Extra Helpings: A Taste Of Sugo Bistro

To say that opening a restaurant is a stressful endeavor would be an understatement. There are so many factors that can make or break a restaurateur's efforts that if you stopped to consider them all, you just might find yourself balled up in the corner of the room in the fetal position, whimpering for your mommy. When I found out that Louis Prpich, chef and owner of the successful Chowder House Cafe in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, had decided to open a second restaurant (not a second location, but a completely separate restaurant) called Sugo Modern Italian Bistro, I wasn't sure if he was simply overly ambitious or possibly a little mad. Quite possibly, a little of both.

The first problem, as it turned out, was finding the restaurant. While I knew it was housed at the same location as the old Cuyahoga Falls stalwart DiLullo's, for those not from the area, that would mean nothing. Although Sugo does have a website, it hadn't risen far enough in the Google pagerank system to show up in a simple "sugo bistro cuyahoga falls" search. Sadly, what did show up at the top of the results was a piece from the Cuyahoga Falls Patch. Sad, not because this local rag showed up and Sugo did not, but because the address listed for the restaurant had been taken from the home page of Sugo's website and was incorrect.

I knew sort of where Sugo was supposed to be, but like a technological automaton, I put the incorrect address into my GPS and blindly followed where it led. And where it led was straight to the old Montgomery Wards building that had been demolished several years ago and where now stood a fenced off, empty plot of land. Thinking that there was obviously something wrong here, I headed south on State Road until I saw this lovely sign:


It was only after I pulled into the parking lot and checked the correct address for Sugo (the one on the front of the building) that I realized that the actual location was 2485 State Road, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223 (and NOT 2845 State Road). The restaurant can be reached at 234-678-7153. Parking was available in the lot attached to the restaurant.

Here was a shot of the front exterior of the restaurant:


Based on the exterior of the building, I suspected that the restaurant was smaller than I had originally thought. Once inside,


I realized that indeed, it wasn't very big. In fact, it was quite similar to the seating capacity at Chowder House Cafe. Because I had decided to go on a Saturday night without a reservation, I knew I had to show up early to avoid a wait for dinner. Sugo opens for dinner service at 4 PM on Monday through Saturday and since I had no place to be, I figured I'd show up a little bit after 4 PM, have a drink at the bar and then transition to a table around 5 PM or so.

The advantage of sitting at the bar right after the restaurant opened was that I had unfettered access to the woman tending the bar and got to ask lots of questions without coming across as needy. The not-so-fun thing about sitting at the bar right after the restaurant opened was that within about ten minutes, Chef Prpich made his walkthrough of the front-of-house and discovered me sitting there, slowly sipping my vodka tonic and perusing various websites on my smartphone.

Obviously, any thought of an anonymous review was out the window at this point, but to be honest, with how small the restaurant was to begin with, had I shown up during a busier period, it still wouldn't have been that difficult to pick me out from a table should the chef make his typical walkthrough of the dining room to check on how his guests were doing. Louis and I chatted for about twenty minutes before he had to finish getting ready for dinner service. At around 5 PM, the bartender walked me over to a small table where she left me with the menus.

Here was a shot of the front and back side of the regular menu:



And here was a shot of tonight's dinner specials:


While I had been sitting at the bar, the servers had been talking about the crab-stuffed fluke off of tonight's specials menu. When I saw that it came with asparagus risotto as the side, I was pretty much sold from that moment forward. But I also wanted to have something to start out the meal, too.

While I pondered my choices, my server brought out a basket of fresh bread:


Joining the bread was some herb-infused olive oil:


The bread was fresh and delicious and the dipping oil provided a nice fruity herbaceousness to complement it.

I finally managed to zero in on the appetizer that I would be having this evening, the Tuna Ribs:


Having recently had Paku ribs at the last Dinner In The Dark, I was intrigued by the notion of tuna ribs. I have never had tuna ribs before, so when I saw that the menu item had been starred (*) indicating that it was an item if consumed undercooked could cause a food borne illness, I wasn't sure how to order them. This warning is usually placed on items that can be cooked to a specific temperature (like rare, medium rare, etc.). As a general rule, when I order a protein that I've never had before, I know enough to let the chef be the one making the decision on how far to cook it. Accordingly, I told my server to have the chef cook it "at his discretion."

