An Impromptu Stop At Dagwood's Sandwich Shop

As I was meandering my way around northern Medina, Ohio on a lazy Saturday afternoon, I happened to pass by a small, blink-and-you'll-miss-it restaurant located in one of the many strip malls that dot the landscape of this part of town. I actually remember seeing it briefly before, but because I was in Medina to try out a different restaurant (Bullies Real BBQ), I didn't stop or backtrack to give it more attention. This time, however, I had no such agenda and seeing as I was a tiny bit hungry and it was the middle of the afternoon (read: fewer customers), I began to think this would be the perfect time to stop in to Dagwood's Sandwich Shop.

From a bit of research, I've deduced that Dagwood's is a national chain based out of Clearwater, Florida and that the Medina store was just one of those locations. From the information I found on the web, the original store only opened and began franchising in 2006 and the website for the Medina store states that Debra Gabel purchased the location in 2008 and has been running it ever since. To make matters even more confusing there apparently was also a Dagwood's Sandwich Shoppe, which may or may not have anything to do with Dagwood's Sandwich Shop.

Regardless, this Dagwood's was located at 965C North Court, Medina, OH 44256 and can be reached at 330-721-1575 (phone) or 330-721-1576 (fax). You can also go to this location's website by clicking here. Parking was a bit strange as the small drive in front of the restaurant only allowed unidirectional traffic. However, at the rear of the building was a second road that allowed me to circle around and pull into a parking slot with relative ease.

Here was a shot of the exterior of the store:

Once inside, I was greeted by a lone worker and no patrons. Above her head was the menu posted on the wall in two different sections:



By the ordering area, there was a similar paper menu fixed to the surface of the counter:


It is interesting to note that there are some discrepancies between items and prices between the two in-store menus and the on-line version. While I normally might have entertained the thought of trying the signature sandwich at Dagwood's (appropriately enough called the "Dagwood"), it looked huge and I wasn't that particularly hungry. I asked the worker if Dagwood's had any signature sandwiches other than the Dagwood and she pointed to the front of the counter where an arrangement of food pictures taunted hungry customers:


This led me to contemplate having a gyro and I gazed at the slowly spinning machine at the left end of the grilltop area:


I finally settled on a sandwich that was listed on the wall menu, but none of the other menus, a Turkey Reuben for $5.99. Seeing as the entire soda fountain was out of order, I just asked for a glass of water. Expecting the same small "courtesy cup" of water I get whenever I request something free, the worker surprised me by telling me to just take one of the bottled waters from the cooler behind me.

She surprised me even more when she informed me that all the sandwiches come with complimentary fries if I wanted them. While I certainly didn't really have room for a sandwich and fries, I figured, hey, why not? The menu indicated that they were fresh cut and while I have found very few fresh cut fries to my liking, given that they were essentially free, I wouldn't necessarily be any worse for the wear. I asked her if that was a Saturday special and she replied that the free fries were an every day thing.

I watched (and covertly snapped the photos in this post) as she dropped the fresh cut fries into the fryer and then began assembling my sandwich. As she got close, she asked me if I wanted 1000 Island dressing on my sandwich. I asked her if she could simply serve it on the side and she nodded. I took my tray of food and retired to a table by the window.

Here was a shot of my Turkey Reuben, cup of 1000 Island dressing, and a pickle spear:


Here was a side shot of the sandwich:


First, the positives. None of the items on this sandwich were too salty. Sometimes sauerkraut can be kind of a wildcard when it comes to salt, but everything was nicely controlled. Everything also tasted fresh and the turkey was a nice quality, avoiding that slimy texture that cheap cuts sometimes possess. The application of the 1000 Island dressing added a nice balance of sweetness and creaminess to the sandwich.

Second, the negatives. While the rye bread had been put onto the flattop (I watched), neither of the slices had been buttered and the bread was on the heat only long enough to warm up and slightly stale the outer crust of the bread slices. This led to the sandwich missing the wonderful crunchy texture that a properly griddled sandwich should have. The Swiss cheese, although warmed by the heated turkey slices and sauerkraut, was only warm enough to start sweating some of its internal oils and not actually melt.

Finally, my complimentary order of fresh cut fries:


I couldn't believe the enormity of the portion size, especially for something that was free. While there weren't any grease puddles on the bottom on the plate, the fries were sort of all over the place in terms of greasiness and texture. Fortunately, some of the fries were wonderfully crispy and had a nice potato flavors. Others, a bit more greasy and sad, typical for this style of fry. There was easily enough fries for at least two servings and in the end, I took home my other half of my sandwich and half of the fries on this plate.

In an interesting twist of fate, the owner happened to arrive as I was about halfway through my meal. For whatever reason, after unloading the items she had purchased at Gordon Food Service from her car, she proceeded to have a company meeting right in the front of the restaurant with the newly arrived staff members. Here was what I easily overheard:

1) Staff members are to keep the doors open until the close time stated on the front door. No exceptions.

