College Ave. Deli

Located on College Avenue, a block from the Spori – near Sammy’s

Formerly known as the Pita Pit, College Avenue Deli came about because the Pita Pit owners wanted to branch away from the franchise. Pitas are still offered, but in the more traditional sense – not so much the wraps one might be familiar with, but more like a taco. Sandwiches and wraps are also available. The only difference between the three is your bread. Since you order your meat and then select from a list of toppings, the awesomeness of your pita/wrap/sandwich depends on how well you can balance the flavors in selecting your fillings. The variety is extensive, and the quality good, so if your sandwich is bad, it’s all you, because they do a dang good job. Remember – the key to a good sandwich is balance, and these guys have that down. And, since I am an expert in sandwiches and sandwich filling, you can have it on authority that theirs are awesome. But there are many sandwich places in town, so The Deli offers even more than you’d expect.

We’re talking hot dogs, corn dogs, and fried baskets. They have a variety of hot dogs and polish dogs, which are at half price after 10 pm for the budget conscious (second dinner anyone?). The corn dogs are technically located on the kid’s menu, but since we’re all someone’s kid, there’s no shame in that – they don’t judge. The fried baskets can be chicken strips, shrimp, or finger steaks (battered beef strips) served with fries or tater tots. They also offer fried desserts, such as deep fried Oreos, Twinkies, and cheese cake. They also have candy bars, but the Oreos are probably my favorite. If you’re young enough, eat them at least once, and apologize to your arteries later – it’s totally worth it. There is rather cheap hot chocolate available on those cold Rexburg nights (you know the ones), and on Friday nights from 10-11p, they have your coin toss option, where you can flip a coin to try and get free fried cheese cake. I won once.

To speed up the process, the menus are on sheets of laminated paper, which you mark with available markers to tell them exactly what you are ordering, with all fillings and condiments on them. It catches a few people of guard at first, but after a while, you realize it's pretty simple. While not usually my favorite date place because of how weird it feels to mark x2 on the sheets, it is one of my favorite eateries, and most definitely scores in my top 10 places to eat in town.