Fairlawn Showcase Part I: Earth Fare

I get email solicitations all of the time from people and companies wanting me to write about product 'X' or service 'Y'. In cases where I think that the product or service aligns itself well with the goals of this blog, I have agreed in the past to evaluate or promote it. One of those goals is to write about local chains or locally owned and operated independent restaurants because they are what making living in this part of Ohio so unique. In cases where I have agreed to write about a national chain (such as when I reviewed Bonefish Grill in Independence), I also made it a point to include a companion review on a similar independent restaurant, too (Restaurant Dante in Tremont).

Earth Fare is an eastern United States chain of stores based out of Asheville, NC that is operating in seven states, including their newest store in the Montrose/Fairlawn area which has its grand opening today. Corley May, Web Content Producer for Earth Fare, contacted me last Thursday wondering if I would be interested in touring the new store. When Corley sweetened the deal by throwing in not one, but TWO $50 gift cards to give away to my lucky readers, how could I say no?

After agreeing to the terms with Corley, I quickly realized that I could use the coverage of this national chain to help showcase a locally owned and operated chain of stores familiar to Cleveland and Akron residents alike, Mustard Seed Market. I contacted the folks at Mustard Seed Market, explained what had transpired, and asked if they'd be willing to balance out the Earth Fare review in a two-part write-up, the second installment of which will post this Friday. Not only did they agree, but they graciously also decided to donate two $50 gift cards, too! That's right, gentle reader, over the next couple of days, I'll be giving away $200 worth of gift cards!

But now to the main topic of today's post: Earth Fare. The new store is located at 3737 West Market Street, Fairlawn, OH 44333 and can be reached at 330-668-3500. The store is positioned in the same strip mall that houses Bruegger's, Pier One, and Hobby Lobby (CompUSA and Borders used to be in the same building). They have both a Facebook page as well as a Twitter account.

Here was a shot of the exterior of the new store:


Once inside the main door, I was greeted by store representative Kristi Kanzig, Assistant Director of Marketing, who graciously showed me around the new store pointing out some of the major points of interest. Since I wanted to give my readers out there a visual perspective of what they can expect, my descriptions will be fairly terse.

Community and store calendar located just inside the main door.

Earth Fare wants you to know its philosophy on food right from the get-go. This was just inside the main door in the produce area.

Produce area. Beige labels are conventionally grown produce, orange labels are organic, and green labels mean locally grown produce from within 100 miles of the Fairlawn store.

One of Earth Fare's commitments is to partner with smaller family farms (not necessarily within 100 miles or organic). This symbol indicates that the item was produced on such a farm.

This symbol on an item indicates that it was produced on a local farm from within 100 miles of the Fairlawn store (again, it doesn't necessarily mean it is organic or from a small family farm).

During the first twelve weeks that the store is open, various produce will rotate in and out of the "Thank You" specials.

Just beyond the produce section was the bulk foods area. Grains, flour, seeds, nuts, rice, candy, trail mixes, they've got quite the selection.

At the rear of the store behind the bulk foods was the seafood and butchery areas. All meats are labeled organic/non-organic, place of origin, grass-fed/conventional, and whether the fish was farm-raised or wild caught.

When I asked Kristi about those with special dietary needs, she helpfully pointed out this row, noting that items that are Gluten Free not only have signs indicating as such, but the front of these shelves had wooden surfaces instead of the brown metal on all of the others.

In the middle of the store was a wellness area containing a wide selection of vitamins, supplements, herbal remedies, teas and much more. This location will have someone on staff to assist customers in finding exactly what they need.

Also in the wellness area were the bulk herbs and spices. While you can buy a glass jar from Earth Fare, if you have your own, bring it and stop by the customer service area and they will note the weight of your bottle coming in, so you only pay for the difference when you leave.

At the opposite rear point in the store was the cheese section. This was one of two cases of artisan cheeses and there was a third case of more bulk-style cheese. Tasting is encouraged.

In front of the cheese area (moving closer to the front of the store) was the wine and beer area. Here was a selection of incredibly reasonably priced wines geared at organic/sulfite-free/locally made/conventional wine drinkers. Wines are helpfully labeled to help shoppers navigate.