What came out of the kitchen several minutes later were fully cooked tuna ribs. While I am usually only a fan of fully cooked tuna in something like a tuna salad sandwich, I picked up the first rib and took a bite. The menu had stated that the ribs were marinated in a bagna cauda sauce and from my very first bite, the gentle spiciness of the marinade came through. "Absolutely delicious," was what played through my mind. The meat was tender and juicy, despite the fact they were fully cooked through, probably due to the rib meat having more fat than say, the loin.

The plate also contained carrots, celery, and cauliflower that had been pickled in an acidic hat trick of white, cider, and champagne vinegars which added an excellent textural component and zingy bite to counteract the fattiness of the tuna. To round out the dish, a small ramekin of Gorgonzola-laced crema suddenly made me realize that what Sugo was doing was essentially serving up chicken wings "of the sea." This was such a unique and delicious dish, only the knowledge of having a full entree coming to my table stopped me from finishing the entire dish by myself (the serving could easily have been split between two to three adults as a starter).

When Chef Prpich came out to check on me, I asked him about the star on the menu. He admitted that while the tuna ribs were fully cooked through, when the health board saw that he was cooking Ahi, they wanted him to star it nonetheless. Fair enough. He also confirmed with a slight smile that he did have traditional Buffalo chicken wings on his mind when he created this dish. Unfortunately, because of its unusual nature, it wasn't selling particularly well. I'm here to tell you, gentle reader, you must try out this dish. It might sound a little scary, but the results were absolutely delicious.

As I stated earlier in my review, I had decided on the Crab-stuffed Fluke with Asparagus Risotto while still sitting at the bar:


The primary focus of the Chowder House Cafe is on seafood. While Sugo is primarily serving modern Italian fare, Louis's expertise in seafood preparation was not lost on me. The fluke was cooked beautifully, tender and juicy, and the cream reduction sauce had been smartly flavored with some lemon juice, to help balance out the fattiness and enhance the flavor of the fish. The crab stuffing was good, too, but almost seemed unnecessary as the fish itself was so pristine. The grilled asparagus stalks added a nice bit of crunch and smokiness to the dish and the risotto was as much of a star as the fish was.

I was actually a bit worried at first when I tasted the risotto because I could definitely tell that it had been finished with cheese. Traditionally cheese and fish don't go so well together, but Chef Prpich managed to get the balance just right. As opposed to the soft and creamy risotto, the asparagus and carrot pieces still had a bit of their natural crunch to them, making for a wonderful contrast all in one spoonful. I ate as much of my entree as I could, but at about 2/3 of the way through the plate, I had to stop as I was just too full.

While dessert was offered, I declined and asked for my check instead. With my vodka tonic from the bar earlier and tax included, my bill tonight came to just over $37, which for this level of execution and freshness of fish, was an excellent value. Appetizers ranged from $6 - $11 and entrees (which includes several pastas) ranged from $15 - $25, so you could definitely get away with a smaller bill if money was a concern. To be honest, I probably could've made an entire meal out of the appetizer alone, it was that large. Up to this point, Sugo has been open only for dinner, but starting this week, they will also be serving lunch as well.

While every restaurant, even those opened by seasoned veterans like Louis Prpich, have their growing pains during the first month or so after they open, from what I saw and tasted during my visit tonight, I think Sugo Modern Italian Bistro is well on its way to becoming as successful as the Chowder House Cafe. I would highly suggest that you either show up during a non-peak time if you don't want to bother with reservations or just do the smart thing and call ahead to make sure they can accommodate your party at the time you prefer to dine.

For those already living in the Akron area, Sugo should be a definite addition to your dining out options. For those living outside the Akron area, now would be an excellent time to plan an extended outing, perhaps take in an Akron Aeros baseball game or a visit to the Akron Museum of Art so that you can stop in at Sugo afterwards. You'll be happy that you did.

Extra Helpings: Blogger Dinner At Chowder House Cafe

One of the self-imposed job requirements I have for myself as a food blogger is the responsibility to help drive as much traffic as possible to the independently owned, northeast Ohio restaurants as I can. My routine modus operandi is to do this via anonymous restaurant visits where I show up unannounced, do not identify who am I or why I am there, and pay for everything I eat. While this may work for the first visit or two, when my identity is eventually discovered, my relationship with the restaurant and the chef is bound to shift.

