A Hungarian Sausage At Falls Deli

On a recent trip to get my hair cut, I happened to take a route that led me past a small, out of the way little take-out restaurant. It was eminently easy to miss as it was nestled further back from the road than the surrounding businesses. I quickly made a mental note of the location and when I finished with my cut, I returned to discover what exactly I had driven past. As I pulled into the parking lot of the Strickland's in Cuyahoga Falls, I discovered the small storefront of a relatively new delicatessen, Falls Deli (warning: gratuitous use of music).

Located at 2625 Bailey Road, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221, they can be reached at 330-923-3500. Parking was pretty limited out in front of the store, but seeing as the overwhelming majority of their customers are there to pick up an order, this shouldn't present too much of an issue.

Here was a shot of the front of the store:


Once inside the main door, I noticed a small whiteboard with today's special sandwich, the Hungarian sausage sandwich:


I walked up to the front counter and found a laminated menu present, so I took a look at it:



Falls Deli offers the sort of standard variety of sandwiches, soups, salads, and sides with one additional oddity, Hungarian paprikash. While this intrigued me, it wasn't enough for me to order it today. Once I had seen the sign for the Hungarian sausage sandwich, my mind was pretty much made up. When the owner, Mike, came out from the back to greet me and take my order, I asked him about the Hungarian sausage. He told me that while they weren't made in house, they were made to his specification and he had been playing around with the level of spice and garlic in the mix in order to fine tune it for his customers. He had actually started out with a product that was a little too mild and he found his customers wanted bolder flavors.

There were additional side items available, chips of various kinds, but I decided just to go with one sausage sandwich with sauerkraut and a side of yellow mustard. After packing up my order, I was handed this:


Fortunately, there was exactly one small round table by the entrance to Falls Deli and I asked if it would be okay to eat my dinner there. After obtaining the owner's permission, I unwrapped my sandwich and pickle (which was the long slender wrapped item in the above picture) and sat down for a feast. Here was a shot of my sandwich sans mustard:


This was a tasty sandwich. The bun held up nicely to the juicy sausage. While I think it would've been even better in both flavor and texture had the bun been toasted, it wasn't a weak point in the sandwich. The sauerkraut added a nice briny flavor which help to cut through the fattiness of the sausage. The only real problem was that had I put the sandwich together, I would've slathered on the mustard underneath the kraut instead of having to put it on top. This way, it would've made it less messy to eat. The sausage itself was nice, having just a bit of heat and garlic flavor. Having now tasted the sausage for myself, I tend to agree with Mike's assessment that it could be a little bit spicier, but honestly, not a whole lot. The pickle spear was also noteworthy because not only was it tasty, but it had a nice snap to it. So often, pickle spears tend to be kind of limp and just so-so.

I know that my interest is now fully piqued and I intend to go back to Falls Deli if for no other reason than to try the Hungarian paprikash. I suspect that there may be a family recipe involved and if momma or grandmomma are still around, the recipe will more than likely be made correctly. While I don't think Falls Deli is a destination dining kind of spot, if you happen to be in the Cuyahoga Falls or Stow area, I would definitely suggest looking them up. Just make sure you have a place in mind where you plan on eating your meal.