Lenten Project III: Week 1, Part 2 of 2

After a somewhat successful attempt at getting a great piece of fried fish at my first destination of the evening, my second fried fish dinner involved a stop out and see the guys at Fat Casual BBQ in Macedonia. I missed their Lenten fish fry last year because at the time, I was still only reviewing non-commerical (i.e., not restaurants) organizations. Given that I greatly enjoy their regular menu (and have written about them twice already), they were a shoe-in for a stop on the search for fabulous fried fish.

Fat Casual BBQ was located at 223 East Highland Road, Macedonia, OH 44056 and can be reached at 330-748-4690. Parking was in the lot surrounding the building. Here was a shot of the front of the building:


I arrived slightly after 6:15 PM to find one of the three large tables filled with regulars, the communal table only slightly filled and the only other table in the room, a six-seater, completely open. Knowing that I was being joined by several guests, I claimed the empty table and waited for my tablemates to arrive. Shortly after everyone arrived, we headed up to the counter by the front door to place our orders.

Fat Casual belongs to a category of restaurants known as "fast casual." This means that you order and pay for your food up front and when your order is ready, they will run it out to the table for you. Here was a shot of tonight's special Lenten menu:


Normally, I might have tried the clam chowder in addition to ordering the fried fish dinner, but because this was my second meal of the evening, I decided to exercise a bit of restraint (so says the man consuming two fried fish dinners in one evening). After ordering my dinner, it wasn't ten minutes before this arrived at my table:


This was a Cornmeal-dusted Fried Catfish with Cajun Hushpuppies, Cole Slaw, Tartar Sauce and a squeeze of lemon. From a technique perspective, both the fried fish and hushpuppies were cooked perfectly -- crispy on the outside without being at all greasy. While I normally expect to find finely chopped onions in my hushpuppies, Fat Casual had decided to put a twist on the standard recipe and went a different route with some added cajun seasoning. The texture of the hushpuppies was nice, but the cajun seasoning left me a little disappointed. The catfish was wonderfully moist and I found it amazing that these thin catfish filets which had been thawed from frozen and dusted before frying were still moist and juicy.

The two issues I had with the catfish were that the seasoning in the coating was a bit aggressive. Whereas my earlier fish in the evening had been quite bland, the catfish was close to being too salty. The second issue I had with the catfish was the catfish itself. While I am in no way doubting the quality of the fish, catfish in general has a very unique flavor profile that you either like or your don't. This particular catfish had a very pronounced fishiness to it that may be off-putting to those normally averse to fishy-tasting fish.

I had absolutely no issues with the homemade cole slaw. It was crunchy, creamy, slightly acidic, and barely sweet. It hit on multiple flavor and textural combinations and was (and has always been) one of my more favorite versions of this side dish. The tartar sauce, also homemade, had a better balance between tart, salty, and sweet that my earlier dinner's version did not. One of the co-owners, Walter, suggested that I also try the catfish with the house BBQ sauce, which I did. It was an interesting combination, fried fish and BBQ sauce, but not one that I found worked great together.

While the execution in the preparation of the dishes was flawless, some of the flavors and seasonings were a tad off tonight. Would I go back for another fish fry at Fat Casual? With catfish on the menu, probably not. Were they to switch to a different kind of fish, absolutely. And, of course, I will always return for their mainstay, the barbecued meats and side dishes. That stuff is killer good.

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. Fat Casual BBQ (Macedonia): Fish, B-; Hushpuppies, B; Cole Slaw, A
2. American Legion Post 281 (Cuyahoga Falls): Fish, B; Cole Slaw, C+; Green Beans, C; Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, B-

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

While I have only written about Fat Casual BBQ in Macedonia, Ohio once before, I have been back many, many times. Because the first article I wrote about them covered so much of their menu, there hasn't really been a need to cover them a second time, even though the food has been outstanding every time I've returned. Over the last eight months since Walter Hyde and Scott Slagle opened Fat Casual, they have continued to evaluate and innovate to keep the menu focused, relevant, and most importantly, tasty. In addition to their regular offerings, every day seems to bring a new special, some of which make the regular menu and others turn out to be a one-day appearance.