The first two times I reviewed Chowder House Cafe back in October and December of 2009, Chef Louis Prpich had no idea of why I was there or what I intended to do. Having no website of their own at the time of opening, my initial review served as the landing point for many, many Google searches for the restaurant (and still does, actually). It must have been one of my readers who alerted him to the fact that someone had not only written about his restaurant once, but twice. He reached out then by leaving a comment on my second review. Interestingly, he reached out to me again about a year later in October 2010 with an email.

Seeking to harness the power of those most concerned with writing about the vibrant food scene in Cleveland and Akron, he wondered if I would mind stopping by the restaurant before the dinner shift on a Saturday evening. When I arrived, we sat down at a table in the back of the restaurant, he brought out a few dishes for me to try, and systematically began to pick my brain about the notion of doing a blogger dinner. A blogger dinner, for those of you who don't know, is where a restaurant will organize a comped (meaning, free) dinner for local food bloggers in the hopes that they will then return to their respective blogs and write about it. While writing honestly about gratis meals is a tricky affair, I always make it a condition of attending such a meal that I am free to write about my experience, good or bad.

After making some recommendations about how best to structure a menu for food bloggers (we are an adventuresome bunch, after all), I agreed to bring together several of Cleveland's and Akron's top current food bloggers; Chef Prpich was tasked with putting together the menu. We had originally scheduled the dinner for a Tuesday in December before the Christmas holiday, but because of bad weather, had to reschedule to last Tuesday. At 6:30 PM, representatives from six blogs, evenly split between Akron and Cleveland, convened at the restaurant for what would be a nine course tasting menu.

Here was a list of the courses we were to be served tonight:


Wisely, Louis put together a list of roughly half of the items coming from his seasonal menu and half what he would consider "specials" that might rotate in and out depending on ingredient availability. Before starting the meal, the chef came out and gave us a nice background of the highlights of his culinary career. Having graduated from Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, he had founded and run several kitchens in the Cleveland and Akron area, including the original Grotto location in The Valley, Coaches, and Office Bistro. It was in 2009 he decided to open Chowder House Cafe as a small little cafe featuring fresh seafood and homemade cuisine that would still allow him to balance his work and personal life. The cafe has been such a hit, however, that they've already expanded into another area of the building and grown from a small, one page menu to two full pages of seasonal, sustainable, locally purchased food whenever possible.

Introductions now finished, he directed our attention to the first course, soup. We each had our choice of the signature potato-less clam chowder, the lobster bisque, or the traditional French onion soup. Having already had the clam chowder, I went for the French Onion Soup:


Topped with a crouton and melted and bubbly cheese, the soup was delicious. The onions were soft, the broth was both slightly sweet and savory, and it really did a good job of warming my soul on this cold wintry night. I heard moans of gastronomic ecstasy from diners around me, equally enjoying their soup selection. When you go, gentle reader, start your meal off with a bowl of soup. You won't go astray.

Our second course was Crudo:


Consisting of thin slices of raw tuna, scallops, and walleye, the fish had been dressed with Meyer lemon and olive oil and topped with a warm, wilted arugula salad. The fish was immaculately fresh and gave off no hint of off-smells or flavors. In fact, the flavors were remarkably clean and blended together quite harmoniously. The wilted salad also gave a nice temperature contrast to the fish. Chef Louis had clearly designed tonight's menu to impress and by the end of course two, every single person sitting at that table was definitely salivating for more.

Our third course was a Portobello Streudel using fresh phyllo dough from Athens Food and served with a small salad and a pool of house-made demi:


The mushrooms had been poached in cabernet sauvignon and mixed with Provolone before being wrapped in these burrito-esque logs and subsequently baked until perfectly golden brown. The phyllo was so delicate that the outer layers broke into a thousand little shards when I first lowered my fork into the streudel. The filling was rich and earthy, and the Provolone lent a nice creaminess to the filling. The veal demi-glace saucing the plate added another layer of richness and flavor.

For our fourth course, Chef Louis gave us the second of what would be five courses involving seafood, Baked Oysters:


These were Chincoteaque oysters that had been shucked, topped with spinach, bacon, Manchego, and sherry cream and then broiled until golden brown. Each diner got three oysters and I have to tell you, these were rich and decadent. Each of the ingredients lent its own flavor without taking away from any of the others. The oyster, essentially protected on the bottom by the shell and the top from the toppings, were plump and juicy.

