If you weren’t familiar with The Pass, a popular sandwich shop at the corner of St. Philip and Spring streets, a headline-making incident earlier this year likely introduced you to the spot.
Charleston City Paper’s own headline, “Maserati takes a pass at The Pass,” led readers to a story about, well, a Maserati running headfirst into chef Anthony Marini’s sandwich shop.
“The good thing is that if somebody didn’t know about my restaurant before the accident, they certainly found out about it,” Marini said.
The accident led to an extensive indoor renovation (The Pass remained open for takeaway orders) and what Marini described as a “tremendous amount of support” from customers and fellow industry professionals.
The timing of the unfortunate incident proved to be fortuitous, too. “Right before the accident, my intention was to buy a full-service restaurant,” Marini said. After the accident, though, Marini needed to focus on The Pass and in doing so, realized that what he had in the tiny sandwich shop was pretty special.
“I’ve been in fine dining all my life and I’ve gotten an incredible amount of notoriety from this sandwich restaurant,” he said. And while Marini intends to open more sandwich shops, he also wanted an outlet for his creativity.
The Italian Boy after dark was born.
Big flavors, big sandwiches, big time
Starting Nov. 20, diners can reserve a spot via Resy at The Italian Boy after dark, an intimate, two-hour tasting experience that seats just 12 guests. The Italian Boy officially opens on Dec. 4.
“I think there are a lot of great tasting menus in the city already,” Marini said. “But all of them are very involved … you’re in an experience for over three hours and you feel exhausted afterwards. … This is going to be more of an experience where you can go and dine with me — and then be able to go party out on King Street.”
Marini also said that he’s “leaning into” the sandwich shop’s identity. At least two of the courses in the tasting experience will be sandwich-based. “It’s not like you’re going to get a turkey sandwich,” Marini joked. “You’re going to get some really interesting food on bread.”
The experience is what Marini calls row home–inspired dining, based on his own experience growing up in Philadelphia. “You go over to a friend’s house and this is how you would be fed,” he said, noting that row home dining usually included sandwiches, pasta, crudo and dessert.
“This can kind of be anything I want it to be,” he said. “This is, in terms of other restaurants that I’ve owned, far from a perfect restaurant.”
Rather than perfection, Marini is seeking something a little more lighthearted and fun than a traditional tasting experience.
“I’m doing this because I really want to do this,” Marini said. “This is more of a passion project for me, so you know, I’m not trying to feed 100 people a night. I’m trying to really put something very cool together for a smaller group of people.”
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