American Heritage Restaurant

After checking out the Seville Farmers Market and discussing the possibility of doing a demo during next summer (it's already getting kind of late in the season and my weekends are nearly booked up for the remainder of the season), I stopped by my aunt and uncle's house just a few blocks away to pick them up for a late breakfast. The last time we got together for an early morning breakfast it had been at the Enchanted Cafe in Barberton and while the food was fine, it seemed like everyone in Barberton had descended upon the small cafe at exactly the same time and the wait time was pretty bad. I hoped to avoid a similar situation today.

On both my way to and from the market this morning, I had noticed a small downtown Seville restaurant that appeared to be open, American Heritage Restaurant. When I mentioned it to my aunt and uncle, they informed me that they had eaten there once before, but it was owned by someone else and from what they told me, it wasn't a positive experience. Now under new ownership (and new name), they had yet to try this incarnation and agreed to give it a try. The restaurant was located at 31 West Main Street, Seville, OH 44273 and can be reached at 330-769-9900. There was no website at the time that this article was written.

After parking on the street in front of the restaurant, it wasn't long before we were front and center outside the main entrance:


Once inside, we discovered that while they were full, there was still a table available in the back of the large room. The room was decorated in vintage Americana as well as a wall near our table that had been painted with two locally known figures. A few minutes after being seated, our server took our drink order and left us with the menu to peruse:



While the first item on the menu looked eerily similar to a breakfast I had eaten at Wild Goats Cafe in Kent (the Shepherd's Breakfast), I decided to continue reading the menu. When I got to the Sunshine Sandwich, I thought it looked interesting enough to consider. Based on what I read off the menu, it didn't appear that the sandwich came with a side, so I also took a look at the a la carte items on the back of the menu, too. Unfortunately, they were out of the grits (which was the side I chose) and knowing that my sandwich was going to be laden with fattiness from bacon, eggs, and cheese, I thought about something lighter. When I asked if they had a fruit cup, sadly she shook her head and said no. When I saw that they had homemade sausage gravy, I somehow managed to convince myself that while not as light as fruit, it wouldn't be as bad as say, a side of breakfast meats.

Our meal came out of the kitchen after about ten minutes or so. First up, the Sunshine Sandwich:


And another shot with the top of the biscuit removed:


The first thing that struck me was the portion size of the sandwich. The menu had actually used the word "jumbo" to describe the size of the biscuit; apparently, our definitions differed. The freshly baked, but not homemade, biscuit had been split and layered with a single egg, a slice of American cheese, and several strips of bacon. The good news was that the bacon had been cooked to order. The bad news was that while this sandwich tasted alright, at $3.69, this was only a marginal step up from a similar offering on McDonald's breakfast menu and at least $1 more.

The sausage gravy, which came in two sizes, fared a little better:


I had ordered the cup of gravy knowing that I probably wouldn't even finish it. Strangely, the gravy came by itself without anything on which to spoon it over (such as biscuits). Fortunately, my aunt had ordered an extra biscuit with her meal that she ended up not wanting. I split the biscuit and slathered some of the gravy on top:


The gravy itself was decent, although I personally wanted a bit more spice from the black pepper. The gravy was definitely creamy and the bits of sausage in it tasted like what one would think a breakfast sausage should taste like. As with my sandwich, the biscuits were generally okay, but there was a spot on one of the halves that was so hard that I needed a knife to get through it.

Overall, I think the breakfast was decent. It didn't blow me away, but it also wasn't terrible either. The portion sizes for my aunt and uncle's breakfasts were much bigger (although admittedly, they were more expensive, too) than mine was, and my Sunshine Sandwich was little more than a glorified bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from McDonald's. That being said, were I in town for the market on a Saturday morning, I might just stop in and check them out again. Then again, my uncle emphatically stated at the conclusion of our meal that the breakfasts at the Lighthouse Cafe (which I have covered before for lunch) far surpassed what we ate this morning.