2) Apparently the menu is still in flux and she needed to sit down and write up a SOP (standard operating procedure) manual so that every employee knew exactly how to construct each and every sandwich.

3) Not only was she thinking about putting in a milkshake machine, she had already purchased one and was just waiting for the right time to install it in the store. Much discussion was had about the optimal location and no one seemed to be able to come to a consensus.

4) Not only had the cash register run out of $5's and $10's, but since it was late afternoon on a Saturday, no banks were open and no gas stations would give out change. Someone had already attempted and failed at this.

5) It was reiterated that all sandwiches, not just the subs, come with complimentary fries. The customer can refuse them, but they must be offered. No substitutions. Except for good customers. And then maybe not a full order of onion rings, but maybe, like six or so.

Honestly, the entire conversation left me just a little bit unsure of Ms. Gabel's business acumen. She purchased this location more than eighteen months ago and she is still having these kinds of operational issues? Based on the sandwich and fresh cut fries I ate today, the Medina Dagwood's gets a marginal pass in my book; based on the impromptu corporate meeting held in the front of the restaurant and the items discussed? I'd be surprised if this location lasted another eighteen months from now.

Extra Helpings: One Hell Of A Reuben At Twig's Diner

By now I should have realized that you should never judge a book by its cover. While I certainly didn't go out of my way to avoid it, until a longtime reader and frequent commenter suggested I try the food at Twig's Diner, it just wasn't on my radar. Which was ironic because while I've known about this tiny little restaurant for at least two decades, had I known what was happening inside I would've already been a long and faithful follower. The original suggestion from my reader was to check them out on Sunday morning for breakfast. While they do serve breakfast during their hours of operation (7 AM - 3 PM every day), when I stopped by today in the early afternoon I was feeling in more of a lunch mood.

Twig's Diner was located at 334 31st NW, Barberton, OH 44203 and can be reached at 330-825-1016. Not surprisingly, there was no website associated with the restaurant at the time of this writing. There was a small eight car parking lot to the north side of the restaurant with ample overflow parking in a larger lot directly across the street. Parking in the small lot was the easy part. Backing out directly into a busy street when I went to leave was fairly tricky.

Here was a shot of the outside of the diner:


The place really does look tiny from the outside, but once inside, it felt much bigger. Seating forty-five guests at a time, the inside was decorated with hats, fifties memorabilia, and lots and lots of photographs of happy Twig's customers. Here was a shot of the lunch counter / entrance to the kitchen:


Attached to the wall next to my table was the following card:


I'm always leery of walking into a restaurant that has miscellaneous tchotchkes randomly strewn throughout the interior. At Twig's Diner, however, I began to understand more about Twig herself (who wasn't there, by the way) through her choice of decorating aesthete. Fortunately, it was nearly dead when I showed up for a late lunch so the floor manager (who also acted as my server) was able to fill me in on the story of Twig's Diner. It seems that Twig was actually just one of several previous owners of this space. Thirteen years ago Ernie, the previous owner, had spruced the place up a bit and put out a "For Rent" sign in the window when serendipity struck. Twig, a seasoned professional in the food and bartending industry, just happened to drive by the building and decided to fulfill a longtime dream of having a little place all to herself. She threw caution to the wind, opened up her eponymous diner, and thirteen years later I now had the opportunity to see why my reader had so enthusiastically endorsed the cuisine.

Here was a shot of the menu my server left at the table:






When I asked my server for recommendations from the menu, she whole-heartedly suggested the breakfast items from the menu. I indicated that I wasn't really in the mood for breakfast right now (it was 1:30 PM after all) and she immediately jumped to the back of the menu where she pointed out the reuben sandwich, titled "One Hell Of A Reuben." Clearly amused by the good humor in the naming scheme, I went on to ask what the soup of the day was. My server prattled off two or three until she came to the final one, lasagna soup. I've heard of stuffed pepper soup, but never lasagna soup. When I pushed her a little further, she basically confessed that one of yesterday's specials was lasagna. Rather than throw it away, they re-purposed it as a soup. Wholly intrigued by the notion of lasagna in soup form, I immediately ordered a cup of it.

Shortly thereafter, this arrived at my table:


I filled my soup spoon with some of the soup and brought it to my nose. The rich smell of long-simmered tomatoes and beef filled my nostrils. I took a bite and was rewarded with ... lasagna! The usual suspects were all there: Noodles, beef, ricotta, tomatoes. In addition there were some thinly-chopped carrots that while cooked through, clearly had not been in the original lasagna the day before. My guess was that the cook started the soup by sauteeing some aromatics, carrots and onion before adding the lasagna "base" and additional broth to essentially make a soup out of it. The soup was hearty and delicious and had I not decided to order a sandwich and a side, I could've probably been happy just eating an entire bowl of it. The garlic bread that accompanied the soup was grilled nicely, but it lacked a nice garlic edge to each bite.

