That's a lot of ingredients, but the flavors come together brilliantly in the same way a chef-prepared entree might at your favorite restaurant. Tanner also sources hard-to-find meats, including bresaola, an Italian air-dried beef with notes of cinnamon and clove
Other sandwiches include the L'Alveo with mortadella, pistachio crema, stracciatella and arugula; the Saporita, a savory combination of bresaola (Italian air-dried beef with notes of cinnamon and clove) with fresh ricotta, Grana Padano cheese, spinach and fennel. Sandwiches run between $18 and $19. But unless you're a glutton like me, each will easily feed two people.
Alveo, 6816 Wooster Pike, Mariemont, 513-508-7729, eatalveo.com.
October 2025: Rump & Roll opens in Dayton, Kentucky
If you haven't ordered a sandwich at Rump & Roll yet, you're missing out. Here, former LouVino culinary director and "Chopped" contestant Tavis Rockwell offers sandwiches made with so much time and attention, you can taste it. Rockwell roasts his own meats so that his Italian beef sandwich comes with tender and moist roast beef you'll want to pour out and eat on its own. The same goes for the roasted pork shoulder he uses on his Kentucky Cuban, which is topped with country ham, mustard and house-made sweet and spicy pickles. Most of the sandwiches come on artisan bread from Sixteen Bricks. There are also incredible sides, from a deviled egg salad to house-made potato chips.
Another great offering is his charcuterie sandwich for which Rockwell stacks rich pate, salami, tender coppa, rustic country ham, Port-Salut (a creamy French cow's milk cheese) and chopped pickled vegetables on a baguette slathered with house-made pepper jelly and whole grain mustard. And be sure to check out Rockwell's butcher case, which might be stocked with his homemade goetta, which he often makes with lamb, instead of pork.
Rump & Roll Delicatessen, 526 Sixth St., Dayton, Kentucky, 859-360-0016.
November 2025: Pleasantry alum opens Danny Boy, in Mariemont
Many Cincinnatians were understandably upset when Pleasantry, in Over-the-Rhine, shuttered in 2022. Which is why I was relieved when the restaurant's co-founder, Daniel Souder, and its former chef, Evan Hartman, partnered up and opened Danny Boy, a deli, wine shop and restaurant, in Mariemont.
During the day, Danny Boy serves signature sandwiches, including a juicy meatball and rapini sandwich, chicken salad and the Timmy Ray with roast beef, giardiniera and aioli. Danny Boy also stocks an assortment of cheeses, wines, tinned fish and specialty items. "The idea is to be a neighborhood deli, butcher and larder," Hartman told me before the deli opened. And given the number of locals I see dining here on a regular basis, it seems like he's succeeded.
Along with great sandwiches, Danny Boy also offers sit-down dinners Wednesday through Saturday. The menu includes a Duroc pork chop, Parisian gnocchi with sweet corn, ocean trout and a black Angus tri-tip steak, among other items.
6898 Murray Ave., Mariemont, 513-271-1888, dannyboycincy.com.
March 2026: Knuckle's Deli introduces an authentic Italian beef to Cincinnati's East End
Cesar Salazar and Britton de la Chapelle grew up in Chicago and met each other while attending Xavier University. After stints working at several Cincinnati restaurants, they decided they missed their birthright sandwich so much that they opened a deli that's dedicated to it. Hence, Knuckles Deli, in East End. They also partnered with David Hall, the only Bearcat is this Musketeer-run establishment.
To make the sandwich ($14), Knuckles draws on Salazar's mother's roast beef recipe, something she developed after marrying his Italian stepfather. The beef is tender and moist, sandwiched into a Chicago-made Turano roll and topped with Marconi brand giardiniera. You can order it spicy and/or wet (pre-soaked in the meat's jus) or get the jus on the side.
3227 Riverside Drive, 513-321-3354, knucklesdeli.com.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 6 new delis that revolutionized Cincinnati's sandwich scene
