Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Eadie's Two Locations

Sometimes it pays to take a chance.

I happened to be driving down Wise Avenue today in North Canton for a completely unrelated reason when I first noticed Eadie's Fish House. Slightly intrigued and making a mental note to maybe return one day, I noticed that right next to Eadie's Fish House was a little drive-up place that advertised beer batter fish and onion rings also sporting the name Eadie's. I'm ALWAYS a sucker for a good beer batter fish and unfortunately, so few places really deliver a good one. With what seems like a split-second decision, I pulled into the parking lot and decided to give this little roadside stand a try.

Here is the building from the front of the road:


I walked up to the front and started looking over the posted menu:


I knew what I wanted; fish and onion rings, just like their sign advertised. But, as I looked over the menu several times, I was having a hard time seeing it listed. When I finally asked the woman running the order window, she said that they didn't serve the fish here. They only served it at the main restaurant next door. Well, crap! I was kind of in the mood for that and now I had to decide what I wanted to do. At that moment I wasn't really in the mood for an entire sit-down meal. So instead, I just decided to get a small sampling of the food here. I ended up ordering a BBQ pulled chicken sandwich, a small order of fries, and a small chocolate malted shake. I was a little nervous about the BBQ pulled chicken sandwich because I was concerned that they might use one of those over-the-top sweetened BBQ sauces. I needed have worried about the sweetness.

After about 10 minutes, my food finally came up. First, the chocolate malted shake:


This wasn't bad. It had just a slight hint of malt to it. Personally I would've preferred a more intense chocolate and malt flavor. The texture was super thick, causing me to basically leave it for a while and then drink it when it was more melted, lest I suffer the headache induced by sucking on the straw too hard.

Next up, the fries:


When I went to pick up my order, I asked the young man behind the counter whether the fries were fried from fresh or frozen. He gave me this almost ghastly look and said, "Oh, frozen. We just wouldn't have enough time to make them fresh." Sigh. Apparently they didn't have enough time to cook them from frozen, either, because these were greasy, flaccid and seriously undercooked. Honestly, who wants to eat undercooked fries? I ate about three of these before giving up.

Finally, a shot of my BBQ pulled chicken sandwich, both wrapped and unwrapped:



Visually, this was just unappealing. The bun was smashed and the filling that peaked out of the sides looked ominously similar to what it might appear like later on were I to see it again (I'm trying to be delicate here). But, being a brave little culinary soldier, I tasted it. My worry about the BBQ sauce being too sweet was mollified; it wasn't. However, missing from this sandwich was any kind of really stand-out flavor. And unfortunately, the filling was so wet that the inside of the bun had essentially turned to mush. This definitely required a toasted bun to stand up to the filling. Three bites of this and I decided that something was seriously amiss at this little roadside stand.

On the side of the building is an advertisement for 24 different flavors of soft serve that they offer here.


Upon checking out the website for the company advertised on this banner, I came to discover that this "system" for offering so many flavors is nothing more than artificially flavored syrups that are added to a standard frozen custard base, whizzed up, and served in the vessel of your choosing. I was seriously unimpressed with my experience at this roadside stand.

Having only eaten three bites of my sandwich, three lousy, limp fries, and about 1/4 of my shake, I decided to see if the mother restaurant located right next door might redeem my shaken faith. I wasn't in the mood for a sit-down dinner before, but I quickly decided to change my tune. And since the beer batter fish and onion rings were only served there, I figured, what the hell. It couldn't get any worse, right?

I didn't manage to get a photograph of the sign or the building known as Eadie's Fish House as it had started to rain and I didn't particularly want to get wet. After walking in and getting seated, I started to peruse the menu. I began to see items on the menu that made me believe that I should've just chosen this place first. Proprietary beer battered cod, special beer battered onion rings, smoked chicken wings with lots of interesting sauces, the list goes on. They did have fries on the menu as well, and in fact, most of the dinners came with them by default. Worried that these would be the same awful fries that were being served by it's sibling namesake, I decided to pay the extra $1 and get the onion rings instead.

I ordered the two piece beer batter cod and onion rings. Here is what came out:


Hallelujah! Homemade, homemade, homemade! You could tell just by looking at these that they had never seen a freezer in their lives. The fish is kind of buried under the MOUND of onion rings they give you.

