After opening at the beginning of the year and closing in May, Bar Vero has sat vacant at 4230 18th St., though a sign in the window stated it would be back soon after some changes. Bar Vero, however, is no more: Bite Me Sandwiches will soon expand from its Mission location to open in the space.
Bite Me Sandwiches has been open at its current 16th Street location since 2013, and had previously been located on South Van Ness. The Castro location will be its second sandwich shop.
Owner Nidal Musleh prepares a sandwich.
We caught up with owner Nidal Musleh, who co-owns Bite Me Sandwiches, at the 16th Street shop to see what they have planned. Musleh also co-owns a variety of business throughout the city, including Stanza Coffee, Pork Store Cafe, Vinyl Coffee & Wine Bar, Harlot nightclub and Flipside Burgers in Oakland.
Menu board at Bite Me Sandwiches on 16th Street.
Bite Me Sandwiches offers a wide variety of, as Musleh calls it, "regular traditional sandwiches." Musleh had originally decided to open up a sandwich shop after noticing that traditional delis had been slowly disappearing across the city, a phenomenon which coincided with the rise of less traditional sandwich shops like Ike's Place, which has a location on 16th Street. Musleh wanted a place where you could go and "just order a roast beef and cheese sandwich."
Along with its sandwich menu and assorted beveraged, Bite Me will also serve Stanza drip coffee.
After opening up the downstairs area, Musleh says the plan is to operate the separate upstairs area as a different business. Details are slim at this point while they work out exactly what they want to do, but current plans are to open a wine bar and tapas restaurant on the larger upper level, which also includes a sun room that overlooks the neighborhood.
For now, Musleh says he plans to have the sandwich shop on the ground floor of the 18th Street space open by some time this month or early next year.
Stay tuned for more details about opening date, and how plans for the upstairs space take shape.