Over the course of the last two Friday nights, I got to enjoy some not previously covered flavors that were so good that it would be a shame for me not to share them with you, gentle reader. Before we get into the two meals, I first wanted to share the revised and newly printed and laminated menu:



As you can see, the main proteins were still available: smoked pork loin, turkey, brisket, and chicken. Most of the sides remain on the menu, some have been reformulated since the opening (e.g., macaroni and cheese), some have been dropped (e.g., beans and rice), and some are brand new (e.g., fried potato salad and suffer'n succatash). Of course, when Fat Casual found a side that worked well, like the incredible warm sweet potato salad, they realized they had a good thing on their hands and didn't change a thing. Thank goodness!

On my first Friday dinner visit, I decided to go with something that Walter and Scott introduced during the season of Lent, a time of year notorious for fish fries. While they did offer a Friday fish fry (which just had to be better than anything I got this year during the Lenten Project II), they innovatively applied the frying concept not only to their fish, but also to their smoked chicken.

While the fried smoked chicken isn't actually on the regular menu, if the restaurant isn't too busy and you tell Walter or Scott that they are very handsome and talented men, you might just convince them to fry you up a portion of their smoked chicken. On my first Friday visit, a mere mention of the fact that I was looking forward to this very thing all day was enough to convince Walter to break out in a grin, ask Scott if they could pull it off, and told me to take a seat and wait for my dinner to be prepared. Note that because the fried chicken was made to order, my dinner probably took longer to prepare than if I had just ordered something that was ready to go.

Needless to say, it is SO worth the wait.

Having placed my order, my second thought turned to sauce. Of course, just like I wrote in my last blog post, every single sauce offered at Fat Casual was made from scratch. And the variety being offered (five to six different sauces each night I was there) was enough to satisfy any sauce-lover's craving. Sweet, smoky, spicy, acidic ... Fat Casual had a sauce to please everyone. Here was my choice for the evening, the Memphis-Style sauce:


Within maybe ten minutes of sitting down at my table, Walter walked out from the kitchen with my dinner:


The fried smoked chicken dinner (which is priced the same as the smoked chicken dinner at an amazing $9.99) came with two of Fat Casual's side dishes and some of their homemade cornbread.

Here was a closer shot of the fried smoked chicken:


Every time I've had this chicken, my eyes roll back into my head. The combination of Fat Casual's incredibly juicy smoked chicken (which sadly, isn't the norm for smoked chicken at barbecue places in northeast Ohio), combined with the crispy and crunchy fried crust makes for a culinary experience that you absolutely must try. Everything about this chicken was perfect: crunchy, smokey, savory, salty, juicy ... it all just works so well. Each order is essentially a half chicken, breast, back, leg, and wing.

In addition to the chicken, my meal also came with two of Fat Casual's newer sides, the Fried Potato Salad and the Suffer'N Succatash:


While the warm sweet potato salad remains my all-time favorite side at Fat Casual, these two sides were pretty close behind that one. The fried potato salad, so called because the potatoes are first fried before being combined with the dressing, was rich and delicious. The succatash, containing Lima beans and sweet corn, was tender, juicy, peppery and buttery. So many times, I have disliked Lima bean dishes because the beans were starchy and unpleasant. Not this time. I finished the entire container and just about licked the bottom of the cup. I heartily recommend you give both sides a try.

My first meal finished, I packed up the entire breast (it really was enough food for two people) to have a wonderful mid-day snack the next day. My meal came to roughly $12, including the chicken dinner and a bottled water that I ordered. If you are looking for flavor AND value, you have come to the right place.

The following Friday (as in, last Friday), I hadn't planned on returning for another meal, but fellow Cleveland foodie, Kay, decided that she wanted to stop in and try one of the newer special items on the Friday menu, the smoked prime rib. Honestly, it had been on the menu during my previous visit, but I was really in the mood for that fried smoked chicken, so I gave it a pass. This time, however, I was bound and determined to try this somewhat unorthodox, but intriguing sounding dish.

