Despite recent turbulence, Gandolfo’s is still serving fresh, hot sandwiches and reintroducing old favorite

IDAHO FALLS – Gandolfo’s New York Deli at 1685 South Woodruff in Idaho Falls has been serving up fresh sandwiches, salads and desserts since 2004 and it’s launching a new menu item this month.

EastIdahoNews.com sampled its newest sandwich (an older item the franchise is resurrecting) called west side story. It’s served with turkey, avocado, cream cheese, pepperjack cheese, green peppers, lettuce, tomato and salsa ranch dressing.

Other items include the urban cowboy, which owner Jared Brown says is the restaurant’s most popular sandwich. It comes with chicken, turkey and bacon with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, cream cheese and pepperjack cheese on a white hero roll. We didn’t leave without also having the sour cream potato salad and a slice of chocolate mousse cake. Take a look in the video above.

The menu offers at least 50 different sandwiches for customers to choose from, along with a variety of side dishes, desserts and fountain drinks.

Brown bought the business from the original owner in 2009. He and his father-in-law and brother-in-law previously owned a hot dog trailer they’d set up at community events.

The owner of Gandolfo’s asked if he could start selling their hot dogs, which led to the initial partnership before Brown bought the business five years later.

After running the business for 15 years now, Brown tells EastIdahoNews.com it’s the customers that make it a worthwhile venture.

“They’ll come in and rave about (the food),” Brown says. “Every day, we get new people coming in. It’s fun to not only meet the need for their hunger but to also get to know them as a person.”

Brown is grateful to still be open after surviving two major challenges in the last four years. Like many restaurant owners, he navigated through the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Brown says they got a lot of support during that time.

RELATED | Multiple businesses see major decline in sales due to road construction project

Gandolfo’s was one of multiple businesses that experienced a massive decline in sales last year during the road construction project on Woodruff and 17th Street. In May 2023, Gandolfo’s manager Lorita Kahn told us there had been a 30% decrease in business about two months into the project.

The project was completed in October.

RELATED | Idaho Falls reopens major intersection after months of construction

Though Brown says it’s going to take a while to make up for the significant decrease in sales, the number of daily customers since then has set the eatery on a path of recovery.

“The day (the intersection) opened, people just started coming back,” he says.

Paul Baker, president of the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce, led the charge in giving Brown and other business owners in that strip some extra support during that time.

“We have an ambassador group made up of 40 or 50 individuals who’ve been using Gandolfo’s to cater for Chamber lunches and seminars,” Baker explains. “We were able to … help (Gandolfo’s) identify different opportunities for revenue by introducing them to the broader community.”

RELATED | Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce celebrating 120th anniversary at upcoming event

Brown credits the longevity of the restaurant to the large menu that gives customers a lot of options, as well as its focus on great customer service.

“For a lot of our regulars, we know exactly what they want. When we see them pull up, we start making their sandwich so it’s all ready for them when they get to the register,” says Brown.

The restaurant recently partnered with Door Dash and Grub Hub, which has allowed it to acquire more customers. The growth in the community results in new faces at the deli every day and Brown is excited to serve patrons going forward.

Gandolfo’s is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday with an 8 a.m. opening time on Saturday.