I loved this place. I would point newcomers in the direction of it as one of the first things I was proud of this city for having (that, and Ijams). Coury Turczyn loved this place:

Sad, sad news for all sandwich-lovers of Knoxville: Frussie's Deli is no more. Owner James Dicks is leaving the business for extremely personal reasons.

This little deli in the Moody Complex in South Knoxville has been my favorite local sandwich shop of all time, with its own roasted meats and baked breads. (The Italian, warm, was a thing of culinary beauty.)

KnoxGourmet at KNS: "Since Frussie's closed....still looking for a deli!"

Randall Brown recommended that Anthony Bourdain eat there when he was in town.

One of the first mentioned: KnoxBlab, Favorite Deli Sandwich

Solace and cheer in a grilled cheese, local love list, top health score week of May 1, 2009.

"We" are reopening May 1. To me, this is way cooler than getting to live in the Sunsphere. This is an icon, and somebody had to bring it back. Please read more...

continued...


Three of my best friends put some nickels together and Alexandra Spinosa and I are going to be baking bread, making sandwiches (do you remember the potato salad? I had some last week), making this work, and not losing everybody's farm. James and his wife made it happen for 24 years (minus 2 month vacations every year which we will not do to you) and never advertised. It was just that good and we don't want to change anything.** We just want it back.

James never advertised and he was absolutely not open to suggestions. We're starting off with several of his recipes that we absolutely have to have and collecting the rest as we can afford. I get to learn the ways of white and wheat this weekend from James Dicks the man the mystery the legend for starters, so I've got that goin' for me*, but there's going to be a little bit of winging it involved initially and suggestions and memories are plenty welcome - for now. Ben Brooks, if you want to personalize that sandwich upon your triumphant return to Frussie's I won't yell at you. We're doing this for our world-class town. Coury Turczyn, that warm italian will be engineered exactly as you remember, but it may take a practice run or two. If only you believe in lunch like I believe in lunch. This for now is the interview you requested if you have any questions, let's talk sammiches here with the people.

*Should there be some sort of unveiling ceremony for these first loaves? This is kindof a big deal. We are fortunate to have gotten a hold of something very special and we will not let you down.

** Ok, one change for now at least. We hope the tradeoff will be worth it. We will be open longer hours. I remember many times growing up being too hungover to get to the rare roast beef sandwich my soul so desperately needed before 2 pm. On that note, I'm not going in at 2 o'clock in the morning to bake bread, if at some point we can afford to bring on a baker that wants to do that sort of thing...?? For now, we'll do bread after lunch and be open until the bread's done. We believe it to be fair. No cameras will be allowed in the building while bread is being made;) and it's still cash only. (An average of $2 out of every $100 Americans spend goes to transaction fees, and for many businesses, transaction fees are now their highest non-labor cost, growing even faster than health care costs.) Cash only.

Let's do this.

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