You can now grab a submarine on Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor, not for an undersea adventure, but for a delicious take-out or eat-in meal of a sandwich that resembles its namesake!

Sandwiched between Slick's and Maine & Ivy, the new Marcel's Submarine Shop is open to serve a special selection of submarine sandwiches, with a wide variety of beer and wine or soft drinks of your choice. Homemade soup from scratch, made daily, and salads are also available.

Owner Michael Marcel Morissette is responding to a vision of something he believes the town needs and would like to have, that will fit a business model he is trying to create.

Originally from the York area, Morissette worked his way north in the culinary business, with a stint in Portland before arriving in Boothbay Harbor. After establishing a reputation in the area for the past three years as an award-winning chef, he is now venturing out on his own.

Only freshly baked, never second-day bread will be used for the submarine sandwiches, and all Maine produce for the fillings.  Morissette stated, “I am trying to make things at Marcel's that no one else in town does.”

Morissette offers a signature baguette made with Saucisson Sec sausage, a garlic-flavored pork sausage, with aged Gruyere cheese. If you'd prefer, you might try “The Godfather,” made with ham, Genoa salami, mortadella and provolone cheese.

There is some debate over how the submarine sandwich got its name. According to “What's Cooking America,” in 1927, an immigrant from Italy, Dominic Conti of Paterson, New Jersey, saw the prototype submarine Holland Boat No. I. Believing it resembled the shape of the sandwiches he sold in his market, he began calling them submarines.

Whether you call them grinders, hoagies, or heroes, depending on what part of the country you are from, they all share a pleasing assortment of meats and cheeses in a long, crusty bun with trimmings. But at Marcel's, the name submarine, or just sub, reigns.

Marcel's is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week. Call 207-315-6006 for take-out.