After all six of us arrived, Walter came over to our table to determine what the group wanted to eat. It turned out to be unanimous ... smoked prime rib! Walter went back into the kitchen and perhaps ten minutes later, large plates of beefy goodness started arriving at our table:


This IMMENSE portion of prime rib was accompanied by beef jus, homemade creamy horseradish sauce, and a small garnish of horseradish-infused pickles and sliced radishes. Even without tasting it, I could tell that the meat was obviously cooked perfectly medium rare. Like extras on the set of The Flintstones, all six of us eagerly dug into the huge portion of prime rib and discovered some of the best meat that any of us had ever tasted. More than one of the diners tonight noted that they had been turned off by bad prime rib served at buffets and weddings. Tonight's meal put to rest any notion that prime rib couldn't be prepared so that it was an incredibly tender, juicy, and flavorful cut of meat. While the jus was certainly tasty, the creamy horseradish sauce stole the show and made the perfect complement to the beef. Not to be outdone, the pickles were also amazing all on their own.

While the smoked prime rib dinner was normally offered with the garlic mashed potatoes, because there were six of us tonight, Walter put together a tasting of several of Fat Casual's sides:


Going clockwise from the rear, we had cole slaw, fried potato salad, macaroni and cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, blueberry Figgy Pudding, and the warm sweet potato salad. As if the smoked prime rib wasn't good enough, the myriad of sides made the dinner even more delicious. While the jus served with the prime rib wasn't utilized as much as the horseradish sauce, it did end up making an excellent complement to the garlic mashed potatoes, as discovered by fellow food blogger, Nancy from Fun Playing With Food.

Finally, after we had made our way through most of the enormous amounts of food brought to us by the kitchen, Walter showed up with individual serving cups of one of their newer items that they had been tinkering with, smoked beef sausage with barbecued cabbage:


Fat Casual had started out making all of this sausage in-house, but when demand got too great, they outsourced this meat product to a local company, but still maintained the quality using the recipe that Walter and Scott originally concocted. After smoking the sausage, Fat Casual had paired it with barbecued cabbage; this balanced the savoriness of the sausage with the sweetness of the cabbage. While not officially on the menu yet, I am looking forward to having this again once it does become a regular item.

Everything said and done, our smoked prime rib dinners came out to an incredible $12.99 per person. Anyone who is a fan of prime rib knows that typically, prime rib dinners run much, much higher than that. Given the incredible preparation and flavor and the very reasonable price, I have to say that this was one hell of a deal. Between the fried smoked chicken and smoked prime rib, I honestly don't know which one was my favorite. At this point, it was like picking your favorite child. Both dishes brought much happiness to my mouth and my wallet. My advice? Go with a friend and order one of each in order to share. Do note that for now, the smoked prime rib is only available on Fridays.

While several commenters on my last write-up on Fat Casual BBQ were not impressed with the food they received when they visited, I know for a fact that many others have been. On the Urbanspoon page for the restaurant, out of 92 people who voted on the restaurant, 96% marked that they liked it. That should tell you something. While there is certainly barbecue closer to me than Macedonia, it is so worth the drive to check them out. And if you happen to go on a day when Walter or Scott is willing to fry you up some smoked chicken, take them up on it. You won't regret it.

Lenten Project II: Week 1, Part 2

Having finished my first Lenten fish fry dinner for the evening at St. Mary Church in Hudson, I hopped back in my car and headed north on Route 91 to get to my second destination for the evening, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Macedonia. While I had budgeted about ninety minutes of times between the two dinners, between lingering at the first dinner and taking a phone call while I was sitting in the parking lot of the second, 6:30 PM came around much quicker than I thought it would.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church was located at 9080 Shepard Road, Macedonia, OH 44056 and can be reached at 330-468-2194 ext. 38. The church was set back a bit from the road, but fortunately a sign was placed near the street indicating the availability of tonight's fish fry. As I pulled around to the back of the church, I was greeted with an enormous parking lot. After parking and gathering my camera, I approached the rear of the church to discover fairly obvious directions:


This was similar to Queen of Heaven Church in Uniontown that I visited last year. I suppose this keeps the whole operation more efficient as you won't have people standing around waiting for their to-go food order. Once inside the church, I walked through a roped area to a podium where a woman greeted me warmly and asked if I was here for the dinner. When I responded that I was definitely here to get some fried fish and pierogi, she emphatically responded by praising their pierogi offering. She then handed me off to another gentleman dressed nicely in a suit who selected a half-empty table at which I could sit.

