Family comes in different forms and spaces.

It's the people who surround you at home.

Also, it's the people who can surround you at work.

We found a great spot in Durham that serves up delicious sandwiches along with a sense of community.

[birds chirping] [traffic droning] - Well, you gotta find something that doesn't exist.

We just wanted a sandwich and then we made the sandwich we want.

And then people were like, "I want that sandwich."

And then we were like, "We have that sandwich, you want this sandwich?"

And they're like, "Yeah, I want that sandwich."

And now, here we are three years later making sandwiches, you know?

[upbeat music] First off, sandwiches are the best food.

If you go to Thanksgiving and you make a whole plate of food, the second thing at least that I'm doing is making a sandwich off the plate and people are always like, "Oh, it's just a sandwich," you know?

Well, it doesn't have to be.

It can be one of the best things you ever ate.

I was solidified at culinary school.

This place all of us used to go all the time called Rossi's Deli.

It's like this old guy, John Rossi, and his five sons and they just made life-changing sandwiches.

Paul and I, we always said we wanted to open a sandwich shop, and so we did it.

[upbeat music] - I think the menu is very purposeful, it's small menu and it stays that way.

Like it hasn't really changed much since we opened.

That's mainly because we try to make everything from scratch.

I think most popular sandwich is definitely the Uncle Primo.

As far as the retailer itself, we try to fill it with a lot of local vendors.

- Pizza dough, lasagnas, trying to keep the wine selection.

I pretty much solely stock wines that I like to drink.

- Well, it's a great sandwich.

I love that it's local.

I love like supporting local businesses, and it's just great food.

You can watch the ingredients being prepared.

So, I love stuff like that.

- I really like that they make their bread fresh.

I think that's a great component.

- I just like food and I'll go anywhere where it's at.

[customers laughing] - Well, but you know what?

It doesn't matter what you get, it's gonna be good.

- Exactly.

- So true.

- You'll be coming back.

- That's true.

- The roast pork one is probably like the most special for me.

Just with my family being from Philadelphia.

It helped me figure out the bread.

I wanted a bread that could stand up to a roast pork sandwich.

It's always gonna get a little soggy, because it's such a wet sandwich.

But it's really nice to unwrap a roast pork sandwich and still have a bit of crisp on the bread and it held together.

[birds chirping] Bread is daily.

I mean the bread is a three-day process.

So, the first day we make a Poolish and then the second day we make the dough.

And then, so today is the third day for this dough and we shape it, roll it, proof it, and bake it.

Joanne goes and takes care of sometimes her army of children.

- Like shoving my teenagers into bed as I'm leaving for work.

So, I like being here in the early hours before everyone else.

There's no traffic.

It's not stressful.

So, it's nice to have quiet hours.

[upbeat music] [birds chirping] - So, Ideal is the name of my grandfather on my mother's side.

He was the best.

All right, it's hard to talk.

It was my grandfather's name.

Yeah.

Very, very generous, very family orientated, super hardworking.

Grew up with nothing, gave his family everything, and passed unexpectedly.

- I mean the main reason we named it Ideal's is 'cause, you know, we wouldn't be able to do it without him.

- He would always just say, "You might as well mess up while you're young, 'cause once you have a family, you got stuff to lose."

[upbeat music] We are so lucky here that there's so many people that live around us and we have so many regulars that come in and all of our neighbors are so welcoming and nice.

Especially in the first year, with people just coming like three or four times a week and we're like, "Oh my God, you're here again."

Like, "Oh yeah, that's what regulars are."

Oh, we're so lucky to have so many regulars.

- The state of the industry and the world right now is like, it's hard, you know?

- It's brutal.

- To like, that's another thing that I feel really lucky about.

We're able to pay ourselves.

Everyone here makes a living wage.

That's huge.

And even beyond that, just all the stuff going on in the world right now, it's like sometimes it's hard to like keep things in perspective of, okay, we're just making sandwiches, you know, we're not changing the world, we're just trying to do whatever we can to make people's lives a little bit more enjoyable, I guess.

[upbeat music] - Ideal's Sandwich and Grocery is at 2108 Andrew avenue in Durham and they're open Thursday through Monday from noon to 3:00 pm.

To place an order, give them a call at [919] 724-0241 or go online to idealsdeli.com.