Fisher Clark Urban Deli is a 2-year- old sandwich shop and specialty grocer on the Bonnie Brae stretch of South University Boulevard. It is not the place to come to if you need to race in, grab a sandwich, and run. This is because the sandwichesthe uncommonly good sandwiches — take a few minutes to prepare. And, there’ll likely be a line.
This is also not the place to come if you’re looking for something to scarf behind the wheel. These sandwiches are meant to be eaten in one of three places: at one of the tables out in front of the shop, at a table in your kitchen, or best of all, outdoors, en plein air, on a picnic.
But it is January, you say. A picnic?
This is Colorado, I say. Chances are the sun is shining, and besides, you own a parka. Get out there.
A Fisher Clark sandwich is a sandwich the way a Modigliani portrait is a portrait. Masterful and confident and steeped in gravitas, but with a light-handed whimsy and sense of adventure. The bread (the canvas) is of the best quality. The ingredients (the subjects) are carefully chosen, and beautiful already. The flavors (the colors) are confined in range, but penetrate deeply. The effect runs from pleasant to sublime.
Fans crowd the small grocery store and counter for popular sandwiches, including the Spanish ham and manchego on foccacia, and the newly installed French Onion Soup sandwich with deeply caramelized onions, goat cheese and gruyere on toasted brioche-like egg bread. While they wait, they wonder if they should have ordered a muffuletta instead (a solid if not perfect take on the New Orleans salumi classic) or perhaps the hot pastrami on marbled rye. They peruse the cases of prepared foods (options change by the day, but may include chicken pot pie, soups, risotto) and shop the shelves of pricey imported “specialty” ingredients (olive oils, saffron, Maldon sea salt). They point at (and sometimes order) the mascarpone brownies, the stilton cheesecake, the snickerdoodles. They chat.
Meanwhile, the crowded open kitchen slices and slathers and chops and wraps sandwiches, methodically and unhurriedly.
The very best sandwich I had at Fisher Clark was so good I went back for it six more times: The porchetta sandwich. Slow-roasted Italian porchetta (herby, butter-soft roasted pork), savory-earthy-sweet and sliced paper thin, piled on a fresh, crusty-chewy baguette with a toss of sweet, faintly crunchy cipolline onions in a glaze of balsamic. This is a sandwich that’ll change the course of your day, particularly if it’s eaten on a bench in the park while watching dogs and owners play Frisbee together, and if it’s followed with a few tangy-sweet spoonfuls of Fisher Clark’s lemon curd. (If you don’t finish your curd, take it home and dollop it onto gingersnaps, one by one.)
At $8 or $9 or more per, these are not the cheapest sandwiches in Denver, and some of the add-ons are even more highly priced (if you’d like a drink with your sandwich, you’ll easily break 10 bucks; throw in a cookie and you’re pushing $15). This is a drawback; many of us have recently invoked Resolutions (capital “R”) that will prevent us from spending this much for lunch. I wish there were a way for Fisher Clark to knock a buck or two off its prices.
But Fisher Clark makes no pretense of being cheap, and the sandwiches — because they are good — are not regrettably expensive. But few are the people who can afford to eat here every day, or even every week.
One gets the feeling that they aren’t trying to compete with the hundreds of cheap-lunch outfits in town, but rather with the sit-down restaurants, where you’re likely to spend more, for less.
Find all of Tucker Shaw’s reviews at denverpost.com/restaurants.
Fisher Clark Urban Delicatessen
Sandwiches and groceries. 723 S. University Blvd., 303-722-2091, fisherclarkdeli .com
** (Very Good)
Atmosphere: Small storefront deli and gourmet grocery with a few tables outside.
Service: No table service.
Sandwiches: $6.95-9.75.
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Details: Street parking. Wheelchair accessible. Prepared foods to take home.
Six visits.
Our star system: ****: Exceptional. ***: Great. **: Very Good. *: Good.
