Park Slope Native Plans Eclectic Sandwich Shop In Williamsburg

BROOKLYN, NY — Longtime Chef Brian Tsao's eclectic take on a sandwich shop may be opening in Williamsburg next year, but his love story with the "delivery vehicle for food" really began at a Park Slope bodega a few decades ago.

Back then, his childhood home across the street, Tsao would hang around his dad's gas station and repair shop, which sat at what is now the entrance to the Barclays Center for about 20 years.

Every so often, his dad would order pastrami or ham and cheese sandwiches from a bodega down the street for the staff — opening Tsao's world to a "food memory" he would carry into adulthood.

" I always remember the sandwiches being a treat," Tsao said. "Up until that point, I had grown up eating Korean and Chinese food at home...The memory of these gigantic subs at whatever age I was — just so flavorful and moist and fatty — it left this lasting impression."

Tsao's new found food love was so intense that, by 12 or 13, his father was sending him and his mom to the Restaurant Depot with $20 so Tsao could recreate the subs in his own kitchen.

Taking whole hams to a deli slicer on the counter, Tsao began making around a dozen sandwiches for his father's workers every Saturday, with his own teen-level twist on the medium.

"In my mind, I thought I was being all artsy and experimental," Tsao said. "I look back and I was just adding sweet peppers or balsamic vinegar."

Still, the makings of a chef were born.

Tsao would go on to enjoy an accomplished career in the food industry, leading kitchens at Mira Sushi & Izakaya and Beauty & Essex NYC and becoming the first winner on the Food Network show Beat Bobby Flay.

But — as he has with his "Sandwich Sunday" Youtube series — Tsao now plans to return to his childhood favorite: the sandwich.

He is getting ready to open the Williamsburg shop, Mission Sandwich Social, at a storefront Bedford Avenue and South Second Street early next year.

The eatery will feature an all-grown-up version of his experimental take on sandwiches, including some of the unique creations featured on his online show.

"I love that you can basically take a sandwich and use it as a delivery vehicle for anything — every culture in the world, they have some version of a hand food or a sandwich," Tsao said. "It was almost liberating for me to dedicate myself to sandwiches. I really felt like I wasn’t limited to what I could do."

Customers will find inventions like the "Steve Byrne sandwich," topped with a Korean-style marinated short rib, kimchi, scallion salad, mozzarella cheese, french fries and ranch dressing. ("It works a lot better than you would think," Tsao says.)

Another creation, the "Tim Howley sandwich," pays homage to one of Tsao's Beauty and Essex dishes with Peruvian chicken, pepper jack cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato and cilantro.

Tsao hopes the "elevated sandwiches" will push the envelope in a way he says is missing from the classic New York City deli scene.

"I felt like I could never replicate that feeling I got from eating at that bodega by my dad’s shop," he said. "...If [people] want to experience a whole new different style of sandwich, come visit Mission Sandwich Social."