St. Pete sub shop opens on Central Avenue with a nod to nostalgia

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The smell of the fresh bread greets customers first as they enter Tony D's in St. Petersburg, then there is the case of deli-style cold cuts and other ingredients at the counter to tempt the taste buds.

The backstory:

Once the customer orders, they can take a moment to look around at the decades of nostalgia and family photos covering the walls of this St. Pete eatery.

A customer entering Tony D's can't help but see that the namesake of the business is not only honored, but loved in the establishment.

What they're saying:

"Tony D's is an Italian sub shop. It's named after my grandpa, Tony Deliberato," owner Bobby Rutter said. "I kind of grew up in that environment, and so when we were kind of thinking about what the heart and soul of the concept would be, that's how we created it."

"Yeah, when you come into Tony D's, all the pictures in the wall. Real, authentic images of my grandpa throughout his life," Rutter said. "These are all real pictures of my grandpa or our family and throughout his life. And so, I hope people take in the atmosphere and the vibe while they wait."

Those memories gave birth to this business as Rutter learned about food and food service in the restaurants and diners his grandfather ran. 

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"He owned a pizza and sub shop for probably the first 13, 14 years of my life that I worked at," Rutter said. "He was there a lot, all of us were there. It was a real sense of community gathering spot for our family and a lot of his friends."

"These are generations and decades of different photos that all kind of led to here and eventually gave us a great concept that we could build off of. So, the brick and mortar is really the bones and heart of what we have going on here," Rutter said.

What they're saying:

While his inspiration, the real Tony D., passed away last year. Rutter's lifetime of experience being in and out of his grandfather's pizza shop and sub shop stuck with him.

Dig deeper:

"When we started the concept, we morphed into the like the true Italian direction," Rutter said. "We really started to create a great list of 21 different subs that have a lot of heart, soul and love from my family."

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All the bread is toasted. That's the first scented sensation that the customer experiences coming into the restaurant. They start every sandwich creation with that fresh toasted bread. From there, the customer has the choice of the signature flavors named for some of the cities that Tony D loved, of a classic sub named after some of Tony D's grandkids or of the hot subs named appropriately for the meal they represent.

"And we created three different kinds of sauce combinations that really help drive the flavor profiles," Rutter said. "And when we have a sandwich that's great, and what we did in this case is I kind of looked at it and from my grandpa's life kind of felt out what the naming should be like and who it reminded me of in his life, and we slapped the name on it. All the subs are — the first three are the places that he lived and loved. The rest are people in his life, friends, kids, [and] grandkids."

Rutter and his crew will even custom create a sub, hot or cold, however the customer would like it.

"What we were trying to do was create something that had a lot of authenticity to it," Rutter said. "And we put a lot of care into it. I hope people can come down, experience it, have a really high quality food, but more importantly, really soak in the vibe and the energy of the space. I hope people look at the pictures. And then, I think that the food will be spectacular."

What's next:

You can plan your own visit to Tony D’s Sub Shop in St. Pete. You will find them located at 217 Central Ave. You can find their menu and selection of sides on their website here.