A Good Value At Hudson's Restaurant on the Green

I recently found myself in Hudson, Ohio in order to help out friend, teacher, and business owner Catherine St. John of the Western Reserve School of Cooking with some of her questions and concerns about Facebook and Twitter. Like many modern business owners, she realized the value of social networking, but wasn't sure how best to utilize it to the school's advantage. We chatted about strategies for promoting the business, offering discounts to upcoming classes that still had seats available, and logged into the newly created Twitter account for the school. After answering all of her questions, we agreed that it was time for lunch.

Our initial destination was Aladdin's on the First and Main section of downtown Hudson, but the minute we opened the door, we knew we were in trouble; there was an enormous queue of people waiting for tables. We quickly regrouped and walked back up to Route 91 / North Main Street to Hudson's Restaurant on the Green. Located at 80 North Main Street, they can also be reached at 330-650-1955. Parking was either streetside in front of the restaurant or in the large parking area to the rear of the complex.

Here was a shot of the front entrance of the restaurant:


Where Aladdin's had been brimming with waiting customers, Hudson's was busy, but not full. We were quickly escorted to a table and left with menus to peruse. Here was a front and back shot of the lunch menu:



While there were many items on the menu that looked good, Catherine recommended the burgers and the homemade potato chips. Looking over the list of burgers I spotted an old favorite, the Patty Melt. For a half-pound burger with a side for only $6.99, this seemed like an excellent value, too.

Catherine and I placed our orders with our server and continued gabbing away about various school and food-related topics until our lunches arrived. Here was a shot of my Patty Melt and homemade potato chips:


I had ordered my burger to be cooked medium and based on the side shot of the pre-cut burger,


I received exactly what I ordered. In fact, when I initially ordered my burger to be cooked medium, my server stated to me what "medium" meant at Hudson's, pink in the middle with a warm center. This was a nice touch as it set the expectation of the customer as to what he/she would be getting from the kitchen. The burger itself was warm and juicy and in what would became an embarrassment for the remainder of the day, I ended up having a grease-related injury when several drops of the juice accidentally fell right onto the middle of my shirt. Ah well, those who saw me afterwards chuckled when I explained why I had teardrop shaped smears on the middle of my chest. The fried onions were cooked through and soft and the rye bread was nicely toasted. The only minor complaint that I had was that I didn't think the burger was seasoned enough. There was salt from the cheese and the bread, to be sure, but the burger itself seemed to be missing just a little bit.

Of course, that could be because the homemade chips,


were quite highly seasoned. I don't think the potato chips were too salty, but in comparison to the burger, that may be why I perceived the burger to need additional salt. The chips were well executed: thin, crispy, and not in the least bit greasy. They had been dressed with a salt and spice blend after being fried and had a flavor that seemed to be a cross between "barbecue" and "seasoning salt" although it lacked the nasty metallic flavor I associate with most seasoning salts. I received a lot of chips with my lunch and was only able to finish about half of them before realizing that my appetite had been sated.

I was pleasantly surprised by my meal today. I had walked by Hudson's hundreds of times and had never bothered to check them out. I can't speak to their dinner menu, but their lunch menu offers some decent values and some well executed and tasty food. I recommend that you stop in and grab a bite to eat and see for yourself. They are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and should be able to satisfy whatever craving you currently possess.

Pony Express Pizza

In my quest to reconnect with my formative years while living in Stow, Ohio, I decided to stop in at another eatery I remember quite fondly, Pony Express Pizza. Located in the exact same plaza as Stownut Donut, it was in the exact same location it has been in since 1978 when it first opened. For some reason, I had thought that this restaurant was a chain, but I quickly discovered that this was the one and only location that has persisted for more than thirty years. Not only that, but they seemed to be under the exact same management and ownership today that they were in 1978. Another Stow pizza joint, Angelina's, had changed hands several times before I reviewed them here on the blog and sadly, closed shortly afterwards. I was a little apprehensive as I didn't want the same fate to befall another childhood memory. [Ed. Note: Angelina's appears to have reopened. I don't know if it is under new ownership/management or previous, but the sign above the shop has remained the same.]

