An Interesting Divsersion At The Pufferbelly, Ltd.

Lately I seem to be on a Mexican food kick. First I posted about El Meson and then followed that up with a trip (or six) to Taqueria La Loma. In doing research on Urbanspoon, I discovered that Kent held another highly regarded restaurant, Taco Tantos. Sadly, when I went last Sunday, they were closed. Thinking that they were closed because of the day, I returned today to discover that they were still closed. Apparently they weren't closed the first time because it was a Sunday, but because the restaurant itself was actually closed for a two week period. Having driven all the way to Kent to check out the restaurant, I was bound and determined to find someplace else within walking distance where I could find a decent lunch.

While there were several other restaurants on Franklin Avenue, the one that immediately caught my interest was The Pufferbelly Limited. Located at 152 Franklin Avenue, Kent, Ohio 44240, they can be reached at 330-673-1771. Their website is available here.

Here was a shot of the entrance to the building:


Just outside the front door was a sidewalk sign that contained today's specials:


Inside the front door was a chalkboard displaying today's dessert specials:


Once inside, I took another photo of the interior of the space:


I was a bit confused because I got the distinct feeling by some of the wall art and the dessert specials just inside the main door that the space was in some way connected to the railway system. In fact, when I did some research on Pufferbelly Limited on the Internet after my meal, it turned out that this space was actually a rail hub that had been renovated back in 1971 and re-purposed as a restaurant and bar area. What I didn't really get, however, was why there was an old buggy hanging from the ceiling and mounted fish on the walls. The space itself was quite large and during peak hours could probably hold 150-200 guests. Fortunately, I decided to have a late lunch, so there were probably closer to 15 guests when I went.

As my hostess sat me at my table, she handed me the menu to look over:





Nothing really jumped out of the menu at me, so when my server came over to get my drink order, I asked her if Pufferbelly had any signature items. Apparently this was the wrong question to ask because she immediately became flustered and started muttering things like "I normally don't work the day shift" and "Gosh, everything is really good" and "I don't really know what your tastes are." It wasn't that she was being rude about it, the question just really sent her into a tailspin. It turns out that in later conversation I discovered that she had been working at Pufferbelly Limited as long as it had been open, twenty-nine years. How she was unable to make a recommendation off the menu after working there for so long was a bit disconcerting.

She left to get me my drink and I continued to study the menu. While I am not a huge fan of wraps, Mike's Philly Wrap looked decent enough. The fact that it came with a homemade "creamy cheese dressing for dipping" was probably what sold me on the notion. The only part of the description that didn't sound all that appealing was its pairing with the restaurant's fresh cut fries. Fortunately it turns out that you can substitute a number of other sides for free or for an extra $0.55, you can get sweet potato fries. Bingo!

Fairly soon after placing my order, my lunch arrived:


Here was a close-up of the Philly Wrap:


Consisting of thinly sliced roast beef with grilled mushrooms, onions, red and green peppers, grated mozzarella cheese and shredded lettuce, the sandwich was wrapped in a herbed flour tortilla. Had I seen the "herbed tortilla" on the menu, I would've requested a plain one in its place as I am not usually a fan of that flavor combination. Then again, I suppose I received the sandwich as the chef had intended it, so I could judge it more fairly. I tried a bite before pairing it with the creamy cheese dressing. The roast beef was tender and the ingredients (except for the shredded lettuce) were seasoned properly. The wrap, although not my favorite flavor, was definitely fresh. Unfortunately, I don't know that a wrap was the right vehicle for this sandwich as it kind of fell apart as I ate it. With the herbed tortilla, the flavors were quite busy. So busy, in fact, that you began to lose the beefy flavor of the meat.

Pairing it with the creamy cheese dressing,


I tried another bite. This was definitely not a good combination. The muted flavor of the melted Mozzarella already present inside the wrap was good enough. The dressing (also called a sauce on the menu) was simply too strong. I tasted the sauce by itself and it had a very strong extra sharp cheddar taste to it. The other strong reaction I had was to the texture. While the sauce was smooth, there was a residual mouth feel, a slight graininess like those associated with eating an aged cheese. You couldn't really pick up on the texture when applied to the wrap, but by itself it was quite evident. I have to wonder if this sauce was a classic Sauce Mornay made with an aged cheddar or some proprietary recipe that they developed at Pufferbelly. Either way, it was too much flavor for an already confusing wrap.

Along with my Philly wrap were an order of sweet potato fries:


These were fried quite nicely. They were crisp on the outside and very creamy on the inside. While they didn't have the nice rigidity of a properly cooked French fry, they weren't limp either. They were seasoned lightly with salt and eaten by themselves, they were quite good. I asked my server after she stopped by to check on me if they were freshly cut, too, but apparently no one had ever asked her that in the twenty-nine years she had worked there and didn't know the answer.

As an extra surprise, this condiment came with my lunch:


As soon as she set it down, I could immediately smell the cinnamon. I guessed that it was a sweetened whipped butter with cinnamon for the sweet potato fries and my server agreed with me. After a little further tasting of the butter by itself, I would guess that this was whipped butter sweetened with brown sugar, maple syrup (or flavoring) and cinnamon. It was a bit hard to "dip" the fries in this as it was only slightly softened when she brought it out. I employed more of a swiping method to dress the fries. I do have to say that the butter did add a nice flavor to the already good fries, playing off the combination of salty and sweet. After tasting this, I'm entirely happy that I paid the extra $0.55 for this option.

