Lenten Project II: Week 5, Part 1

Of all the fish fries I would be attending this year, I knew that two would be repeats from last year's project. Queen of Heaven was the first and turned out to be almost completely identical to last year's meal. I was curious to see if the other repeat contender, Slovak J Club (aka Jednota Club) was going to fare in a similar light as last year. While Slovak J's previous meal was good enough to find them in a spot on the top half of my final scorecard, I do remember that it wasn't particularly stellar. It turns out that really good fish fries are surprisingly hard to find; mediocrity is often enough to guarantee you a spot in the top 50%.

Tonight's meal at Slovak J was during my earlier Friday time slot and I turned onto Morgan Avenue promptly at 5:00 PM to see the following familiar edifice:


This building was located at 485 Morgan Avenue, Akron, OH 44311 and questions about the fish fry can be directed to 330-786-9972. After pulling past the front of the building, there was a driveway immediately to the left which I turned into and pulled into the rear parking lot. The entrance to the fish fry was actually located at the very rear of the building:


After entering these doors, I walked down a small flight of steps into a dimly lit corridor and approached the double set of doors at the end of the hall. I'm guessing during at other times of the year, a membership was required to gain entrance, but fortunately, a simple tug on the door revealed the underground bar area and just beyond, the fairly well-lit dining hall.

Last year, Slovak J had sit down service. This year, it was an all you can eat (AYCE) buffet. A hostess stand was in front of the dining hall and after paying my $8, I was stamped (a fish, how appropriate!) on the top of my hand and told that while water was available inside, soft drinks and other beverages could be purchased at the bar. I walked into the dining hall and immediately noticed on my right a series of tables holding chafing dishes and volunteers efficiently scooping out various fish fry items.

I grabbed an empty plate and essentially went down the line, getting a serving of everything they had. When I got to the end and didn't see any pierogi, I asked about its odd absence. I mean, come on, they had pierogi last year, even if they were commercially made! That's when I discovered that I hadn't read the original Akron Beacon Listing posting about Slovak J closely enough. Towards the end of my meal, I pulled up the original article on my smartphone to discover that pierogi were only being offered on Ash Wednesday, the day the Beacon's article went live. Drat!

I took my meal and found a nice empty table towards the rear of the hall where I proceeded to pull out my camera and start taking pictures. Here was a shot of the entire dinner:


Slovak J was definitely not shy about loading up the plate with food! If your Lenten fish fry desire is to load up on sheer volume of food, Slovak J would probably be first on the list. Here was a shot of the Fried Fish with French Fries sitting on top:


The first item I dug into was the fried fish. I noticed almost immediately that the two predominant descriptors that kept coming to my mind were dry and salty. Neither of which was so strong that it made me spit it out, but both kept nagging at me as I continued to try and eat it.

Here was an interior shot of the fish:


While it looked like it should be moist, it simply wasn't. I also thought that since this was the first bit of food I had eaten since lunchtime, maybe my palate just hadn't adjusted yet to the saltiness. I purposely came back to the fish after trying everything else out and it still tasted too salty. After cleaning up after myself at the end of my meal, I approached the hostess in the bar to ask her if the fish was fresh or fried from frozen. She replied that the fish was actually fresh pollack.

She then made the unfortunate choice of asking me how it was. Normally when I am doing these reviews, unless something is WAY off, I usually respond with answers like, "Fine." or "Good." By this point in the Lenten Project, however, I had pretty much had it with crappy fried fish. I responded with a back-and-forth tilting motion of my palm and said, "Eh ... so, so." When I mentioned the saltiness, she quickly added, "Yeah, I kind of thought it was too salty, too. But then again, I'm sensitive to salt." So am I. Especially when there is too much of it. But I digress.

I should mention that the French Fries were okay, but a little bit on the lukewarm side and not quite as crisp as they would be straight out of the frier. I suppose that's the trade-off you get when you put them into a chafing dish on a buffet table.

