Dinner Break! Lenny's Sub Shop - Englewood, CO

I love a good Sub Sammich. And for a few years, Englewood was home to one of my favorites.

They made a damn tasty Italian Sub.

A subject that's been on my mind lately, brought on by unlikely inspiration...

From my recent story, the 2022 Baseball Top Whatever:

#5 - 2022 Allen & Ginter Get That Bread - Italian Sub

The Targets had blasters of 2022 Allen & Ginter a few weeks ago. I picked one up with the other needed supplies, and found this inside. It's about damn time they started putting big ass sammiches on baseball cards! This is something I fully endorse!

My ideal Italian Sub doesn't need to be as complicated as the card back describes, The usual selection of sliced deli meats and cheeses, plus some white onion (NONE of that purple onion crap!), lettuce, tomatoes and salt. I've yet to find a decent local sub shop to my liking, but for a national chain, Jersey Mike's is the best one going for a good Italian Sub. Which on their menu is a Number 2. 

(Coincidentally, Lenny's also went with Number 2 in reference to their Italian sub.)

Going back to Colorado, I've often had a tough time walking up to the counter and telling the you sammich making girl that I'd like a Giant #2, with a straight face. One time I just couldn't hold it together and say it without cracking up. Which made the overenthusiastic girl in the tight khaki pants laugh with me, even though I don't think she got the joke.

Whatever.

(January 26, 2014. On my way to see more demolition of the Gates Rubber Factory!)

Lenny's Sub Shop sat next door to Smash Burger and Mattress King, in the former Southside Auto Sales building, at the corner of Broadway and Floyd. Going back 15-20 years, a Hollywood Video occupied this full building. After Hollywood Video closed for good in October 2007, The building sat empty for a few months, then was divided into three storefronts. Mattress Firm opened in the large corner store, with Smash Burger and Lenny's Sub Shop opening in the two other spaces. 

Lenny's Sub Shop held down the west end of the three store shopping center. With a very small parking lot, if you tried to come here for a sammich during the lunch rush, you were competing with no only other Lenny's enthusiasts, but also fans of Smash Burger.

Who tended to outnumber us...

My introduction to Lenny's  came when my job had them cater sammich trays for an employee appreciation day, back in 2010. They were so much better than the crappy sammiches they used to have old Yawbus bring in every so often. Lenny's also brought a whole big bunch of them! Much more than the few third shift employees could put away. So I tried a variety of Lenny's options that night!

But my favorite (that wasn't a part of employee appreciation day), was their Philly Cheesesteak sammich!

Available with chips, a cookie and a drink, for a small additional fee!

These pictures are from an October, 2012, Lenny's visit with Laura. 

As we waiting for the woman behind the grilling window to make that yummy delicious Philly Cheesesteak sammich, I snapped a few photos of the Lenny's operation. The girl at the register would take your order, then either give the ticket to that grill girl...

Or send your order slip to the cold sammich side. Where the deli meat slicing girl would load the large tubes of meat, out of the case at the right side of the counter, and onto the slicer to assemble your sammich.

In my old age, I’ve reached one conclusion about Sub Sammich shops. If you don’t have a slicer out and in full view of the public, to slice your cheese and cold cuts to order, I’m not buying from you. None of that pre-sliced and stuff between sheets of waxed paper stuff on my sammich.

I’m looking at you, Yawbus!

Half way through our sammiches, two of Lenny’s management team decided to sit at the table next to us  and conduct a little strategy meeting. If I remember correctly, they were discussing who was going to make me a tasty sammich once they decided to close this store for good in about 9 months. 

I could be wrong.

Just to be safe, I decided to keep a copy of Lenny's 2011 menu. Which I actually did before this visit, but I found it in the Archives in time to include it in this story. If you were paying extra close attention, you may have noticed the fold pattern down the middle matches to catering flyer I showed earlier.

That’s because it’s the same piece of paper!