It seemed that the "restaurant" theme was prevalent in tonight's visits as Our Lady had been staffed by the youth of the church. After taking our drink orders, I got down to the business of capturing tonight's menu:



Once my order had been taken, I was surprised at how quickly my food arrived at the table. First up was my dinner roll for the evening:


I didn't bother with the margarine, but I did sample the roll and found it ... okay. It wasn't pristinely fresh, but it also wasn't stale either.

Next up was the coleslaw:


While this did have a nice acidity to it, it was clear that this was run-of-the-mill food service coleslaw. Let's just say that my socks have not been knocked off at this point in the meal.

While I was waiting for the main portion of the meal to arrive, the woman seated next to me engaged me in a small bit of conversation after she heard that I had ordered the pierogi dinner. "Oh, the pierogi are very good!" When I asked if they were homemade, she got a slightly pained look on her face and replied, "No, I don't think so."

It was actually cheaper (by about $0.75) to order the pierogi dinner and add a side of fried perch than the other way around. Here was a shot of the Pierogi Dinner with French Fries:


I'm not sure if the menu had a typo on it or not, but the menu said nothing of French Fries. Rest assured, it came with them. Sure enough, a not-so-close examination of the pierogi indicated machine made dumplings (more than likely Mrs. T's or something similar). While the fried onions had been salted (unlike St. Mary Church's version), the poor pierogi had been pan fried to within an inch of their lives. While I do enjoy the textural contrast of a crispy exterior to the creamy interior, these were dried out and hard to chew.

The French Fries were average. The good news was that they weren't greasy, but there were a few fries that were a bit limp.

My side of Fried Perch arrived on its own plate:


Examining the exterior of the fish, it appeared not to be greasy, the color of the batter was good, and there wasn't an abundance of flaked off batter like I had experienced earlier in the evening. After cutting into it, I found that while it wasn't the juiciest piece of fried fish I had ever eaten, it wasn't bad and certainly a step up from St. Mary's. Here was a shot of the interior of the fillet:


The only problem I had with the fish was that it had a slightly fishy smell to it. Not so strong that I would refuse to eat it, but definitely noticeable. The seasoning on the fish was done well.

It was at about this point in the evening that the same gentleman in the suit who had seated me earlier came over and inquired about my copious use of the camera. I make it a policy not to lie about what I am doing when directly asked. I produced a business card, explained that I was a local food blogger and had selected Our Lady of Guadalupe out of the Akron Beacon Journal's listing because they offered both fried fish and pierogi and told him that my review would be going up Sunday morning. Satisfied with that answer, he walked away. I suspect, based on what I've written here, that he probably won't be especially pleased should he actually visit the blog.

All said and done, I took my tab to the table outside of the eating area and ponied up my $8.50. Had I ordered the fried perch dinner and added a side of pierogi, it would've been $9.25. Not a bad price, either way you slice it. The service was quick and efficient and felt a little less assemby-line-ish than my previous dinner tonight.

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. Our Lady of Guadalupe (Macedonia): Fish, B-; Pierogi, D+; French Fries, C; Coleslaw, C
2. St. Mary Church (Hudson): Fish, D+; Pierogi, C-; French Fries, B

Doing It Right At Fat Casual BBQ

I crave good barbecue. I mean, really good, slap-your-momma good barbecue. Until Old Carolina BBQ opened up in Akron / Canton / Massillon over the last couple years, this part of Ohio was simply devoid of anything I considered to be even mediocre. And while Old Carolina has sustained my somewhat insatiable lust for these tasty smoked and tangy flavors over the last few years, I am here to tell you of a revelatory new barbecue restaurant that is going to kick some serious butt.

I first met Walter Hyde at a blogger dinner that had been put together by Chef Ellis Cooley at AMP 150. At the time he was the executive chef at the Crazy Horse gentleman's club and while I had never considered the cuisine at, to be slightly vulgar, a strip club, indeed his clientèle were as serious about the grass-fed locally sourced steaks as they were about the visual titillation going on in front of them. That was where he met his current business partner, Scott Slagle, a retired WWE wrestler who decided to go into the food business after his nine year stint ended as Kodiak.

