I’ve got a hankering for a porchetta sandwich after getting the low-down on Meat & Bread, a new specialty sandwich shop arriving in Gastown this Autumn. The 1380 sqft. space at 320 Cambie at Hastings (in the old Flack Building off Victory Square) has been taken over by old front of house hands/friends Cord Jarvie and Frankie Harrington. We met up at the space this morning, just a few hours after they were given the keys.

Cord is from Australia, where he worked at Melbourne’s award-winning Attica. He’s no stranger to Vancouver, though. Serial diners will recognise him from the floor at Davie’s popular La Brasserie. Both he and Frankie were at Feenie’s way back in the day, but you’ll most probably remember Frankie from Chambar, where he has been a fixture out front for longer than I can remember.

The pair met in Dublin 10 years ago while working at Eden, and the food concept at Meat & Bread centers on the genesis of that friendship. They used to get their pre-shift eats up the street at a butcher’s dream-of-a-joint called Gruel, where meats for sandwiches were hard-carved right in front of them. Tasked with deliciously re-animating those memories for all will be none other than chef Joseph Sartor (ex-Nu, La Brasserie, currently covering shifts at Bao Bei in Chinatown).

They’ll be doing just four roast-based sandwiches, including a mainstay sure to get carnivores quaking: a rolled porchetta monster that will be carved to order. Soups and salads will play supporting roles, as will beer and cider (one of each). They’re also hoping to do a line of in-house retail products, including a salt rub, a hot sauce and a mustard.

Under high ceilings we can expect lots of white subway tile, a 30ft. long open kitchen and service bar (with a few seats) and a steel-topped communal table that should seat 20. Craig Stanghetta (co-designer of the lovely Bao Bei) is in charge of the aesthetics, while the sharp and simple branding comes courtesy of Glasfurd-Walker (L’Abattoir, Chambar Ale, etc). The look and feel sounds mighty masculine. “You know Finch’s?” Frankie asks, referring to the Bohemian flea market chic sandwich shop a few blocks away on Pender. “Yeah, it’ll be the opposite of that.”

Can’t hardly wait.