The brainchild of actor Jerry Ferrara (best known as Turtle from HBO’s hit show Entourage) and two lifelong friends, Fat Sal's Deli has had hungry students lining up out the door of its Westwood Los Angeles location since opening in 2010, but the sandwich shop couldn't get the same following in San Diego and has officially shuttered the 6-year-old Pacific Beach outpost.
From New York City-born food enthusiasts Salvatore Capek (Fat Sal), Josh Stone, and actor Jerry Ferrara, Fat Sal's is a health-unconscious sandwich chain that opened its first location in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles near UCLA in the Summer of 2010. With the success of their debut eatery, the trio decided to move south to the lively Pacific Beach area of San Diego for their second location, which opened at 956 Garnet Avenue in early 2013. They also opened two more successful outposts in Los Angeles and another in Austin, TX, which shuttered last fall. The Gayley Group, which runs Fat Sal's, ended up suing Jerry Ferrara in 2016 to remove him as a partner after accusing the actor of failing to adequately promote the business. In 2017, Fat Sal’s made national news by transforming its Hollywood location into a recreation of McDowell’s from the 1988 box office hit Coming to America.
Fat Sal's menu is centered around 'fat sandwiches' - a creation from Rutgers University's Grease Trucks in New Brunswick, New Jersey where hero rolls are filled with eclectic combinations of comfort/bar food staples such as mozzarella sticks, cheesesteak, burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, etc. Although the San Diego location is no more, the company continues to operate three branches in Los Angeles - Hollywood, Encino, and Westwood.
For more information on Fat Sal's, visit fatsalsdeli.com.
