Eddy's Deli
 Akron, Ohio        Date of Visit  05/08/13       http://www.eddysdeli.net/ 

One of my last regular trips between Cuyahoga Falls and Kent and I’m dragging Steph along because my car is in the shop so she is stuck for the long haul. Hoping to add more adventure than drag to the afternoon we swing into Eddy’s Deli after having passed it more times than I would be able to remember. The interior is pretty well put together and an at least passable attempt has been made to keep everything clean during lunch. We were greeted at the door by a woman I would describe kindly as brusque.
 

Pretty Plain Jane Chicken Dumpling
 

She did usher us quickly to a table where we were served by a much more personable staff member. We tried a couple soups and a couple of sandwiches…it is a deli. The soup du jour was a chicken dumpling. The dumplings were enormous and doughy but the soup itself was thin for me, as far as flavor is concerned. There were a few chunks of carrot, some chicken but the broth itself didn’t do much but float the carrots and dumplings.

I got a cup of the firehouse chili which was the opposite of the chicken soup. This bean and beef concoction was so thick I was a little surprised the spoon came out, the spoon arrived protruding from the stew like Excalibur from the stone. It wasn’t a problem at all as the chili was also much more textured in flavor. It had all of the tastes you would expect with tomato, beans, beef and layers of spice. What was nice about this cup was the nearly perfect (for me, at least) dose of fire. The heat from the chili seemed to pop up and disappear and pop up somewhere else; sort of like playing whack-a-mole. It made every spoon interesting.
 

Sandwiches arrived just was we were finishing with the soups, the kitchen seems well timed. Steph ordered the roast beef which the menu states the chef recommends be served with horseradish. She also added Cheddar cheese and a pretzel bun. The roast beef was thinly sliced and lean and while it was tasty (it really was) there are just more beefy tasting slices of beef, they are rare but they do exist. We’ve just been lucky enough to encounter that rare flavor in a few sandwiches to make others pale and this one paled. The cup of prepared horseradish did bring life to the sandwich which together with the bun, cheese, lettuce and tomato slice made for a tasty combination. Not the best but good.
 

I went with the Reuben classic to which our server responded cheerily, “It’s the best thing on the menu.” It arrived like it knew it was going to have its picture taken. From the bottom up there was a slice of grilled rye, then a couple inches of thinly sliced and lean corned beef, topped with about a half inch of kraut. Typical construction would be finished with the final slice of rye but this one featured a second dose of corned beef. It also came with a couple service cups of Russian dressing so you could control the goop ration on the sandwich. It looks great. It tastes close to great. Really good would describe it. I enjoy corned beef and the stronger the pickling the higher the yum factor. The corned beef here has a touch too much for me. It’s wonderfully dark and dusky but is a shade too sharp. Outside of that the sandwich is really good, it’s not Primo’s or Slyman’s but it stands up well. Overall, Eddy’s proved to be above average for area delis but won’t crack the top tier.