Next up on the plate was the Macaroni and Cheese:


I was very happy to see that the noodles the woman dishing this cheesy pasta dish out were creamy and not an amorphous clump of overcooked dough. One look and one taste confirmed that the texture on the pasta was quite good, the creaminess was nicely balanced (meaning that it wasn't swimming in sauce nor overly dry), and the cheese flavor was decent. The only odd note about tonight's macaroni and cheese was that it had quite a bit of black pepper in it. I've used freshly cracked black pepper in my own macaroni and cheese before, but tonight's version at Slovak J almost bordered on too much. It competed a bit too much with the cheese flavor.

Something that is very common in northeast Ohio but has been lacking at any of the fish fries this season was Hot Rice:


A staple of Barberton chicken joints, this combination of cooked rice, tomato base, onions and peppers is definitely an acquired taste. I don't know that I personally have acquired a taste for it, but I've eaten enough of it to know whether tonight's rendition represented a proper hot rice. For the most part, it did. It lacked some depth of flavor that I've found in better tasting examples, but I'd say that Slovak J's hot rice was about on par with most restaurant offerings.

Next up was the Coleslaw:


Food service. Average. Nothing out of the ordinary to see or taste here. The dinner roll, as with the coleslaw, while fairly fresh, was also a food service product and not particularly interesting.

All said and done, I finished my macaroni and cheese and that was about it. I felt bad throwing the rest out, but it wasn't particularly noteworthy and I had another fish fry to attend in about an hour. Normally, I'd ask for a "to go" box and take the rest home and have it later that evening or for breakfast the next morning, but I had absolutely no compulsion to do so. If AYCE is your cup of tea, perhaps Slovak J is for you. Me, not so much.

Here are the current rankings so far from best overall to worst overall as well as an individual grade for each of the major elements on the plate.

1. Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church (Akron): Fish, B+; Macaroni and Cheese, B; Coleslaw, C; Roasted Potatoes, B; Baklava, A-
2. St. Andrew Ukranian Catholic Church (Parma): Fish, C; Macaroni and Cheese, C; Coleslaw, B; Pierogi, A; Honey Cake, B
3. St. Nicholas Orthodox Church (Mogadore): Fish, C+; Jo Jo's, B; Pierogi, B-; Coleslaw, C+; Punchki, B+
4. Slovak J Club/Jednota (Akron) : Fish, D; Macaroni and Cheese, B-; Coleslaw, C; Hot Rice, B; French Fries, B-
5. St. George Catholic Church (North Canton): Fish, C-; Macaroni and Cheese, C-; Coleslaw, C+; Mamaliga, C
6. Queen of Heaven Catholic Church (Green): Fish, C+; Macaroni and Cheese, D; Roasted Potatoes, C; Pierogi, C; Coleslaw, B-
7. Our Lady of Guadalupe (Macedonia): Fish, B-; Pierogi, D+; French Fries, C; Coleslaw, C
8. St. Mary Church (Hudson): Fish, D+; Pierogi, C-; French Fries, B

Completing The Rounds At White House Chicken

It may have come a little too late to take advantage of the buzz Michael Symon created a few months back when he took on the Barberton Chicken challenge between Belgrade Garden and Whitehouse Chicken, but I finally got around to trying my fourth and final Barberton chicken joint, Whitehouse, recently in an early bird (no pun intended) setting on a Saturday night. I don't normally crave this regional style of chicken, but tonight for some reason it sounded good. So, I hopped in my car, drove to the corner where the original Whitehouse Restaurant was located and proceeded to drive around the block three times before settling on the fact that unlike the other three chicken houses (Belgrade, Hopocan, and Milich's), Whitehouse did not have a dedicated parking lot. Instead I opted to park across the street in the strip mall parking lot and braved the arctic air while crossing the street to reach the front entrance.

The original location of Whitehouse Chicken was at the corner of West Paige and Wooster Road North, or more specifically 180 Wooster Road North, Barberton, OH and can be reached at 330-745-0449. There are also satellite locations in Ellet, Green, Tallmadge, Wadsworth, and Cuyahoga Falls. I've eaten at several of the other locations in the past (a long, long time ago) and I was never particularly impressed. So to be fair to the other reviews I've done on Barberton Chicken joints, I wanted to review the original.

