Opening Day At The Rail

I first heard that Mike Mariola, owner of two highly praised restaurants in Wooster, Ohio, was thinking of opening a burger bar in the Fairlawn area all the way back in August/September of last year when I had the opportunity to review his flagship restaurant, South Market Bistro. At the time, he had left the bistro in the more-or-less capable hands of Chef Eric running the back of the house with wife Liz ran the front while he proceeded to open up and run The City Square Steakhouse across the street.

Noting that Mr. Mariola was absent at South Market Bistro that evening, I figured he must have been working across the street at the sister restaurant. My server surmised that he was more than likely out on the prowl looking for real estate for his new burger joint to join the burgeoning gourmet burger scene that has taken hold of Americans over the last several years. Putting himself in direct competition with other similar restauranteurs such as Michael Symon with his B Spot franchises and Sean Monday with his Hudson Flip Side restaurant, this new venture was sure to draw comparisons to more established eateries.

I learned that The Rail was opening for lunch yesterday and decided to give them an inaugural visit to see how high the bar had been set. The Rail was located at Summit Mall, nestled in between First Watch and PF Chang's with an entrance facing outward into the parking lot. For those with GPS requirements, the actual address was 3265 West Market Street, Akron, OH 44333 and they can be reached at 330-864-7245. While Facebook and Twitter accounts are no doubt in the works, the only Internet presence they have at the moment is their website.

After parking my car in the vast mall parking lot, I approached the front of the restaurant:


While seating was available outside, not-so-oddly since it was a hot day, no one partook of it. Here was a closer shot of the outdoor sign:


Once inside, I was pleasantly surprised to see that while the place was fairly busy on opening day, it was by no means packed. Visual comparisons to Flip Side and B Spot began immediately and while the three restaurants were not exact analogues of one another, they were eerily similar with their concrete flooring, rather Spartan wooden tables, and interesting hanging light fixtures. The Rail differentiated itself by providing a long communal table, which while empty when I arrived, had a fair share of guests sitting at it when I got up to leave.

Hanging on a wall across from the communal table were two chalkboard signs:



As with other high-end burger joints, The Rail goes out of its way to make sure you understand that the beef is local and from Ohio. In fact, to reinforce the Ohio concept, one look at the menu was all that was required:



To be honest, I had thoroughly studied the menu online before ever setting foot inside the door and I pretty much knew what I was going to order. Sadly, when I looked at the "Floats" section on the physical menu, the Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout Ice Cream Float had been replaced by a Guinness Ice Cream Float. However, as a lover of Guinness, I was willing to make the substitution. Unfortunately, I learned that the tap system was only partly in place and even more unfortunately, neither Guinness nor Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout would be available. More than pumped that I could potentially get Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout on draught sooner rather than later, I acquiesced and decided to wait until my next visit to procure this heavenly sounding concoction.

I went ahead and ordered my burger and side and within just a few short minutes, David Drumm, General Manager of The Rail hand delivered my lunch to the table:


This was the 7th Heaven burger and a side of their homemade onion rings. When David asked if I needed anything else, I asked for a steak knife so that I could cleanly bisect the burger. He looked at me with a stunned look and replied, "You know, you would think that running a steakhouse would have given us the forethought to purchase steak knives. I'm sorry, we don't have any." Not a deal breaker, mind you, and I certainly used my regular butter knife to satisfactory effect, but as you will see in a photograph or two, a steak knife would have been perfect.

First, let's talk about the 7th Heaven burger:


The well-seasoned burger patty had been joined by several strips of Nueske bacon, truffled butter, and red onion jam. The burger was perched upon a bun that had been nicely toasted and assembled with a cellophane tipped toothpick to hold it all together. After removing the toothpick, I cut the burger in half.

Here was a shot of my bisected burger, cooked to the perfect medium rare for which I asked:


The first thing I noticed when Mr. Drumm set the burger down in front of me was the heady aroma from the black truffle. The second thing I noticed was that there was a lot of black speckled butter in the paper-lined basket. It seemed that the truffle butter had more of less completely melted. I raised the first half to my mouth and took a bite. It was juicy, it was seasoned nicely, and the crisp, thicker cut bacon added some nice textural contrast to the softness of the bun and the meat. The red onion jam definitely added some sweetness, but what I really needed was a bit of acid. Between the truffle butter, the fattiness of the burger and the bacon, something pickled needed to be on that burger to help balance it out. Don't get me wrong, it was good. Some might have even thought it was great. But it wasn't magical.

My largest gripe with the burger, and it's a complaint that I've also levied against B Spot and Flip Side, was that the bottom part of the bun, the heel, was completely sogged out from all of the juice of both the meat and the truffle butter. This made the burger quite difficult to eat without essentially wearing the juice on my fingers, hands, and down my wrists. [Ed. note: To be fair to B Spot, they did fix this issue, which I wrote about in later reviews.]

