Sometimes Homemade Just Isn't Enough

While it has been more than a year since anything about Marie's Restaurant in Wadsworth, Ohio has shown up here on the blog, that doesn't mean that it has been that long since I returned for a meal. Often times I end up getting the same thing on different visits and once I've written about a particular menu item, there really isn't a need to re-hash it again (unless it has dramatically changed). The trouble is that since Marie's isn't all that close to where I live, I only consider going when I am either a) craving their pizza or b) already in Wadsworth visiting with my grandmother. On this particular visit, instead of our semi-yearly visit to Miss Molly's Tea Room to celebrate my mother's birthday, she indicated that she'd like to go to Marie's instead. This was doubly good for my grandmother, who has certain food restrictions, because their menu does indeed offer some items she can eat without issue.

When Marie's first relocated to its present location in the northern end of Wadsworth, expecting to find an empty table at 11:30 AM on a Saturday would have been a fruitless endeavor. Fortunately, as happens with all popular restaurants, after a few months the hysteria dies down and you start to see more realistic numbers during the lunch and dinner rush. We arrived today and found a rather sparse crowd at 11:30 and by the time we left an hour later, it was busier, but certainly not packed.

Since I neglected to take a photograph of the front of Marie's restaurant on my last two write-ups, I thought I would include one now:


While the pizza has been my staple menu item for years, today I wasn't particularly feeling the love. I've had good success with their chicken Parmesan sandwich before, but wanted to try a twist today and decided to go with the homemade meatball sandwich instead. It seemed like a real no-brainer since the buns were homemade, the meatballs were homemade, and the marinara was homemade. Having already established that I like the buns and the marinara because of the chicken Parmesan sandwich, it seemed that the only unknown part of this equation were the meatballs. After having had a pretty bad meatball recently at Bellacino's Pizza and Grinders, I figured that Marie's couldn't be worse.

After placing our orders and dropping off our drinks, our server surprised us with a basket of garlic breadsticks and marinara sauce:


I had forgotten that breadsticks came complimentary with our meal. They were made from the same homemade dough that Marie's uses for their pizza. Here was a shot of my breadstick, sauced:


I've written about the breadsticks in a past entry, so I won't belabor the point of repeating myself. I'll just stick with ... these were pretty good.

Shortly after finishing the breadsticks, our lunches arrived. Here was a shot of my meatball sandwich and potato chips:


Hidden at the rear of the plate was a standard dill pickle spear. All sandwiches come with potato chips, and you can upgrade to another side for an additional fee. Obviously, I just decided to go with the standard potato chips today. Both the pickle and chips were of the grocery store variety and didn't go out of their way to impress me. At the same time, the flavor was precisely what I expected from this level of food product.

The meatball sandwich, however, was definitely worth talking about. I guess I had assumed that a meatball sandwich would be served on a roll-style bun; something with a spine that connected the two halves together. Marie's version was served on the same bun that the rest of the sandwiches utilized. For chicken Parmesan, this was fine since the fried chicken patty sat nicely between the split roll.

As you can see in this next shot, melted mozzarella cheese partially covered the ROUND meatballs:


And here was a shot of the sandwich, bisected:


Because of the roundness of the meatballs, taking a bite meant not only trying to get a mouthful of sandwich, but also preventing the filling from falling out onto the plate below. In terms of "Sandwich Science," either slice the meatballs in half so they don't roll, or put the round meatballs in a hoagie bun. That criticism aside, how did it taste? From a flavor standpoint, it was quite good. All the elements worked pretty well together. The meatball flavor was prominent and the acidity from the marinara sauce added a nice counterbalance to the fattiness of the meat. Sadly, the meatballs were a bit dry. I think that made the meatball a little bit tougher to chew than it should have been. Would I order the sandwich again? Yes, I would. Based on my other visits, I'm willing to consider the overcooked meatballs an anomaly.

Another oddity that came out on my plate hidden underneath the potato chips was this lone, strangely-shaped Jo Jo:


For those not from the northeast Ohio area, a Jo Jo is kind of like a potato wedge that may or may not be coated and then normally fried (and they can be baked, too). Somehow this misshapen spud managed to sneak its way onto my plate. Either none of us were in the mood for a potato or its uneven size made us all too scared to touch it as it sat lonely on my side plate. I have had Jo Jo's at Marie's before and they were at least on par with the rest of the Jo Jo universe.

