A Return Visit To Flury's Cafe

As any long-time reader of Exploring Food knows, I've reviewed Flury's Cafe several times before on this blog. And I've been enjoying owner Kimberly White's food from my very first visit many, many years ago. I find it ironic when I reread my previous reviews that I occasionally ding'ed particular items she made for having too little (or no) salt, such as her hashed browns or eggs. Interestingly, it is exactly that feature that now draws me in on a regular basis for breakfast or lunch.

I was quite surprised when I first approached Kim with my new diet that she was able to point to quite a few items on her current menu that would be appropriate for me. I also learned that she shares my philosophy that there is way more salt in our food than is necessary. When possible, she would rather make dishes lower in sodium and allow the guest to add salt where he or she thinks it appropriate.

While there are certainly items on the menu where salt is inherently built in (anything with cheese, sausage gravy, fried sides such as French fries or onion rings), I thought I would point out a few of the items on the menu that I've been able to order off of the menu without too many substantial changes (other than my usual request for "no salt, butter, or cheese").

Let's start with the potato pancakes, scrambled eggs, and a small cup of sour cream, all lightly dusted with paprika:

The difference between the potato pancakes and the regular hashed browns is the addition of onions and eggs to the potato pancakes. Cooked in a combination of canola and olive oil, the potato pancakes are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The majority of salt on this plate comes from the scrambled eggs, about 120mg of sodium for two eggs. The sour cream, interestingly, does have sodium, but at only 10mg of sodium per tablespoon, it is an acceptable amount and adds a nice acidity and richness to the pancakes.

Next up is my standard breakfast order, the vegetarian omelet with hashed browns. Occasionally Kim makes awesome homemade jam, and if it is available, I may also get a slice of dry wheat or rye toast as a vehicle for jam delivery*:

* The omelet comes with hashed browns and toast, I sometimes just omit the toast.

Kim uses regular sandwich bread for her toast (which can have anywhere from 150 to 200mg of sodium per slice). Considering that the only other sodium in the dish is the 120mg in the eggs for the omelet, having a single slice of toast is an acceptable amount. The omelet is filled and topped with sauteed spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and red bell peppers. Both the original Tabasco sauce (the red one) as well as the jalapeno-based sauce (the green one) are available if you like things a little spicy. The green one is completely out (150mg of sodium per teaspoon), but every now and again I'll shake on a bit of the red one (35mg of sodium per teaspoon).

While regular sandwich bread is used for toast, Kim bakes her own buns for sandwiches and revealed to me that each bun only has about 150mg of sodium. Paired with a single or double burger or the grilled chicken breast, it makes for a delicious sandwich that can be kept under 300mg of sodium:

Of course, you have to forgo any condiments or the delicious housemade pesto (which I adore, but can't have due to the presence of cheese in the pesto), but you still get a juicy burger or chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato that's also filling. Unusually, Kim uses chicken that isn't brined before grilling, so the chicken is 100% okay to order at Flury's.

As I mentioned before, none of the usual sandwich sides like French fries or onion rings are on the low sodium list, so whenever I get a sandwich, I usually order the spinach salad minus the bacon and substitute the housemade balsamic vinaigrette for the warm bacon dressing:

The vinaigrette isn't necessarily low sodium, but if I just use a very small amount to lightly dress my salad, I'm not too concerned about it.

Kim always has some kind of baked good to tempt you with at the end of your meal. In the past I've normally said no to these (even when I was eating salt). However, in the past couple of months, she has also had fresh fruit available to be eaten at the restaurant or to go. I almost always say yes to an orange, apple, or banana, even if I don't intend to eat it at that very moment.

Normally I hit up Flury's Cafe for breakfast on days that I don't walk in the early mornings, so maybe once a week. But Kim and Flury's Cafe has been on my no-salt radar since I first realized I had to change my diet. Whenever I'm craving breakfast food, this is the first place that pops into my head. Most breakfast/diner places can offer you eggs without salt, but Flury's appeal is that you have additional options, too.

One thing to note about Flury's Cafe is that they recently moved from their old location on Sackett Avenue in Cuyahoga Falls to their new location on the corner of Front Street and Portage Trail, also in Cuyahoga Falls. Free parking is available in one of the two parking garages just north or south of the restaurant. They are open Monday through Saturday for breakfast and lunch and can be reached at 330-929-1315.

