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Store might be small, but sandwiches are big at Mr. Pickles Sandwich Shop

By Suzanne Cristallo

You can get a big sandwich, some sociable greetings and good music at the new Mr. Pickles Sandwich Shop in Los Gatos. The small store, once the site of Maki Yaki, Hawaiian Pacific Grill and California Bento, faces a short alley across from Wells Fargo Bank on N. Santa Cruz Avenue. It opened on Dec. 1, just in time to be mobbed by some of the 20,000 walk-arounds in town for the Christmas parade.

You also can get up to five big guys, all in a hurry to help you. General manager Lucas Ortiz says most of his staff are "jocks since '96" whose days on the gridiron or pumping iron have given them enough grace to avoid bumping into each other. "Sometimes we have to bounce off each other," he says of his affable employees, "but we know where to duck and dodge and spin." They maneuver in cramped quarters of about 500 square feet shared with an eating area big enough for 10 customers. But lack of space doesn't faze those customers waiting for their orders as they queue up out the door and down the narrow sidewalk.

Mr. Pickles specializes in sandwiches--21 of them--made with a healthy third of a pound of meat, such as pastrami, salami, ham, roast turkey and top round beef. The meat comes from San Francisco, but Ortiz won't tell any more. "Our supplier's a trade secret," he grins, "and we pay him top dollar for top quality."

The most popular sandwich is the Mr. Pickle, made of chicken breast, bacon, avocado and jack cheese. It's layered on a sourdough roll for $7.49. Some sandwiches are named in honor of Los Gatos schools: the Trojan--after Fisher Middle School--with chicken breast, barbecue sauce and melted cheddar, and the Wildcat--after Los Gatos High--with chicken, bacon, honey mustard and melted cheese (both $6.99). With six cheeses to choose from and seven breads, plus a lot of extras, inventing a sandwich can be alluring. "One guy wants every meat we have on his," Ortiz says. He might be better off ordering the Three Foot Sub serving up to 10 people for $44.99.

Menu items are good to go, either delivered free by the shop for large groups or ready for pick-up. Some 10 salads--pasta, potato, green or meat--are made individually for less than $6.49 or in a large bowl for an average of $2-$5 per person. Sandwich, veggies, fruit and a combo of meat and cheese trays are generous enough to serve groups of up to 30 people.

"We're very San Francisco deli style," Ortiz, 28, says. "We don't compete with the Quiznos or Subways."

Mr. Pickles' founder Frank Fagundes opened his first shop in San Mateo in 1996. Now operating our of Roseville, he started selling franchises of the store two years ago. To date there are 50 locations. All the shops on the Peninsula and in the South Bay, including Los Gatos, are owned by Doug Shinn of Milbrae.

"So far, the buzz has been really good," says Ortiz, who began working with Fagundes in his San Mateo neighborhood store while a high school student 12 years ago. What started out to be a part-time job has turned into a career enhanced by his study of business management. At 25, he bought a Mr. Pickles franchise, sold it in a good market, then purchased two more. Now he's settled into the job of general manager, handling all shop ordering and overseeing the opening of each new franchise until it runs smoothly.

"I reject cubicles," he says, referring to the environment he feels is typical of the "corporate America" his family embraced. "We're rebel sandwich-makers, anti-norm," he laughs as the sound of Creedence Clearwater segues to Jay-Z in the background.

Mr. Pickles Sandwich Shop, 151 N. Santa Cruz Ave. in Los Gatos, is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m.­5 p.m.; and Sundays, 10 a.m.­4 p.m. Call for free delivery (seven sandwich minimum) before 10 a.m., 408.395.8800.