My experience today at Pufferbelly Limited was moderate to good. The service was excellent and some of my meal was very good. Mike's Philly Wrap with creamy cheese dressing, however, just didn't hit the mark for me. Having just recently had a pretty close-to-classic Whiz Wit at Cosmo's Cheesesteaks in Scranton, PA, this was nowhere near the flavor profile it should have been. Add in the herbed tortilla wrap and the main ingredient, the beef, just got a little lost. I'd recommend you check out Pufferbelly Limited if you happen to be in Kent, but I'd skip on Mike's Philly Wrap.

A Proper Whiz Wit At Cosmo's Cheesesteaks

Over the New Year's holiday weekend, I decided to take up an offer made to me by my old college friend, Chris. Over the previous summer, he had moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania. Since he had no immediate plans for his own New Year's Eve, he issued me an invitation to come out and visit him and check out the local Scranton / Wilkes-Barre culinary scene. Having had my customary plans for the holiday fall through, I eagerly accepted his invitation and drove out on New Year's Eve day. While the drive out had no real culinary significance (save for a bottled Aquafina water and a Snickers bar), I was eager to see where our journey would begin.

It turns out that our first stop would be to a relatively recent newcomer to the downtown Scranton area, Cosmo's Cheesesteaks. Located at 533 Moosic Street, Scranton, PA 18505, they can also be reached at 570-341-5100. At the time of this writing, there was no website associated with the restaurant. UPDATE: Cosmo's website is now up and running.

Not knowing what to expect crowd-wise on New Year's Eve at 6:30 PM, we showed up to a completely empty parking lot and started wondering if they had closed early for the holiday. Seeing that the marquee lights were still on, however, we pulled in and decided to investigate further:


I don't normally comment too much on the signage of a restaurant, but this somewhat over-the-top light display was reminiscent of another cheesesteak joint with which I am familiar, Geno's from Philadelphia. It would turn out that the sign wasn't the only thing that Cosmo's had in common with Geno's. We approached the front door and were relieved to find that Cosmo's was open and completely empty.

Since there was no rush of people behind us, we lingered for a bit while reading the wall menu:


The owner of Cosmo's, a transplant from New Jersey, has clearly spent time in Philadelphia ordering the real deal. If you look at Step 1 in the ordering process, you can see the shortened lingo ("wit" vs. "witout") used by many of the Philadelphia cheesesteak places. They also offer, for better or worse, Cheez Whiz as one of the cheese choices. Now, I am not normally a proponent of Cheez Whiz; however, I do find that certain tastes have an affinity for another, namely a cheesesteak with Whiz. While not an option at all Philadelphia cheesesteak joints, it is a combination available at both Pat's and Geno's. Sadly, asking for a "Whiz Wit" at a cheesesteak joint in Ohio will only get you weird looks. My friend Chris went first and asked for a "cheesesteak wit" which the cashier dutifully rang up. I decided to press my luck and asked for a "Whiz Wit" and sure enough, she didn't even bat an eyelash as she placed my order. Success!

Chris and I picked up our drinks and headed over to an open table (of which there were plenty). I normally wouldn't provide you with a picture of a bottle of water, except that Cosmo's appears to be selling their own brand:


Upon closer inspection, however, it was obvious that these bottles of water were actually manufactured by someone else and a Cosmo's sticker had simply been applied on top of the other label. I tried to peel off the outer layer to reveal its true provenance, but it wasn't coming off cleanly, so I gave up trying after about a minute or so. Also, if you look carefully at the label, you'll see a "Est. 1972" right under the restaurant's name. I had thought Cosmo's was a recent addition to the Scranton scene, so I asked Chris about it. To the best of his knowledge, he told me that Cosmo's was neither a local nor national chain and he surmises that 1972 refers to the birth year of the owner, not the business.

While we waited for our cheesesteaks to come out from the kitchen, we visited the condiment station to stock up on all sorts of goodies:


Besides the usual ketchup and mustard, Cosmo's offers pickles, hot peppers both dried and vinegared and their own homemade hot sauce. Once my sandwich came out from the kitchen, I added some of the hot sauce and returned to my table. Here was a shot of the entire sandwich:


And a close-up shot of just half of the sandwich:


This was an excellent cheesesteak sandwich. All of the flavors and textures worked very well together and the small amount of hot sauce I added post-kitchen gave it a capricious zing that lit up my tastebuds. The beef was cooked and seasoned properly and was sliced thinly enough so that it was not only tender, but also had a nice chew to it. The Whiz melted nicely into the bread and gave the sandwich the creaminess that I crave in a good cheesesteak. For me, however, the real winner of this little bit of heaven was the roll on which the sandwich was built. Immaculately fresh, the roll had just the slightest amount of chew to the texture. I immediately thought of Geno's once again as their rolls have the same quality. It turns out that the similarity is intentional as Cosmo's actually have their rolls imported from Philadelphia. The only real miss on this sandwich were the fried onions on top. On both of our sandwiches, they just weren't cooked long enough; they ended up having a bit too much of the raw flavor and texture to them.

Along with our cheesesteaks, Chris and I decided to split an order of the Crunchy Fries:


While these were clearly fried-from-frozen, they were also fried correctly and actually were quite good. Not greasy at all, they were hot and fresh and dipped in the 50/50 hot sauce / ketchup combination that Chris put together, had a nice sweet and spicy flavor to them. While a very hungry person could probably put away an entire order of these fries, I was actually happy to split the portion with someone else.

While not the cheapest meal out there, for food this authentic I didn't mind shelling out the $10 for sandwich, my half of the fries, and a bottled water. It's certainly cheaper than a plane ticket to Philadelphia. It's probably fortunate that I don't live near Scranton as I could see myself becoming a regular at this eatery. I know that I now have a definite "go to" restaurant every time I visit Chris. I suggest that if you live in or near Scranton or have a trip planned where you pass through, stop off for an amazingly good cheesesteak and order of fries. You won't be sorry that you did.