Local delis offer taste of Europe

Max Jacobson

Wednesday, March 5, 2003 | 8:37 a.m.

As Las Vegas grows as a food-oriented city, ethnic delis have increased apace, making it easier than ever to buy and prepare specialty foods for the home.

In the next few weeks we'll visit a variety of these places, representing different parts of the world.

Eastern and central European delis are a fast-growing segment. Here are four diverse examples:

Cafe Heidelberg

610 E. Sahara Ave.

This is the logical starting point, as this deli, market and restaurant has been open for almost 40 years. For the past six years the business has belonged to a woman named Tanya Brandl, a charming German-American who often wears a German dress behind her deli counter.

Cafe Heidelberg doesn't make sandwiches at the counter; you'll have to take a seat in the restaurant for that. But the deli section sells a wide variety of specialty meats, mainly Mattern, a high-quality sausage company in Anaheim, Calif.

There are also German wieners in natural sheep casings from Koenemann's of Chicago, Schaller and Weber sausages from New York, and real Austrian ham, known as schinkenspeck in German, a smoky delight. Prices range from $2.95 to $7.95 per half pound for these meats.

Brandl sells imported German cheeses such as the famously pungent Limburger, the milder Tilsit and the rich Butterkase, too, from $4.13 to $4.38 per pound.

In the market section there is a wide variety of German mustard and pickles, as well as fresh German breads on Thursdays and Fridays, trucked in from a pair of California bakeries, Baltic and German Home; in short, everything to make that wonderful German sandwich at home. And for dessert, there is homemade apple strudel, $3.50 per piece, $4.95 with Brandl's sumptuous vanilla sauce.

Polonez

1243 E. Sahara Ave.

Polonez, a Polish restaurant with an attached deli and market, lies a couple of blocks east of Cafe Heidelberg. Owner Joanna Sobol bakes her own paczki, a type of Polish donut popular during Lent, and sells them for 50 each.

She also stocks around 20 types of sausage, including the barley sausage Poles call kishka (not the same as Jewish kishka), the spicy pork sausage kabanosy, and Polish-style ham from Chicago. She also sells golabki, meat stuffed cabbage, for $2.50 each.

This is where to buy excellent pierogi, such as Jewish meat filled kreplach for $6.99 per dozen, and a variety of smoked fish.

Smoked chubs are $5.90 per pound, and there are several types of salmon caviar and pickled herrings in jars sold here as well. She gets cheeses directly from Poland, Pograski, a hard, mild yellow cheese with a nutty finish, and Koldaner, similar to Gouda, cut from a big wheel.

Dense Polish rye breads, also from Chicago, are $3.50 for a 2-pound loaf. Sobol also stocks a variety of Polish vodkas, Polish fruit juices in aseptic packs, and fine chocolates.

Sliwka Naleczowska, individually wrapped plums enrobed in chocolate, are delicious, in bags that sell for $4.95 for 1 pound.

Crown International

6155 W. Sahara Ave.

Across town from Polonez there is this bright, clean Hungarian deli and market, which has individual tables for customers and a huge menu of salads and sandwiches. The sandwiches start at $3.50, a fine value.

Hungarians love the red pepper known as paprika, a primary source for vitamin C, and do many things with it, including pickling, grinding and sausage making.

Hungarian sausages (and there are more than a dozen varieties) come in red, green and white wrappers, the colors of their flag. Many of them are heavy on paprika and garlic.

Hurka, or hunter's sausage, which contains liver, is $4.99 per pound. Paprika salami, delicious on a sandwich, is $5.99.

There are many interesting Hungarian foods to buy in this deli. One is korozott, a paprika-spiced feta cheese spread, at $3.99 per pound.

Another is Kolozsvari bacon, originally from the city of Cluj, now in Romania. This is smoky back bacon that can be used to flavor soups and stews, or is delicious for breakfast.

Another resolutely Hungarian item is ajvar, a paprika and eggplant puree eaten cold as a side dish, $3.99 for a huge 24-ounce jar. As a special treat, sometimes there is giant, homemade begli, a poppy seed or crushed walnut-filled pastry log, made by the owners.

It's great with that afternoon coffee.

Eliseevsky

2475 W. Flamingo Road

Eliseevsky, which caters to a largely Russian clientele, is named for a famous Moscow food shop. It's a market selling Russian foods, a deli, and next door, a restaurant, a blond wood-lined dining room designed to resemble an izba, or Russian farmer's hut.

The deli sells several prepared foods, but unfortunately, the specials board is written in the Cyrillic alphabet that Russians use, and the counter people cannot always provide a translation.

Two deli items available every day are Russian salad, a creamy combination of peas, carrots, potatoes and mayonnaise, and the breaded chopped veal patties called kotlet, sold for $1 apiece.

In the freezer case there is the famous Siberian ravioli called pelmeni, which are delicious in soup. They are filled with a combination of pork and beef, or with minced chicken, and they sell for $6.99 for a bag containing 50 pieces.

Deli meats here come from Russian butchers in New York City. Detskaya is a garlic rich bologna selling for $3.99 a pound, and Krakovska is black rib bacon, very smoky stuff that sells for $5.99 a pound.

One of the most popular items is black bread, the heavy Russian bread made with rye flour. A loaf is $2.15, and the Borodinsky brand, which is denser and is seeded, is $2.99.

The deli also sells several types of smoked fish, but as many of them have Russian names that the counter people cannot translate without help, a journey into these waters is indeed an adventure.