Restaurant Expansion At Flury's Cafe

It's been about six months or so since I last talked about Flury's Cafe located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, but after my latest meal there, I felt the time was ripe to bring them back up. In fact, having only discovered this gem of a cafe less than a year ago, I had only written about them three times. So why the need to cover them a fourth time? The food has stayed remarkably consistent and delicious during every visit (and trust me, gentle reader, I have gone WAY more than those three times). The ambiance is still small town friendly. What changed today was that as I pulled into the parking lot only to find a large number of cars, I suddenly worried that the small 14 seat restaurant wouldn't have any room for me.

As I walked through the front door ready to deal with a mob of restaurant patrons, I was delighted to see that a project that owner and chef Kim Dunchuck had been talking about for some time had finally come to fruition. It seemed that the space next to her tiny restaurant had become available and she was thinking of expanding. Every time I was able to stop in for a visit, things were getting closer, but none of the renovations had yet begun. Today as I walked through the front door, there was an enormous opening to the right of the door which led into a brand new space with extra tables and chairs.

It turned out that the work on the new room had been finished on the eve of Thanksgiving and while Kim wasn't quite ready to open the new room up for business, when a large crowd showed up for food on the day after Thanksgiving, they quickly moved the tables and chairs from the outside patio into the new space and officially christened it. It's been open ever since. Seeing as there was now twice as much space as before, I had no problems finding a seat at the original counter.

Due to a recent Flury's Cafe Facebook post, I had banana pancakes on my brain. Without even needing to consider the menu, as soon as my server came up to took my order, I quickly responded with my request and selected bacon as my included side. I then settled in and wouldn't you know it, not one, but TWO of my readers out there had also come into Flury's today to escape the cold and get a delicious meal. It's always a treat when I get to meet and talk with folks who take time out of their busy schedule to read my little dog and pony show. Thanks to you both for stopping to say, "Hello."

As my breakfast made its way from griddle to plate, my mouth began to water in anticipation of pancake goodness. Here was a shot of my banana pancakes with whipped cream and a brown sugar/butter/lemon juice syrup:


With my first bite, my taste buds went to their happy place and did a little dance. While the "syrup" that Kim makes a la minute was sweet, it wasn't overpowering or cloying. The combination of the fresh bananas (which she peeled and cut to order) with the soft cake-like texture of the pancakes and the freshly melted whipped cream was just amazing. Almost every item off the menu was made from scratch and I have always been able to tell the difference. Can you get a cheaper breakfast at a fast food place? Sure. But, you simply cannot beat Flury's for quality and flavor.

Along with my pancakes came a side of crispy bacon:


What can I say? I'm a sucker for bacon. Even not-so-good bacon. However, this bacon was salty without being too strong and was a nice way to balance the sweetness from the pancakes. I've never gotten around to asking what kind of bacon Kim uses, but it always comes out crispy with a bit of chew to it.

After I finished up my breakfast and paid the check (which came to $7.40 including tax), I decided to walk into the newly finished area and take a few snapshots to give you an idea of what the space looked like. Like I previously mentioned, the new space essentially doubles Flury's Cafe's seating capacity.

Here a shot from the west wall (same side as the entrance) looking left:


Here was another shot from the same wall, looking right:


And finally, a shot from the opposite wall:


While the space is nearly finished, Kim told me today that she still wanted to add a few more stools for the counter areas and the small tables in the middle will most likely need to be replaced with something a little more permanent as they were the tables and chairs that originally the patio outside. They've also added a new bathroom space in the renovated area that was nice and large. The door to it was actually on the left hand side of my first photograph.

When I have had the opportunity to stop in for a meal prior to today at Flury's Cafe, I have always tried to select a time when I thought it wouldn't be difficult to get a spot at the counter. Now that they have managed to pull off the Trifecta of great food, great ambiance, and lots of space to sit, I don't know that this concern will ever cross my mind again. I'm sure by this point, gentle reader, if you've read any of my previous reviews on Flury's, you'll know that I've been recommending that you check them out since my very first visit. The good news is that nothing has changed. Seek them out and you will be rewarded.

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.

Where The Wild (Blueberry) Things Are

If one were to doubt the power or effectiveness of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, I am here to tell you that while these particular websites may come and go over the next decade, the concept of being connected and sharing information is here to stay. Restaurants would do themselves a great service by wholly embracing this concept as a way of promoting themselves and trying to lure in guests. Even something simple like listing the daily specials can go a long way to getting customers to think about you. Today's late breakfast at Flury's Cafe serves as a perfect example.