When I was about two-thirds of the way through my soup, my sandwich platter arrived:


I decided to go with the One Hell Of A Reuben and to substitute the homemade onion rings for the fries for an additional $2.59. I'm so glad I did. First, here was a side shot of the reuben sandwich:


Built as a double-decker sandwich, the corned beef was tender and amazingly juicy. I had to make sure I ate the sandwich over my plate as juicy literally gushed back onto my plate. The sauerkraut and swiss cheese were nice, but the real flavor standout was the "special sauce." It turns out that Twig's was making their own 1000 Island dressing for the reuben and it was a beautiful combination of tangy, creamy, and sweet; a nice foil for the strong flavor of the corned beef itself. One of the nice things about Twig's reuben was that the salt was nicely controlled and not too overpowering. Between corned beef and sauerkraut, sometimes too much salt can be an issue. Not here.

To accompany my sandwich, I opted to go with the homemade onion rings:


Make no qualms about it, these were excellent! Probably on par with my other favorite homemade onion rings at Michael Symon's B Spot restaurant in Woodmere. The onion inside the ring was nice and meaty, but cooked perfectly until they were tender and sweet. The exterior batter was crispy, not greasy, and a beautiful thickness. The ratio of the batter to the onion itself was also nice; each bite rewarded me with a nice blend of coating and vegetable. Clearly this was an onion ring to be reckoned with. The only infinitesimally small criticism I had was that while there was salt in the batter, I could tell that they hadn't been seasoned after they came out of the deep fat fryer. They were a hair shy of being seasoned perfectly to my taste. At the same time, on the several occasions that I've had the rings at B Spot, I think they may be just a hair over-seasoned. I will say this for certain: I think these may be the best homemade onion rings in all of Akron and Canton and they give B Spot's a run for their money, too.

I intend to return to Twig's Diner very, very soon. Having now tasted the delicious food available on the lunch menu, I plan to sample some of their very unique and delicious sounding breakfast foods, too. I've been looking for a place with a good version of biscuits and sausage gravy and wouldn't you know it, Twig's has it on their menu and all of it is homemade. In addition, every day three kinds of pancakes are available: Plain, wheat, and sweet potato. On certain days of the week, additional flavors are also available. Belgium waffles, corned beef hash, omelettes, Twig's seems to have what you crave for breakfast. Well, at least what I crave.

Twig's Diner is now solidly on my radar scope and I hope that I can turn as many of my friends, family members, and readers on to it as I can. Highly, highly recommended.

Real-Time Blogging at Sonnet's

It's kind of fun when you get to eat your sandwich and then post about it 5 minutes later while still sitting here. I decided to meet up with my mother (aka the Birthday Girl) for a bite to eat at Sonnet's in Wadsworth, OH. Since there have been other places in Wadsworth that offered free wi-fi, I never considered Sonnet's as a place to get a nice cup of coffee and a bite to eat. It wasn't until early last year when my grandfather was going through his ordeal at the nursing home that my mother and aunt basically made Sonnet's their restaurant of choice because of how close it is to the nursing home. I have since made it the place I go to in Wadsworth when I need an on-line connection and a nice cup of coffee.

Sonnet's menu is varied, but pretty straightforward: salads, soups, panini sandwiches, and wraps. Within each of these categories, however, are many choices. All of the meats are Boar's Head Premium Deli cuts and are quite good. They also sell pastries, cookies, and bagels. Some of these items such as the cookies and muffins they bake on-site; items like the biscotti and scones come from other vendors.

Today I decided to go with a Reuben sandwich done on their panini press with thousand island dressing and sauerkraut. It came with chips and a pickle spear in a basket:


This was very good (actually all of the sandwiches I've had here are very good). The rye bread tasted fresh and had a nice crunch to it from the panini press. Everything inside the sandwich was warm and juicy. What I love most about the Boar's Head meats is how tasty and fresh they are without being too salty. Sometimes you get those cheaper deli cuts that are so salty that you have to chug half a glass of water just to get through the sandwich. Not here. The sauerkraut was also nice, a balanced blend between acid and salt. I've had Reuben sandwiches in the past where the sauerkraut could take over the sandwich if it was too strong.

My mother had a chicken wrap which she also greatly enjoyed.

And it's become somewhat of a tradition that when I order a cafe au lait in a mug, I get this:


It's not so much a statement of my love for all things Disney as much as a consequence of them having no clean mugs except for this one when I had ordered a cafe au lait many moons ago. The woman working the counter looked at me and said that this was all they had. Not particularly wanting to drink my coffee drink out of a cardboard cup, I just smiled and said, "Sure!" Ever since then, it's just become this sort of "in" joke between her and I that this is the mug I get.

Oh, yeah, the cafe au lait is quite good, too!

Sonnet's is a great casual place to come in and meet up with friends, get a little work done on the laptop, and get a decent bite to eat. Definitely check them out if you happen to be in Wadsworth.