Once I ate a few rings and repositioned the rest, I was able to get a better shot of the fish:


While ketchup is on the table when you sit down, when you order the fish and onion rings, the following two condiments show up with your meal:


On the left is a chipotle horseradish mayonnaise for the onion rings and on the right is a homemade tartar sauce with sweet pickles. Before even tasting a single thing I could see a 100% transformation from what I had been served just 30 minutes prior. But the proof, as they say, is in the tasting.

For the most part, the meal lived up to my expectation. Both condiments brought to the table were excellent and definitely complimented the food with whom they were meant to be paired. Normally I would eat my onion rings with ketchup, but the chipotle horseradish mayonnaise was a nice foil for the onion rings. And the tartar sauce added a nice bit of acid and sweetness to the fried cod.

The crust on the onion rings was wonderful. Light, crispy, flavorful. I loved everything about the onion rings except one thing: the rings were too thin. They just weren't meaty enough to allow the sweetness of the onion flavor to compliment the oiliness of the outside of the crust. That's not to say that the onion rings were greasy. But there will always be some inherent grease remaining in any fried product. The batter on the fish was wonderful and crunchy, but unfortunately, even my nice thicker pieces of cod were just a tad bit overcooked and kind of dry. The excellent tartar sauce helped to mitigate the dryness factor, but things being what they are, this could've been a slam dunk if they had managed to keep the fish moist.

Oh, yes, the cole slaw. Almost forgot about that. It was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Across from my table was a sign that read the following:


Something about the irony of the sign just caused me to chuckle. Can you spot it, too?

I will definitely be going back to Eadie's Fish House; Eadie's the sit-down restaurant. The drive-up stand next to Eadie's that actually advertises the fish and onion rings on it's banner? Um, not so much.

After I finished my meal at Eadie's proper, I returned to my car with my leftovers only to discover that I had left the 3/4 of my malted shake in the cupholder. It was now the perfect consistency to drink. It had melted just enough that it was still cold but was finally drinkable without having to resort to a vacuum cleaner to get the liquid up the straw. And while I agreed with my earlier assessment that this was not a great malt, it at least gave me a sweet way to finish my fried fish meal.

If Garlic be the Food of Love, Play On

I found out about Ermanno's Three Guys Pizza from a co-worker. The first time I stopped in for a pie, it seems that they had just moved into their new North Canton location, taking over for Rocco's NY Style Pizza (which I never actually had a chance to try). Ermanno's is located in a strip retail outlet setting right across the street from a Fisher's grocery store. Their address is 3159 Whitewood Street, North Canton, OH 44720 and can be reached at 330-494-3131. Do NOT rely on the information you find on the web as it has been incorrect the last several times I went to view it. Currently, Ermanno's has no website. (UPDATE: Untrue, I just found their website here.)

Here is a shot of their exterior:


Now, they do offer many things on their menu. But the one thing I haven't been able to get over is their pizza. And for one very good reason: garlic. As a lover of all things garlic, this warms my soul. I think we'd all be happier people if we just ate a little more garlic. Unfortunately, with Ermanno's, this is a double-edged sword. On the plus side, they realize that garlic and pizza work so well together. The down side is that the owners have settled on a product that lends a chemically garlic flavor to their pizzas, Garlic Mist. A Par Way Tryson product, the ingredient list isn't exactly awe inspiring. It does contain garlic oil, however. And propellants. And lecithen. And a few others.

Now I could sit here and ask myself why on earth anyone would use such a product instead of good old fashioned extra virgin olive oil that has been used to gently roast garlic; I just don't know. But, the food business being the way it is, I surmise that they think that no one can tell the difference. And when you first pick up your pie and have that nice, hot slice, it's a lot more difficult to pick up on the underlying chemical taste of the spray. But, you just wait until later on that evening or the next morning for breakfast when you try eating a slice cold right from the refrigerator. Wham-O! The first time I tasted it, it nearly knocked me back on my chair. It is really that pronounced. I have found that if you reheat your slice before eating it, the taste is again minimized, but jeez louise, shouldn't I just be able to enjoy my slice cold?

