NEW HANOVER COUNTY — As more folks traverse from up north and out west down to Wilmington, North Carolina, the call for a good pastrami sandwich grows louder.
Well, Mibby’s Deli has answered.
Founded by Matthew Byrne, the sandwich shop specializes in hand-brined meats, sliced in third-pound increments and smothered in homemade sauces and toppings. Nine sandwiches make up the Mibby’s menu — priced between $13 and $17 — featuring smoked turkey, pastrami and corned beef. But as the sandwich shop gets up and running, Byrne may bring in other proteins.
“We want to get our footing and make sure we’re doing everything to our best,” he said, noting his menu is thoughtfully prepared and made from scratch.
Byrne started Mibby’s a year ago as a weekend pop-up shop in End of Days’ Distillery Concept Kitchen. Concept Kitchen launched on the EOD campus in 2023 as an incubator kitchen for small startups and would switch restaurant concepts and chefs almost every weekend. Byrne said he was approached in recent months about setting up more permanently at the distillery’s space as EOD made a shift to longer leases.
READ MORE: Distillery’s new ‘concept’ fuels culinary creativity with flavorful pop-ups
Byrne grew up in Detroit, Michigan, but moved to the San Francisco Bay area as an adult and worked for large companies like Clorox. He moved to Wilmington five years ago and most recently worked in tech for pharmaceuticals. However, he decided to take a chance on escaping the corporate world and following through on his passion project at the urging of his fiancée, Lauren, who also helps out at Mibby’s on the weekends.
Byrne said during last weekend’s soft launch, they went through 200 pounds of brisket.
“That’s 80 sandwiches a day,” Lauren said.
All the meats have a special brine or pickling spice blend and are marinated for a good two to 10 days before being smoked over pecan wood. Well, except for the corned beef — it is slow cooked in the traditional Irish way. Byrne also finishes the pastrami with a coriander and pepper rub.
The sandwiches are concocted in varied flavors. The Mibby is Byrne’s go-to, with pastrami and Jarlsberg Swiss, the latter grilled with tallow, and topped with slaw that’s blended in a sauce of apple cider vinegar, pepper flakes, parsley and mayo, to balance the pastrami’s richness.
There is also a traditional reuben, served with a Rushback sauce — basically a blend of Russian dressing and Comeback sauce.
“That’s the sauce that one day you’re going to see my face in a grocery store and say: ‘I remember that guy,’” Byrne said with a laugh.
It includes a special spice he holds close to the vest that gives the sandwich an “after warmth”— balancing the entire bite as the flavor profile cuts through the fattiness and acidity.
The Rachel comes with smoked-pepper turkey with Swiss and slaw on sourdough rye, while the Horsin’ Around consists of pastrami, caramelized onions, and garlic-horsey sauce on an onion roll. The Dinty Moore, a classic Detroit deli item, is topped with corned beef, lettuce, tomato and Rushback sauce. Every sandwich also is served with Byrne’s housemade pickles.
He will be bringing in daily specials in the future and also may switch up the menu seasonally as he tests other proteins.
“My bacon is stupid good,” Byrne said, already thinking ahead to summer when tomatoes will be in season to create a proper BLT.
The only item Byrne isn’t handmaking is the bread, as space won’t allow it, plus manning the smoker is his first priority. Byrne used the locally owned Little Loaf Bakery during his first pop-up, but now that Mibby’s Deli is scaling larger, he has begun ordering from Apple Annie’s. Though he hopes to also continue working with the small artisan Little Loaf.
His love for preparing meats began as a teenager, at a time when Michael Ruhlman’s “Charcuterie Charcuterie” came out and was his Bible. It even led Byrne to curing pancetta in a basement at age 18.
“I was an absolute weirdo nerd,” he quipped, “just trying to make whatever food dreams come true that I couldn’t actually afford at the time.”
Once he began making his own money as a college student, he elevated that passion to meat-smoking. Twenty years later, Byrne considers himself a pro but one who never stops learning. However, he didn’t foresee a career as a restaurant owner.
“But once I got to Wilmington, I noticed a gap in the sandwich culture,” he said, “especially for a proper pastrami. Detroit just had a huge deli culture, being really blue collar. So Mibby’s is really a love letter to there.”
In homage to his roots, Mibby’s derives from a nickname bestowed upon him by his sister, who once called Byrne “Mibby Dibby.” The 40-year-old said his closest friends still refer to him as such today. He liked the whimsy of it, but also its reach back to Michigan where he worked in his first deli, Zingerman’s.
It’s a premier spot that influenced Byrne. He stated even his parents met while working in a deli.
But what stands out most about the deli culture from home, he added, comes from the numerous influences of its people — such as first generation Polish, German, or Lebanese immigrants. They all brought flavorful traditions to the fold.
It can be tasted in the potato salad Byrne serves, which starts with Lebanese garlic toum — essentially a garlic emulsification without the egg.
“It’s much more pungent,” he explained. “You take 40 garlic gloves, blend into a paste and then slowly pour the oil in until it becomes fluffy.”
Byrne adds mayo, parsley, sumac and lemon to the potatoes, calling the outcome really vibrant.
“I feel like I’m putting my heart out in this food,” he said.
Mibby’s Deli will be open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 6 p.m., at End of Days Distillery, located at 1815 Castle St.
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