Pony Express Pizza was located at 3031 Graham Road, Stow, Ohio 44224 and can be reached at 330-673-9410. Their website can be located here. Note that they are only open for lunch on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I pulled into the parking lot and took a photo of the storefront:


I remember from my previous visit so many decades ago that they always had fried chicken and pizza. Chicken wings, however, that ubiquitous export from Buffalo, New York, now have a presence on the menu as well.

Once inside, there were two wall menus detailing the restaurants offerings:



In fact, there were items listed on the printed menu at the ordering window that weren't even on the wall menu, such as the gyro wraps. Even with all of this choice, I knew I was here for one thing: Pizza. After sizing up the size of the various pizza boxes, I ordered a medium pepperoni pizza. A medium pizza consisted of eight slices and with my one topping came to $9.75. While I waited for my pizza to be made, I looked around the small entrance way that comprised the rest of the restaurant. There was a single booth for those who wanted to eat their meal in the pizza shop, but I don't think many people ordered food from here with the intention of eating it inside the restaurant.

Hanging on one wall was a plaque with a newspaper article detailing their twenty-first year in operation:


It talked about the owners and both of their Italian mothers and how the combination of one's tomato sauce recipe with the other's dough recipe became the perfect marriage for Pony Express's pizza creations. Along a different wall were plaque after plaque of little league baseball teams that Pony Express had sponsored over roughly the last ten years. Between that and watching the goings-on in the kitchen, it was only about fifteen minutes until my freshly baked pie was boxed up and ready to go.

Unfortunately in those fifteen minutes, I saw more than I wanted to see. Two separate employees, working on two separate orders, handled money or touched a phone or cash register and then went and began prepping food without first either washing their hands or donning protective gloves. I'm not saying that all food-prep employees need to wear gloves. I certainly didn't when I worked in the bakery department at Mustard Seed Market. Then again, I washed my hands several times through the shift and made it a point not to touch my face or anything that might contaminate my hands. That there were two separate incidents in just fifteen minutes where raw food was being handled by potentially contaminated hands? This was a pretty serious violation in my book.

Still a little shocked by what I had witnessed, I grabbed my pie, a copy of their printed menu, and returned to my car to take a few more photos. Here was a picture of the pizza box:


And a shot of the pizza inside:


Just by noticing the slightly charred bits on the crust, I was anticipating a tasty slice of pizza. Here was a close-up of a single slice:


Now to the most important part, the taste. I decided to take the risk and try the pizza in spite of what I had seen inside the store. As I suspected, the crust was quite nice. It didn't really have the nice chew that an aged or cold-fermented dough would've given it, but the slight char added a lot of character to the flavor. The sauce had a brightness to it and tasted of fresh fall ripe tomatoes, even though I'm sure that the sauce was made from canned tomatoes (which, to be fair, are canned at the peak of ripeness). The combination of Romano and Provolone cheese on top gave the pizza a nice amount of cheese flavor, but it didn't overpower the rest of the ingredients. Overall, it was a nice slice of pizza. It was certainly better than most chain pizza available around here in northeast Ohio. It seems sad that based on what I saw, I know that personally I am less inclined to come back here for another pizza just for personal consumption.

I intend to return some time soon on a random day to see if publishing this review on a global forum like the Internet has any effect on the sanitation practices of the employees at Pony Express. If so, I will happily update this entry or even write a new one with any additional information I gather. I am certainly in no position to tell you to avoid Pony Express Pizza because of what I observed. I didn't get sick from what I ate and I suspect no one else did that picked up an order on the day that I went. The decision on whether or not to order food from them is up to you, gentle reader; my role was simply to report what I saw and what I tasted.

A Vegetarian-Friendly Meal At Parasson's

If you've been a reader of my blog for any length of time, you will no doubt already know that I tend to return to restaurants that I have connected with in some way. Perhaps the food was fantastic. Perhaps the service was exceptional. Or perhaps it was just something that I grew up with and tend to return because I'm trying to recapture a piece of my youth. I suppose most men about to enter into a mid-life crisis would buy a red convertible or seek the embrace of a smokin' 22-year-old blond; neither was a likely option for me. What better way to remember the halcyon days of my youth than through eating a meal at Parasson's?