Here was a photograph of the front entrance to Whitehouse from across the street:


Once inside, I was surprised at how much bigger the restaurant was on the inside. From its exterior, the place looked barely large enough to fit a few tables. After being told to seat myself wherever I liked, I tried to find a table near the back where it was unoccupied and I could do my photography without disturbing other patrons. Shortly after taking my seat, my server dropped off a menu for me to peruse:



Unlike all the other chicken houses, the menu at Whitehouse was short and sweet. It was chicken, chicken, chicken, and, okay, for you non-chicken eater out there, one fish dish. While the basic chicken dinner offerings were virtually identical to the other houses, the prices at Whitehouse were considerably more inexpensive. I ended up going with a "Classic White" dinner which included the breast, back, drumstick, and wing along with three sides all for roughly $8.99. A similar dinner at Belgrade would have set me back closer to $11.

After placing my order, the ubiquitous slices of white and rye bread made an appearance on my table:


As with the other chicken houses, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the bread or the butter.

Unlike the other houses, however, my dinner made an appearance within about two minutes of me ordering it. In fact, when the food runner showed up at my table, I was almost certain that she had made a mistake. Apparently, I had arrived just as the kitchen had begun volume production of the fried chicken for tonight's dinner service, in anticipation of the dinner rush.

Because everything came out on one platter, I didn't get a shot of the entire thing. Instead, I decided to take photographs of different portions, with some of the foods overlapping from shot to shot. First up was the hot rice and mashed potatoes with white pepper gravy:


The tomato-based hot rice was hot, both in terms of temperature and spice level. I've never really developed a taste for this side at any of the Barberton restaurants, but other than the somewhat mushy texture of the rice, Whitehouse's version was decent enough. The mashed potatoes were also decent and seasoned well, but didn't really knock my socks off. The white pepper gravy was somewhat of a misnomer. Depending on how you read the description, it could be taken to mean that it was a gravy containing white pepper or a white gravy containing pepper. In this particular case, it was the latter. The gravy added a nice pepperiness to the potatoes and I think I would prefer it over just a plain brown gravy.

On the other side of the platter was the fried chicken and the homemade coleslaw:


Consistent with the rest of the chicken joints, the coleslaw was a simple shredded cabbage that had been dressed in a vinegar, sugar, and salt combination and allowed to sit until soft. Whitehouse's coleslaw had a nice balance to it, being neither too sweet or too acidic. I still think my favorite version was at Belgrade, but this one wasn't bad either.

Finally, the main event, the fried chicken:


The coating on the chicken was crispy and not greasy. While the crust wasn't quite as thick as the version found at Belgrade Gardens, it was still evenly coated and well seasoned. After cutting into the breast meat, I decided to snap one last photograph, to demonstrate how juicy the meat was on the inside:


I was most impressed with how well cooked the chicken actually was. For two dollars less than the same plate of food from my favorite, Belgrade Gardens, Whitehouse was astonishingly good. While I hadn't thought I was hungry enough to eat four pieces of chicken when I walked through the front door, by the time I was finished with my platter tonight, it was nothing but bones, cartilage, and tiny bits of meat that were inaccessible to teeth and fork. I finally realized just how difficult a decision it had been for Michael Symon when he had to choose the winner for his television show. Of course, there are many out there who will draw a hard and non-negotiable line over which chicken house is the best, for me, between Belgrade Garden, Hopocan Garden, and Whitehouse Chicken, the various shades of gray are incredibly close.

To me, Belgrade Garden still edges out everyone else in terms of overall flavor, crispiness of the chicken coating and juiciness of the meat. That being said, if a Barberton chicken dinner is what you are after and you aren't particularly dogmatic about your selection, I don't see how you could go wrong with Whitehouse Chicken. The good news is that you might even spend a little less to experience nearly the same meal. As I stood from the table in preparation of paying my check, I noticed that there were considerably more guests seated at tables than when I arrived. Given that Whitehouse Chicken just doesn't have the physical space to handle the massive crowds that the other houses do, I'd suggest getting there early unless you don't mind waiting.

