Roughly three years ago Mike Mastronardi used to manage the sandwich shop and salad bar Fit to Eat. But after a year there he left to further his culinary knowledge, working at two foodie hotspots: The Harraseeket Inn in Freeport and Five Fifty-Five in Portland.

"Five Fifty-Five really taught me how to cook," Mike says of the fine dining restaurant, where he still works Sunday brunch.

Recently he was offered the opportunity to take over the reins at Fit to Eat, and he jumped at it. He re-opened the shop two weeks ago with a pared down menu and scratch made breads.

Everything is made fresh to order, with sandwiches that include the Old Port ($6.99), with roast beef, avocado, romaine, tomato, cheddar and cucumber wasbi mayo, the California ($7.50), with salmon, avocado, carrots, cucumbers, romaine and cucumber wasbi mayo, and the Santa Fe ($6.99), with chicken, romaine, red peppers, banana peppers, salsa and cheddar.

There's one vegetarian sandwich on the menu, the Portobello ($6.75), with arugula, roasted red peppers, cheddar and horseradish mayo, and there's also a daily vegetarian special.

Each day Mike makes the Tuscan and focaccia rolls, plus English muffins.

Here's Mike whipping up one of his signature scrambled egg sandwiches served until 11 am on the English muffins. Choices include bacon ($5), sausage ($5) and veggie ($6).

He's making all the sauces and dressings from scratch and is sourcing his supplies from Native Maine, Micucci Wholesale and the Fresh Approach market in the West End.

"I don't believe in canned or frozen," Mike says. "I hope that's what sets us apart."

He offers one soup a day, and each is cream-based. Today's soup is carrot cardamon ($2.50/$3.50). He's working on a chilled cucumber creme fraiche soup and a tomato bisque will follow.

In the future, he hopes to add bagels, gluten-free bread and possibly pizza (but that's farther down the road).

"I hope people will be able to tell the difference between homemade mayonnaise and dressing and the bottled stuff," he says.

Fit to Eat is located above The Big Easy and next to Sebago at 65 Market St. It is open Mon-Fri from 7 am-5 pm. Once O'Natural's closes up shop, Fit to Eat may add hours on Saturday. To place an order to go, call 761-4441.