After my last wonderful lunch at Flury's, I discovered that the owner, Kim Dunchuck, had set up a Facebook fan page for the restaurant. It was a no-brainer for me to become a fan of this little eatery. Once added to my other fan pages, anytime the page was updated, I got notified in my News Feed. Logging in last night, I noticed that one of the specials for today was wild blueberry crepes with butter and brown sugar. My first thought was, "Yum!" My second thought was, "Where on earth do you get wild blueberries in Ohio at this time of year?" As much as I tried to get the thought of those crepes out of my mind, I had been thinking of them non-stop since last night.

Realizing that the only way to purge the thought from my mind was to satisfy the craving and order them. I showed up at Flury's today at around 11:45 AM hoping that I would be able to find a open stool in this tiny sixteen seat restaurant; I was in luck. My server dropped off a menu and told me about the day's specials (including potato soup and sloppy joes), but having been thinking about those crepes all morning, I knew exactly what I wanted.

Flury's Cafe does so much of their menu from scratch, including the desserts. Today there were peanut butter cookies and banana bread with icing available. Just like my previous visit, samples were available to try and drive sales. Before taking my order, my server offered me a small bite of the banana bread:


While the quickbread was a little dried out from sitting on an uncovered plate for a while, the flavor was intensely banana and delicious. The icing surprised me as I figured it was probably simply vanilla. Instead, a note of lemon began to emerge in my mouth once the sweetness subsided a little bit. Overall, it was a delicious bite and had I not come to quench my sweet tooth on blueberry crepes, I might have left with a slice.

It turned out that the blueberry crepes came with one side: Ham, sausage, bacon, or your choice of eggs. Kind of in the mood for bacon AND eggs, I asked if it would be possible to get a side of eggs as well. Considering that the crepes with one side was only $6.25, an extra $1.90 seemed reasonable for two eggs, sunny side up. While there were probably four times as many customers in the restaurant today as the last time, it didn't take long before my crepes were placed in front of me:


As good as the crepes look in the picture, they tasted even better. These were sensational! The freshly griddled crepes were incredibly tender and cut with the barest pressure from my fork. I was convinced right away that the blueberries were indeed wild due to their small size, slight chew, and intense blueberry flavor. The flavors from the butter and brown sugar served as an undercurrent to the primary flavor of the blueberries; subtle, yes, but I could definitely pick up on it. I was told by my server that as good as the blueberry crepes were, the strawberry crepes were out of this world. I found it hard to believe given the plate of food I had been served, something else out there existed that would be even better. Since Flury's rotates the crepes every week, I know it's only a matter of time before I see the strawberry show up. And you better believe my butt will be on that bar stool with fork in hand.

My eggs and bacon showed up on a secondary plate:


The bacon was nicely crisped and was quite tasty. I alternated between bites of the salty bacon and the sweet blueberry crepes to maximize the sweet and salty flavors that I so love to combine. The eggs were served unseasoned, although bits of egg that touched the bacon strips did pick up a bit of seasoning. I didn't have a chance to pick the cook's brain about why the eggs don't get salt and pepper, but I will say that this is not unusual for a diner/cafe to not season the eggs at all.

Once the cook had a chance to breathe for a moment, I asked her about the crepes and the wild blueberries. Crepe batter can be tricky in that it has to sit for at least an hour after initially blending it up in order for the gluten to relax and fully absorb all of the liquid. Only then will you be rewarded with ultra-tender crepes. Aware of this fact, the crepe batter was actually made the night before and allowed to hydrate all night. I then turned my questions toward the wild blueberries. Apparently Sysco Corporation, a major player in the food and food-related products distribution business, has been able to source frozen wild blueberries. While the cook couldn't remember the exact provenance of these particular berries, it didn't diminish how intense and delicious they were. I half wanted to lick the platter clean after finishing my crepes; perhaps if I had been the only customer, I would have.

I cannot reiterate how neat Flury's Cafe is. Both of my experiences have been friendly and down-to-earth. The fact that the food was inventive, and most importantly, delicious, only goes to underscore some of the reasons that I know I will continue to go back and highly recommend that you give them a try as well if you haven't had the opportunity. The staff will take excellent care of you, regardless of whether you write a food blog or not.

Extra Helpings: Welcome Home At Flury's Cafe

Just like with Twig's Diner, I've known the location of Flury's Cafe since I first stumbled upon it years ago when I was out for an evening walk in Cuyahoga Falls. And just like Twig's Diner, it took an outside influence for me to put it on my list of places to try out. I was mucking around on Facebook the other day and noticed that there is a group for Locally Owned Akron businesses. If one clicks on the Discussions tab, there are a myriad of topics posted relating to the group, including one on restaurants. It was here that I discovered the mention of Flury's Cafe on more than one occasion. My curiosity now piqued, I decided that a visit was in order.