The beer selection contained beer at many levels from Pabst Blue Ribbon (which Kristi pointed out) to many micro-brews and imports (I noticed Sam Smiths ... always a good choice).

Between the wine and beer "walls" was a section that contained special selections for the week that ran $15 or less. This will be a great way for Earth Fare to showcase specific wines to customers.

As we moved closer to the front of the store, we entered the hot and cold food service areas. One of the items that Kristi spent some time discussing was the weekly Thursday Family Dinner Night.

This was the pizza and sandwich prep area. Not only will pizzas be available for purchase and consumption at the store, but par-baked pizzas will also be available to take home and finish baking yourself.

The sandwich menu at the pizza and sandwich prep station.

Moving diagonally across the isle from the previous station we found the in-house bakery. Here was a shot of some of the freshly baked breads and pies made in preparation for today's store opening.

This was the pastry case filled to the brim with homemade treats ready for today's big event. Breads and pastries are all labeled so that you can find exactly the kind of treat that fits your eating requirements.

Directly next to the bakery (and nearly at the front of the store) was a coffee, tea, juice, and smoothie bar.

Sushi area where freshly made sushi is available in either white or brown rice every day.

Prepared foods just to the right of the sushi area and just in front of the cash registers.

Any of the foods purchased at Earth Fare can be eaten in this decently sized cafe area. While this obviously isn't a full-service restaurant, you can certainly assemble a meal from the various hot and cold food stations throughout the store and sit here to enjoy your meal.

Earth Fare has committed to showing local artists on the walls in their cafe. Here was a piece by Allison, an eighth grader from a local school.

Having spent nearly an hour with me, I thanked Kristi for her time and made my way back out into the warm, not-quite-sure-if-it-was-going-to-shower evening air. While Corley had originally agreed to give away two $50 gift cards to my awesome readers, I was surprised when Kristi handed me my very own $50 gift card. While I will certainly be returning to give Earth Fare a more thorough shakedown, as a reward for getting all the way to the bottom of a very long post, I am going to sweeten the deal and throw MY gift card into the mix as well. That means you, gentle reader, have a chance to win one of THREE $50 gift cards to Earth Fare.

So here is how the contest will work. Starting at 6:00 AM on Wednesday, May 11th and ending at 5:59:59 AM on Friday, May 13th, if you wish to throw your hat into the ring for one of these awesome gift cards, leave a comment on this blog post stating that you wish to win. If you wish to get in an extra chance at a card, share the link for this blog post on your Facebook, Twitter, blog, or other social media account (you can only earn one extra chance, regardless of how many sites you share the link on) and post that link right in your comment.

When 6:00 AM rolls around on Friday morning, I will make a list of all the names of the commenters as well as how many chances they have earned. Using Random.org, I will select three names from the list and contact those individuals to see if they are still interested in receiving a card. IF YOU LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT, I will contact you directly. If you provided a link to your Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc. and it is easy and obvious to make contact with you, there is no need to leave an email address. If I select a contest winner with no email address or outside link listed, you will have to wait until Sunday morning at 6:00 AM when I will publish a list of all the winners. You will then have one week to contact me to claim your prize. If not, I will select another winner.

While it is always awesome when I am able to give away gift cards to encourage people to visit a new store, I do encourage you to check out Earth Fare for yourself, regardless if you win one or not. They have a hard and fast food philosophy by which they operate, have shown community involvement even before the store officially opened, and are in the business of helping to educate consumers on making smarter choices about what is going into their bodies.

Make sure to come back on Friday and read all about the second part of this Fairlawn Showcase ... and the opportunity to win more gift cards!

Extra Helpings: Taco Happiness At Taqueria La Loma

My curiosity was finally piqued and I knew it was time.

I could only drive by something so uniquely non-Akron so many times before the epicurean gravitational pull eventually caused me to stop and pull in for a closer look. Perhaps part of me was in disbelief that something so small and unassuming could really produce anything of quality. Perhaps it was the somewhat vicarious location, an open parking lot in front of a set of stores that had seen previous owners, but were now vacant and lifeless. Whatever it was that kept me away for so long, I began to notice things. Things like the place always seemed to be open. Things like the place always seem to have a line. Things like they were open on major holidays when every other store was closed.

