Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Ike's Deli & Bakery

Ike's Deli & Bakery
3000 Sunrise Blvd
Rancho Cordova, CA 95742
(916) 635-9808

I live and work in Rancho Cordova and have driven past Ike's dozens of times and always wondered, "What kind of gooddies are being baked next to a gentlemen's club?" I pictured cupcakes and brownies. One day I was driving around thinking of where should I eat and this place came to mind.

As soon as I walked in I was a little disappointed that there was no glass case of cake, cookies or other pastries. What I did find was a good place to get a sandwich. I was hungry and thought that the Italian sausage and meatball sandwich sounded like a hearty sandwich. I approached the counter and gave my order. The cashier asked, “Do you want a whole pocket bread sandwich or just a half?” That should have been my cue to order the smaller portion, but I ordered the full sandwich anyway.

One of the things I heard that the sandwiches were in a pita/pocket bread instead of regular sandwich bread and you see a picture of it in the second picture. How big does the pocket bread look to you? It is 7.5 inches long, 8 inches wide and 3 inches at the thickest part of the sandwich and that equals 180 cubic inches. I’ll let you figure out how much volume that really is.

After I unwrapped the package I cut in into quarters to make sure I would not overeat because after I tasted a few bites that would have been easy to do. It is stuffed with meatballs, Italian sausage, mozzarella cheese and onions. The meatballs were firm, but moist and had a nice flavor to them. The sauce they were cooked in was great, it tasted fresh, had a nice balance of herbs, seasoning and acidity and just a slight touch of sweetness. The sausage was cooked, but not dried out and the mozzarella was literally spilling out. The pocket bread had enough crust to stand up to the other bold ingredients and not get too soggy. All the ingredients worked well together; each providing different textures and flavors.

That sandwich is enough to feed three maybe four people and for under $10. I will definitely have to order their other sandwiches to see how they stack up.