Going For A "Child's White" At Hopocan Gardens

In my quest to cover the four major Barberton chicken houses, I have eaten at and blogged about both Milich's Village Inn and Belgrade Gardens. Both posts have been quite popular in the search engine results and I have had many new readers find my blog because of those write-ups. Recently, I had a chance to finally make it to the third major chicken house, DeVore's Hopocan Gardens. Trying to avoid long lines and crowds, I smartly went for an early supper and was rewarded with plenty of available seats.

Hopocan Gardens was located at 4396 Hopocan Avenue Ext, Norton, OH 44203 and can be reached at 330-825-9923. There was ample parking in the lot outside the restaurant. The tricky thing about finding Hopocan Gardens was knowing that the restaurant isn't visible from the corner of Hopocan and Hillsdale Avenues. The clue, as I discovered the first time I found it, was to look for this sign:


Once on Hopocan Avenue Extension, follow the road down to the parking lot and the actual restaurant. Here was a shot of the front of the building:


There were two doors in the building. I choose the one on the far left, but as it turned out, either entrance would have been acceptable. Based on the size of the parking lot, I was expecting a lot of available dining room space. While tonight's small crowd only needed the moderately sized dining room attached to the kitchen and bar area, there were additional unlit rooms to the rear of the building. I don't think I'd be stretching the truth to say that during the Friday and Saturday night dinner crunch, just like it's other brethren, Hopocan Gardens can seat a lot of people.

After seating myself in the main dining room, my server dropped off a menu:




As has been the case with the other chicken houses at which I've eaten, the menu options were quite similar, although Hopocan Gardens' menu seemed a bit simpler at only two pages. I was here, of course, for the fried chicken and while the price for a regular four piece chicken dinner wasn't too expensive, I just wasn't that hungry. Fortunately, there was a "Child's White" option available that came just with a chicken breast and three sides in the mid $6 range. Perfect!

When I asked about the sides available, I was told that of all the sides, only three were homemade: hot rice, coleslaw, and fresh-cut fries. This seems to be a common theme among all of the chicken houses. And, as it turned out, the flavors were also very similar.

My server started my meal by bringing me some bread and butter out from the kitchen:


Once again, white and seedless rye were presented. Once again, there wasn't much to be said except that the bread was fresh, but unremarkable. I began to realize that the experience of getting a Barberton fried chicken dinner was largely pretty much cookie-cutter. Where one restaurant outshone another was in the execution of the dishes. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long to find out how Hopocan Gardens fared.

Here was a shot of my chicken dinner:


Considering this was the "child's" plate, it was still an enormous amount of food. In fact, I took half home with me for a snack later on that evening. Let's work our way around the plate.

First up was the hot rice:


The first time I had hot rice, I wasn't sure if the "hot" moniker was due to the fact that the dish was served hot or if it is because the dish was supposed to be spicy. Hopocan Gardens' version satisfied both requirements. It was most similar in flavor to Belgrade Gardens' version, but this actually produced a bit of capsaicin-induced burning in my mouth. Not so much that it masked the other flavors, but it was definitely the spiciest I've had so far.

Next was the coleslaw:


The coleslaw at all three chicken houses have been made with the same vinegar, sugar, and salt ingredients, but I think my favorite so far has to go to Belgrade Gardens. While Hopocan Gardens' version wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, the version at Belgrade Gardens seemed to sing a bit better in my mouth. I think the balance between the three dressing ingredients played better on my taste buds.

While I wasn't super excited about the fresh-cut fries as a side, being that they were homemade, I gave them a shot:


The good news was that some of the fries were actually crispy and not greasy. The bad news was that the rest of them were limp and a oil laden. I've said it before and it bears repeating, if you like this kind of fry, these will definitely appeal to you. If, like me, you prefer fries that are crispy on the outside, not greasy, and fluffy on the inside, this probably won't be your cup of tea.

