Don’t confuse the new sandwich shop in downtown Bethesda with the town in Connecticut.
Owner Tim Lee says his operation is pronounced differently (green-witch not gren-ich) to reflect the salads and sandwiches he’s serving at the St. Elmo Avenue shop.
Lee opened the new business on Tuesday after converting it last week from a Quiznos that had occupied the space since 2002, long before Lee said he took over in 2009. Lee said he decided to abandon the national sandwich chain after problems with the corporation, which franchises the stores.
Quiznos filed for bankruptcy in March and then emerged from it this month.
“We could not agree with the way corporate managed themselves,” Lee said.
So Lee took matters into his own hands. First, he gave Quiznos the 30-day notice it requires to cancel a franchise agreement. Once the month was up, he painted the store a bright green, changed the menu, signed on with new food providers and created a menu of salads and sandwiches.
Salads include standards such as Greek and Caesar, as well as options including “Popeye Power,” a mix of spinach, bacon, hard-boiled egg, portobello mushrooms and olives ($6.99) and the “Tokyo Classic” with mixed greens, chicken, avocado, tomatoes, wasabi peas and cucumbers ($7.99).
The sandwiches range from turkey, pastrami and roast beef to others with Asian influences, including the Seoul bulgogi, which consists of rib-eye beef, kimchee, Asian slaw, lettuce and garlic mayo ($7.99), and a Vietnamese banh-mi with chicken, pickled radish, carrot, cucumber, cilantro and jalapenos ($6.99).
Lee said he’s still finalizing the menu and hopes to serve more soups during the fall and winter. The shop doesn’t yet have a website or Facebook page.
Even with a fresh coat of paint, the inside of the store still closely resembles a Quiznos, with the conveyor toaster in the middle of the service area.