I am speaking, for those who don't live on the east side of Akron, of Taqueria La Loma. When a Mexican supermarket actually opened up in the storefront on the same lot as the taqueria, it all began to make sense and fall into place. Both La Loma Supermarket and Taqueria were located at 421 Darrow Road, Akron, Ohio 44305 and can be reached at 330-784-9309. There was no website associated with the store at the time of this writing.

While the opening of the storefront supermarket added legitimacy to the little taco truck out front, I still wondered about the authenticity. I began to examine who was in line waiting for food. While there was the occasional non-Mexican waiting for food, the overall majority of the clientèle seemed to match the food coming out of the truck. I tried to do a bit of research ahead of time, but then as well as now, there just wasn't much available on the Internet. One night, a full four months after the taco truck opened for business, I basically bit the bullet and decided to pull into the parking lot. Between my broken Spanish and their broken English, I managed to order myself a chicken burrito. I paid my $5, took my meal home and discovered that in addition to the burrito being enormous, they had thoughtfully included both salsa verde and salsa picante. I dug in and discovered that to my surprise, this was really good. The salsas were fresh and flavorful and really added so much to the already flavorful burrito. Since then, I've returned numerous times and explored other options on the menu. I finally feel that I'm ready to tell you, gentle reader, about this crazy-good little taqueria.

I already knew that I was going over to my grandmother's today to take care of a few odds and ends. Being that I left right before noon, I decided that I would stop at La Loma and grab lunch to go. After pulling into the parking lot in front of La Loma Supermarket, I snapped a few pictures to start out my adventure.

Here was a shot of the supermarket:


While I haven't been inside the supermarket, if this was what the taco truck was using to source the ingredients for their menu offerings, then there must be many, many wonderful grocery items for sale inside the store. To the right of the supermarket was the taco truck:


Once you got close to the ordering window, the available menu was posted on the wall next to the window:


The menu was simple and was comprised of tacos, burritos, tamales, tortas, quesadillas, chimichangas, flautas, sopes, and alambre. You essentially pick the "vehicle" for your meal and then tell them what kind of meat you would like on it. Choices range from chicken, pork, beef, chorizo, and lengua. For those of you a little rusty on your Spanish, that last one was beef tongue. Up until now, I was a bit reluctant to give the lengua a try. Today, however, was a bold new day and if I was going to write up a representative review of the La Loma experience, I knew it was time for a bit of tongue action.

Once I ordered my food, it took them just a few minutes to assemble my lunch. I paid the check, loaded up my car and headed over to my grandmother's condo. Once I arrived, I began documenting everything before finally sitting down to taste it. I had noticed that on the left side of the ordering window was a small plastic holder containing an almost flyer-like paper menu. Here was a shot of the paper menu:


First up on today's lunch was the burrito pastor:


This burrito was HUGE. The takeout container the burrito was sitting in was the standard large styrofoam box that restaurants typically have available. The burrito only fit in this container because they laid it in diagonally. Here was a close-up of the side of the burrito:


I ordered the burrito sin cebollas, but even without the onions, there was plenty of pork, beans, rice, queso fresco, tomatoes, pineapple and cilantro. According to this site, pastor is pork that has been marinated in achiote, sliced thin and then served with various accoutrement. Achiote is actually made from annatto seeds and flavored with garlic and lime. Regardless of how they do it, it was wonderfully tasty and the pork was nicely crispy and chewy at the same time. All of the other ingredients in the burrito were also fresh and tasty. I added a little bit of salsa verde and salsa picante before taking each bite and the flavors just sang in my mouth. Of all the items I've tried at La Loma, this one is still my favorite. At only $5 for this massive flour tortilla-wrapped meal, it's also an excellent bargain.

Along with my standard burrito, I decided to mix it up a little bit and try two other popular menu items, a taco and a sope. At $1.50 and $2.00 respectively, each offers a smaller snack size treat that you could mix and match to your stomach's content. Here was a shot of my taco and sope:


The taco was in the back and the sope was in the front. Here was a close-up shot of the sope:


I decided to get my sope with pollo (in this case, cooked pulled chicken) and it was also topped with queso fresco, crema, cilantro and some frijoles refritos, or refried beans. The circular masa dough used as the plate on which to build this tower of flavor had been expertly fried and was crispy and not soggy. The corn flavor from the masa was particularly nice and melded in with the ingredients on top. Topped generously with salsa verde, this was delicious. The only criticism, and it was a very minor criticism, was that the sope was a bit hard to eat. With each bite, additional toppings would tumble down into the waiting styrofoam container on the table.

