
DATE: Thursday, August 14, 1997             TAG: 9708120119

SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: On The Town 

SOURCE: Sam Martinette 

                                            LENGTH:   79 lines

LITTLE SACCONE'S MAKES A BIG NEW YORK ITALIAN STEAK SUB

You almost have to be looking for Saccone's New York Italian Steak Subs to find it. The little 600-square-foot sandwich shop on East Little Creek Road shares a building and parking lot with an automobile dealer, and the shop's sign, bearing the tri-colors of the Italian flag, is lost in a sea of signs along the busy highway.

Some of those who are finding the little eatery - it's across Little Creek Road from Pinboys Bowling and Shoney's - are also discovering a new way to eat a steak sub.

John Saccone, resident of Bayview and former resident of western New York State, explained that he makes his steak subs the way you'd find them in Niagara Falls, where he grew up, son of a naturalized American chef from Canada who ran a restaurant inside the Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in nearby Lewiston, N.Y.

``I slice the meat from eye rounds, then cook it like a cheeseburger,'' he said. ``Cook it on one side, then flip it over and put your cheese on it. You put on diced onion, lettuce and tomato, Italian seasonings and olive oil. It's not a Philly steak sub. This is the way you'd get it if you ordered it in that part of New York.''

Like many Norfolk residents, the U.S. Navy brought Saccone here.

``I was a hull technician for four years in the Navy,'' he said. ``I joined at 19, then got out and moved back home, but I couldn't take the winters out there any more, so I moved back here. Essentially I've been here 22 years, since 1976, with two short breaks in between.''

Sixteen of those years were spent at NADEP, and when the Naval Air Depot closed, Saccone decided to take a chance and open his own business.

``It made me do something I'd always wanted to do,'' he said.

Now, instead of going to work at a facility that repaired airplane engines and structures, Saccone spends his days rolling meatballs, cooking sauce, and making his own Italian sausage.

``I make a middle-of-the-road sausage, not too spicy, but not bland either. I had to make what I thought would go here.''

When I say the place is little, I mean it. You order at a counter with 10 stools, while Saccone works the grill, and there are a couple of tables inside and a picnic table out front. There is ample parking, however, and Saccone said he does a lot of deliveries during lunch to nearby businesses along the Little Creek Road-Military Highway corridor.

The menu consists of a half-dozen items, served on butcher paper and wrapped in foil. There's the Italian steak and cheese sub ($4.50 a sub/$3 for a half); a ham and cheese sub ($4.50/$2.25); a turkey and cheese sub ($4.75/$3); a meatball and cheese sub ($4.25/$3); and his homemade Italian sausage sub ($3.50). An Italian combo of cold cuts with provolone cheese ($4.50) comes with chips and a soda.

The Italian sausage sub came with sauteed green peppers and onions. The sausage was spicy but not overpowering, as Saccone promised. I asked if he planned to add any pasta dishes later on.

``I have some family recipes I'd like to add when I get more equipment, but you see how much space I've got,'' he said, gesturing at the grill area. ``This is pretty much a blue-collar, working-class crowd, and the businesses that did best here were hot dog and sandwich shops. I do plan to add breakfast sandwiches in early fall.''

In the meantime, Saccone and his wife, Margaret, who works on weekends with him and does the bookwork, are content to have their little piece of the American dream.

``I'm 41 years old and I've been working since I was 16,'' Saccone said. ``I can't wait to get in here in the morning. I really love what I'm doing. And when you get that feeling, it makes life a whole lot easier.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE

John Saccone opened his sub shop in a building shared with an

automobile dealer on East Little Creek Road.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Saccone's New York Italian Steak Subs.

WHERE: Corner of Brookfield Road and E. Little Creek (across

from Pinboys); 588-1099.

FOOD: subs, sodas; no ABC.

PRICES: all subs under $5; delivery (11 a.m.-2 p.m.) to limited

area with $6 minimum.

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday.