port city sandwich co.
Homemade sandwiches, soups, salads and baked goods are among the stars of the menu at Port City Sandwich Co. (40R Merrimac St., Newburyport, Mass., 978-358-8628, portcitysandwichco.com), an eatery that has been a staple of Newburyport’s Market Square Historic District for more than a decade. Owner and Boston native Tyke Karopoulos, who runs the shop with his mother, Susan, previously had a career spanning nearly three decades in bars, nightclubs and restaurants. This included a stint working at The Capital Grille, a fine dining restaurant and steakhouse chain with locations in more than 20 states nationwide. “When I was running The Capital Grille in Boston, I had Thursdays and Fridays off,” Karopoulos said. “My wife and I would constantly leave the house to get a bite to eat. We’d stop all the time and we’d be like, ‘Where are we going to go?’ There was no sandwich shop like what we do. … I did this when I was in college. I worked at a sandwich shop in Newton, Mass., called Sandwich Works, which is actually still there now.” Shortly after getting a Capital Grille location in Manhattan off the ground, Karopoulos decided to pursue his own restaurant concept in Newburyport, where his wife is from. Port City Sandwich Co. originally served breakfast earlier in the day in addition to its lunch items, but has recently since transitioned into being open six days a week, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Scene recently caught up with Karopoulos to ask him some fun questions, including which celebrity he’d like to serve at Port City Sandwich Co., as well as his top picks for must-try menu item recommendations.
How long has Port City Sandwich Co. been around?
We opened Jan. 9, 2012.
What makes Port City Sandwich Co. unique?
Everybody’s trying so hard to be different, I always felt, and … what we were lacking was just that basic sandwich shop where you can go in and get a turkey sandwich how you want it. … We have an assortment of breads, an assortment of toppings, but you can make your own sandwich. If you were to walk into a Panera Bread right now, and you walked up to the register and asked the person on the register for a turkey sandwich on wheat bread with lettuce, tomato and mayo, you’d watch that person freeze, because it’s not on their computer; they have all their funky sandwiches and how they do them. I wanted it to be simple, but homemade. … We try to make every single thing that we can in house.
What is your favorite thing on your menu?
The Jamaican jerk chicken wrap, a.k.a. the “Pat Chung.” … My last two years at The Capital Grille, I was almost like the concierge for the New England Patriots. Patrick Chung was one of my best friends for years when he played for them. He was half Jamaican and half Chinese, and we have the Jamaican jerk wrap and the chicken teriyaki wrap. He got to pick either one for me to put his name on it, and so he picked the jerk wrap. … [It has] lettuce, tomatoes, red peppers and ranch dressing, and then we have the Super Jerk, which is that jerk wrap but on steroids. It has hummus, tzatziki and feta cheese in it.
What is something that everyone should try?
The California wrap with jerk chicken. … It’s like a club, so it’s lettuce, tomato, bacon, avocado [and] ranch dressing. Alone, it’s amazing, but if you switch the chicken out and put the jerk spice on it, no one’s ever come back and had it the regular way.
What celebrity would you like to see eating at Port City Sandwich Co.?
Tom Cruise. … People used to tell me that I resembled him, and so that kind of sticks in your head. But I love his movies. … I’ve gotten to meet a ton of celebrities, though, from the Wahlberg brothers to LL Cool J, to Wayne Gretzky to Tom Brady [and] the entire Patriots team, to every single visiting sports team in the country.
What is an essential skill to running a restaurant?
The only businesses that are still open through the pandemic are the ones that were owner-operated. … I’ve been here since 2012, [and] I run the day-to-day operations.
What is your favorite thing about being on the Seacoast?
I’ve always just liked living close to the water, period. I know I could never live in a landlocked state. … Being able to get to the ocean and to see the ocean, I think that we’re all kind of spoiled for having grown up here.
— Matt Ingersoll
Photo courtesy of Port City Sandwich Co. in Newburyport, Mass.
