The Good Table | written by: PAMELA DEY VOSSLER | photos by: BAMBI RIEGEL riegelpictureworks.com
Vavala’s owner Danny Porcelli and his team (from left): Roberto, Natalie, Armando, Max, José
Vavala’s just feels good. Sure, the sandwiches at this deli at 156 Heights Road across from the Noroton Heights Train Station are outstanding – the State Champ, the Cheese Lover, the Blue Wave chicken cutlet, their bacon-egg-and-cheese, all of them really. From special acts to the more familiar fare, if you want it, they’ll make it. And if enough people like it, it will find its way to the menu as a permanent item. At Vavala’s, they pay attention.
But what propels this deli to the very top is its mom-and-pop authenticity and the honest-to-goodness pleasure the people who work there get from knowing the customers—especially our children. It’s the kind of knowing that comes from meeting a kid in kindergarten their first time in with their parents then waiting on that same kid when they return throughout middle school and high school, as their sports team posters take their turn on the deli walls. It continues through college and into their adult lives too. It’s a knowing guaranteed to lift any day.
In a fractured world hollowed out by screen time, Vavala’s is community. Vavala’s is family, and the kind of business that preserves our small town feel in the midst of so much growth. They know your favorite sandwich. They know what sports you play (or played) and who you root for. They know when you get married. They know you when you come back, even when you’ve been gone a really long time. And in this knowing, the foundation is laid for tackling all manner of life’s wrenches. Caring, face-to-face, is like that.
“Vavala’s is not only home to the greatest sandwich of all time (the Cheese Lover), it’s also home to me,” said Tricia Vossler Cahill who grew up in Darien. Recently married and now living in Manhattan, she continued, “It’s where my dad took me growing up and where I’d get to pick out a piece of candy or a special treat to go with my lunch. It’s what fueled me and my entire lacrosse team at DHS circa 2011. And it’s my favorite stop every time I’m back in Darien. Danny, José and the rest of the team are family, not just to me but to the entire Darien community—we love them!”
Blue Wave Chicken Cutlet | photo courtesy Vavala’s Deli
“Vavala’s is easily the best deli in town and the workers are very welcoming and make amazing food,” said Sean McGahren, a senior at DHS and member of the football and lacrosse teams who tags Vavala’s about five times a week for bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwiches. He had his first in kindergarten. “I like how nice the workers are and how they welcome you the second you walk into the store. They are always in a great mood,” Sean added.
And no wonder. It’s a culture as organic as the guy driving it—Owner Danny Porcelli.
Danny gets the legacy he bought into when he took over the 40-year-old deli 12 years ago. It’s why he kept the name, and so many tried and true specials, having grown up with a Vavala’s-type luncheonette of his own, and worked at a bunch more starting when he was in his early teens.
He gets family too. It’s how he was raised. It is his top priority.
Vavala’s Deli, a Darien mainstay
“Having a happy home was very important to my parents. We live in a crazy world. If you have a happy home, whatever happens out there, you can handle. You have your family. It’s always welcoming. That’s what home should be. It’s your safe place,” said Danny who grew up in Yonkers with a brother, a sister and a large extended family. A father himself now, Danny and his wife Diana are raising five kids of their own in Darien—sons ages 10, nine and eight, and six-year-old twins—a girl and a boy.
He also gets people.
The welcome you find at Vavala’s is no accident. It’s grounded in Danny’s respect for his six employees. It’s why he’s closed on Sundays.
“I want to be open on Sundays. But I have a great crew. We work closely together. I consider them all friends,” said Danny of his staff, “and a lot of them are very involved in their own families and their church and it’s worked better for everybody to take a day and not have to worry about anything,” he continued.
“I respect them they respect me. It’s a good, healthy relationship,” explained Danny, as open, honest and loyal as he is good-natured. (Just try to find a time when this guy’s not smiling.)
José “at the office”
Danny knows what goes around comes around. It fuels his commitment to the community as well, and the many groups he supports in town, including the Blue Wave Booster Club, the Depot and Saint Thomas More as well as a range of DHS teams. He also serves on the Board of Darien Little League.
What’s more, Danny does it all with a work ethic and resilience that lift him over the hurdles he faces with grace and perspective – including the flooding in 2021 that pushed five feet of water into Vavala’s and shut him down for nearly eight weeks.
“If you have a vision of something and you work hard and don’t give up, you’ll get it done,” said Danny.
With family like Vavala’s at your back, how could you not?