Finishing The Weekend At The Best Breakfast And Sandwiches

If you would have asked me when I started Exploring Food My Way what about the experience of blogging would surprise me the most, I probably would have responded that showing up in a Google search would have blown my mind. As I've spent time building up the content on this site, I've also been fortunate to be able to discover how interconnected people are in the food industry, whether you are cooking it, eating it, or writing about it. What has really surprised me after all this time is how supportive others have been to me. It's not just about promoting yourself 100% of the time. When you help to promote others, they often return the favor.

I've also mentioned in other entries my love for Rick Sebak's work on PBS, naming his video Sandwiches That You Will Like as the basis for several trips out of state to seek out and try them for myself. When I learned recently that he was producing a show on nothing but breakfasts called Breakfast Special, I made sure I tuned in to watch it. Besides being a sucker for these kinds of shows, what excited me even more was that one of his stops was going to be in Columbus, Ohio. As some of my gentle readers may already know, I spent about five years living in Columbus before returning to northeast Ohio.

As I was watching the segment on Columbus breakfast joints, it was apparent that Rick had enlisted the help of local resident Nick Dekker, blogger on Breakfast with Nick, to help him scout out several key locations for video shoots. Since I was multi-tasking at the time, while watching the show on PBS, I pulled up Nick's website and began reading his content. Thinking that he had a cool point of view, not only did I add his blog to the list I currently read on a regular basis, but I sent him a note on Twitter telling him how much I had enjoyed watching his segment.

What started out as a simple "Hey, you're segment was great!" eventually turned into a virtual conversation of sorts. When I realized that I had absolutely nothing planned for the Sunday following the Ohio Linuxfest and that I would be in need of breakfast food before returning home, I invited Nick to not only provide suggestions, but also encouraged him to meet up with me for a bite to eat if he was free. He accepted my invitation and at 1 PM on Sunday afternoon, I pulled into the parking lot at one of his favorite breakfast places in all of Columbus, the aptly named The Best Breakfast and Sandwiches.

As with most of the strip mall stores in the area, Best Breakfast was located away from the street, almost hidden from view. As far as the Post Office was concerned, Best Breakfast was located at 5916 Westerville Road, Westerville, OH 43081 and can be reached at 614-776-5788. Parking was in the lot surrounding the strip mall.

Here was a shot of the front of the portion of the strip mall containing Best Breakfast:


Since it was a relatively cool and pleasant day, I waited for Nick and his young son to arrive. Nick had posted pictures of himself on his own blog, so it wasn't hard for me to pick him out as he got out of his automobile. After shaking hands and introducing me to his son, we walked into the restaurant where he was immediately recognized by the staff. Clearly fame preceded him. Or maybe he just likes to eat here a lot. The first thing that I noticed actually wasn't anything visual, but olfactory. The smell of vanilla and cinnamon were floating in layers through the air and I have to admit that it was completely intoxicating.

After a few minutes, our server was able to get a table set up for us and we sat down after Nick got his son situated in the high chair. In between bits of conversation, I managed to take pictures of the menu:







I asked Nick if there was a house specialty and he pretty much stated that everything was made from scratch. In his experience, the appeal of Best Breakfast wasn't that there was a standout item that everyone ordered, but that the level of quality was high across the board. After seeing that homemade sausage gravy and biscuits were offered, I knew exactly what I wanted to order. The fact that I could get them with additional sides made it even more tempting. In the end, I decided to add eggs, bacon, and some of their griddled potatoes to my order.

What came out were two HUGE plates of food. First, my sides:


The bacon was nicely crisped, just as I had asked for it. The eggs came out of the kitchen at the requested sunnyside-up, but there was just a touch of undercooked whites near the bright, goldenrod yolks. However, the eggs were unseasoned. This sparked a more in-depth discussion between Nick and me: It's clearly a pattern that more often than not, eggs need seasoning, but restaurants rarely serve them that way. He had noticed the pattern, too, but remarked that while he didn't mind adding seasoning to eggs, if the potatoes came out of the kitchen underseasoned, that was where he drew the line. I agreed. Fortunately, the potatoes (I don't know that I would call them hash since the chunks were so large) came out perfectly cooked and seasoned. The exterior of the potatoes was crispy and the interior soft and fluffy.

