Fratelli's Delicatessen brings delicious New York- and Chicago-style flavors right here to North Carolina.

Rick Sullivan takes us to Apex, where you'll experience the charm of a family meal alongside a fresh take on classic deli traditions.

[lively music] - [Rick] Fratelli's Delicatessen is one of the first businesses to open in a brand new Apex neighborhood called Sweetwater.

- [Server] A provolone and cheese?

- [Rick] The deli is owned and operated by an extended family with origins in New York, Chicago, and Apex.

In recent years, these husbands, wives, and cousins have all discovered, one after another, that Apex is the place they'd like to take their leap of faith for food.

- Well, it all kinda started when Covid hit and we just started getting together as a family more often, decided, hey, why don't we just make our own restaurant?

- I grew up in an Italian family, my father's here, right, and so when we all decided that we were gonna go for it, I went and told my dad, "Hey, I think we're gonna open up a deli," and he told us we were crazy.

- [Rick] Crazy smart, perhaps.

- Got a Reuben for ya.

- Nifty.

- Check that out.

- [Customer] Thank you.

- [Rick] The food on the menu is fresh and made to order.

It has something inspired from all of the backgrounds of the folks here, but especially from New York.

- The rainbow cookies are a true Long Island- - Where Shannon Thomas and RJ Cancel - Right now, these are - grew up - our popular- - with delis all around them.

- This our mid-rare roast beef, that is house roasted.

- [Rick] But the delightfulness of a deli was something new to RJ's wife, an Apex native.

- Ooh, [indistinct] over here.

Hey, RJ.

They're all telling me, "No, no, no, you don't understand, there's this whole scene of delis in, you know, New York.

So we went up there, visited his hometown, and we went to a few, and I'm like, "Oh, I get it."

There's actually nothing like that here.

I've never been to something like this.

And there's one on every single corner.

You can't go 10 feet without there being a delicatessen.

- And they're all busy.

- Yeah, and they're all busy - [Rick] So, fast is an important part of preparing food for the Saturday morning breakfast rush, - Got a Reuben for you.

- Nifty.

- Check that out.

- Thank you.

- [Rick] or the daily lunch crowd, but never does fast come at the expense of fantastic, fresh, and friendly.

- [Dog Companion] What do you think?

Do you like Fratelli's?

- And the good thing is, I think people enjoy coming here and you can see it on the face the minute you walk in the door.

- And also, I feel like the family aspect, and how we're very personable, makes a big difference.

I hope, at least, when somebody walks in here, they can tell that we care, and we want them to be here, and their opinion matters to us.

- Well, the whole atmosphere, too.

I mean, you walk in and it just, it makes you happy.

- Yeah.

- It's great!

'cause that's what makes Apex - That's important to us.

- wonderful, in my opinion, Apex Holly Spring is just a small town, and this is it.

I mean this, this is it.

- This is what's important.

- This is what's important, absolutely!

- [Rick] Are you regulars?

- Yeah, we live right down the road.

- Oh, yeah?

- Yeah.

- When I was building our business plan, when we were building the restaurant, they were saying, on average, 67 people moved to Wake County in a day, so that just shows you the growth that we're seeing in this area.

- [Rick] That could open doors for more restaurants from this family.

RJ knows the business from the ground up, and he has some culinary chefs that can do more than just sandwiches.

But for now, Fratelli's Deli will do.

- For now, we got our hands full.

You know, we built this thing from the ground up, and it's our first baby, and we have a lot going on, and we're busy, so I think, you know, in the future, do we wanna do something different, a pizza place, a steakhouse, or something like that?

For sure.

- You know, it's funny, you say, "Well, is it as sexy?

Is it enough to like scratch that itch for this, like, fine dining cooking?"

The amount of effort that goes into every single recipe, every sauce, every meatball, every chicken cutlet, it's almost like you brought that massive culinary expertise into this delicatessen in each recipe.

- [Rick] You brought sexy back.

- You brought sexy back.

- I brought sexy back.

[both laugh] - You'll find Fratelli's Delicatessen at 1481 Richardson Road, suite 107, in Apex, and they're open daily.

To find out more, give them a call at 919-355-2059, or go online to fratellisdelicatessen.com.