Syracuse Sandwich: Spera's Seafood Salad

Who: Spera's What: Seafood Salad

Where: Route 31, Cicero Phone: 699-4422‎ Website: Spera's
Parking: Yes Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No

     I hate when the temperature breaks 80 degrees. Now before you start saying “Well it could be snowing!!! Do you want that?”, just hear me out. One of the reasons I say that is because I can’t use my oven when it gets that hot unless I want to die from heat exhaustion. This post should be on the Dan in the Kitchen blog about baked ravioli but I couldn’t bring myself to turn the oven on so we stopped at Spera’s for sandwiches. I have boasted about the meats at Spera’s in past posts but have never had a sandwich made in the deli. Since I like to construct my own sandwiches, I decided to get something that Spera’s made in house to review. It took me a while to decide because there are so many choices as far as “salads” to choose from. I ultimately went with the seafood salad which looked delicious.

     Depending on where you go, seafood salad can contain a number of things. Crab, is the main ingredient and since we are in Syracuse and not on the coast, imitation crab is the norm. This is true at Spera’s, they have a great meat section but aren’t fishmongers so I expected imitation crab meat when I ordered it. I have seen recipes that call for shrimp, scallops, and even lobster to be mixed in along with the crab. I think that is a waste of lobster but I digress. Like most “salad” recipes, this sandwich had chopped onion and celery. Mayo and other spices are mixed and combined with the crab and veggies to complete the recipe.

     I ordered a full sandwich with lettuce on light rye. I had no idea how big a full seafood salad sandwich was but was amazed when I found out. The shear size of this sandwich impressed me and with a price tag of 5.99, I thought I was getting a great deal. But, Christine ordered a full tuna sandwich with onion, tomato, and lettuce which was really two sandwiches for the same price. Seafood salad is more expensive to make than regular tuna so I understood why she got more. After the first few bites, I was really into this sandwich and started thinking about what I would write about it. But once I had finished the first half, I started having second thoughts. I was able to eat about half of the second half, at which point I stopped from being full. I just sat there looking at about a cups worth of seafood salad in disappointment.

     It was so bland. I think I had psyched myself up and for the first few bites I wasn’t seeing clearly. With the time it takes to make seafood salad or any salad for that matter, you would think they would take the time to season it with some chives, dill, sweet relish, or some salt and pepper at the very least. There wasn’t an abundance of mayo to cloud the seasonings like most places make it so that wasn’t the problem. It seemed to be a lack of caring or a lack of tasting. I almost feel bad for giving this sandwich such a poor rating but I expected a deli to take more pride in their product.

Rating: Edible – Go to Spera’s for meat not for seafood salad.