I guess the problem that I have is that I'm torn. Their made-from-scratch pizza dough is actually pretty good. The doctored sauce they use is also quite good, even if it isn't made from scratch. It contains a lovely oregano undertone. The toppings are always plentiful. Add on top of that they run daily specials and it can also be a pretty good deal, too. So, as long as I eat the pizza hot, I enjoy it. Whenever they've passed out suggestion cards, I always dutifully fill them out. I've been trying to build up enough clout with the one manager to bring it up to him.

The manager in question knows me by name now (which may give you some idea of how often I visit), so perhaps next time, if he isn't slammed with orders when I get there, I'll take him aside and ask him what the deal is. I'm sure it's largely a matter of cost and convenience for them. Heck, I'd even just take a nice brushing of extra virgin olive oil instead of the garlic spray, if I am to be totally honest.

(UPDATE: This update is being written about two weeks after I wrote the copy for the original review, even though they will both post at the same time. I did finally get a chance to talk with one of the managers tonight when I stopped in for another pie. When I finally asked about the use of Garlic Mist, he came clean right away and verified that yes, it was used as a convenience product. He also agreed with my assessment that when eating the pizza cold, you really could tell that it was a spray on product and not the real deal. But what really surprised me, was that before I could make my "why not just roast your own garlic?" suggestion, he stated that he was actually toying with the idea of roasting his own garlic and then brushing the puree on top of the crusts instead of using the Garlic Mist. Needless to say, I encouraged his idea and even volunteered to be a Guinea Pig when he decided to pursue his testing. So, there very well could be another entry about Ermanno's in the future.)

All that being said, I still stopped and ordered a pizza. Of course. I'm a slave to the garlic.

A shot of the pizza box:


And a shot of the large pepperoni I ordered:


This 10 slice pizza was $12 dollars tonight, but on Monday nights it is only $9. An incredible bargain considering how addictive this is. Garlic, tomatoes, pepperoni, dough, and cheese? Heavenly. The only thing missing is a nice liberal sprinkling of spicy chili flakes. Ermanno's pizza is also susceptible to the Molten Cheese Conundrum first mentioned in my post on Tavanello and Sons. But, just letting the pizza box sit open for a minute or two seemed to minimize the problem.

The only other thing I've had from Ermanno's is a steak and cheese sub sandwich. It was not bad, but nowhere near as noteworthy as the pizza. If you're in the area, try them out.

Good BBQ Is Hard To Find In Ohio

I'm not from the South. I'm not from Kansas City. I'm not even from as far south as Kentucky. But I will always crave good low-and-slow traditional barbecue. And thanks to the folks at Old Carolina Barbeque Company, you can actually find this traditionally southern cuisine right here in northeast Ohio. Currently they have two locations, one in Massillon and one in Norton Canton. They are looking to add a third location sometime soon a little further north at Chapel Hill mall in Cuyahoga Falls.

OCBC is an odd conundrum. It is a locally owned and operated company but has a chain feel to it. I can't verify that everything is made from scratch on-site, but much of it is. When you enter the restaurant, the daily specials are listed above the cashier. To the left on the wall is the menu. All your favorites are there from pulled pork to brisket to smoked chicken and more. Most items can be ordered individually or as a platter (which would include two sides).

Today I was in the mood for a pulled pork sandwich, so I ordered that as a platter with what are billed as "Simply the World's Greatest Baked Beans" and the "Southern Style Mac-n-Cheese". After ordering, the cashier will write your order number on the back of your receipt and you are free to seat yourself anywhere. The soda fountain and sauce station are self-serve, so while you are waiting for your order, take care of that little detail.

At every checkered covered table, you'll find a condiment station containing ketchup and a vinegar based dressing:


When your order is ready, an employee runs it out to you. Here is a shot of my entire platter:


And a close-up of the sauces I selected:


The sauce to the left and rear are the same, the Piedmont No. 5. It is a tomato/vinegar/molasses based sauce that has a nice tang and a capricious amount of black pepper heat. The one on the right is the Original Gold, a mustard based sauce that has less heat and more sweet to it. There are also several other sauces (5 in total) to choose from, so you can mix and match to your heart's content.

Now for the eating! First up, the Southern Style Mac-n-Cheese:


I'm not sure if the crispy bread crumbs on top make it "southern style", but this was a lovely side. Creamy, crunch, a bit tangy, this definitely felt and tasted homemade. The bread crumbs must be toasted ahead of time because the macaroni (or penne in this case) and cheese wasn't dried out on top.

