By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Ralph DiBenedetto is back on the job.
As the bread dough rolls under his hands, he claims, he’s out of practice. His deft way of stretching the dough to the edges of the sheet pan belies that assessment.
Like any good craftsman he measures twice, first using a yardstick to find the midpoint and then to make sure the midpoints of the six long loafs line up, before he makes one cut down the middle of the loaves. These will be eight-inch rolls. But first they need to sit for 80 minutes in a proofer, and then baked in a steam-injection oven.
This is the bread that helped make DiBenedetto’s subs a favorite among local diners for 35 years.
Now in partnership with Chris Kline, owner of BurGers (pronounced BG Burgers), those subs will return to the local bill of fare.
Kline reached out to DiBenedetto about adding a selection of his most popular items to his menu.
DiBenedetto said it’s an offer he’s been waiting for since his casual dining eatery, which was located next door to BurGers’ 1424 E. Wooster address, closed about a decade ago. “I’ve been waiting for someone to approach me,” he said.
There was talk of franchising, but that’s complicated with lots of red tape. Still, DiBenedetto took the time to write an operations manual. If someone picked up his name he wanted to leave nothing to chance.
The offer from Kline involves more of a consulting relationship, and that operations manual has been pulled off the shelf.
“Basically we want to do it as fast as we can,” Kline said. “But we want to do it the right way so when the first customer comes in they get the same sub they got before.”
That takes time, so don’t jump into the car and head over to BurGers for a sub. The working date for when they’ll be available is Feb. 20. Best to check the BurGers Facebook page, Kline advised. In the meantime, BurGers offers its full menu, which Kline said, has been getting rave reviews online.
The goal is to replicate not just the taste of the sandwiches, but the look with the same wrapping.
And everything from oven to coolers to prep station and service has to meet the exacting standards of Ralph and Ramona DiBenedetto.
Their son, Chris DiBenedetto who operated an Italian restaurant downtown for about 10 years when his parents retired, came in to dismantle and reassemble the meat cutter so it’s just right. The steam injection oven was located upstairs in the former downtown restaurant, now Two Foxes. Kline bought it and relocated it in his kitchen.
“If we actually serve them the same thing they remember from before they’re going to love it even more,” Kline said.
At first, the restaurant will offer the most popular DiBenedetto’s sandwiches, all eight-inches. The three favorites, DiBenedetto said, were the Gold Medal with smoked turkey, the Marathon, a combo club, and the Walkaway, another spicier combo. Also on the menu will be the Starter with salami, ham and provolone, the vegetarian Hurdler, the ham and cheese Pacer, and the Runner. The inclusion of the last item, a tuna sub, is sure to please Wallace DePue, DiBenedetto said. The retired music professor used to order one every day.
BurGers will also offer the Greek salad.
Kline plans to offer Italian specialties, including hot subs at a later date.
Ralph DiBenedetto, 81, is elated to have his subs back on the menu, especially given that he doesn’t have to be in the restaurant from opening to close.
He and Ramona enjoyed meeting customers, and chatting, though she knew how to keep the line moving.
Now in the kitchen planning for this new chapter, Ralph DiBenedetto shapes the loaves and talks.
He started on the other side of the food business working for suppliers. That means he knows how to drive a bargain, and has already saved Kline money on such staples as oil.
He mentions his favorite restaurants, and how he knows when the owner isn’t in.
And he talks about Ramona’s love of jazz.
His wife, he said, will be in to help train the staff.
He said the three most important qualities for customers, are in a order: cleanliness, service, and then food. He’s proud the Health Department would send other restaurateurs to his place to see how to run a clean operation.
He still does all the cooking at home. He even shares a recipe for pan fried chicken with roasted vegetables. As in the restaurant, his timings are precise so the vegetables come to right as the chicken in done. It’s that attention to detail that served him well for 35 years.
The DiBenedettos opened the sub shop in downtown Bowling Green in the East Wooster storefront that now houses Insomnia Cookies in 1978.
They didn’t know the restaurant business, though he’d worked in distribution. They learned as they went.
The bread was one of their early changes. He didn’t like the rolls he was getting. Too large and hard. He wanted something more like the bread he remembered from New Jersey. He ended up working with a baker from Chicago who came up with the right recipe. The key, DiBenedetto said, is the water — Chicago water has a similar pH-level to the water on the East coast.
He’s still be able to get it through a couple distributors. The dough is flash frozen. It’s thawed, shaped, proofed and baked at the restaurant.
The dough is temperamental, subject to temperature and humidity at every stage of storage, shipping, and preparation.
In all his years in business, DiBenedetto said, he never served a sandwich on day-old bread. One day he even stopped selling sandwiches because he ran out of fresh bread and refused to compromise by using bread from the day before.
DiBenedetto said he decided to name his sandwiches after seeing fast food chain name theirs.
He ran track as a teenager and when they first opened the shop, they’d see people jogging by the window. So they decided on track-based monikers for their food.
Those names are all the more appropriate given the new arrangement with Kline and BurGers. Soon the Starter, Hurdler, Pacer, and others will be off and running again.
