Danada Deli & Pantry

Favorite Deli Ever!

I love their lunch specials, sandwiches, soups and daily specials.

Seriously the best kept secret in Wheaton.

It's a European deli, sort of, mixed with a traditional deli as well. (Which I guess means - Awesome!)

I don't believe I've ever had anything I didnt like. Just a warning they do run out of their daily specials so get it early!!!!

Its a must go!

Danada Deli and Pantry is a small convenience store combined with a deli hidden in the back of the Danada Shopping center on Butterfield Road in Wheaton. Whether or not this place qualifies as a restaurant  is up in the air in my book. There is some seating on the inside (I recall a decade or so ago this place being larger than it is now) to sit and eat so I'm reviewing it as one.

I decided to stop here to try out the hot dog as on a previous visit I recalled them having a Vienna Beef sign and serving hot dogs. And being the hot dog critic I needed to give this a shot. So I stepped up to the counter and ordered a hot dog special with chips and a drink. The first thing I noticed was that my hot dog was being microwaved, this wasn't a good sign.

When ordering hot dogs I generally order it with everything, if questioned I always say "whatever you normally put on it". For the first time at a Chicago area restaurant I received a hot dog with ketchup following this method of ordering. The hot dog I received came on a soft regular non-poppy seed bun. There was a thin pickle on the hot dog but the condiments were overloaded, there was too much mustard, relish, and ketchup on this hot dog to taste anything else. The hot dog itself was skinless and despite the Vienna beef signage did not possess the color on the outside, color on the inside, or taste of a Vienna Beef hot dog. This was a lousy hot dog. How bad was this, well of the 100+ Hot Dogs I've reviewed this is probably the single worst overall. This is a clear one star review.

Denada Deli is fantastic.  As a little pantry, it's exactly what you would expect.  Candy bars, soda and bottled drinks, some food stuff, and so on.  Not exactly as stocked as a 7-11 but priced comparably.  But you aren't here to pick up a twix.  You're here because the sign outside says Lunch Special $5.

What sets this pantry apart from your every day convience store is that it's also a deli.  What sets it apart from other delis is, not only that it's really good, but also the scratch made soups.  

First time around, I stood around awkwardly looking at the menu trying to find out how everything works.  Sign outside says 5$ lunch but I couldn't exactly find out how that works, but that's because I was dumb.  Ended up ordering a Italian Sandwich, and grabbed a diet coke, ended up being around 7 bucks.  Which is close to 5, but not quite.  Turns out that the special is a 1/2 Sandwich and a cup of soup for 5 bucks, which while it is a deal, when you factor in the fact you have to buy a drink will more realistically bump that up to the 7 dollar range, which puts this on par price wise with your run of the mill fast food chains.

So I sit down at a table, and take a bite.  Now most of the time when you eat an Italian sandwich, it's super oily and there's a lot sauce going on to give the sandwich flavor.  Not here.  The dressing was this super light Italian vinagrette that you could barely notice, but what you could notice was the flavor of all the meats, and how awesome the bread is.  It wasn't oily, it wasn't heavy, it was just a good sandwich with good meat, on good bread, with a super light (and good) dressing to sauce it up.  I was amazed.

From the handful of sandwiches I've had here, I can say that they achieve sandwich perfection.  Which is crazy to think, because this is the last place on earth to expect perfection from.  You take a bite and the flavors are just perfectly balanced.  The bread is fluffy and delicious, then you taste all the meaty goodness, and the cheese, and the fresh veggies, and the condiments.  All the flavors just balance each other so well and nothing is overpowering.  The sandwich is perfect.  

But what amazed me more than that was how friendly everyone was.  Rewind the clock back to when I had no idea what was going on, I was asked by the woman in charge of the register if I had any questions.  When I explained that I had never been before, she welcomed me, which was super awesome.  And after I ordered, she asked 'No soup today?' at which point the other woman came by with a sample of the Cream of Potato with Bacon, which I passed on.  However the sampling worked, because I came back today to get a nice big cup of it.

Other weeks I've had small conversations with them while I'm eating and they come to clean the tables.  Nothing invasive, just casual conversation.

I like the atmosphere.  I like that the pantry is run by three people who seem like people and not robots taking your order.  I like that they care about their food, and are proud of it.  Proud of how good it is, that they know if they give you a sample, you'll be back.  That's not something you see in very many places, yet alone a little deli in the middle of nowhere.  It's a great little place, and I'll probably be there every Tuesday for lunch.