They decided to cash in on an up and coming food trend: fast casual dining. They wanted a restaurant concept where you place your order and the food is served up almost immediately. But it also needed to be family friendly and serve a niche market. As they were often spending their off hours doing low and slow barbecue for themselves as well as catering for others, it seemed almost natural and inevitable that they would eventually need to find their own kitchen in which to cook. From that original idea, over time they decided to add a take-out counter as well. However, when they stumbled across their current space, the old Mezza Luna restaurant space in Macedonia, they not only got what they were looking for, but much more.

Fat Casual BBQ was located at 223 East Highland Road, Macedonia, OH 44056 and can be reached at 330-748-4690. They are currently working on a website at the time of this writing. Parking was in a lot surrounding the building on both the east and west sides of the building as well as additional parking in back. Finding the restaurant was dirt simple. If you remember where the on-ramp to I-271 used to be off of Rt. 8, it is only a skip and a jump down Highland Road until you see this sign:


This was the surest way to locate the right building as they are still working on refinishing the storefront:


While the exterior may need some finishing touches, once inside, Walter, Scott and crew have managed in only one month to take this unused restaurant and give it a sense of simplicity and warmth that is actually open for business. It should be noted that today's gathering was at the request of Walter and was designed as a "preview" of Fat Casual's menu. As such, everyones' meals were free. If that bothers you, gentle reader, please take what I say in this review with whatever grain of salt you desire.

When you first walk into the building you can't help but notice two things: the smell of hickory wood smoke permeating the air and the enormous white board hanging on the wall above you, detailing out the delicious options from which you can choose:


Something that I didn't notice right away because it was sitting against the same wall as the door to the outside was the dessert menu:


Everything with the exception of the flat bread and the pretzel rolls was made from scratch: the sauces, the sides, the meats ... ALL of it. Since I arrived at the restaurant before several of my friends did, I sat down at one of the many open tables (the place could probably seat fifty people easily) and checked out the bottle of sauce placed at the center of each:


This was the "House" BBQ sauce and as Walter explained to us later, it was designed to be sort of a fundamental sauce, not striving to go too far in any direction. He said that it would stand up on its own, but not overpower the flavor of the smoke or the meat and it also worked well in conjunction with the four other homemade BBQ sauces available:


From left to right, there were Texas Heat, Memphis style, Honey, and Carolina style sauces available. Fortunately, plastic tasting spoons were provided in a cup just behind the bottles. My friends and I eagerly got down to some serious tasting. Representing various barbecue cultures throughout the United States, Fat Casual has managed to capture those regional flavors incredibly well in each bottle. While I appreciated all of the different sauces, my personal favorite that made my taste buds stand up and shout "Wow!" was the Memphis style.

Wanting to taste just a little bit of everything, Walter was more than happy to put together a sampler platter that let us try each smoked meat, homemade sides, and even their desserts. All of the smoked meats are made using hickory wood. At some point they might play around with some of the fruit woods (Apple wood, etc.), but for now, they are quite happy with the simple, but quite effective flavor that Hickory imparts.

First up were the pork ribs and smoked sausage, in this case Bratwurst:


If you look closely at the Bratwurst, you can see the telltale sign of a good piece of smoked meat: the pink smoke ring. Our table literally gobbled these up. The nice thing about all of Fat Casual's smoked meats was that while there was a definite presence of smoke flavor, the flavor of the meat came through just as nicely. In fact, that was probably the overriding takeaway I had today about the food at Fat Casual; not only was it VERY tasty, but the flavors were always very well balanced.

The ribs were interesting in that besides tasting delicious, the meat needed a little bit of a tug with your teeth before it separated from the bone. This wasn't a bad thing and in fact, many a barbecue fanatic will argue over whether there should be a little tug or whether the meat should simply fall away like it did with the ribs at Edgar's Restaurant in Akron. I don't know that I'm qualified to answer that age old question definitively, but I can tell you that both versions worked very well in my book.

