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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Flury's - Cuyahoga Falls

Located amongst houses on a side street in Cuyahoga Falls you have to know this place is there to find it. When we walked in I noticed it was a hole in the wall as was expected.  Now, when I say "hole in the wall" it's generally a good thing, usually greasy, but still good.  This place was different.  After we sat there for a couple minutes I felt like I was in my friends mother's kitchens.  ( I say friends mother's because MY mother's kitchen is much louder!)  TBG really liked the coffee mugs because they were short and squat, not the typical white boring cafe mug.  The menu is a typical breakfast menu.  I did notice they had specialty pancakes which I wish I tried, but that morning I was jonesing for some fattening benedict.  Also on the menu is the fact that they only take cash.  TBG got country fried steak with sausage gravy biscuits and 2 fried eggs.  The steak was very good.  TBG loved it, I normally don't eat that sort of thing, but the breading was flavorful and the steak tender.  Both meals came with hashbrowns which were perfectly cooked.  I like mine crispy, not soggy.  The buiscuits looked hommade and TBG enjoyed watching her make the sausage gravy when he ordered.  Later in the meal we watched her hand press sausage patties in a metal press.  My eggs benedict were actually dissapointing.  The hollendaise was bland and the eggs were overcooked.  I was looking forward to breaking into the eggs and having that gooey yolk spill out over the rest of the plate.  The yolks were more like a hard boiled egg.  The ham (not canadian bacon) was really well cooked.  I enjoyed it and the saltiness it added to the meal.  I do not normally like ham because it gets slimy.  This was not slimy, and perfectly seared.  The english muffins were a nice texture.  Even though I did not like my meal that much, I would go back and try some of the other things on the menu.  The service was great.  In the small area it was easy to see when we needed something but she also could have gotten caught up cleaning up the small space.  The picture below shows the entire kitchen. The prices were slightly more than other places, but I was happy to pay.  There is a room seperate from the kitchen if you do not wish to sit in the same room they are cooking.  It was not hot in there despite sitting near the griddle.  They are only open for breakfast and lunch Mon-Sat so get up and get there!
Not a lot of room, but they use it well


Service____ 8 Chipps
Food____7 Chipps
Atmosphere____7 Chipps
Beer List____0 Chipps
Wine List____0 Chipps
Value____6 Chipps

Flury's Cafe on Urbanspoon




Monday, July 25, 2011

Chowder House - Cuyahoga Falls


It looks thick in the picture, but it wasn't.  It was good.
Located on a side street off State Rd. in Cuyahoga Falls, you could drive by a million times and not even notice this small restaurant.  There is actually a good amount of tables in the restaurant and on one side the wall to the kitchen is open.  The decor is very eccentric, very colorful.  The menu is small, but offers a lot of options.  We both started with soup.  We were going to get the clam chowder since that is what the place is called, but I like potatoes in mine, and TBG wanted lobster.  He got the lobster bisque shown above and I got the french onion.  The lobster bisque tasted like rue to me.  I thought it needed a lot more flavor.  I didn't even taste lobster.  TBG said he only got about 2 pieces of lobster.  He said those pieces were good and the soup wasn't the worst he has ever had.  I do not know if that is saying much though.  The french onion was very good.  Very flavorful, the bread was toasted and the cheese plentiful.  There were a lot of onions, but they were cooked perfectly and were sweet.  Let me take a moment to talk about the service.  When we first sat down the waitress was wonderful.  After ordering our soup we had a new waitress.  She was not good.  Slow to refill our water, not nice in general and was not really nice when TBG's burger was cooked wrong.  For our entrees I decided to get one of the specials, seafood pasta with mussels, scallops, and a white wine sauce.  It was really good.  The scallops here huge, and there was plenty of seafood.  The pasta was swimming in sauce, I have honestly never seen so much sauce on pasta before.  Even with the amount of sauce, the pasta was not mushy, and the sauce was tasty.  There was plenty of delicious fresh Italian cheese.  TBG got a Kobe burger with bleu cheese and a variety of pickles.  It came with some garlic smashed potatoes.  The burger was over cooked with just a little spot of pink in the middle.  For those of you that do not know.  TBG always orders his burger Mid Rare and if you are going to error, on the raw side would be best.  Overcooked meat is the worst thing you can serve to TBG.  He was heart broken.  The pickles were good, but that didn't matter anymore.  He didn't even eat the rest of the pasta I had left because he lost his appetite.  We told the waitress and she said she would tell the kitchen.  Not sure what that helped.  She didn't offer to get him anything else or take anything off our bill.  I thought the prices were a little much.  Mine did have a lot of seafood, and his was Kobe beef, but if you never know what kind of quality you are going to get then the prices are not worth it.  They do not have a liquor license, but you can bring your own.  After going to Sugo we were really excited to try the Chowder House.  The same owner/chef runs both places.  I would probably go back if someone wanted to go, but TBG and I won't be taking any dates there. 


Service____ 5 Chipps
Food____5 Chipps
Atmosphere____6 Chipps
Beer List____0 Chipps
Wine List____0 Chipps
Value____4 Chipps
The Chowder House on Urbanspoon

Friday, July 8, 2011

Michael's AM - Akron

For something new TBG and I decided to try Michael's AM in the Merriman Valley.  The inside is a sea of green vinyl and wallpaper.  The menu was everything I would expect from a breakfast place along with a few specials.  TBG went with the french toast since that is what he was craving anyway.  I got the buckwheat pancake special and we also got a side of corned beef hash.  The french toast was bland even with tons of butter and syrup.  I thought the buckwheat pancakes we good but filling.  TBG didn't care for them.  The corned beef hash was average.  The service was good, but the prices seemed a little much for the average experience we had.  I would not go back due to the number of good breakfast places closer to my house.


Service____ 7 Chipps
Food____5 Chipps
Atmosphere____5 Chipps
Beer List____0 Chipps
Wine List____0 Chipps
Value____4 Chipps


Michael's A.M. on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Cafe Tandoor - Aurora

I have never eaten at an Indian restaurant and was eager to try.  I wanted something not too intimidating.  
Cafe Tandoor was perfect.  Located in the Barrington Town Center it offers carry out.  We started out with the samosas.  Filled with lamb, cashews, raisins and peas it was good with the provided sauces.  We  couldn't decide what to get next so we ordered from two sections of the menu.  We got the mixed grill and the lamb curry called Rogan Josh.  We also got a side of saffron rice and 2 sides of nan.  One with garlic butter and one plain.  The meals did not come with anything so we had to order these side separate.  I am not sure how you would eat a curry dish without rice and nan so we had to order these sides.  While we were waiting TBG and I split and large Taj Mahal beer.  The beer list was small but did have a couple Indian beers.  The food came out fast and hot.  We actually didn't care for the grill.  The meat was kinda dry and just tasted like grilled meat.  The lamb curry however was great.  I loved it mixed with the rice and scooped up with nan.  The garlic nan was awesome.  The atmosphere was average, clean, outdated, not large.  The service was good and helpful.  The prices however were steep.  I thought it was overpriced since you had to order everything separate.  We needed the two orders of nan to finish the curry.  I would go back if this was the only Indian restaurant around, but since we have other options we probably will not.



Service____ 8 Chipps
Food____6 Chipps
Atmosphere____5 Chipps
Beer List____3 Chipps
Wine List____3 Chipps
Value____4 Chipps


Cafe Tandoor on Urbanspoon