Along with my platter of meats and potatoes, I received a second platter with my biscuits smothered in sausage gravy:


The gravy was definitely homemade; I could taste the freshness with the very first bite. The sweetness from the milk matched well with the minute amount of spice from the black pepper and nice chunks of sausage. As opposed to some versions I've had of this dish in the past, the biscuit was as good as the sausage gravy. Sometimes I get the feeling that restaurants think they can hide a substandard biscuit under a smothering of good gravy. This clearly wasn't the case today at Best Breakfast. The biscuit was tender and cut easily under the pressure of my fork. If any criticism was to be levied, I wished that the gravy had a bit more peppery edge to it; then again, anyone who has been reading this blog for any amount of time knows that I'm a huge fan of spicy food.

While Nick graciously offered to put my bill on the open tab that the owners have started for him, I declined his gesture on the grounds that I wanted to be able to write my review with a clear conscience. I have to say that overall, my experience at The Best Breakfast and Sandwiches was very positive, from the moment I walked through the front door until the second we left, fully sated. While there were only two minor issues I had with the food I was served today, I would have absolutely no problem returning for another meal here, especially if I still lived in Columbus. I definitely recommend this small, out-of-the-way restaurant to anyone looking for a great breakfast. Their menu may not be progressive, but what was listed, was executed well.

More Breakfasts From Flury's Cafe

I have written about a quaint little eatery in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, called Flury's Cafe twice now. However, I have eaten there probably a half-dozen times since my first visit. I don't know that I want to document every single visit with a blog post (nor do I think you would want to read about every single visit), but I figured that a single post about some of the breakfasts I've had would be a good use of our time together. Today I'll talk about a breakfast I ordered off the regular menu and one that came from the daily specials.

On my first visit to Flury's, I mentioned how very small the space was. The seating consists of two four-top tables and a series of stools around a lunch counter. However, what I don't know is if I captured effectively in my description was the size of the grill/fryer/prep area that Kim, owner and cook, has to deal with when making those inspired and tasty dishes. On the day that I visited, Kim's mom had actually stepped in and taken over the cooking duties for the day.

Here was the actual amount of area she had in which to work:


This was taken by me sitting at the corner of the lunch counter. To the right of the prep area was a dish washing station. Behind me was the front wall to the restaurant. The place is TINY to be sure. Fortunately, in all of my visits, I have tried to go at off times and have been rewarded with a usually fairly empty restaurant, so I've never had a problem getting a seat. The same may not be said for Saturday mornings.

For my first visit of the entry, I decided on going with a regular menu offering, the #16 from the breakfast menu. This consisted of a biscuit with gravy, hash browns, and eggs cooked to my request. I had seen the biscuits and gravy on the menu during earlier visits, but it wasn't until now that my curiosity was piqued enough to order them. When my server asked how I'd like my eggs prepared, I asked for sunny side up. She responded and said, "How about basted instead?" Memories of my grandmother's butter basted eggs suddenly flooded my brain and I quickly agreed.

As I sat there watching today's cook prepare my meal, I noticed several interesting items. First, she was using some type of oil in a squirt bottle to not only coat the grill, but to brush the split biscuit before grilling. I asked her about it later and she said that it was a butter and canola oil blend, which when she made it was closer to a 25% butter and 75% canola blend. When Kim made it, the butter content tended to be a little higher. The other interesting item I noticed was that when she went to prepare a serving of the sausage gravy, she actually finished the gravy with heavy cream. That was a twist to sausage gravy that I hadn't seen before.