Next up are the baked beans:


Now, what makes these the "World's Greatest"? For one thing, these beans aren't vegetarian. There is actually pulled pork mixed in with the baked beans. The sauce itself is really tasty. It is your classic ketchup/brown sugar based sauce with notes of mustard, cumin, black pepper, and coriander. Tangy, sweet, and spicy. The trifecta of good southern fare. Do *I* think these are the world's best? Best would be a bit much, but they are damn good.

Finally, the star, the pulled pork sandwich:


One thing you will NOT go away from OCBC is hungry. This sandwich is literally loaded with luscious pulled pork. In fact, I normally have to eat about 1/3 of the meat with a fork in order for the sandwich to be insertible into my mouth. This pork was smoky, sweet, and unctious. The only criticism I had was there were several larges pieces of fat (not a little piece that would blend in with the rest of the meat). Once I picked those out, I added my sauce and was in pulled pork heaven. The bun was both traditional and perfect, being slightly buttered before adding the meat.

Finally, I mentioned earlier that OCBC is that rare conundrum of locally owned and chain-esque. The food definitely feels mom and pop. However, the store, the signage, and the merchandising rack that was next to my table made the entire affair feel like I was in a marketing blitz for TGI McChillabee's.


Everything is for sale, from the bottled sauces (which, sadly, do use High Fructose Corn Syrup) to the t-shirts and more. I realize that in this tight economy, you need to have a multi-pronged approach to generate revenue, but this just feels so out-of-place. Eh, no matter, it doesn't do anything to detract from the food.

I would definitely recommend checking out Old Carolina Barbecue Company if you are in the position of needing a good "Q" fix. I've also had the brisket, and while good, I don't think it is quite as good as the pulled pork. Be sure to go hungry though, because you get a LOT of food for the price.

Sometimes You Can't Go Home

I had blogged about an experience at the Chicken Manor Family Restaurant prior to this. At the time I had praised the restaurant for a very good fish dinner with some unusual, but tasty side dishes. So it was with little trepidation that I returned several Fridays ago to again experience the tasty food. Unfortunately, this time I didn't get the cute waiter I had last time. That should've been my tip-off that things were going to be amiss.

Even though I did go on a Friday night, I decided to try something else on the menu. Having not had any of their pasta dishes, I decided to go with the chicken parmesan. This came with a garlic breadstick and a garden salad. Here is my salad with a side of French dressing:


Pretty standard house garden salad. The surprising addition was a little bit of pickled beets. I daresay I may actually have started becoming fond of the much-maligned little suckers. I don't think I could sit down and eat an entire can, but used sparingly, it wasn't bad at all. The rest of the salad was pretty standard, nothing special.

Next came the chicken parmesan:


A couple of things to note. First, as usual, the pasta had a layer of cooking water underneath it, but not as bad as some other versions that I've had. Second, the chicken breast in question was grilled, not breaded and fried. I tried the sauce first, and while it was definitely a marinara, it had sort of an oddish flavor to it that I couldn't quite put my hand on. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It had a "doctored sauce" kind of flavor to it that wasn't intensely tomato-y. The harder thing to forgive was the chicken itself. The breast was all of one thickness and when I tried the chicken, it had that intense chemical flavor profile that a Wendy's chicken breast sandwich has (the non-fried version). It was quite off-putting.

Finally, there was the garlic breadstick:


I don't think this breadstick ever saw even a single clove of actual garlic in its entire life. It had an awful metallic aftertaste to it that really played havoc with my taste buds. Between this and the nasty chicken breast, I wondered how a place that had done so much right before could be this completely off the mark on a different dish.

Unfortunately, I never had a chance to confirm with my server that the chicken was pre-processed instead of fresh; they were completely slammed at the time. If I go back (and I will probably try it once more before passing final judgment), I will definitely ask then. I suspect they get the breasts 24 to a box, pre-processed and marinating in something that is just nasty.

