DiBella's Old Fashioned Submarines in Cranbrook Village in Ann Arbor.
Whenever I work in Ann Arbor, I get a request from J to make a Whole Foods run. Since I’m going to be working a lot over the next week, I won’t be home to make dinner every night. She’s a fan of one of the prepackaged salads from Whole Foods and she loves the pre cut fruit to snack on during the day.
After I got off work, I headed to the Whole Foods at Cranbrook Village. Sure, I could have grabbed something for myself out of the deli, but where’s the fun in that? I saw a sandwich shop in the same strip, so I grabbed the items for J then went to get myself a sandwich.
DiBella’s Old Fashioned Submarines is a chain out of New York, but the only Michigan location is in Ann Arbor. In fact, there’s only five stores outside of New York….and in the state, they’re only in Rochester and Buffalo, so they’re not a large chain store by any means.
The Ann Arbor location is on Eisenhower Parkway in the Cranbrook Village shopping center. The shop sits right in the middle when you turn into the center from Eisenhower. I found a parking spot then walked across the roadway. The inside has sort of a throwback feel. There’s a lot of red that accents the dark wood. The employees all wear paper hats to add to the feel.
The store is set up so there’s a long counter where you order once you get passed the room where the ovens are. They bake their bread in house all day long. The counter isn’t set up like the traditional sub shop where you work your way down the line picking out ingredients. There are three or four stations where multiple customers can order their sandwiches. You don’t have to wait while one employee makes one sandwich in assembly line fashion.
DiBella's Old Fashioned Submarines on Eisenhower Parkway in Ann Arbor.
There were a couple people in front of me who also must have been making their first visit to DiBella’s. They took forever to pick out items from the fairly small menu. When it was finally my turn, the guy making my sandwich asked what I wanted. I chose a medium Godfather which has Genoa Salami, Capicola, and spicy ham. The next choice is bread. I went with the classic sesame then added DiBella’s Famous Oil as my dressing. I told the guy to throw on some lettuce, banana peppers, and Swiss cheese to round off the sandwich.
After it’s cut in half and wrapped, you get your sandwich and take it to the cash register where you can add on chips and a drink. I passed on both accounts. I wanted a Pepsi, but all they had was Coke, so I found a gas station later. My sandwich was a little over six bucks which I paid for with cash then started to head back towards Lansing. The idea was to just wait until I got home, but that didn’t happen.
I didn’t take I-94 even though it was right there because I ran into construction on the way to Ann Arbor. Instead, I went back through town and took US-23 to I-96. Bad idea. Traffic was awful. Almost Chicago-like. After getting pissed off at other people’s inability to merge without making it a dramatic event, I pulled the sandwich out of the wrapping and started eating on the drive home.
It was freakin delicious. Maybe it was because I gave the oil some time to work it’s way into the meat, lettuce, and bread. Maybe it was just a really good sandwich. I don’t know, but either way, I couldn’t wait to eat the second half and pulled that out of the wrapper and had it gone by Howell.
DiBella’s Old Fashioned Submarines surprised me. As far as chain sandwich shops go, this is one of the best I’ve eaten at. The meat was quality. The bread was fresh and the oil dressing really made the sandwich.
Mid-Michigan Dining 
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