And finally, the star of the plate, the fried chicken breast:


The first thing that people new to Barberton chicken might notice is that the chicken breast doesn't look like a regular piece of fried chicken you would get elsewhere. To quote Hopocan Gardens' website:

"During the depression, families needed to find a way to cut the chickens to yield the most pieces without any waste. Times were hard. When the first chicken house opened, they cut the chicken this same way and passed the efficiency onto their customers in the form of low prices - an idea that is still popular 50 years later. "

While it looks like the breast might be boneless, I can assure you it isn't. I managed to cut through a small bone and after taking a bite, had to fish the small jagged piece out of my mouth so I didn't actually choke on it. It was my own fault and I should've paid a bit more attention to what I was doing.

Speaking of which, after cutting into my chicken, I took a picture of the interior meat:


Overall this was a nicely fried piece of chicken. The exterior was crispy and not oily and the meat itself was moist and well-seasoned. It was comparable to Belgrade Gardens' chicken, but the chicken I had eaten at Belgrade Gardens was actually juicier and more succulent. If Hopocan was a 9, then Belgrade was a 10. Regardless, I enjoyed the chicken very much.

Having finished all that I could eat, I boxed up the rest, walked up to the counter and paid a little over $7 (with tax) for my very filling meal. I very much enjoyed my meal today at Hopocan Gardens and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to you, especially if you are looking for a taste of this somewhat unhealthy dish and don't want a massive amount of leftovers attributed to a full-size entrée. However, if you are looking for the very best version of Barberton chicken, I still have to tip my hat in the direction of Belgrade Gardens.

The Lenten Project, Week 5 And Conclusion (1 of 2)

I have to admit that going into the fifth and final week of The Lenten Project, I'm getting a little sick of fried fish and pierogi. Not so sick that I couldn't fulfill my final duties, but enough that I think its going to be at least a month or two before I look at any of this food with lust in my eyes again. Thankfully, Lent only comes around once per year or I might just have to pick a different holiday to explore next time.

Tonight's early dinner was at a lodge / bowling alley / watering hole that I had never heard of before taking on this project, the Slovak J Club. When discussing my impending dinner with a good friend of mine, he had never heard of the Slovak J Club, but when he heard the address, he almost immediately exclaimed, "Oh, you mean the Jednota Club?!" Um ... yes? The Akron Beacon Journal, the source from which I compiled my original list of locations I would be visiting, had listed it as the Slovak J Club. Located at 485 Morgan Avenue, Akron, OH 44311, they can be reached at 330-724-0141. There was no website associated with this organization when this review was written.

Finding the Slovak J Club wasn't too difficult. I simply traveled south on Brown Street (starting at Akron University) until I crossed under I-76. A few more streets south and I found Morgan Avenue. I made a right onto Morgan and almost immediately came upon the front of the building:


To the left of the building was the entrance to the parking area and once off the street I realized that there was ample parking available next to and behind this enormous structure. As has been the case all too often, the actual entrance to the fish fry was at the rear of the building. After walking through this door,


I proceeded to walk down a set of stairs and through a metal door. On the other side of the door was a bar area and across the room was a nicely lit dining room where the fish fry was actually taking place. I walked over to the dining area where a woman greeted me and handed me a paper menu. She indicated that I could sit anywhere I liked and someone would be over to take my order. Other than Duffy's (which was a restaurant), this was the only other location that had full table service, from taking your order to bringing your food and checking in on you.

Here was a shot of the menu for today's meal:


Sadly, pierogi were only offered as a side and couldn't be substituted in any of the dinners. Not really caring about the potato option, green beans, or hot rice, I asked if I could just substitute in a couple of pierogi for those items. My server looked apprehensive, lowered her voice and head and whispered, "We're not supposed to make any substitutions." Fair enough, I wasn't trying to rock the boat, just order the main tastes for which I was here in the most economically feasible way possible. I also learned from my server that the Lake Erie perch was actually fresh tonight. The Ocean perch, while a full $2 cheaper, was being fried-from-frozen. Realizing that there was no way to avoid dropping some coin tonight for my first dinner, I ordered the Lake Erie perch dinner with a side of pierogi for the full $12.

Dinner service started with a basket of bread and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter:


I skipped the packaged spread and went straight for the bread. It was fresh and tasty and I assumed it was simply pre-sliced Italian bread. The crumb had a little bit of give, but the crust was nice and chewy. This was actually a step above most of the food service dinner rolls I have been eating over the last couple of weeks.

