Nick's Deli

Last week we had the pleasure of checking out a restaurant we've never been to in Peoria, despite it being around for almost 20 years.

My husband heard about Nick's Deli from a coworker. We knew it was off of Spalding Avenue somewhere near Heyde Eye. We approached Methodist College and spotted Heyde Eye, so turned and soon saw the restaurant tucked inside the Plaza Medical Arts building at 416 NE Saint Mark Court.

The deli offers breakfast and lunch including gyros, hoagies, deli and small and large sub sandwiches, as well as pizza bread and other items.

I ordered a Genoa salami sandwich on wheat with provolone, onion and lettuce, and my husband ordered a gyro with a bag of chips. We each ordered iced tea, and, spotting a closed case of baklava on the counter, I added a piece of that.

The restaurant offers seating for about 20 people. While we were there, they did a steady carryout business, and a few people chose to dine in. There are also benches outside in front of the restaurant, but no tables.

The salami sandwich was just right, no crazy piles of meat and cheese here, just a respectable, good sandwich at a good price.

My husband enjoyed his gyro.

I sampled the baklava and immediately decided I needed to play it cool. If I let on to my husband how good it was, I might need to share. If I really thought about how good it was, and how it only cost $1, I might decide to dart back to the counter and buy five more. It was perfectly flaky and not gooey, honestly one of the best specimens of baklava I've ever had.

Before I managed to eat the last bite, my husband asked how it was. Noticing my reaction, he tried to give me the eye and score the last morsel, but I held strong, so he headed up to the counter to buy one of his own.

"It IS really good," he said when he tried it.

I'm glad we found out about Nick's Deli.