As Laura and I left Lenny’s, I turned to snap a photo of their neighbor, Smash Burger.

It looked like this...

Smash Burger is fine. I’ve got nothing against Smash Burger at all. Their food is okay. It’s not bad, it’s not incredible. It’s an upscale fast food burger. Overpriced for what you’re getting. Which isn’t anything you can’t get at any of the 80 billion other burger joints around town. 

And there’s Mattress King, filling up the rest of the building. This photo is from August 18, 2013. Mattress King was still open, but would close within the next year. Lenny’s Subs had officially closed by August, 2013. And nothing stops Smash Burger. 

As I mentioned earlier, Hollywood Video once occupied this full building. They stocked a decent selection of movies, and the few times I would look for one to rent, they usually had a copy. In September of 2007, they announced a going out of business sale. By the time I made it in, most of the good movies had already been sold. I did not pay nearly $15 for a copy of Reno 911: The Movie. During the dying days of their going out of business sale, it was like 70% off of $15. 

Because no one else wanted to buy it.

Hey, I like Reno 911!

Also, as I’d mentioned earlier, Lenny's Sub Shop closed at various points in 2013. 

They made yummy delicious sammiches that I loved, but as time went on, their schedule of being open became rather spotty. The store would be temporarily closed for weeks at a time, then open for a week or two. You couldn’t plan on them being open, so it was something you lucked into when driving by. Or if you wanted a big ass sammich, you went to Sub Center, over by Safeway. 

They made a great turkey and bacon sub!

The last time Lenny’s briefly reopened, the hot chick with green dreadlocks no longer managed the place. She would give me free drinks and touch my arm, when I went in for a Philly Cheesesteak or a Large Number 2.

You know, maybe if you allowed me to smoke inside there, you’d still be open?

Just a thought...

Without the hot chick with green dreadlocks managing Lenny’s, the store finally closed in the Spring of 2013. It never reopened again. For several months, the interior sat untouched. All the food had obviously been removed, but I still wondered if after a period of restructuring, Lenny’s would re-open? 

I just wanted a Large Number 2 plopped on my table, once again...

Nope.

On April 20, 2014, I drove by Lenny’s and noticed the sign had finally been removed, and a banner announcing the Spicy Basil Asian Grill was coming soon. Something tells me their Large Number 2 was going to be substantially greasier...

A month later I parked and walked up to the Lenny’s Spicy Basil doors. The large dumpster out front blocked easy access, so I had to maneuver around to reach the doors. Meaning I couldn't get a decent shot of the store.

Lenny’s had been gutted and a new interior was replacing it. Their logo was still on the door, but they were clearly done making sammiches. At least of the Italian Sub or Philly Cheesesteak variety...

After what seemed like an unreasonable amount of delay, Spicy Basil opened in early 2015. 

Quick search of the Googles informs me that they are still at this location and open today, in 2023. 

So, good for them!

Lenny’s Sub Shop, as a chain, still exists today.

Just not anywhere near Colorado (or Minnesota). 

They did a company-wide rebrand in April 2016,  becoming Lennys Grill & Subs. (They dropped the shop, apostrophe and added a grill and an ampersand.) Company line was they wanted to focus attention on their hot sammiches, while still offer the same line of cold subs. As of May 2021, they had 71 locations, based mostly in the southeast and south central regions of America.

After an exhaustive 15 minutes of research, I gave up on finding any current info about the number of Lennys Grill & Subs stores. The May 2021 update on their website, stated their goal was to double up to 150 stores by 2023.

I can’t report on if that was a success or not.

Smash Burger is still bigger...

And that large empty void that used to be a Mattress King?

Well, after a year or so of sitting empty, it grew into a...

Whiskey Biscuit!

I don’t know what a Whiskey Biscuit is, but I bet it doesn’t go well with Ham, Egg and Cheese...

Now wipe your mouth, you’re drooling.