click to enlarge Photo courtesy of Flickr/Yvonne S.

Eat Sandwiches wants to bring proper "French Dips" to town.

It started as a conversation among friends: Tower Grove South needs a proper, gourmet sandwich shop — particularly, somewhere to get a really good French dip.Those musings are about to become a reality for business partners Byron Smith, Thomas Crone, Fred Hessel and Jeff McGraw, who are scrambling to put the finishing touches on their forthcoming sandwich shop,Eat Sandwiches is slated for a mid-October opening and will occupy the original Local Harvest Grocery space, which is just south of its current incarnation. According to Smith, a veteran of Hot Locust Cantina and Kitchen K, the menu will feature gourmet deli sandwiches featuring housemade meats, breads and condiments."We feel like we are filling a gap in the neighborhood for high-quality sandwiches," Smith explains. "We plan on making most of our meats in-house, using local breads and ingredients. We'll be smoking and braising pork and chicken, and we got this really great cheese melter that's going to be the focal point of our kitchen."Smith is particularly excited about the restaurant's likely signature dish. "We want to do a really good French dip. I always look for one, but it's something you don't see a lot. We're going to be roasting and then shaving the rib eye in house."Smith expects the place to be fast-casual — a typical deli set-up where you order at the counter, grab your sandwich and either eat at one of the restaurant's tables or head out to Tower Grove Park, which is less than one block away. Plans are underway for a picnic lunch option, where patrons can grab sandwiches and a cooler of beer to take with them.Eat Sandwiches will be small, with seating for roughly 25, but Smith doesn't anticipate that being a problem. "We're going to have outdoor seating, and we expect a lot of people to take their food with them, but really, lines out the door are a good thing."