Skin Is In

For lunch today I decided to go to a little diner-esque type restaurant that I started frequenting every now and again since I have been working in Canton. Nicole's is a cute little place, with the daily specials on the wall, the pies safely tucked behind the glass case. The restaurant is located on Rt. 30, east of downtown and has a storefront that looks like this:


Normally, I have the double cheeseburger. While their burger is exceptionally juicy and good, today I decided to go with another menu item that has been calling out to me lately, fried chicken. Well, technically it is broasted chicken. I decided to go with the two breast/two wing combo, which included dinner rolls and two sides. I choose the mash potatoes and gravy and the vegetable of the day, green beans.


The dinner rolls were your standard fare, although it was nice that they came out warmed (and the butter cups softened). Nothing noteworthy flavor-wise, but not out of place in a restaurant like this.

My lunch took a while longer to prepare than normal, but it was well worth the wait.


I could tell that the mashed potatoes were homemade because there was the occasional lump (which I actually like). The gravy was just a bit too thick and gloppy. The green beans were canned, reheated and held for service. To be honest, the thing that struck me about the meal overall was its lack of salt. I don't know if this was intentional or not. The only thing that was seasoned properly, if not a little too aggressively was the gravy. Which, when eaten together with the potatoes, "fixed" the potatoes.

Now, on to the star of the plate, the chicken. It was hot. It was juicy. The fried chicken skin was a total revelation. So many times the skin just isn't done right and it's far more preferable to simply discard it. Today is one of the few times that I not only ate all of the chicken skin that was on my plate, but actually thought it would be great if there was more for me to eat. The only problem with the chicken was that it, too, was underseasoned.

Here is a shot of one of the chicken breasts after pulling some of the meat off the bone.


As I got up to leave, the lunch rush had pretty much come and gone, so I had a chance to chat with the cook. I had presumed that broasting was simply pressure frying. But apparently, the chicken is marinated first before frying. I was going to suggest that maybe they brine the chicken before cooking it, and maybe she was equating brining with marinating, but I did mention that the chicken, while hot, juicy, and crispy, was a bit underseasoned.

Nicole's is pretty decent. They have some things I really like there. They also have some things that I will pass on. They do make a lot more of their menu items from scratch than not, but clearly the green beans I was served today more than likely came from a large Sysco-esque type can. Check them out if you happen to be in the area.

Gelato? In the middle of the winter?

Verily I say to you that every day is a good day for gelato! On my way to work and back using my alternate (read: back roads) route, I noticed a small coffee/gelato shop. Having seen this shop for nearly a year now, my curiosity finally got the better of me and I stopped in last Sunday for a looksie around. Although there is signage out front, you actually have to park in the back of the shop. Here is the sign by the door:


I was happily surprised to be greeted with a hand-written menu just inside the door. It seems our little coffee shop was replete with not only coffee and gelato, but also sandwiches, pizza, pastas, salads and more. I picked up a paper menu that was on the counter and realized that the entire contents of the paper menu were already on the hand-written menu.


I talked with the nice woman behind the counter who wasn't the owner, but did do her best to answer some of my questions. They have a limited kitchen at the shop, and only made several things from scratch. Things like the ravioli and other pastas were pre-made somewhere else and frozen. The sandwiches and pizzas are made fresh there, however. From what I can tell, I get the feeling that the owner is trying to do as much as he or she can with the space and limited kitchen that they do have and also trying to source their food as locally as they can.

I, however, was there for the gelato. There were about ten flavors out on display and you can taste whichever flavors (I tasted four before picking what I wanted) you like. I tasted the chocolate, coffee, pistachio, and dulce le leche. The nice thing is that when you order, you can mix up two flavors, one being on the bottom of the cup and one on top. They don't actually make the gelato. However, an Italian gentlemen from Little Italy in Cleveland, OH actually does. Apparently when additional gelato is ordered, it has to go through an interpreter because he doesn't speak any English.

For the top of my cup I choose Dulce Le Leche:


It was smooth and creamy and had swirls of the caramel running through it. It was a bit sweeter, but not overly so. The flavor really popped in my mouth.

After eating all of the Dulce Le Leche, I was left with the pistachio:


This also had the same lovely mouthful, but the flavor of the pistachios was wonderful and embracing. The woman behind the counter said that she didn't particularly care for it because it had such a strong nut flavor, but I loved it. I know the two photos look almost identical, but the pistachio did have the slightly off-green color to it and the flavor was DEFINITELY different.

I would definitely recommend you stop in and give it a shot. I'm going to stop back in some evening and try out some of their other food items.