Having finally plated up my breakfast, my server brought it over to me:


Because of the incredibly high standard set in previous visits, I was a little surprised that I had a few minor quibbles about the above plate of food. The eggs weren't seasoned at all. That being said, this was actually consistent with eggs I have ordered here before, so it wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise about the eggs was that based on my definition of the word "basted," these definitely did not like up to that adjective. Basted to me means that after you add the fat and crack in your eggs, you spoon the fat over the tops of the eggs until they are cooked. What Flury's had done was to crack the eggs on the fat on the grill, and then finished them by shooting a squirt of water onto the grill and covering it for fifteen seconds or so with a cover, thus cooking the tops of the eggs, too. That being said, once I added salt and pepper, the eggs were tender and delicious and the yolks nice and runny.

The other minor quibble was about the hash browns. The irregular chunks of potato clearly indicated that they were homemade, but they needed just a bit more salt. While you can see from the picture above that they were clearly griddled, they needed just a bit more time to add that textural contrast so that the outside was nice and crunchy and the inside nice and creamy.

The third component on the dish was the biscuit with sausage gravy:


The freshly made biscuit had been split, brushed with the butter/canola blend and then griddled to not only reheat the biscuit, but also give it more texture. The sausage gravy was ladled on top and finished off with a bit of paprika for color. You could definitely taste the smoothness and fattiness from the heavy cream and that may have helped to cut down the spiciness of the sausage as the heat was very mild. I for one would've loved a bit more peppery heat, but as it came, the biscuit and gravy was delicious.

While I will be the first to acknowledge that I'm being the ultimate nit-picker here, you have to understand that in all of my other visits, Flury's Cafe had set the bar very, very high. I also know that in my conversations with Kim, she seems to understand that the Devil is in the details, if you will. You need to use the best products available to you, make as much as you can from scratch, and always be concerned that every dish you send out tastes and looks the best that it can.

On my next visit, while I went in for a late lunch, it was the daily breakfast special that was calling my name. I have had Kim's wild blueberry crepes before, but I had yet to try her stuffed French toast with bananas. That was, until now. Here was a shot of the French toast:


And a shot of the crispy bacon that comes as a side:


First, let me just say that I always love pairing something salty and something sweet. Bacon was a no-brainer to me because it also let me pair something crunchy with something creamy. The French toast had been made by dredging some of the Sarah Jane bread used by Flury's Cafe in a typical egg / milk / cinnamon batter and then griddled on the stovetop. Kim then took an actual banana, fresh from the basket, peeled it and placed it onto the griddle as well. The third component of the dish was the luscious sauce that would be poured over the finished toast. She combined butter, brown sugar, some vanilla syrup, and what turned out to be the most surprising twist of all, fresh lemon juice in a pan and let it reduce while the bananas and toast were cooking. Once the first side of the French toast was cooked, she flipped them and then added the "stuffed" part of the dish: a mixture of cream cheese, sour cream, and powder sugar. After the second side finished, she assembled the entire affair, sprinkled the top with a bit of powdered sugar and brought it to me.

The minute I tasted the sauce, I was mesmerized. Many times, breakfast syrups can be a little too cloying for my taste. The addition of the lemon juice tempered the sweetness and allowed me to taste more of the other flavors. The funny thing was that it didn't actually taste of lemon, but I could definitely tell there was an acid in the sauce. Alternating between bites of salty bacon and sweet French toast, I eagerly gobbled this up. Grilling the bananas had been an excellent idea as the some of the bananas were soft, some were firm, and the grilled pieces had a bit of caramelization from the sugars in the banana itself. Whereas my previous breakfast had a few areas that could use improvement, today's breakfast was spot on. I was fortunate that my server was paying attention and as soon as I had finished the French toast, she addressed my temptation to lick the plate clean by clearing it away.

Having visited this eatery a half-dozen times now, I really can't recommend them enough. Even when the food wasn't perfect, it was still quite good and when the food was spot on (which has been every other time), it was absolutely marvelous. I have mixed feelings about the fact that in several days I will be starting a new job that will have me in Cleveland during the weekdays and I won't be able to get my weekly or bi-weekly Flury's fix. I guess that means I'll just have to start coming on Saturday's instead.