For our fifth course, plates of Crabcakes with Oven Roasted Creamed Corn arrived at our table:


This was an interesting plate of food. While the crab in the crabcakes had come already pre-picked and packaged, there was also no filler in the cake itself. This led the cake to have a very intense crab flavor. Normally paired with a sauce remoulade, the creaminess instead came from the creamed corn, infused with cream and Adams Reserve white cheddar cheese. The small salad in the back of the plate had cleverly been dressed with a jalapeño vinaigrette, adding a modicum of chile heat that caused it to pop on my taste buds.

Our sixth course was an item that I have actually never had before, line caught Wild Shark:


Seared nicely and finished in the oven until perfectly cooked, the fish had the texture of swordfish. Had one sworn off of meat in favor of fish, this particular dish would satisfy that primal urge for meat. The Caribbean spice-rubbed shark filet was served over a julienned vegetable medley of baby leeks, bok choy, and red peppers and finished with a ponzu fish sauce. This was an interesting pairing of protein and vegetables and up until this point in my life, I would have expected to see something like salmon in its place. The shark, however, stood up well to the other flavors on the plate.

It was also at this point in the meal where the chef stopped and informed us that he always tries to make responsible choices for the fish he serves at the restaurant. Believing firmly in the role of sustainability, he pointed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch website to determine which fish he bought and which he passed on. I am in total agreement that this is a great website which I use all the time when determining which fish selection I will be having for the evening. Since the website is perfectly browsable on my smartphone, I have it with me wherever I go.

By this point in the dinner, the strain on our guts was beginning to manifest itself with moans from the diners and physical stretches to make sure we had room for the remaining three courses. Course number seven was a recent addition to Chowder House's menu, Cassoulet:


This incredibly hearty meat and bean casserole had been made with chicken and homemade pork sausage, confitted in duck fat and stewed with white beans before being topped with a garlic-infused, almost Panko-like bread crumb and toasted to utter perfection. It was interesting to note that when Chef Louis originally put this on the menu and made it with the more traditional ingredient, duck, he could barely move them out of the kitchen. Changing the protein to chicken and pork sausage apparently made this dish highly accessible because it is now a wonderful seller. After tasting the earthy, creamy, rich and complex flavors, I could tell why. While the crudo course was probably one of my favorites for how light and delicate it was, the cassoulet course was right up there for the complexity and depth of flavor.

Our eighth, and final savory, course was a Proscuitto-Wrapped Monkfish over House Stewed Tomatoes:


Monkfish is considered to be a "poor man's" lobster. It has a similar texture, but I find it isn't quite as sweet as lobster meat can be. That being said, the monkfish was cooked properly and more importantly, served over the most luscious stewed tomatoes that I have ever eaten. When Chef Prpich stopped back in to check on us, he told us that during the late summer months, when tomatoes are at their peak, the restaurant madly stews and jars these tomatoes for the cold winter months. Sadly, he informed us that they are about to run out of their reserves of this dynamite condiment until the summer months bless us once again with ripe tomatoes. The tomatoes were acidic, savory, unctuous and sweet all at the same time. Simply amazing.

Our gargantuan task nearly completed, there always seems to be room for dessert, right? Our ninth course was the classic Creme Brulee, Chowder House-style:


The creme brulee itself was fairly standard, but the inclusion of a cayenne and chocolate tuille and a cocoa infused whipped cream really amped the dish up. The vanilla infused custard was super smooth and creamy and the tuille added a nice textural contrast to the dish. The only part of this dish I was a little disappointed with was the lack of chili kick from the cayenne pepper. Otherwise, this was a fantastic way to end our journey from "soup to nuts." While it's obvious that Chef Prpich had time to prepare for us and present only his best dishes, I think I can safely say that our expectations were equally as high coming into this meal. Having sat through this momentous meal, I can safely say that he delivered with aplomb.

Our meal at its inevitable conclusion, we thanked our host and servers, left a tip for the waitstaff that we thought was commensurate with the value of the food we had eaten tonight, and headed back out into the cold January air. Going into the dinner, I already knew two of the other food bloggers in attendance. One of the benefits of tonight's meeting was the opportunity to meet three more. The incredibly cool thing about these dinners is that in addition to being able to talk about the cuisine of a local chef or restaurant, you get to hang out with some very cool people.