I next turned my attention to the onion rings:


Before ordering these, I had asked my waitress what kind of fat was used in the deep fryer. After checking with the kitchen, she returned to inform me that the chef, Gary McNeely, had told her it was a non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. As she looked fairly green, I didn't want to push her into information overload, so I let it go at that. So, while it certainly wasn't vegetable shortening, it also wasn't something more luxurious, like duck fat or tallow either.

As I bit into my first onion ring (always unsauced for the first one or two), I was rewarded with an onion that was thick enough to have some texture, but not too thick that it was crunchy or had a raw taste. The coating on the outside of the ring was a combination of crispy at first and then just ever-so-slightly moist on the inside. The salt level was fairly good, but could've tolerated just a touch more. The problem with these rings was when I took a bite, the onion on the inside completely detached from the coating and pulled right out. As you can imagine, with rings this size, having a long, hot onion strand hanging out of your mouth was neither pleasant feeling nor pleasant looking.

About two-thirds of the way through my meal, David Drumm again stopped by my table, this time to garner feedback. I still had not identified who I was or why I was there, but David took my feedback with great professionalism and he honestly made me feel as if what I had to say counted. He admitted that he was an aficionado of onion rings, too, and he wasn't 100% happy with them either. As for the sogged out bun, he mentioned that they toast the buns and only put the burger onto the bun at the very last second before sending it out from the kitchen, but clearly some further tweaking will be required to address this issue.

With tip and tax, my lunch today came to around $20, but then again, I ordered the most expensive burger off of the menu at $11.75. Your basic burger starts at just over $5, so you could certainly get away with a check closer to $10 if you selected more inexpensive items off the menu. While The Rail's 7th Heaven burger didn't quite satisfy that carnivorous burger lust that a Red Hot from B Spot seems to do, I do think it was a tasty burger. With a few tweaks, I think they could potentially have a real winner. As for the onion rings, again, they are pretty darn close, but don't quite live up to the gloriousness of either B Spot or of all places, Twig's Diner in Barberton, Ohio.

All said and done, I do recommend that you check them out. Opening days can be a tricky affair for any restaurant and after a month of playing around with the menu to hone the concept, I feel they might just achieve the burger glory for which they are clearly striving. Since they are VERY close to where I currently work, you can expect a follow-up review in the following months to see if things have improved. I certainly hope they do.

Delight At Pure DeLite Cupcakery

Being relevant in the food and restaurant industry is a tricky business. Everyone, of course, is looking for the next big idea and while some concepts can really turn into serious money makers, others come and go like the fashion world: in one minute, out the next. The two most notable concepts that I've seen in the last couple of years have been the gourmet burger offerings and the notion of a "cupcakery." While I've spent my fair share of time tracking down who has the best $9 burger in northeast Ohio, I've only briefly touched on one such cupcakery, A Cookie And A Cupcake up in Tremont.

When I discovered that a quaint little shop had opened up just down the road from where I work, I knew I had to check it out. I had read about it in the weekly food articles published in the Akron Beacon Journal and was eager to check out their twist on this growing market segment. Pure DeLite Gourmet Cupcakes was located inside the Merchant's Square Plaza at 125 Ghent Road, Fairlawn, OH 44333 and can be reached at 330-865-4000. If you can find Summit Mall, you can find Pure DeLite. Parking was in the common lot between the storefronts.

Speaking of storefronts, here was Pure DeLite's:


Once inside, I met the store's proprietor, Rachel Hough. Knowing that I wanted to get some photographs of her store and her glass cases, I explained who I was and why I was there. In this particular case I felt it was acceptible to reveal myself because I knew that 1) she couldn't bake a special batch just for me and 2) I would've refused any offer of free cupcakes so that I could write an honest review. While she graciously agreed to let me photograph anything I wanted, she worried that since I had shown up so late in the day, the cases were a bit empty. I assured her that this wouldn't be a problem and was, in fact, a good sign that she was moving her product at a good clip.

Here were a couple shots of the glass cases holding the cupcakes:




In addition to cupcakes, Pure DeLite offers several beverages to eat with your cupcake:


From the Beacon's article, the website, and talking with Rachel in person, I quickly learned that her philosophy regarding cupcakes was that if you could make a tasty cupcake with fresh quality, organic ingredients at half the fat and half the calories, why not do so? Here is what the website says on the front page under nutrition facts:

"That's right, I said healthy! Each one of our gourmet creations has LESS THAN HALF the calories, fat and sugar of a traditional cupcake. Not to mention they are made out of pure, natural, and organic ingredients, making indulging in one (or a dozen) of these the smartest decision you'll make all day."

With a challenge as bold as that, I had to give one (okay, more like six) a try. And no, I didn't eat all six in one sitting; I went back for a second visit. Here was the original box of four I got on my first visit:


Kudos to the box as it did a great job of keeping my selections today from touching each other and marring the frosting. First on the tasting docket today was "The Original":


Consisting of chocolate cake with bits of peanut butter cup baked inside, this was decorated with chocolate peanut butter buttercream, drizzled with a bit of chocolate sauce and finally topped with a decorative half of a peanut butter cup. If you like the combination of chocolate and peanut butter as much as I do, this was a real winner. Both primary flavors were well balanced, the cake was moist, the buttercream soft and smooth, and overall, it wasn't too sweet. It was sweet, don't misunderstand me, but it wasn't that level of sweet where your teeth start to hurt. A very delicious, if not messy to eat, cupcake.

