As I mentioned, my back has been a bit cranky lately. Nothing crazy, but bad enough that I didn’t want to spend any more time in front of a computer than I had to this weekend, delaying this Sandwich of the Week until today, when I have to spend time in front of a computer anyway.

This deli was recommended to me by Adam Zagoria, who writes a fine blog about multiple levels of basketball for this here blog network. You should check that out if you don’t read it already.

Also, I really wanted to avoid pork for my friends that keep Kosher, since I already know next week’s sandwich will not and there has been pork on like the last 50 sandwiches. But this deli didn’t have any specialty sandwich board or anything, and when I panic I order bacon on my sandwiches. My bad, again.

The sandwich: Spicy chicken cutlet with bacon, cheddar and mayonnaise on a kaiser roll from Rocky’s Deli on Saw Mill River Road in Millwood.

Important background information: Doesn’t sound like that interesting of a sandwich, right? WRONG!

I know I’ve reviewed a bunch of sandwiches that are essentially fried chicken, bacon and cheese, and truth be told that’s pretty much my go-to when I’m ordering a hot sandwich at a deli I’ve never before tried. Like with burgers at restaurants, I figure a chicken cutlet is a good standard by which to judge delis. If the deli does it well, you can trust it’s a good deli, go back there and start experimenting with other sandwiches. If it sucks, don’t bother.

But more and more lately I’ve noticed spicy chicken cutlets on deli menus. I think this might be en route to deli standardization.

I remember when I was in third or fourth grade, a couple bar-and-grill-type restaurants on Long Island started carrying Buffalo wings, and they were like this amazing new thing but they were all over the map: some places served them breaded, some had them dry with the sauce on the side. Now most bars serve standard Buffalo wings because everyone has wised up to how ridiculously awesome they are.

So I think — trendspotting baby! — that might be happening with the spicy chicken cutlet at delis. No deli in Rockville Centre served spicy chicken cutlets when I was growing up, but I saw that they were new on the menu at the Cherry Valley Deli in Queens and I’m pretty sure I’ve recently spotted them a few other places as well. Also Wendy’s now has those Spicy Crispy Chicken Nuggets.

They don’t have spicy chicken cutlets at the delis closest to me in Westchester, but my pocket of Westchester is pretty reliably behind the times food-wise. There’s no Chipotle or Five Guys yet and I swear they still sell salsa in the International foods section of the grocery store.

What it looks like:

How it tastes: Tremendous. I’ll say it right now: Just barely shy of the Hall of Fame.

When I ordered the chicken cutlet, the dude pulled it from the pile and dropped it in the deep fryer, which is always an outstanding sign. No microwaved nonsense at Rocky’s Deli; you’re spicy chicken cutlet is coming at you hot and greasy, the way Colonel Sanders intended.

The breading on the cutlet, due to the frying, was nice and crispy. As for the spicy part: Good. It wasn’t overwhelmingly spicy or spicy in the Buffalo hot saucy style, it had more of a black peppery kick, a nice but not overpowering amount of seasoning. The flavor, actually, was not terribly unlike that of those Wendy’s spicy nuggets, only it obviously tasted way less like it came from some sort of fast-food power, not that this site judges anything produced by delicious fast-food powder.

The bacon was delicious, since it was bacon, and well-prepared bacon at that. It could have stood to be better distributed, though — the only thing really holding this thing back from the Hall of Fame. About a quarter of this sandwich didn’t have bacon.

Cheddar cheese and mayo you know about. The roll was good, fresh. Appropriate for a deli sandwich.

What it’s worth: I’m not exactly sure since my wife got a sandwich too and we both got beverages and we didn’t get an itemized receipt or anything. But I think about $7.

How it rates: 89 out of 100. Check this place out if you need a pit-stop off the Taconic. And look out for spicy chicken cutlets. They’re coming.