When is an Angry Bird more than a game? When Rocky's NY Deli makes it into a sandwich

If it were in Habersham Village or Starland, I would eat at Rocky’s NY Deli twice a month, at least. Alas, my locale loss is the gustatorial gain of Sandfly, the Southside and the island suburbs.

For our last Friday flunch before school started back up, my wife and I drove down to Sandfly Village, tempted by Rocky’s most recent sandwich of the week, a concoction the veritable delicatessen has been doing since it opened in 2018.

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Just before noon, despite another early August cloudburst, the front doors might better have been a dinging turnstile, and we were lucky to grab the only open table as a steady stream of damp customers filed in and out with big brown bags.

As planned, we split an Angry Bird ($17.99), a 10-inch sub that suitably spilled over with wafer-thin-sliced oven-roasted turkey and pepperoni, which should be layered on every deli sandwich. I wish that I had had my kitchen scale to weigh it up. Before I unwrapped the foil, I swore that I was holding a 3-pound tube of salami.

“It’s really been everybody,” said general manager Rachel Tinsley of the weekly special’s provenance. “It’s a constant team effort every week. It’s not just one single person.”

The Angry Bird, however, was chiefly the creation of Assistant Manager Olivia Waters. She deserves a raise.

Stuffed inside, breaded and fried smoked mozzarella sticks imparted a far superior flavor than an unsmoked stick, though they did not maintain any crispiness because of the sub’s sauciness.

Speaking of sauce, the entire sandwich was properly sloppy with the house-made chipotle sauce, a blend of smoke-dried jalapeños, house-made ranch, and lemon that made the Angry Bird an early Clint Eastwood oater: clearly Italian but tinged with a kicky Southwest accent.

“The funny thing is, I was a little skeptical of that,” admitted owner and main man in the kitchen Bill Vissicchio of the smoky-piquant pairings, “but it really worked.”

My wife always appreciates a ripe red tomato, and I love thinly shaved lettuce, both of which finished off this signature sub.

It might have been called the Angry Bird, but I wasn’t mad at it. Not one bite.

Every Friday is Parm Day!

“This one was in the top five this year,” he added of the Angry Bird’s reception. “A lot of people call and ask what the special is because we’re constantly doing things you don’t find at other places.”

Like the Drunken Parm comprising chicken cutlet, ravioli, and vodka sauce, which Vissicchio and Tinsley recall as 2022’s most popular sandwich.

On tap is a concoction dreamed up by the owner’s sister, who lives on Long Island, featuring grilled chicken, muenster, spicy garlic aioli, lettuce, tomato, and fried pickles, the last ingredient he calls “the kicker.”

“We’re going to call it the Mallory,” he explained with a smile. “That’s not my sister’s name. It’s just based on two ՚80s kids growing up watching Family Ties. I was Alex P. Keaton, and she was Mallory.”

Vissicchio and Tinsley, who share the delectable duty of hand-making Rocky’s mouthwatering mozzarella, said that a couple former SotW’s were so popular in the limited run that they made it onto the permanent menu, notably the Southpaw, a Big Apple take on a cheesesteak, and the Yankee Dipper, a roast beef and provolone hero with au jus that Joltin’ Joe himself would have eaten 56 straight days.

If, perish the possibility, the SotW does not sound delish to you, each Friday is also Parm Day, which means meatball, chicken, and eggplant parmesan subs are on that day’s menu with an occasional appearance made by veal or shrimp.

In one sitting, one person might not be able to finish a whole Rocky’s sub, unless the goal is to bust a button.

I can think of few better food challenges.

Rocky’s NY Deli and Italian Catering (7360 Skidaway Road H-3 in Shops at Sandfly) is open for dine-in or take-away Monday (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and Tuesday through Saturday (7 a.m. to 3 p.m.).

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Rocky's NY Deli in Sandfly invents a tasty new sandwich every week