Defonte's Sandwich Shop

Working in Bushwick, Brooklyn, your lunch options are limited. So I’ve been skipping lunch and waiting until I get home to eat something.  I get into daily arguments with myself on what I am going to have for lunch/dinner on the drive home. One day, as I hit Atlantic Avenue, it came to me; I was going to get a sandwich from Defonte’s. I found Defonte’s by mistake. I was working on the Ikea project in Red Hook and, once again, the food options in the area were limited. Yes, there’s the Good Fork and the newly renamed Ice House, but they are never open for lunch and I hadn’t found out about the Fairway Café at the Fairway Supermarket until the day after I left Ikea. Defonte’s is located on the corner of Columbia Street Luquer, on the street level of a building painted green. They’ve occupied the space since 1922. A large white sign with red letters spell out Defonte’s and green letters spell sandwiches. Pauly D. was nowhere to be found.

Inside, a large steam table occupies one side of the shop, while refrigerators housing cold drinks take up the other. Above the steam table there are signs of the types of special sandwiches they offer. I went with the roast beef, an Italian hero roll stuffed with house-made roast beef, fresh mozzarella and thinly sliced, fried eggplant -($9.) I was feeling nostalgic so I grabbed a Stewart’s orange soda. Of course, I’m a fucking idiot and realized later that it was an orange and cream soda. FUCK! I hate cream soda, I think....  
  

I was rushing to get home in the hopes of eating a warm sandwich but, as my luck would have it, every asshole in Brooklyn was driving in front of me. There was definitely a plot against me. These motherfuckers knew I had a hot sandwich and were doing anything they could to make sure it was cold when I ate it.

I finally got home and as I took the sandwich out of the bag, I noticed it was a little small. But I was hungry and, as always, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I picked up the sandwich it felt cold. Thanks, life. Whatever, I started to chomp away. The bread was ultra fresh and flaky, but somehow not soggy. The roast beef was medium rare and thinly sliced. The mozzarella was sliced thicker than usual, and was creamy and salty. The fried eggplant was soggy, but what should I have expected? Small hints of garlic in the roast beef and the fried coating on the eggplant were just outrageous; it was like a party in my mouth and Defonte’s was the only one invited. No homo.

So if you’re spending your day at Ikea, trying to return the book shelf you completely fucked up because you were looking at the pictures and not reading the instructions, or if you’re looking for a quick bite after you get out of the Battery Tunnel, definitely checkout Defonte’s.

Defontes 

379 Columbia Street Brooklyn, NY  

(718) 855-6982

www.defontesofbrooklyn.com