My final luncheon item today was going to be my most challenging. Here was a shot of my taco lengua:


Consisting of two small flexible corn tortillas topped with beef tongue, onions and fresh cilantro, I knew that tasting this was going to be a two step process. First, I needed to try the tongue by itself. My grandmother's eyes nearly bugged out of her head when I told her what I was about to eat. But, I've come this far and I'm not about to turn back. I picked a representative piece that wasn't covered in onions or cilantro, gave it a slight sniff and popped it in my mouth. Having never had tongue before, I wasn't sure what kind of flavor and texture to expect. My first reaction was to the texture. While it certainly wasn't filet mignon, it also wasn't too far off from other beef cuts I have had in Mexican cuisine. It had crusty bits and it had chewier bits. Not chewy in a bad way, mind you. Once the spices and seasonings from the meat began to excite the taste buds in my mouth, my second reaction was to the flavor. This was really very tasty. It tasted very much like the chicken or beef you get when you order fajitas. It had that same savory "cooked in a cast iron skillet" kind of flavor.

Having survived my taste of tongue, I decided to add both the salsa verde and the salsa picante to the top of the meat, folded up the corn tortillas around the filling and took a bite. Wonderful! Just wonderful! At that point, any issues with the fact that I was eating beef tongue went right out the window. The combination of flavors was really compelling and I found myself eating bite after bite to get more of them. Watching from the chair next to mine, I wasn't sure if my grandmother was looking on in horror or amazement at my display of pure gluttony. At that point, I simply didn't care.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the sauces and extras that you receive with every order. Unfortunately, they were out of the salsa habanero, which you must specifically request, but as always the salsa verde and salsa picante were fresh and delicious:


The salsa verde had a lovely fresh tomatillo flavor to it and a mild herbaceousness from the cilantro. The salsa picante lived up to its name and added quite a bit of zing when sampled on its own. However, this wasn't a one-note salsa; the fruitiness of the chillies were also present and even though I'm sure there weren't ground up nuts in the salsa, I could almost taste a bit or peanut or sesame seed note to the flavor. Used sparingly, the flavor of the salsa was what I noticed when eating it on my taco. A heavier handed application would've resulted in more of the spice being found in every bite.

Along with the two salsa, every order also comes with a small plastic bag of peeled sliced cucumbers, sliced radishes and lime wedges. The lime wedge seemed obvious to me, as a few drops of lime juice on any of the products I tried today would've added a nice little brightness (although wholly unneeded, I might add) to them. Were the radishes and cucumbers simply an edible side garnish? Most times I will simply squeeze the lime juice in the bag, marinate the cucumbers and radishes for a little bit and throw in a touch of salt. It turns into sort of a faux salad of sorts. Any way you decide to eat it, it has always been delicious.

Seeing as I wouldn't be able to eat everything I had bought today in one sitting, I returned the other half of my burrito the the refrigerator along with my salsas and salad and am looking forward to the leftovers later today.

I have a funny feeling that today won't be the last time I order the lengua again. Or the sope. Or the taco. And certainly not the burrito. Everything was fresh and delicious and very well balanced. The addition of the two salsas provided with my order was not to correct seasonings, but to marry two flavors together to produce an even better third. If I had doubted the authenticity of the food prior to my first visit, I now embrace it. I know of no other Mexican place in Akron that serve such unique and tasty products. Clearly the word has gotten out about this little truck as the line today was comprised of more non-Mexicans than Mexicans. I know that they will be getting a lot of my business whenever I crave this sort of food ... which is pretty much every single time I drive by. Taqueria La Loma is an absolute must visit if you live in Akron and quite honestly, a very big suggestion for a day trip to those in Cleveland and Canton.

Who Puts Red Pepper Flakes In The Refrigerator?

If there is any benefit to being unemployed and looking for work, it's that I don't have a 9-to-5 work schedule to which I have to adhere. Knowing that I was going to be having lunch with my aunt and uncle today, I decided to stop at my grandma's condominium on the way back home since it is on the way. Apparently she needed some errands run and I was in a perfect position to help her out.

