Soul-Satisfying Sanwiches Built for Wilmington: Meet Sunny Day Sandwich Shoppe

There’s something wonderfully comforting about a sandwich.

It doesn’t require a reservation or a dress code. And whether you’re a chef, a construction worker, a first responder or just looking for a satisfying meal, a great sandwich appeals to just about everyone.

That’s the spirit behind Sunny Day Sandwich Shoppe, the newest concept from chef Bobby Zimmerman and the team at We Are True Blue. It’s a sandwich shop born from a very particular kind of restaurant nostalgia.

“It is very reminiscent of my experience in larger cities, where the neighborhood sandwich shop was the spot where the city workers, first responders, construction workers and all those hardworking people show up to kind of take a breath of relief, roll their sleeves up, and close their eyes and sink into something comforting,” Zimmerman said.

Sunny Day is a deliberate departure from higher-end dining. The sandwiches aren’t meant to be dainty or pristine.

“They’re big, messy, emotional sandwiches,” Zimmerman said.

Inspiration for the shop also came from the television show The Bear and the idea that, by moving away from some of the formality of professional cooking and fine dining, joy can be found in making something that people genuinely want to eat.

Zimmerman says he found himself wondering whether the simpler side of the industry might actually be where some of that joy lives.

“I feel like having some fun, and I feel like taking care of hardworking people,” Zimmerman said. “I want to make great food accessible to everyone.”

Soon after opening, three Wilmington police officers came in for a meal, and their presence hit home for Zimmerman.

“It just made my day,” he said.

Zimmerman has spent a surprising amount of time thinking about what makes a sandwich great. He and his team have figured out specific layering for their signature sandwiches, down to the placement of the lettuce, cheese and sauces.

“If you put cheese on the top and no barrier between the cheese and whatever the sauce is on the top bun, when you go to eat the sandwich, the sauce will disperse out the side and run down the sandwich,” Zimmerman said. “You need something there with nooks and crannies to capture the sauce.”

In other words, the perfect sandwich isn’t just a collection of good ingredients; it’s also about the architecture.

That attention to detail extends to the bread, too. Sunny Day currently serves everything on two different styles of baguettes. The team developed two different structures: a lighter, fluffier version for cold sandwiches and a crustier, denser one designed to stand up to the juices and weight of hot sandwiches.

All of the bread is baked fresh daily at True Blue Butcher and Baker, the company’s Hampstead-based bakery. Zimmerman estimates the bakery is making around 1,500 baguettes a week for Sunny Day.

The menu leans into the big-city classics that inspired Zimmerman – chopped cheese, Italian beef, French dip and other sandwiches that are generous enough to require some strategic wrapping.

The full-size sandwiches are, in his words, “almost ridiculous.”

So ridiculous, in fact, that the team buys oversized foil wrap sheets and sometimes has to double-wrap them.

But that’s part of the fun.

“No one’s ever like ‘Oh, you gave me way too much food for the price,’” Zimmerman said. “You know what I mean?”

The serious side of Sunny Day is making sure all that food still eats beautifully, whether it’s a hot or cold sandwich.

In addition to the proper layering, the team also discussed whether a sandwich should be cut in half, and how that cut affects its integrity. Eventually, the team landed on serving two smaller sandwiches for the large portion, rather than cutting certain large hot sandwiches after assembly, which makes them soggy.

For Zimmerman, convenience can’t come at the expense of the bite.

“Every single bite should be all that it’s supposed to be,” he said.

That mindset may seem intense for a sandwich shop, but Zimmerman sees it as part of the larger point: sandwiches deserve the same respect as any other kind of cooking.

And Zimmerman was quick to point out that there are already some great sandwich shops in Wilmington, making it all the more important for the team keep up their game.

“In order to rank with some of the best sandwich shops in town, we’ve got to take it seriously,
he said.

Another example of that seriousness is the preparations required for the Italian beef, French dip and chopped cheese sandwiches. The beef comes from a particular portion of tenderloin that doesn’t necessarily have an obvious place on the menu at the True Blue restaurants. Rather than waste it, the team turns those pieces into cylinders, freezes them and then shaves them for the sandwiches.
Then comes Zimmerman’s proprietary beefsteak seasoning, a blend built around ingredients such as dehydrated tomatoes, red miso and mushrooms designed to amplify umami.

If all of that sounds a little too serious, Sunny Day has a built-in antidote: the design-your-own menu.
The shop offers a create-your-own sandwich option, allowing guests to build their own combinations and, perhaps most importantly, name them.

Each month, one creation will be selected to be featured on the menu, and the winner will receive two sandwich vouchers.

“We’re really excited about this user-generated content idea,” Zimmerman said. “We’ve already been blown away by some of the combinations and names that customers have come up with.”

It’s a fitting feature for a restaurant designed to bring a little big-city romance to the community right outside its door.

Sunny Day Sandwich Shoppe is located at 348 Hutchinson Lane, the former Beat Street location in the Cargo District.