Monster Madness enters LaSpada's new Boca Raton location

No signs. No memo. No email blast. No Facebook update. No twitter announcement. On November 2, LaSpada’s Original Hoagies quietly opened up their doors to their new Boca Raton location without telling anyone. But that didn’t mean people didn’t know.

Manager Phil Kappes, whose parents have owned and operated the three Broward locations since 1973, says that opening up a Palm Beach County store was inevitable.

“People would visit and call the other stores and ask when we would open up a place in Boca. For months [during construction] they would stop by the store to see if it was finished.”

And it was well worth the wait. Nearly double the size of its former models, the new store can sit up to 32 hoagie hounds. The three other stores sit less than half that.

While it was worth the wait, I can’t say I was patient during the process. I would frequent the Coral Springs location until the Boca store was complete. It was originally slated to open up in August, but Kappes says due to building codes, inspections, and other hold ups, the opening got pushed back three months after its original due date. While Palm Beach County admirers had to wait, Kappes doesn’t believe there were any hard feelings.

“We just opened the doors and they showed up,” he says. “We’ve had lines out the door at lunch time ever since.”

And with good reason. Kappes says customers have ventured south of the county line for the “best damn hoagies in town.” Recently voted “best sandwiches” by New Times Broward/Palm Beach for the umpteenth time, LaSpada’s lives up to their self-proclaimed description. Meat cut to order, than tossed on soft white or wheat rolls, loaded up with your choice of lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, hot and sweet peppers and cheese, then closed with another layer of meat. Check out my love to the hoagie Gods here.

Now that Kappes and his crew have taken their hoagie creations bi-county, plans to continue opening up more stores are in the future. Possibilities include Delray, West Palm Beach, and Wellington, but definitive locations haven’t been made yet. He also says that future stores will be modeled after the Boca location. Construction for expanding the Davie store can start as early as next month.