Two creative and tasty Akron businesses are joining forces.
The Diamond Deli, well-known for its sandwiches featuring inventive names like LeBron’s The Life I Know Is In The 330, is opening a kitchen inside R. Shea Brewing Co., a brewery that has built a reputation for producing innovative, limited-edition beers such as a recent one that tasted like a Rice Krispies treat.
The plan is to open the kitchen in January and offer a scaled-down version of the menu now available at the Diamond Deli’s downtown location.
The menu will feature about a dozen sandwiches and carrot cake.
The specific items are still being determined, along with whether there will be a R. Shea specialty sandwich.
But don’t fret. The sandwich names will remain amusing.
For example, there’s the “Old Bald Guy,” “Chad’s ‘Wait ‘Till You Hear This Story!’” and “Mom, Come Get Me — I’m Sick.”
For deli owners and brothers Brett and Chad Magilavy, it’s a dream come true. They are big craft beer fans and want to be affiliated with a brewery.
Father Chuck Magilavy, who bought the Diamond Deli with his sister Lynda Slikkerveer in 1997, is leaving the new operation up to his sons.
Brett laughed when asked if it’s just an excuse to drink craft beer.
“We’ve been looking to expand and do something else,” he said.
Meanwhile, R. Shea owner and brewer Ron Shea always wanted to add food and is now gaining a brand-name Akron institution.
“Food is going to distinguish you,” Shea said.
A marriage between a production brewery and restaurant is far from unusual.
Many invite food trucks to visit because brewers are more confident producing beer than running a restaurant. But there are plenty of examples of eateries opening inside breweries such as Catch-A-Fire Pizza at MadTree Brewing Co. in Cincinnati and the Spent Grain Grill at Warped Wing Brewing Co. in Dayton.
The humorous part of the Diamond Deli-R.Shea story is that before they launched their new partnership the Magilavys had never visited R. Shea, located in the city’s Merriman Valley, and Shea had never visited the Diamond Deli.
But both were aware of the other’s reputation for quality and running a family-oriented business so the partnership was easy to pursue, they said.
The Diamond Deli has been around a few years, dating back to the 1980s.
R. Shea hasn’t been around nearly as long. The tasting room celebrated its one-year anniversary in September.