After running the expected and a few not-so-expected errands, my grandma offered to treat me to dinner. Knowing that she has diverticulosis and can eat at very few restaurants, I suggested we go to one of the few places in Wadsworth that she can actually order something off the menu without her having to endure gastronomic distress afterward. Buehler's is a local chain supermarket that originally started in Wooster, OH and now has many stores around the area. While I don't know if all of the Buehler's have a restaurant inside them, I know for a fact that the Wadsworth and Medina stores do.

Fortunately, when we arrived at 6:00 PM on a Friday night, it was busy, but not packed. It's funny how some other Wadsworth eateries at this time would've had at least an hour wait. But then again, on the whole, the food at those other places is a bit better quality. But, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself.

At least in the Wadsworth location, the Main Street Grill is located to the right of the main entrance, next to the deli counter. Here is a shot of the entrance to the restaurant:


For those that opt for it, the all-you-can-eat salad bar is right underneath the sign. I suppose that's also for convenience sake as those who want a salad "to go" don't actually have to go into the restaurant. The salad bar itself is pretty standard in it's offerings and if that is your thing, you probably wouldn't be disappointed. I should note that the salad bar is an addition that can be made to virtually any menu item for an extra $2-$3. Be careful to note that some entrees, like the one I would be ordering tonight, already came with a prepared side side, so spending the extra money for the salad bar might be overkill.

Once we were seated, I took a shot of the counter area. If you are by yourself, it might make more sense to sit at one of the stools. However, today we sat at a small table right inside the entrance:


Like I mentioned earlier, the entree that I settled on today already came with a garden salad, so I opted not to spend the extra $2 for the salad bar. Today's choice of dressing? Bleu cheese, on the side, please:


This was your standard iceberg lettuce garden salad. I was pleasantly surprised to actually find real pieces of bleu cheese in the dressing. However, the problem I had with this salad (besides it having no real character of its own) was that too many of the components had that "shredded" texture to them. But overall, it was a decent enough salad given its origins.

My grandma was very happy with her baked apples. It's one of the few sides she can order that she really enjoys. Looking and smelling pretty much like warm apple pie filling, I have no idea (and I neglected to ask) if they actually make them fresh or simply open a can of apple pie filling and heat it up.

After about ten minutes or so, our main meals arrived. I had ordered the meat lasagna with five kinds of cheese:


What, I hear you say? Where is that lasagna? As I was quick to discover, four of the five cheeses are on top of the lasagna and only one is inside, the ricotta. The mozzarella, Romano, parmesan, and asiago cheeses are all layers on top and then baked to a bubbly brown crust. While I understood the concept of a "baked" lasagna (they had other baked pastas available, too), for me this was just too much cheese. I think I would've preferred the cheese blend to be inside the lasagna rather than on top of it. Overall, the ground beef used in the lasagna lacked any real character (like an Italian sausage would, let's say). The pasta and the ricotta layers were nice and tender though.

As can be seen in the photo above, my meal was accompanied by two slice of grilled garlic bread:


While griddled nicely, there was a slight metallic taste associated with this, probably from the garlic salt that was used to give the bread flavor. While it has been eons since I've come across true garlic bread (using real garlic), this version was no better than many of its counterparts I'd find in other similarly priced restaurants.

Overall, the meal itself was average, pretty much living up to the standard that a restaurant in a supermarket would have. There was one odd moment for me when I received the red pepper flakes I asked my server for when she brought out my lasagna:


When I went to grab it, it was ice cold! Meaning that this had come straight from the refrigerator. Who puts red pepper flakes in the refrigerator? I mean, they are already dried so they won't go bad. They might lose their potency after a while, but they won't go bad. I'm sure that the explanation is one of those silly little stories that involves keeping the pepper flakes next to the containers of pre-grated parmesan cheese.

If you are looking for a better version of lasagna, try Marie's Pizza and Chicken, just up the road. But be prepared to get there early or late because there will be crowds during th prime dining hours. However, if you are eating with someone who has dietary restrictions or you just happen to need a nosh in the middle of grocery shopping, Buehler's version is certainly passable.