Brunch At Bar Symon

It's official. I have now eaten at all of Michael Symon's full-sized restaurants in the Cleveland area. While there are still two eateries left bearing his name, I don't see myself getting to either downtown Cleveland and Progressive Field or Detroit anytime soon. I started the journey at Lolita, moved on to Lola, have had several stints at B Spot, and finally over the weekend had a chance to enjoy brunch at Bar Symon out in Avon Lake. Of course, this was a journey of a thousand days, so don't think I did something insane like try and hit all four in one weekend. Even if I could afford to do so, my taste buds would be on sensory overload by the third spot.

Bar Symon was located at 32858 Walker Road, Avon Lake, OH 44012 and can be reached at 440-933-5652. Because Bar Symon was located at the end of a retail outlet center, parking was ample and in front of the restaurant. Also note that the strip mall was located back away from the street, so it was difficult to spot hiding behind the stores lining the actual street.

My best piece of advice for finding the storefront? Look for the flying pig:


Upon closer inspection of the front door, the hours of operation were clearly listed:


What isn't listed on the door were the brunch hours, or 10 AM to 2 PM on Sundays. I'm not sure if Bar Symon added brunch after opening or if the current brunch offering was only temporary, but I've been hearing good reviews about their brunch for a while now. Once inside, I was actually surprised at how dim the restaurant was, even in the middle of the day. Granted, it wasn't pleasant and sunny outside, but it was dark enough that most of my flash-less photos needed some serious doctoring before posting.

The brunch menu came on a single piece of heavy-duty paper. The front side was the brunch menu and the rear side contained the wine and beer selections. Instead of trying to get the entire brunch menu into one shot, I broke it up into the top, middle, and bottom:




Soon after arriving and being seated, complimentary fried donut holes appeared at our table:


These are complimentary for every guest attending brunch at Bar Symon. I think they serve as a sort of amuse bouche to whet the appetite for the impending meal. While the dough itself was only slightly sweet, the cinnamon and sugar coating that encased the fried dough added a lovely sweetness and a tiny textural crunch when eaten. Underneath each donut hole was a pool of lovely chocolate sauce.

While everything looked really good on the menu, the one item that I had been very eager to try was the biscuits and sausage gravy. Having read about them originally on my friend Nancy's blog, her pictures along with the descriptions I've heard on the Cleveland Food and Wine Forum made this brunch item the raison d'etre for me today. Ordering my eggs "sunnyside up" (my favorite), after only a few minutes, our meals arrived at the table:


First up, the eggs:


While the eggs were nicely seasoned (a nice change for once), the barest bit of white around each of the yolks was still a bit undercooked. Other than that, the eggs were tender and delicious. Had I ordered or received a bit of toast with my meal, I probably would've eaten the egg yolks with the toast points. That not being the case today, my fellow dining companion Diane squealed with glee as she watched me eat all of the white around each egg yolk before popping the entire yolk, unbroken, into my mouth. She wondered if I always ate my eggs that way and other than when I have something to smother the yolks over, I agreed that it was. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Here was a shot of the cheddar cheese, bacon, and scallion biscuits:


I tried these on their own and they were quite delicious. Michael Symon seems to find a way to sneak pork into everything he does and in this case, I certainly won't object. By themselves, they had a lovely balance of flavors and were tender and flaky. I imagine that smeared with just a little freshly softened butter, these would be heaven on a plate.

While the biscuits were good on their own, they belonged to the third element on the plate, the sausage gravy:


While certainly a homemade version of sausage gravy, Bar Symon's lost some of the sweetness that a milk gravy should have. To my palate, it didn't have a traditional balance of sweet and spice from the milk sugars and the spice from the sausage. Don't get me wrong, the gravy wasn't bad. It was just different from what I was expecting. Combining a bite of biscuit and a generous lathering of gravy on my fork, I took a bite of the combination and discovered that sometimes there can be too many flavors going on. In my mind, the sum of the whole was less than the combination of the parts. Technically I think this dish was executed well, but I began losing flavors when eating the biscuits with the gravy.