As I have done in the past, I highly recommend you check out Chowder House Cafe. The restaurant is incredibly charming, the chef has the desire to present local, seasonal, and sustainable food in a way that truly highlights the ingredients, and the vibe of the place is ... well, just really cool. They currently don't have an alcohol license, but the chef informed us before we left that they are working on the final stages of getting a beer license. Of course, should you want wine or beer with dinner, you are free to bring your own and they will charge you a nominal corkage fee for opening and storing your beverage of choice.

I encourage you to check out the other bloggers' entries regarding last Tuesday's dinner. Links to their articles are provided for your convenience:

* Interesting Akron
* Carano's Cucina
* Fun Playing With Food
* The Chubby Cook
* Eating Around Town

(I'll update this list as more articles post, so check back.)

Extra Helpings: More From The Chowder House Cafe

After my last wonderful visit to Chef Louis Prpich's restaurant Chowder House Cafe in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, I made a mental note to myself that I needed to return soon for another experience. Sadly, given my crazy holiday schedule, "returning soon" turned into a several month hiatus. Finally, however, I had a free Friday night and I just so happened to be in that part of the world. Knowing that it might be tricky (if not impossible) to get a table without a reservation on a Friday night did enter my mind, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and go anyway.

I arrived at 7:30 PM to find that while the place was definitely hopping, there were still a small handful of tables available. The hostess showed me to my table and left me with the menu. It turns out that the regular menu is exactly the same as it was last time, which kind of surprised me a little bit. I had commented in my previous blog that the menu seemed a little simple; I had kind of thought that after being open for several months now that it would've been tweaked somewhat. Fortunately, as was the case last time, there were some additional daily specials. I don't want to get ahead of myself in this review, but I do think I should warn you, gentle reader, that both times I have eaten here, the daily entree specials were significantly more expensive than the regular menu items. It's not that I don't think the entrees were priced inappropriately. But I think the servers should make you aware of the prices when they are describing the specials given that they can be twice the price of the regular menu items.

While the potato-less clam chowder was still on the regular menu, I decided to go with the daily soup special, a rustic sausage soup:


First, the good. This soup had a marvelous flavor to it and was excellently seasoned. It very much reminded me of an Italian Wedding Soup without the pasta. The sausage, which had been sliced instead of crumbled, added a nice meaty texture to the beef broth based soup. I would take a hot cup of this soup on any cold winter day. Unfortunately, I didn't receive a hot cup of this soup today. In fact, it was barely lukewarm. To add insult to injury, the piece of bread served with the soup was beginning to go stale. I'm assuming that this bread had been sliced at the beginning of dinner service and was just now being placed on my plate.

For my dinner entree, I decided to go with one of today's specials, braised beef short ribs over mashed potatoes and asparagus. Here was a shot of my dinner when it arrived:


You'll have to forgive the "glitter" effect in the above photograph; the fat suspended in the sauce and the flash on my camera didn't play well together. Overall this was a solid dish. The short ribs were tender and very soft. The mashed potatoes were obviously handmade as they still had a bit of lumpiness to them (which I actually preferred). The roasted vegetables, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and whole garlic cloves were a wonderful addition to this hearty dish. The asparagus, while not in season right now, actually had a sweetness to them that made me think about late spring and early summer when this vegetable is at its peak. I had only two critiques, one major and the second minor. First, both the meat and the potatoes just needed a tiny bit more salt. I think it would've really made the flavors on that plate of food really pop. Second, and sadly, a bit more serious, was the discovery of an entire bay leaf hiding in the sauce:


In the darkened restaurant, I didn't actually see this before putting it into my mouth and only after starting to chew did I realize I had something inedible that needed to be fished out. Bay leaves are obviously a wonderful way to add aroma and flavor to soups and stews, but because they are a choking hazard need to be fished out before serving the food to your guests. While not as bad as finding, say, a used BandAid in my food, it still shouldn't have happened.

That being said, it didn't stop me from cleaning my plate:


After finishing my entree, I decided to take a fifteen minute break (the dining room was now mostly empty, so I wasn't worried about being accused of "camping") before proceeding with dessert. I did, however, decide to have a cup of decaf while I waited:


Fortunately this was one choice they had added since my last visit. Previously, only regular coffee was available. Speaking of beverages, I overheard another server talking about the restaurant's wine policy. When my server returned to check on me, I asked her about it. Currently the Chowder House Cafe does not have a beer and wine license. However, if you bring your own beer or wine, there is only a $5 corkage fee. For those that don't know, a corkage fee is a charge for opening the bottle of wine and providing you with wine or beer glasses. $5 seems entirely reasonable to me. Hopefully they'll be able to secure their own license soon so that they can begin offering their own selections.

