Corti Brothers is a grocery store with a deli that serves affordable and meaty sandwiches that is close to campus.

Established in 1947, the Italian grocery store has maintained its old fashion appeal while offering customers a wide selection of meats, cheeses and specialty sandwiches.

The store has a 1980s supermarket vibe with ceramic ducks on top of aisles and even bag carriers who will help customers with groceries.

Corti Brothers offers sandwiches that customers can custom make from a wide assortment of meats such as meatloaf, imported prosciutto, roast pork or turkey. Customers can also choose from wheat, white, sour, light and dark rye and Dutch crust bread or pick from one of five rolls which include poppy seed, sesame and onion.

Linda Wright, deli supervisor, said the most popular specialty sandwich is the French bistro club – a sandwich served with French ham, turkey, bacon and your choice of Jarlsberg or goat cheese on a seeded roll or baguette.

The store also offers specialty sandwiches such as the bergamasco – a sandwich served with a breaded fried eggplant patty, mozzarella cheese, lettuce, roasted red pepper and pesto sauce. The sandwich is served warm, so the cheese is soft and stringy with every bite. The pesto sauce is garlicky and has a nutty flavor from the Parmesan in it that flavorfully ties everything together.

Other specialty sandwiches include the Michaelangelo – a roasted turkey sandwich with fontina cheese and artichoke hearts, served on foccacia bread. The grainsville is a vegetarian sandwich that comes with cream cheese, avocado, cucumber, havarti cheese and is served on multigrain bread. Most of the sandwiches are priced around $7.

“If you’re wanting a (sandwich) that’s very hearty and don’t want to pay a lot, the Corti special’s a very good value,” said Wright.

The Corti special is a $5 sandwich filled with the excess meats of the day’s cuts such as ham, salami, bologna, turkey and mortadella. Wright said the end cuts of meat that are left over get put in a box called the “Corti box” and the special is made from the meat in the box.

“If you get a Corti Brothers sandwich, you can’t go wrong because you won’t be hungry after you eat it,” said Wright.

Cristina Lule can be reached at [email protected]