Evan Michael Woods
The Colossal Sandwich Shop, one of the very best sandwich shops in the area, now has a bite-size location in Fort Worth, near the Cultural District.
Store owners Terry Duncan and Jonathan “Jono” Merrill recently opened a ghost kitchen version of their popular Bedford restaurant at 3004 Cullen St. As is the case with most ghost kitchens, the Fort Worth Colossal focuses primarily on carryout and delivery, although there are a few tables for those who wish to dine on-site.
“We get a lot of people from the Fort Worth area who come to the Bedford store say, ‘Why don’t you open a location in Fort Worth?’” Merrill says. “This is our way of testing those waters.”
After opening two years ago in a Bedford strip mall, Colossal quickly became known for living up to its name; any meat sandwich is piled high with a half-pound of meat. Their sandwiches include pulled pork, a Reuben, a club, steak and cheese, and a Cubano made with braised, spice-rubbed pork.
Merrill says the Fort Worth location will offer some items not available at the Bedford store, including burgers.
“This is our time and space to experiment,” he says. “If all goes well, we’ll figure out how to expand this space, or we’ll open a more permanent location in Fort Worth.”
Merrill and Duncan are former classmates at both Arlington High School and at the culinary program at Dallas College El Centro Campus. After El Centro, the business partners went their separate ways, only to reunite over their mutual love of sandwiches. Sandwich-making, Merrill says, is somewhat of a lost art he’s not about to let die.
“We make everything from scratch, from the ground up, and what we don’t make from scratch, like the meats and cheeses, we only use top quality,” he says. “We’re known for the size of our sandwiches, but what we’re most proud of is the quality of the ingredients we use.”
3004 Cullen St., colossalsandwich.com
