254 E. Front StreetIt’s kind of amazing there are still places in Southwest Michigan I haven’t been yet, innit?
I’ve been doing this blog for almost 12 years. My job takes me all over the state so it’s always surprising when I get an assignment and it’s a place I haven’t been.
We got sent to a location near Buchanan last week. I took the “long way” to Buchanan because we had time to kill. That took us through the City of Buchanan. When it came time to leave, I told my co-worker I had noticed a sub shop downtown and I was going to head back in to town to grab something to eat.
Gary Z’s Sub Shop is on Front Street in downtown Buchanan near the intersection with Red Bud Trail. The small sub shop looks like it has been there a while and is described as “one of the go-to places in town” but the area Chamber of Commerce.
We walked in for lunch a little after 1:30 and there was still a line of people waiting for subs. The inside of the shop is really pretty tight. There are no real tables. It’s just an order counter and a small waiting area.
There is a small , long table pushed up against the wall you could probably sit and eat at but the barstools were mostly used to sit down while waiting for the sandwiches to made.
The menu hangs on the wall and has a lot of the typical sub shop options. My co-worker asked the ladies working what their favorite was and they just said “we’re known for our white bread.” Whatever we ordered, they suggested we do so on that bread.
Once my co-worker was done, I ordered the “Gary Z’s Size” Italian on the white bread we heard so much about. The sandwich is salami, pepperoni, and ham with jalapenos. All subs come with mayo, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and a “homemade” sub sauce (not sure why they put homemade in “”). I asked to leave the mayo.
The sandwich lived up to the hype. There was quite a bit of meat and the crusty white bread was just as delicious as it was described to us. I think they left the sub sauce off to because I didn’t taste anything other than the meat or veggies but that was fine with me. I’m not a big sauce guy anyway.
The cost for the sandwich was a little over $7.
Gary Z’s is a tasty sub shop. They don’t do anything really fancy but they crank out a delicious sub. The Gary Z’s Size is probably 10″ or 11″ so the $7 and change for a sub is a really good value.
Buchanan is kind of off the beaten path but if you find yourself in the area, Gary Z’s Sub Shop is definitely worth a stop for a quick bite to eat.