As the historic Conshohocken Bakery closes, the soul of the sandwich hangs in the balance

Conshohocken Italian Bakery’s last day after 51 years will be this Sunday. The closure will affect more than the neighbors who walk into the white stucco building in rowhouse Conshohocken to buy bread, rolls, cookies, and some of the best tomato pie in the region.

Your favorite sandwich may no longer be exactly the same, especially if you’re a fan of the zep, the quirky Norristown cousin of the hoagie made on a specialized Italian roll that is longer, squatter, and wider than the usual hearth-baked baguettes used for steaks and hoagies.

Conshohocken has long been one of the major players in the Philadelphia area’s sandwich scene. For generations, “Conshy,” as it’s popularly known, has supplied rolls to hundreds of shops that make cheesesteaks, roast porks, chicken Parms, hoagies, burgers, and the zep — for which it has long been the primary bread source.

The impending closing of Conshy with the retirement of 85-year-old patriarch Dom Gambone is giving rise to agita across the local sandwich and bread-baking scene. Conshy’s customers, including Pudge’s, Mama’s, Phil & Jim’s, Mike’s BBQ, Spot Burgers, and Bar Jawn, must search for alternative sources for their daily bread. Meanwhile, the bakeries picking up where Conshy left off are scrambling to meet the rising demand.

Bread is a crucial decision for a sandwich shop, if not outright existential: When your product is made on a roll from a different bakery, is it still the same sandwich? Be it Carangi‘s or Sarcone’s, Liscio’s or Del Buono’s, each bakery’s rolls are distinct — their crust, length, chewiness, density, taste, and ability to maintain structural integrity under the stress of hot, saucy fillings all vary.

Many Conshy wholesale customers are also family-run businesses, who are mourning the break in tradition. For 30 years, the acclaimed Schmitter at McNally’s Tavern in Chestnut Hill — which former Inquirer columnist Steve Lopez once described as “a steak and salami sandwich that comes with cheese, tomatoes, fried onions, a secret sauce, and a paramedic” — has come out of the kitchen on a Conshy kaiser.

Anne McNally, whose great-grandmother Rose opened McNally’s in 1921 and who owns it with her sister Meg, said it was likely that Corropolese Italian Bakery, a large, family-owned bakery from East Norriton, will supply at least the kaisers. For her, the change signals an end to a shared bond between two families. “We are so sad about this, but we totally get why they’re closing,” McNally said.

Joe Corropolese said his wholesale business has soared 30% over the last several weeks as he enlists new customers from Conshy.

Corropolese (say it “CORE-please”) said he had ordered a new tunnel oven even before Conshy announced its closing, but his bakery is working extra hours to meet the demand. “We’re expanding, but our oven, mixers, and all that stuff are still four months out,” he said.

Other bakers are also seeing an influx of new customers. Baker Street’s brioche roll is replacing Conshy’s potato rolls at Mike’s BBQ in South Philadelphia for brisket sandwiches. “It’s more expensive, but I’m not one to cut costs,” Mike’s owner Daniel Grobman said. At Spot Burgers in Brewerytown, Josh Kim said this week that he didn’t know yet about a replacement potato roll.

When David Lee of Bar Jawn in Manayunk learned of the closing, the hobbyist-turned-pro pizzaiolo decided to try his hand at baking his own Italian rolls. The Gambone family has been generous with their time and knowledge, he said. “Tina [Dom Gambone’s daughter] was very nice and gave me the confidence to think I can do it,” said Lee, who is currently working out how to scale his bread production, but remains comfortable around pizza.

News of Conshy’s closure hit with a particularly painful zing in the Norristown area, where a sandwich called the zep has been the local version of a hoagie since 1938.

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The zep’s origins are murky, but seem to point to a sandwich shop whose owner, in a nod to the Hindenburg disaster, made sandwiches on hard-crusted rolls that were shaped like a zeppelin. Hence, the “zep.”

The zep has a traditional build: slices of cooked salami and Provolone, sliced onions and tomatoes, oil, oregano, and hot peppers if you dare — but never, ever lettuce.

Other bakeries made zep rolls over the years, but its main bakery in the 1950s and 1960s was Borzillo in Norristown. That is where Dom Gambone and Frank “Whitey” Manze worked together. In 1973, they left to open Conshohocken Italian Bakery. Manze died in 2010.

Zep destinations Eve’s Lunch and Lou’s Sandwich Shop — friendly competitors whose owners, age 69, went through Holy Saviour grade school and what was then Bishop Kenrick High together — have pretty much always used Conshy’s rolls.

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“Their rolls are a big part of what makes our sandwiches so good,” said Anthony Mashett of Eve’s, a Borzillo customer when it opened in 1965 who later ended up with Conshy.

“I’m surprised they’re closing, I’m disappointed, but I understand. The family are good people and they need to do what’s best for themselves.”

“We understand this,” said Lou Alba, who with his brother Charles runs Lou’s, which his grandfather opened in 1941. “That’s how things go. You have to put your family first.”

“We’ll adjust,” Alba said. “Who knows? You might come up with an even better sandwich.”