Having sat for a few minutes and digested, I finally made the decision to move forward with dessert. Since I had tried the chocolate torte the last time I was here, I went with the only other dessert available, the caramel pecan cheesecake:


Both the chocolate torte and the cheesecake are made locally by a home-based baker named Bernie Tetzel. I have searched what seems to be the entirety of Google and found nothing reliable about her or her business. Apparently she supplies many local restaurants with desserts. Since I enjoyed her chocolate torte the last time I visited, I figured the cheesecake would be a home run, too. It was. Sort of.

The dessert featured your standard New York style lemon flavored cheesecake as the base. By itself, the cheesecake was quite tasty and the tempered sweetness from the custard went well with the bitterness of the coffee. The moistness of the custard was nicely in the middle of ultra-creamy and dry and crumbly. As a piece of cheesecake, I enjoyed it. However, the "caramel pecan" portion of the name only came from the fact that the finished cheesecake had been drizzled with a caramel sauce and then finished with pecan halves on top for garnish. There was no integration of these flavors in the actual crust or custard itself. As such, the predominant flavor I got when taking an entire bite was still lemon. It wasn't the dessert itself I objected to, but how it was described.

It wasn't until I received my check that I realized that the braised short ribs entree was actually $19. Was it worth $19? Yes. Should my server have mentioned this fact when she was describing the daily specials given that most of the other items on the regular menu ring in at between $7 and $10? Hell, yes. Granted, I can't be completely absolved of blame here as I could've asked. But like most people who eat out, if a price isn't given for a daily special, it is a reasonable assumption to make that it will be in line with what you can see on the restaurant's regular menu.

Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed with the food today at the Chowder House Cafe. Certainly nothing was inedible or had to be sent back to the kitchen and clearly the flavors were quite good, but several small and not-so-small problems made their way into my dining experience tonight that made it less stellar than my first experience. Since it is only Chef Prpich running the kitchen, I can only imagine that he was having an off night. I'm still recommending that you give the Chowder House Cafe a try, but make sure you heed some of the information I've given you today, especially if you are interested in the daily specials. I intend to return, and I think you should, too.

Extra Helpings: Chowder House Cafe

When I first moved back to Northeast Ohio from Columbus, I decided to settle in the residential suburb of Cuyahoga Falls. It seemed like a nice area with access to many of the businesses I would be frequenting as well as close to a number of friends. Several stores were even within walking distance, including a unique little coffee shop called Jimmy's Cafe. Jimmy's was an imaginatively decorated shop that was known for serving good coffee and several unique New Orleans specialties. As I had yet to hear the blogger siren's call, I never bothered to pay too much attention to it. It was with a bit of sadness that I later learned that the original owner had simply given up after a number of years and closed it down.

Recently while reading the online version of the Akron Beacon Journal, I discovered an article that said another area chef had bought Jimmy's, renamed it to the Chowder House Cafe, and decided to throw his hat into the ring. Chef Louis Prpich, known for his stints at other Akron eateries, decided to keep the funky interior and exterior decor and put together a rather simple menu that he could execute by himself. According to my server, they had only been open one week, but had seen some pretty good turnout based on word of mouth.

The Chowder House Cafe was located at the corner of Chestnut Boulevard and State Road in Cuyahoga Falls. More specifically, they were located at 2028 Chestnut Boulevard, 44221. Unfortunately no definite phone number or website could be found online at the moment. Hopefully both of these problems will be remedied with time.

I arrived around dusk and parked my car behind the restaurant. Here was a shot of the exterior:


Once inside, you turn right and enter the dining room. There were two areas, the outer area with smaller round tables and a spot in the back where simple square wooden tables lounged on a small dais. Noting the lack of really good lighting in the restaurant, I decided to sit at one of the wooden tables in the back because it appeared to have better lighting.

Once I got acclimated to my surroundings, I looked around to discover a veritable bare bones staff. Essentially there was Chef Louis Prpich in the tiny kitchen and just one server. With just a handful of tables available for guests, I can totally see one chef and two servers being able to easily handle the entire room. After a few minutes, my server arrived at my table, took my drink order, and dropped off the menu.