My friend Diane decided to order the Eggs Benedict and gave me a small bite of hers for me to try:


Between the crispy English muffin, the slice of moderately salted ham and the nicely poached egg on top, this was a nice bite. The next time I return for brunch at Bar Symon, I may just have to go with this dish instead it was so nice. My other dining companion gave me a bite of his entree, the stuffed French Toast, too. It was tasty, but what surprised both him and myself was the very reserved level of sweetness in his dish. It could be due to the use of reduced balsamic vinegar drizzled over the plate; either way, both of us missed a certain level of sweetness that most French Toast normally has.

Because we arrived later in the brunch service, we actually managed to close out the service by the time we were done. Chef Matt Harlan came out to say hello to our small party and started talking about some of the upcoming specials. The topic quickly turned to seafood and he admitted that he had been surprised that the fresh oysters that he had acquired recently hadn't been selling very well on the dinner menu. After describing their preparation to us, he went back to the kitchen and returned with a complimentary oyster for each of us.

Here was a shot of my oyster:


Fresh and cold, each oyster was dotted with just a bit of wasabi and a drop of sriracha. Having never had this combination before, I was surprised at how well all of the flavors worked together. You could actually taste the flavor of the oyster, the sharpness of the wasabi and then the lingering of the chili and garlic from the sriracha. Had I not already eaten a full meal and the fact that the restaurant was now closed for brunch, I might have ordered a full dozen just based on that flavor combination alone.

I'm glad I finally had a chance to complete the Michael Symon "set" of Cleveland-based restaurants today. While some aspects of today's brunch seemed to fall in the "miss" category, others were squarely dead on. Perhaps my experience today speaks more to the blow-you-away flavors I've experienced at Symon's other eateries than to a sub-par meal at Bar Symon. Either way, I recommend the restaurant and I know that I intend to return again for brunch and for a proper dinner meal as well.

Extra Helpings: Breakfast At Tiff ... Err, Twig's

Ever since my first trip to Twig's Diner in Barberton, Ohio, I have been jonesing to return. The last time I went it was in the early afternoon and even though I had been told several times that Twig's is primarily known for their breakfasts, I wasn't in a breakfasty kind of mood. But the siren's song of homemade biscuits (or as Twig's spells them, bisquits) and sausage gravy kept calling to me to come back. Having recently written about the biscuits and gravy at another restaurant, I just had this feeling that something special was waiting for me at Twig's.

While it was 1 PM today when I arrived at Twig's, I was still bound and determined to order up some of their homemade goodness. As I walked in, I was greeted by a woman who turned out to be my server. Even before I had a chance to sit down, she had already asked me what I'd like to drink. As I slung my winter jacket across the back of the opposing chair, my server put down the cup of decaf and glass of water for which I had asked:


As she set it down, she told me told let her now if it wasn't hot enough. Apparently the decaf was being dispensed from a thermal carafe and she was concerned that it was too old. While it tasted hot enough to me, apparently she was worried enough that she made a fresh pot of decaf and replaced one mug with another. While the first one had been hot enough, the freshly brewed coffee was far tastier. I'm glad she took it on herself to replace my original cup.

As I looked at the daily breakfast and lunch specials, my initial thoughts of bisquits and sausage gravy seemed to suddenly come into question:


My eyes were drawn immediately to two menu items, one breakfast and the second lunch. The second breakfast special was two eggs, cheesy bacon grits, and choice of toast. The lunch special that caught my eye was the fresh beer battered fish. Oh, man! Knowing that Lent was upon us, I figured I'd be seeing the fish special again over the next couple of weeks. Which left me with the debate over whether to get the cheesy bacon grits special or stick with my original intention of bisquits and gravy. When my server finally came over, we talked it over and I decided on the cheesy bacon grits special with bisquits instead of the toast and then added a cup of the sausage gravy to round out the meal.