From my research, I knew that Flury's Cafe was a tiny space and made a concerted effort to go when it probably wouldn't be busy. At around 1:15 PM today, I drove down Sackett Avenue until I saw this sign:


Flury's Cafe was located at 1300 Sackett Avenue, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223 and could be reached at 330-929-1315. While they do have a small static website, the menu listed online was a subset of the menu I was given today. Parking was directly in front of the main entrance to the cafe, which itself was on the side of the building and not street-facing:


Once inside, I was warmly greeted. I realized I had come at a good time as there was only one other customer sitting at the counter. While I had read that the cafe was small, I was amazed when I surveyed the entirety of the restaurant; they weren't kidding! There were two tables of four and eight bar stools at the counter. Along the back wall was the convection oven, the fryer, flattop and a cold food station. While nothing felt cramped, it was definitely intimate. During the course of my meal at Flury's today, I did my usual people watching, but at some point was pulled with ease into the conversations that were happening around me. The experience was so nice that after finishing and paying for my meal, I just wanted to hang around for a bit and enjoy the genuine camaraderie and good-natured banter. It felt more like I had gone to a friend's house for lunch or dinner than eating at a restaurant. This was the kind of intimacy that corporate restaurant chains strive so hard to achieve but so sorely lack.

While some of Flury's menu is online, when my server handed me the official paper menu, I realized that I was holding a much more detailed and fleshed out menu. I managed to get a snapshot of each panel:







What caught my eye most was the multiple uses of the word "homemade" or "housemade." While breakfast was served all day, I decided today to stick with something a little more sandwich-like. It should be noted that unless stated otherwise on the menu, all the sandwiches and sides are a la carte. Looking over my sandwich options, there was plenty that looked good. I thought I might be in a burger mood today until I saw the BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich with housemade BBQ sauce. Bingo! Looking over the sides it was a no-brainer to go with the housemade macaroni and cheese.

It was amazing to watch the staff of two (cook and server) move in and out of personal and professional roles so easily. Once my order (and another customer's) was placed, the cook became single-minded and worked a solid ten minutes to produce both orders, piping hot and ready for service. While I hadn't ordered any of the fried-from-frozen onion rings, the other customer did and I have to say that they looked good.

First up was my BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich:


Adorned with a slice of February tomato, ribbons of Iceberg lettuce and some of the housemade BBQ sauce, there was a sizable amount of pulled pork topping a grilled bun. While pulled pork purists would scoff at the notion of serving the pork already dressed with sauce, this didn't bother me at all. The only condiment missing from my sandwich that the menu had listed was mayonnaise. Which, to be honest, I didn't really miss as the sandwich was incredibly juicy and moist. The pork was tender and seasoned perfectly and the tomato-based BBQ sauce added a wonderful mix of salty, sour, and sweet. My initial reaction was to remove the lettuce and tomato as they seemed superfluous to the sandwich. It wasn't until I took a bite that I realized that they served as a temperature buffer, cooling the very hot pulled pork to a level where you wouldn't burn your mouth. Also worth noting was the unusual bun, which had been nicely buttered and grilled. It turns out that the buns were from a locally owned bread shop, the Sarah Jane Bread Company. I've seen their products in my local Acme supermarkets and was excited that Flury's Cafe was using this quality product as well. The bun held up well to the rather wet filling and managed to keep its integrity from start to end.

Along with my sandwich came my side of housemade macaroni and cheese:


Lightly sprinkled with paprika to garnish, this was everything a good macaroni and cheese should be. The pasta had a nice chew to it and the cheese sauce was creamy, smooth, and well-balanced. While the portion appeared small on the plate for $3.25, appearances were deceiving. Between my sandwich and my side, I was completely full by the time I reached the bottoms of both plates. The cheese sauce was impressive on its own. I could tell that it was made with a combination of cheeses, cheddar to be certain, as there were multiple flavors assaulting my taste buds. I picked up a slight tanginess, so I'm wondering if there isn't sour cream or maybe cream cheese in there as well. Either way, it was delicious and highly recommended.

I really enjoyed my experience today at Flury's Cafe. Between the atmosphere, the fun-natured staff and the delicious food, this little cafe is a place where you can retreat from the pressures of modern living and enter a small, intimate space where you can eat and share amongst friends. There were so many interesting items from which to pick that you could go back time and again and still have a hard time eating your way through the entire menu. Personally, I plan on trying just that.