Here was a shot of the front:


And a shot of the back:


Clearly this was a simple menu. But it also made sense to start with something not overly ambitious. A single soup, several appetizers, salads, and lots of sandwiches, this menu conveyed to me that the chef was still finding his sea legs but was confident that what was on the menu was good. The special for the evening was a prime rib dinner as well as a French Dip sandwich au jus. Most items were between $5 and $9 and my server indicated that portions were large enough that if you got the soup and a salad or sandwich, you would be more than satisfied.

While many of the starters on the appetizer list looked tempting, the chef's potato-less clam chowder finally intrigued me enough to order it. At $5 for a bowl it seemed a touch on the pricey side, but after receiving my portion, I though it was well worth it.


This was incredibly smooth and creamy without any of the grit that potatoes would bring to the party. The clams were tender but still just a little bit chewy to give the soup some nice texture. Potatoes are normally one of the ways clam chowders are thickened. As the potato cooks, it releases starch into the surrounding liquid which then gelatinizes when cooked to the proper temperature. The chef stopped by at one point to check in on me and I asked him about the technique he used to get such a thick velvety texture to his soup. Apparently he uses both a roux (flour and butter cooked together) as well as reduced heavy cream. The one downside to the soup was that the clams were just a touch too sandy for my taste. Purging the sand out of clams is an essential, but often difficult, task one must do to avoid the annoying grinding between the teeth sensation in the final product. I always expect a little bit in clam chowder, but Chowder House Cafe's version had more than would've liked. Flavor? A-/A. Grittiness from sand? C.

While the lobster roll initially looked like it might be my sandwich selection for the evening, when my server told me that they were serving a French Dip sandwich au jus made from the prime rib that was destined for the lone entree of the night, I was hooked. I managed to make it almost all the way through my soup when this plateful of food arrived, still steaming:


The bowl of brown soup in the foreground is actually the jus. It had actually formed a "crema" on top of the liquid. The potato chips on the back left side were standard run-of-the-mill chips and nothing special.

Here was a close-up shot of the sandwich:


Other than this being a pretty darn messy sandwich to eat, it was extremely tasty. The tender prime rib slices were moist, juicy, and really flavorful. The Italian seeded bun did its best to contain all of the moisture, but at a certain point, disintegration was inevitable due to all of the juice. In order to eat this with my hands, I ended up holding the still stable parts of the sandwich with one hand and using my spoon from the chowder to spoon the juices over each bite instead of trying to dip the sandwich into the bowl of jus. And before I forget, let me give three cheers for the jus. I tried a spoonful of the jus when my plate was first set down in front of me and let me tell you, this broth was beefy. It was rich and earthy and was seasoned just perfectly. If anything, it simply made the sandwich taste even beefier.

After finishing up my sandwich, my server asked if I wanted to try any of their desserts. Normally I am not really a dessert person, especially after consuming a huge bowl of very filling soup and a large meat-filled sandwich, but I decided to hear her out. Tonight they had a chocolate torte as well as blackberry pie. Being an avid fan of chocolate and an even more avid hater of blackberry seeds, I decided to give the housemade torte a try. Here was what I received after a few minutes:


Here was a shot from another angle:


The torte slice consisted of thin slices of chocolate genoise that sandwiched layers of chocolate cream and topped off with a wonderfully thick chocolate ganache. This would have matched wonderfully with the bitterness of coffee, but unfortunately all that was available was caffeinated and as it was getting late, I wasn't about to risk a night of tossing and turning just because I wanted a bitter counterbalance to the chocolate. To say that this dessert was a chocoholic's dream would be an understatement. The contrast in textures and flavors between the layers was nicely done and the moistness of the cake, which dries out easily, really came through.

My bill, including an iced tea I had ordered at the beginning of the meal, came to roughly $20. The sandwich was $8.50 and the slice of chocolate torte was $5. This was quite reasonable given the quality of the food. There are a couple of things to note before heading off to Chowder House Cafe and trying them yourself. First, they do not have beer or wine available yet, but are more than willing to serve anything that you bring yourself for a small corkage fee. Second, they are currently only accepting cash and checks, so don't forget to stop by the ATM and make a withdrawal before you show up. I suspect that as Chef Prpich settles into his newest endeavor, all of these other accoutrement will begin to fall into place.

I highly recommend you give the Chowder House Cafe a try if you live in Akron or find yourself driving through. They are open weekdays for lunch and dinner and only for dinner on Saturdays. Between the quirky decor and the delicious food, you are sure to find something that will tickle your palate and fill your stomach.