Since my meal took a little bit to come out, I did what I always enjoy doing at restaurants, people watch. There were a few other regulars in the restaurant today and they easily interacted with my server, as she was the only one working the front of house today. I mentioned Twig's unique decor in my last write-up and it seemed that my amped up server fit right in with that uniqueness. With that wonderfully warbly alto voice, she felt very Flo-esque from the TV show Alice without all the "Kiss my grits!" attitude. Twig's has a very down-to-earth friendly attitude to it and even when mistakes are made, people seemed good natured and easy going.

Soon enough, my meal arrived at my table:


The eggs were cooked perfectly. They were tender and the yolks were nice and creamy. Sometimes when you order "sunnyside up" eggs, the whites around the yolks haven't completely cooked. Not this time. The only criticism I had, and I consider this one a throw-away, was that there was no salt on the eggs. While I firmly believe that adding salt as one cooks is a necessity, since these eggs were never flipped over on the flattop, the salt never would've had a chance to interact with the heat. Therefore, a little salt added at the table was all that was required to remedy the situation.

At the rear of the plate was a small dish of cheesy bacon grits:


With a consistency somewhere between gloopy and semi-set, the flavor of these grits was quite good. Everything was nicely balanced and you could taste the cheese, bacon, and corn in every bite. I have had quite my fair share of horribly bland, unseasoned grits in the northeast Ohio area and it was quite a nice surprise to find that someone at Twig's realized that grits do need some seasoning, especially if they have entered savory territory (which these definitely had). Unfortunately, with all of the other food I was served today, I could only eat about half of these.

Along with my breakfast platter, I also received a cup of the homemade sausage gravy:


I tasted this by itself before slathering it over my bisquits. The good news was that this was a very tasty gravy. I got the sweetness from the milk and the saltiness and spiciness from the sausage. Not chili spice, per se, but more like black pepper spice. The bad news was that by the time this showed up on my table, it was a bit too cool. I imagine with only one cook in the kitchen, it's entirely possible that the cook served up the gravy and let it sit while she made the rest of my meal. The bisquits themselves were hot and split easily under the weight of my knife. The bisquits were tasty by themselves, but one of the bisquit halves had a bit of a hard spot. However, once I ladled sausage gravy over it, most faults were forgotten. Twig's has some very good bisquits and gravy. Not slap-your-momma good, but probably some of the best I've tasted in the area.

As my server dropped off my food, she asked if I wanted to try some of Twig's homemade jams with my bisquits. Having read some very positive things about these jams, I quickly agreed. While I was prepared for a single jar of jam, what I was presented with astounded me:


All homemade by Twig herself, you have peach and grape in the front and apple butter and strawberry in the back. Not content to try just a single flavor, I quickly employed one of my remaining bisquits as a jam delivery system:


From left to right you have peach, strawberry, grape, and apple butter. From what my server told me, they have the peach, strawberry, and apple butter year round. Other flavors cycle in whenever Twig felt like it. I noted that as I dispensed each jam, the consistency was somewhere between a sauce and what most of us think of as a hard set jam. I tasted each in turn and the one singular notion that I walked away with was the freshness of the fruit. Sure, they were each sweet, but the main flavor you get with Twig's jams was the fruitiness. The apple butter, by far the most viscous of the four, also had a nice bit of spice that reminded me of the holidays.

My sampling now complete, I was just too full to eat anything else. I paid my check and walked out into the bleak, cold February day now completely sated. My server had told me that lots of people use the jams as toppings for their waffles and pancakes and I can completely understand why. Between the wonderful cheesy bacon grits, the luscious sausage gravy and the over-the-top fresh jams, I am convinced that I have found a restaurant that I will be coming back to again and again. Two visits, two successful meals. I suggest if you haven't already given Twig's Diner a try, now is the time.

