1 Marketplace, Unit 10, Essex, 871-5975
The story of Noonie Deli is long and winding. Jennifer Silpe and Blue Paddle Bistro‘s Mandy Hotchkiss started it as a cart on Burlington’s Church Street in 1986, and the mobile operation soon ballooned to nine fixed locations across Vermont.
But soon, almost all of them were gone. Bryan and Jenny Phelps purchased the final, Middlebury link in the chain in 2010. And years after the business shrank, the young new owners began to grow it.
Earlier this spring, they opened a second Noonie, in the red mall in Essex. And this weekend, I finally tried my first bites of the legendary sandwiches.
Only one employee was working the counter on Saturday evening, and it took her a surprisingly long time to make the simple sandwiches and salad — she slowly referred to the menu behind her to make sure she didn’t miss any ingredients. But the results were pretty darn attractive. At right is the Vermonter.
All of the bread at the store comes daily from Baker’s Dozen across the street. I was excited to try the “crusty roll,” hoping it would be akin to the New York-area hard rolls I simply can’t find around here. Nope. It was actually just a very pretty burger bun. “Crusty” definitely didn’t describe the fluffy roll.
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