Next up we had a trio of smoked thinly-sliced meats:


From left to right were turkey breast, beef brisket, and pork tenderloin. Walter told us that they decided to do pork tenderloin over something more traditional, like pork shoulder, saving the pulled pork for parties and catering. After trying all three meats, I was not in a position to argue. Sometimes it is easy to forget what truly good smoked turkey breast is supposed to taste like because the only exposure we have as northeast Ohioans is what is available in the local mega grocery store. The delicate flavors of hickory smoke matched so well with the flavor of the turkey that when I come back for a sandwich (and you can better believe that I will), this might just be my only choice.

That's not to say that the pork and brisket weren't also tender and tasty, too. And because there were so many sauces from which to choose, you could pair each protein with its own sauce to make your very own flavor explosion.

True barbecue wouldn't be complete without the sides and the Fat Casual team didn't disappoint in this department either:


In the back was the baked beans, to the left was the pinto beans over rice, to the right was the macaroni and cheese, and at the bottom was the most amazing of all the sides, a warm sweet potato salad. Of the four, the only one that wasn't as stellar as it could have been was the macaroni and cheese. While the noodles were cooked properly, the cheese sauce was actually a tad underseasoned and just a bit ... for lack of a better word, ordinary. The baked beans, while quite tasty, didn't quite live up to the baked beans served at Old Carolina BBQ. The rice and beans were nicely seasoned, but like I already mentioned, the STAR on that tray was the warm sweet potato salad.

Inspired from the more traditional German potato salad, cooked sweet potatoes had been combined with caramelized onions, bacon, and a nice tangy vinaigrette to make a dynamite side dish. I can totally see Fat Casual BBQ becoming famous for just this side dish alone. A lot of the dinners come with two sides; I can already see myself ordering this one again and again.

Since not all of the sides fit into that one paper boat, Walter loaded us up with the rest of the sides and a couple of the desserts on another plate:


To the left were two of the pretzel rolls available for sandwiches, and starting at the top and working clockwise were the homemade coleslaw, the Piggy Pudding, the Banana Pudding, and a piece of the freshly baked cornbread. While the pretzel rolls were one of the few items not made in-house, they were fresh and quite delicious. Unless the other available vehicle for sandwiches, flatbread, was out-of-this-world good, the pretzel roll would definitely be my choice for a sandwich.

The coleslaw was creamy and tangy. My friend thought it was overdressed, but I appreciated the extra creaminess of the dressing and how it matched well to the crunchiness of the vegetables. The cornbread was delicious without being overly sweet (as us Northerner's tend to like it) and while I prefer my cornbread in fried hushpuppy form, this was an excellent substitute.

While I've said before that I'm not a huge dessert person, it pays to leave a little room at the end of your meal for one of Fat Casual's sweet treats. The first item we tried was the Piggy Pudding. Similar in flavor and texture to a typical cheesecake, this was a nice, if not stellar way to end your meal. That being said, the next taste we tried, the banana pudding, blew our collective socks off. Rich and banana-y, this dessert was proof positive that you don't need a lot of complex flavors to make a good dessert.

The final two desserts we tried today were the Red Velvet Cake Bites and the Pumpkin Spiced Whoopie Pies:


Enveloped in a coating of chocolate and suggestively evoking a truffle wannabe, these were individual bites of red velvet cake. Too often dried out and difficult to swallow without a glug of water, this cake was incredibly moist, decadently flavored with chocolate, and well ... quite red on the inside. Our first bite was so good we actually went back up for a second. The pumpkin spiced whoopie pie was also very good and between the moistness of the cake and the creaminess of the vanilla filling, we scarfed them up in no time flat.

We left some two hours after arriving, stuffed completely with barbecue goodness and barely able to saunter out to our vehicles. I have mixed emotions about telling the Internet about Fat Casual BBQ. While of course I want the business to succeed (and wildly so), I don't want to have to compete for a table once they become immensely popular. That being said, I'll keep my selfishness under check for now and implore you, gentle reader, that you NEED to get to Fat Casual BBQ as soon as is humanly possible for quite literally some of the best barbecue this foodie has ever had, much less written about.

The restaurant officially opens for business on Monday, October 11th and will be open six days a week, Monday through Saturday, from 11 AM until 8 PM. Those hours could change once next spring rolls around, but I was assured that those would at least be the initial hours.