BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:For big-deli bellies

The first time retired Angels star Tim Salmon walked into their restaurant, Marcy Noelte and John Christensen were almost speechless.

The Big Belly Deli owners couldn’t believe their favorite player from their favorite team wanted a sandwich from them.

“It was like I saw a ghost,” Christensen said, showing how wide his eyes got when he saw Salmon walk in last summer. “I just had to get the picture off the wall.”

When Christensen saw Salmon he made a beeline to a photo of the outfielder given to him by a friend after the team won the World Series, Noelte said.

“He just said, ‘Hey man, can you sign this?’ ” Noelte said, laughing.

The Big Belly Buster, now called “No. 15” sandwich — named in reference to Salmon’s playing number — is the only one named after a person at the Big Belly Deli, where Noelte and Christensen say they’re “building better bellies” one meal at a time at their sandwich-pizza-pub in Newport Beach.

Despite the rash of fad diets and health-conscious consumers, summer days and the lunch hour is just about always packed at the West Coast Highway restaurant.

The Big Belly Deli serves up sandwiches, pizzas, salads, beer and wine in a customer-friendly restaurant where the decor is provided by their loyal patrons.

Photos of vacationing customers holding a Big Belly Deli sign line the wall, along with a prized bat signed by Salmon, and of course, his autographed photo.

But it took more than a clever name alluding to Christensen’s physique and a well-thought-out menu to get the restaurant off the ground.

In 1999, when the two entrepreneurs saw the current location at West Coast Highway and Cedar Avenue, Christensen said he knew that’s where he wanted to open up shop.

With $1,200 in his bank account, Christensen and Noelte signed the lease in the summer of 1999.

“I didn’t even have that much,” Noelte said.

They nickel-and-dimed their way to the planning commission and the City Council, where six months after they started paying rent, they were told they didn’t have enough parking to open.

The pair worked two jobs to continue paying rent on the location and — except for a plumber friend guiding them through and a framer to frame the walls — the two enlisted the help of their friends and family with all the work.

More than two years after they signed the lease, they were able to open. From day two, the Newport Shores community helped make the restaurant successful.

“They never stopped coming,” Christensen said. “They wanted us to succeed as much as we did.”

They’ve spent no money on traditional advertising but do sponsor local high school teams and events and rely on word-of-mouth and their reputation.

And the seats have been packed ever since.

Big Belly Deli is at 6310 W. Coast Highway. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and till 11 p.m. on weekends. For more information, call (949) 645-2888.