A walk on the 'Deli' side of Hoeckele's

Off to Perryville, Missouri, where I taste-tested a place that I know well when it comes to doughnuts but was totally clueless when it comes to savory food. Hoeckele Bakery & Deli is well known for its absolutely amazing sweets, but they also have a fairly extensive menu that utilizes other baked goods in a fresh and succulent way. It's easy to overlook the "& Deli" part of the name, but I would encourage you to not make that mistake.

There is a smattering of breakfast sandwiches that I'd love to go back to try, and heading that list would be the Glazed Donut Sandwich. You choose bacon, sausage, or ham, top it with egg and cheese, and mush it between two halves of a glazed doughnut. Sounds like a little slice of decadent heaven to me. If you put sweetness with salty rich meat, I'll try it every time. But I didn't go for breakfast. I went for a very late lunch.

The first thing I noticed was that there were still plenty of dessert options sitting in the glass-fronted cabinets. Beautifully decorated cupcakes, slices of pie, whole cakes, cookies and doughnuts. Ultimately, I picked a luscious crème horn, filled with custard, drizzled with chocolate, sprinkled with powdered sugar and with a stemmed cherry tucked into the end. Layer after flaky paper-thin layer of dough parted between my teeth, complemented by the cool refreshing custard. But that is not what I wanted to tell you about today.

Bring on the sandwiches!

My husband ordered an Italian Hoagie, which was surrounded by the most beautifully browned hoagie bun I've ever seen. With homemade and perfectly symmetrical bread, I just had to try some of it for research purposes. One bite packed in all of the traditional Italian sandwich flavors: ham, pepperoni and salami carried the bulk, with Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, black olives and Italian dressing rounding off this complete meal on a bun. Photogenic to the max, this was one pretty sandwich and I was mildly jealous that I hadn't ordered it ... until I took a bite of my sandwich.

I tried the Grilled Chicken Avocado, loaded up with tender slice chicken breast, wonderfully flavorful and crunchy bacon, avocado, fancy lettuce and ranch dressing. This was all placed on a Ciabatta bun and pressed flat and grilled like a panini. The ranch wasn't overwhelming, the bacon was not too thin and not too salty, and the avocado was fresh and just the right texture, that fine balance between not ripe and too ripe. The bread on both of our sandwiches was not just a vehicle for the good stuff; it was a large part of the good stuff. Soft but stout enough to hold all those ingredients, it had a wonderful texture. Mine was crunchy on the outside from grilling, but it wasn't that tooth-breaking crunch that you sometimes get from grilled artisan bread. The golden lines were just enough to add an element of crunch to an otherwise soft sandwich.

Now, I hesitate to mention this next menu item we ordered, but not because it was bad. Let me start by saying I like food. Simple food, complicated food, pretty or not so much -- it really doesn't matter as long as it's good food. We got the potato salad as a side. Creamy, rich, full of little herby bits, I really do believe this is the perfect potato salad, at least for me. (Sorry mom, yours is the bomb, too!). I thought I could taste some cream cheese, and that's how rich it is. I could eat this stuff by the bucket-load, which is why I am thankful that a side order of this addictive salad is a manageable size. I suspect that maybe this is a premade salad, and I don't mean that to be disparaging in any way. Good food is good food, and the folks at Hoeckele's obviously have the good taste to offer up an excellent potato salad. I wouldn't hesitate to suggest it to the snootiest foodie, and I will be back for more. Maybe a quart next time?

There are many pictures of the Hoeckele family hanging on the walls, and I enjoyed looking at them while waiting for my food. I took a picture of (or stole) a handwritten recipe hanging on the wall for cinnamon rolls that I hope I will get the courage to try making at home some day. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Find Hoeckele Bakery & Deli at 1516 Edgemont Boulevard in Perryville.