While I still maintain that Marie's menu was unnecessarily enlarged to appeal to a wider audience, at least the Italian staples that made them a Wadsworth institution have remained solid and still tasty. While I have heard others state that they think Marie's has declined over the years, the food and service has always remained pretty consistent during my visits. While their new location doesn't quite have the charm of the original, the food still manages to take me back to my high school days when I'd stop in for some Italian American treats.

More To Barberton Than Just Chicken Joints

Barberton, OH has sort of traditionally been known for it's family style fried chicken restaurants. However, aimlessly meandering through the city, I discovered Angie's Italian Restaurant (located at 343 4th Street NW, Barberton, OH 44203, 330-745-6056) around 7 pm on Friday evening. Needless to say, the parking lot was packed. So, lacking a better option (and the fact that I was decidedly hungry by this point), I figured I would stop in and check it out.

Seating on Friday and Saturday night is first come, first serve, but surprisingly, it only took about ten minutes for a table to open up. I grabbed a take-out menu to study at the table while I waited for my server to show up.


They have a number of items on the menu, sandwiches, pastas, pizzas, and surprisingly much of it is homemade. After weighing my options, I decided to get the Italian Sampler, which consisted of rigatoni with homemade marinara sauce, a stuffed shell, and pork and ricotta filled cannelloni. The meal also came with a side and garlic bread. I choose the cottage cheese as my side. Because I could, I also got a side of the homemade meatballs.


Nothing really to write about here. It was typical cottage cheese. Although I will say the portion size was quite large.

Unfortunately my server had screwed up my order and brought out a plate of rigatoni and not the Italian Sampler I had ordered. She did bring my side order of meatballs, so I had her leave those and return to the kitchen to correct my order. Here are the meatballs:


These were quite good. Very juicy on the inside (sometimes you can dry them out if you simmer them too long in the sauce) and very flavorful. The tomato/meat sauce that accompanies the meatballs was also quite intense and delicious. By the way, if you order your pasta topped with the meat sauce, this is the sauce you get. I think I would've been quite happy with some spaghetti with this sauce and those meatballs on it.

An attempt at an picture of the inside of the meatball:


Finally, my Italian Sampler entree was brought to my table:


The stuffed shell is on the lower left side of the plate, the cannelloni is at the upper right side of the plate, and the rigatoni sort of occupies the rest of the plate. All is covered in their homemade marinara sauce.

First, a shot of the stuffed shell:


And a shot of the cannelloni:


Everything was pretty tasty, although as with most Italian places, there was plenty of water at the bottom of the bowl. Annoying, but not unforgivable. My favorite, I think, was the stuffed shell. The cheese filling had a very nice creamy and savory quality to it that I found most appealing. Second favorite was the cannelloni. The Italian sausage had just a little bit of capricious heat to it and the scent of fennel seed was unmistakable. The rigatoni was ... well, pretty much just rigatoni. Overall, I think I liked the meat sauce better than the marinara.

Finally, a shot of my leftovers sitting in the Styrofoam box. It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but the meat sauce is just such an intense dark red compared to the marinara. The leftover meatball is at the bottom right in the picture.


Not knowing when I would be getting back anytime soon, I decided to order a pizza to go. The menu declared that they make all of their own dough and sauce, so that is generally a good sign. When I also saw that they offered meatballs as a topping, my first thoughts turned to my good friend Nancy, who has talked in the past for her love of a good New York City pizza with sliced meatballs.

When I asked my server if the meatballs they use on their pizzas are the same as the ones I had for dinner, she replied that they were. Unfortunately, I didn't bother to confirm that the meatballs were sliced and placed on the pizza. What I got looked entirely different from what I was expecting.

The pizza box all ready to go home with me:


And finally a shot of the pie itself.


They crumbled the meatballs instead of slicing them. Needless to say I was kind of disappointed. But then again, I failed to ask the right questions. The pie was ... ok. Unfortunately, they kind of burnt the crust quite a bit. And burnt not in the good way. The ground meat was a tad bit dry, which detracted from the experience. I think had they actually sliced the meatballs, they might've survived the baking process with a little more integrity. When I manage to get back there, perhaps I'll have them do it properly.

Overall, I think it was an okay to better than average experience and definitely a place if you are trying to find a nice family restaurant that the kids will like, too. A few service and food guffaws aside, it was a pleasant experience.