A Very Odd Biscuit At Mrs. J's Restaurant

For the last four months, I have found myself in need of a good meal while in downtown Orrville, Ohio. While I have already written about Jerry's and Ming Hing, I never seemed to be in town at the right time for another local restaurant, Mrs. J's. Apparently Mrs. J's is only open for breakfast and lunch and as I am normally in Orrville in the evenings, I have never had the opportunity to dine there until today. Since there was a sizable gap between when our musical group warmed up and when we were to play, I decided to head on over and check them out.

Located at 114 North Main Street, Orrville, OH 44667, they can also be reached at 330-683-0666. There was currently no website at the time of this writing. Parking was a breeze as Orrville was kind of a sleepy little town and even during the Sunday breakfast rush, there was plenty of streetside parking available.

Here was a shot of the exterior of the restaurant:


Once inside, I was greeted with a long and narrow dining room. To the left was the grill area and a counter area with barstools. To the right was a long line of booths running from the front to the back of the space. It was fairly full at 9:15 AM, but there was a booth open towards the back. There was no sign telling you to wait for a server or seat yourself, so I sort of lingered at the front of the door for a minute or so and when no one made an obvious attempt to walk towards me, I just decided it must be self-seating.

Fortunately, at every table were a number of menus already waiting, so while I waited for my server to come over, I started perusing the menu. Here were some shots of the menu:





I noted how the food listed on the menu matched the feel of the restaurant, both were basic and simple. Not knowing if I could even get a sandwich at 9:15 AM, I decided to stick with the breakfast foods category. My server finally returned with my glass of water and a fresh cup of black coffee:


I will say this about Mrs. J's coffee, it's fresh and not bitter at all. And I was never in want of a refill as all of the servers walked around offering to top off your glass.

For my breakfast I decided to go with something I haven't had in a while, biscuits and sausage gravy. The menu proudly advertised that it was homemade. Sadly I should've realized that the "homemade" adjective only applied to the sausage gravy and not the biscuits. After a few minutes, my breakfast arrived at my table:


As you can see from the photo above, the halved biscuits were pretty much smothered in the sausage gravy. Of course, the first thing I did was to taste the gravy. I could immediately tell that this was freshly made as the milk flavor sang through the sauce. The sausage was also nicely spiced as well. Sadly, that's where the love stops for this plate of food. I was a bit shocked that when I ate my first spoonful of gravy that is was barely lukewarm. The biscuits I expected to be room temperature, not the gravy. The gravy also had a strange sweetness to it that didn't play all that well with the spice from the sausage.

And in what turned out to be the strangest flavor in all of this were the biscuits. After managing to dig out a biscuit from the onslaught of gravy, I tried a bit by itself and I could swear it tasted like vanilla. The biscuit wasn't sweet, per se, but the scent of vanilla kept hitting my palate with every bite. Even when I paired it with the more strongly seasoned sausage gravy, I could still tell it was there. Texturally, the biscuit also fell short; it was more cake than flake. When I asked my server about the biscuits, she confessed that while the gravy was made every day in-house, the biscuits were outsourced from someplace else.

With my biscuits and gravy, I also decided to get a side of the freshly cut homefries. Here was what I received with my breakfast:


While these were cooked all of the way through, these were grossly underseasoned and in need of some additional contact time with the flat-top grill. I guess what I was missing was their sense of character. I don't normally put ketchup on hash browns/homefries, but in this case, I did and it helped out somewhat.

The bill, clocking in at a very reasonable $7.39, was paid at the front of the restaurant at the cashier's register. I have to give a marginal pass to Mrs. J's Restaurant. While the atmosphere felt very down home in an everybody - knows - your - name kind of way and the price of my meal was decent, the food was only so-so. Hopefully they'll rethink the whole making the biscuits from scratch instead of using someone else's, because that really was the weakest part of my meal today. The homefries could easily be fixed by adding seasoning and cooking them a little bit longer on the grill.

While I certainly wouldn't recommend you driving any further than ten minutes to get to Mrs. J's, if you happen to be in Orrville and in need of breakfast or lunch, definitely give them some thought. While you might not be blown away by the flavors, you'll definitely leave with a full stomach and a not-so-empty wallet.