Parasson's is one of those places that I never set out to visit. It is only while I am in transition from one part of Akron to another that the thought pops into my head. The siren's song of their meat sauce and the alchemical combination of the garlic toast and Marzotti's French dressing obviously work their magic well enough as I visit perhaps every other month or so. Today, however, was different. I felt the draw of Parasson's, but knew that the spaghetti with meat sauce wasn't an option as I needed a break from all of the beef I had been eating lately.

I don't really advertise the fact, but every now and again, I love a good vegetarian meal. I feel like somehow it is cleansing and helps to restore balance to my yin and yang. Then again, with almost everything except the red pepper flakes being fried for tonight's meal, it probably didn't help out my yin and yang all that much. But, I digress.

Upon opening Parasson's menu after being sat at my table, I was almost immediately drawn to the sandwich portion of the page. Specifically, the eggplant Parmesan sandwich. Knowing that I wasn't super hungry, but also wanting to get the best value for the dollar, I went ahead and ordered the "whole" sub. I figured I would just take the other half home and eat it for lunch the next day. With my sub, I received one free side. Since I had been on a onion ring kick lately, I decided to go with those.

"Oh," my server exclaimed, "those are my favorite!"
"Oh, really," I replied, my curiosity now sufficiently roused. "Are they homemade?"
"No, they're frozen. But they have a coating that is made just for us."

I honestly would've felt let down that they were fried from frozen, but I had assumed when I ordered them that they were, so I really couldn't feel all that disappointed. That being said, I've had a pretty darn good fried-from-frozen onion ring or two in my time, so I was eager to see how Parasson's version stacked up.

What came out first was somewhat surprising to me:


I assumed that since I had ordered a sandwich, garlic toast would seem a bit redundant. Nope. As I sat there looking and smelling the garlic toast, I began wishing I had a container of the French dressing to dip it in. But, I decided that I would save my garlic toast and take it home with the other half of my eggplant Parmesan sandwich. I could then eat them together. If you want to see what the garlic toast tasted like, check out my previous post on Parasson's.

Soon afterward, my sandwich and onion rings arrived. Here was a shot of my sandwich:


And here were my onion rings on a separate plate:


I didn't do much to the eggplant Parmesan sandwich except add a bit of these to the top:


I figured the little bit of heat from the red pepper flakes would make each bite just a little bit more interesting. The eggplant was nicely fried, the coating was crispy without being greasy, and the inner flesh of the vegetable still had some flavor and texture. The marinara sauce had been ladled on top of the eggplant slices and then covered with cheese, which had obviously been run under a broiler / Salamander to get that nicely browned cheese effect. To add just a bit more texture, the bun had also been nicely toasted first. Overall, this was a very tasty sandwich, although I had to be careful with every bite since the melted cheese encapsulated the molten sauce underneath. One wrong bite and I was rewarded with a squirt of Napalm-esque marinara on my chin or onto the roof of my mouth.

Finally, let's talk about those onion rings that my server was fawning over. Nicely crispy and just a touch oily, the onion on the inside still had a bit of that sulfuric bite to it. It wasn't unpleasant, per se, but it was noticeable. As with most fried-from-frozen onion rings, the inner ring easily slipped from its breaded outer coating with just the slightest of coaxing. In general, this was a better than average ring, but nothing to write home about.

Having eaten half of my sandwich and almost all of my onion rings, I packed up the rest and paid the check, which came to a little over $10. Figuring that since I had eaten half tonight and will eat the other half tomorrow, $5 per meal isn't a bad deal at all. Given that my trip to Parasson's satisfied both the needs of my stomach and my soul, I know I'll continue to return time and time again.

Giveaway Reminder

Just a quick reminder that the giveaway contest for the three AMP 150 gift cards valued at $25 each ends this coming Sunday, May 9th at 12:00 AM. If you have yet to leave a comment on the original post or would like to leave an additional comment to improve your odds of winning one of these gift cards, please make sure you do so during this week. Winners will be announced next Sunday morning.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and look for my Parasson's review post tomorrow morning. I finally managed to get something other than the much adored spaghetti with meat sauce.