With my bread, my server also brought me my choice of salad; I went with the coleslaw:


Just by looking at it, I suspected that it was homemade. After tasting, I was further convinced. The dressing tasted good and had the balance I so desperately look for in a well dressed salad: salty, sweet, creamy, and acidic. The vegetables still had a nice crunch to them and hadn't been totally wilted by the vinegar. When my server returned with my main meal, she confirmed that the coleslaw was indeed homemade.

Speaking of my meal, here was a shot of the Lake Erie fried perch platter:


I had my choice of baked potato or French fries. I chose the fries simply because I knew I would be taking food home and the fried potatoes might hold up better. The French fried potatoes were cooked well and didn't look or taste greasy. However, they were kind of limp and a bit cold. The fried fish, however, was hot and the fish itself tasted quite fresh. The coating was nicely crisped and wasn't oily. That being said, the perch fillets were so thin and small that there just wasn't that moistness and juiciness I love to find in the middle of a nice piece of fish. It wasn't like fish jerky, but it wasn't done to the level of the first fish fry I attended, Our Lady of Peace. I tasted the tartar sauce on its own before pairing it with a bite of the fish and while not exceptional, it did bring some flavor to the party.

Along with my fried fish dinner, I received three side dishes:


To the rear were the dreaded canned green beans with little bits of onion. While my friend and fellow food blogger Jill would be gobbling these up in no time flat, I generally avoid this hated dish from my childhood. However, trying to be completely fair to the entire experience today at Slovak J, I did taste them. While not as horribly offensive as they were during my visit to the Knights of Columbus in Mantua, Ohio two weeks ago, they still had the same scent and flavor for which I simply just don't care. In the front right was a dish of hot rice. This is a side dish that only seems to exist here in northeast Ohio and can be primarily found in many of the Barberton chicken houses. Slovak J's version was good, with just a little bit of heat in the background, but the one quality I noticed was that it was a bit too sweet. Not cloyingly sweet, but enough that I kept thinking to myself, "Something is strangely amiss." The third side was the homemade macaroni and cheese. The pasta in the dish gets high marks for not being overcooked and having a wonderful toothy texture. The cheese sauce, while definitely creamy, had a certain sourness to it which I found a little off-putting.

As if that wasn't enough food to make your head spin, I also had to contend with the side order of pierogi I had placed at the beginning of my meal:


At four pierogi for $2, this was definitely an economical addition to my meal. As soon as these were set down in front of me, I didn't even need to ask if they were homemade. The regular patterns of the crimping machine were entirely obvious on each dough pocket. I asked my server what flavor they were and she simply answered, "Potato." The onions on top had been cooked so long that they had basically given up their structure and had been transformed into more of a onion marmalade. The pierogi themselves were pretty much what you'd think boiled-from-frozen pierogi taste like, but the onion marmalade actually added a nice bit of salt and flavor to the party.

Overall, I'd say that Slovak J did a decent job of doing a Lenten fish fry. While the commercially made pierogi were easily forgettable, the coleslaw, some of the sides, and the onion marmalade were a nice touch. While Slovak J didn't top my list of favorites, it certainly showed up in the upper tier.

To continue with my rankings from best overall to worst overall as well as an individual grade for each of the major elements on the plate (Fish, Mac & Cheese, Pierogi, and Clam Chowder):

1. St. Joan of Arc (Streetsboro): Fish, B; Mac & Cheese, A; Pierogi, A
2. Our Lady of Peace (Canton): Fish, A; Mac & Cheese, C; Pierogi, C
3. Slovak J Club (Akron): Fish, B-; Mac & Cheese, B; Pierogi, C+
4. United Methodist Church (Peninsula): Fish, C+; Pierogi, B
5. Knights of Columbus (Mantua): Fish, C; Mac & Cheese, C-; Pierogi, A
6. Our Lady of Grace (Hinckley): Fish, C; Pierogi, C; Clam Chowder, C
7. Duffy's Restaurant (Akron): Fish, C-; Mac & Cheese, F