(Photo: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine)

It’s taken the Red Hook sandwich shop Defonte’s 87 years to open a satellite branch in Manhattan. This week, third-generation owner Nick Defonte is planning on making it happen. (To put things in culinary perspective, this is big, like Di Fara or Luger crossing the bridge.) Fans will want to know that the roast-beef-fried-eggplant-and-mozzarella hero has made the trip, but that all the sandwiches will be scaled down a little from their Brooklyn heft. “We’re not counting on many truckers,” says Defonte (261 Third Ave., at 21st St.; 212-614-1500).

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• Archive: “Restaurant Openings & Buzz”
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• Table of Contents: Feb 23, 2009 issue of New York | Subscribe!