Next up was the gluten-free offering of the day, Chocolate DeLite:


I am very fortunate that I do not have a gluten intolerance. That being said, this chocolate upon chocolate upon chocolate creation left this chocoholic fully satisfied. While the cake wasn't as immensely moist as the non-gluten-free one I had just tried, it was satisfying and had I not been told it was gluten-free, would never have known on my own. Fortunately, any of the myriad of flavors of cupcakes can be made gluten-free and, of course, special orders can be placed for whatever type of cupcakes that Pure DeLite offers off their menu.

The third cupcake for this tasting was the sole vegan offering, the Tantrum Tamer:


Your basic chocolate cake base, this was topped with vegan "buttercream" and finished with rainbow "jimmies" (a.k.a. sprinkles). To me, while the flavor of the chocolate cupcake was fine, the texture of the cupcake felt a little bit denser than the previous versions. Figuring this was due to the fact that the cake contained no eggs, when I brought this fact up to Rachel, she seemed a little puzzled because in fact, the chocolate cupcake batter recipe she had developed and used in all the cupcakes requiring a chocolate base was actually vegan. Since this was the only vegan cupcake in the six that I tried, I had nothing else with which to compare it. As with the gluten-free cupcake, any of Pure DeLite's cupcakes can be made vegan, too.

Now that I've had three chocolate cake-based cupcakes, it was time to mix it up a little bit and try "Rabbit Food":


This was a spiced cake base with walnuts, carrots, and raisins and was topped with cinnamon buttercream and dusted with a bit more cinnamon before being decorated with several slivers of chopped carrot on top. The scent of cinnamon wafting up from the cupcake literally made me start to drool even before I tasted it. The combination of the cinnamon in the frosting and the spices in the cake along with the sweetness of the carrots and raisins and the crunch of the walnuts ... oh my! Again, this was sweet without being overpowering and the creaminess of the frosting made each bite a delicious treat for my mouth. I had to keep reminding myself that these cupcakes have less than half the fat, calories, and sugar of their more calorie-laden brethren.

Playfulness seemed to be the modus operandi at the bakery, and the next cupcake was an ode to an American classic, the Hostess With The Mostess:


Comprised of chocolate cake filled with white "creme," this was topped with a decadent chocolate ganache and a loop-de-loop swirl of icing piped on top of the cake. While smaller than the original it copied, it was a very good homage to the one I grew up eating as a child. While purists might miss the extra creme in the center, Pure DeLite's version delivered enough on the flavors to satisfy this taster's Hostess memories. At the very least, I could certainly appreciate the fact that the ingredients in today's version were much healthier for me than many of the questionable ones I would find if I read the package for the original version.

My final cupcake for today's tasting was another American classic in cake form, the Ice Cream Sundae:


The base consisted of a very moist banana cake with a strawberry jam center and was topped with vanilla frosting, chopped peanuts, a chocolate drizzle, and finally perched on top of this creation was a lone maraschino cherry. While this was delicious, my only complaint was that on my second bite, the cake base sort of separated where the jam was and this particular cupcake became a little hard to eat neatly. I ended up having to employ the less delicate technique of shoving the remainder of the cupcake into my mouth and chew thoroughly in order to avoid a complete disintegration. That being said, the flavors were very nice. I especially liked the play between the banana flavor, which wasn't overwhelming, and the strawberry jam. This one could easily be renamed the Banana Split, too.

Lest you think that by this point I had gone into a diabetic coma, since I had shared these with others, in the end I only had the equivalent of three cupcakes. And while that STILL may seem like a lot (and normally I would agree with you), since these were lower fat and lower sugar cupcakes, other than a little bit of water to clear out the residual sweetness, I felt fine. Now, I'm certainly not giving you license to eat as many as you want, but were I to eat one of these creations and still want a little more, a second cupcake might very well be in order.

I am truly delighted to have a bakery right here on the west side of Akron where I can find cupcakes that are not only healthier for me, but also made with fresh organic ingredients. Yes, gentle reader, some people might balk at the fact that they are $2.50 apiece and aren't absolutely enormous. Many times when I am out to eat, I opt to skip dessert, not because I don't like sweets, but because I can't justify spending $4-$8 for a dessert large enough to feed two people after eating a heavy meal. With Pure DeLite right around the corner from my job, I can now get my sweet treat fix and it will only cost me a measly $2.50.

I highly recommend that you stop by and check them out the next time you are over at Summit Mall. Make sure to check their website often as they rotate flavors on a daily basis and their store hours change depending on the time of year. I know I intend to return every now and again for more of their whimsical treats and I would suggest that you do, too.