Today, we’re just all over the plate … place?
In Akron’s Ellet neighborhood, the Lamp Post diner (a rarity in this area in that it’s open 24 hours) has moved across the street to a small building at 2146 E. Market St., the onetime home of the East Side Cafe.
The building — freshly painted white and red — is east of Hilbish Avenue. The sign outside reveals the place is now being called the Eastside Lamp Post.
On its Facebook page, it is billed as a “ ’50s diner with breakfast available all day.” Yay! Love breakfast for dinner, breakfast for lunch. The interior boasts diner decor: booths and chairs bedecked in red upholstery and a black-and-white checked floor.
The Eastside Lamp Post is owned by longtime local restaurateur Tony Jaber and Pierre Naim. Jaber owned the old East Side Cafe, which merged with the Lamp Post about seven years ago. Jaber and Naim are having the original Lamp Post sign — with the lantern logo — refurbished, and they plan to erect it outside the 2146 E. Market building.
See the Facebook page for a menu. Phone is 330-733-5308.
The old Lamp Post building across the street — a glass and concrete block structure dating from the ’60s — has already been razed for future development.
Food with wine
Grapes in a Glass, the downtown Canton wine bar that has built a buzz in the two-plus years it’s been open, now offers small plates.
Owner Tamara Jorgensen said new executive chef David Holland is serving “everything from warm olives to a petite filet … Even our mustards are housemade.”
Jorgensen said she found out about Holland, who also runs Copper Pot Catering, from Steve Baity, executive chef at Mount Union University in Alliance.
The Grapes in a Glass menu includes a charcuterie board with homemade apricot smear and raisin sauce along with cheeses and prosciutto and chorizo pate; Creole barbecue shrimp; soups and salads, such as bacon pear with local greens and blue cheese; sliders; caramelized scallops and crab cakes with micro greens and vegetables; Parmesan risotto featuring “smoky tomato chutney” and braised pork; and a Caprese BLT with buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomato, smoked bacon and arugula on sourdough bread.
Oh, the wine: Jorgensen serves 68 wines by the glass, hundreds by the bottle. A former ICU nurse, Jorgensen said the venture is the region’s “only sommelier-owned wine bar and restaurant.” It’s in a building that formerly housed a Masonic temple at 575 Market Ave. N., next to the Asian restaurant Basil, in downtown Canton’s Arts District.
Kitchen hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Wine bar hours are 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 4 to midnight Friday and Saturday. There’s live music on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and work by local artists is for sale.
Go to http://50shadesofvine.com or the wine bar’s Facebook page. Call 330-453-WINE.
Fish and chips
In news about longtime joints: Our favorite newspaper ran an item from the Plain Dealer, written by John Petkovic, celebrating the remaining Arthur Treacher’s restaurants.
Petkovic timed the piece for the end of Lent, and noted that at one time “Arthur Treacher’s reigned near the top of the fast-food chains in America — especially during Lent, when its iconic Fish and Chips meal was a Friday staple.”
The article noted that the seafood chain began in Columbus in 1969 and had 826 stores nationwide in the 1970s. These days, there are seven, three in New York state and four in Northeast Ohio. Two of those are in the Akron area.
The Akron stores — owned by a franchisee — are at 926 E. Waterloo Road in Akron and at 1833 State Road in Cuyahoga Falls. There are also stores in Garfield Heights and Niles.
Ryan Nichols, 27, is general manager of the Waterloo Road store. He began with Arthur Treacher’s about eight years ago at Summit Mall in Fairlawn.
Nichols said there’s a lot of pride in working for one of the few Arthur Treacher’s left. “It’s something we hold dear and true to our heart.”
Arthur Treacher, the English actor who was the face of the chain, died in 1975, before Nichols was born, but Nichols said thanks to his parents he was aware of him before he went to work at the Summit Mall store.
Starbucks confirmed
Work progresses on the new Starbucks in the former China Gourmet, across from Ken Stewart’s Grille on West Market Street in Akron.
Notice I didn’t say “rumored Starbucks,” as I’ve said before. Frank Licata, president of LRC Realty in Akron, confirmed Tuesday that the site is indeed going to be a Starbucks, with a drive-through. The China Gourmet, a onetime Wendy’s, closed last year. Previously, Licata had only been willing to say that LRC did have plans for a “specific tenant” at the site.
Licata said there was no news on the vacant lot nearby, at West Market Street and Frank Boulevard. The lot, across from the Taco Bell that opened in 2014, previously housed Smoke-Inn and before that a bank branch. LRC had the building razed last year and wants to develop the lot.
Acme No. 1 update
Not far away, Acme Fresh Market is nearing completion of the $9 million renovation of its No. 1 store at 1835 W. Market St.
I’ve tended to agree with customers who have lamented that the work seems to be taking longer than planned. That is until recently, when I refreshed my memory about the project, rereading a piece I wrote in January 2015 that said the renovation was expected to wrap up this summer.
Katie Swartz, director of marketing for the family-owned Acme, headquartered in Akron, said this week that a grand-opening celebration at the store is planned for mid-May. Watch for announcements of a store sale, she said.
The fix-up is one of the most extensive in the history of the 125-year-old grocery chain, Acme officials have said. The store has stayed open during the remodeling, and customers have noted that shopping amid all the hubbub has been especially challenging on some days.
Civic-minded wine
Here’s a bit of off-the-beaten path wine sampling.
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Wine Shop at Kirbie’s in Stow, you can sample One Hope wines, a California winery that donates a portion of its profits to various causes.
Charlie Chambless, who is a wine specialist at Kirbie’s, says that with April being National Autism Awareness Month, Saturday’s tasting will include One Hope Cabernet Sauvignon. Half of the profits from sales on this wine are donated to the nonprofit Autism Care and Treatment Today.
Chambless reports that so far, One Hope’s contributions have helped more than 1,300 autistic children.
Other wines at the tasting include the winery’s chardonnay (donations to Gateway for Cancer Research), pinot noir (ASPCA) and zinfandel (Support Our Troops).
Kirbie’s Meats & Catering is at 4062 Fishcreek Road in Stow, in the Oregon Trails Plaza at Graham Road. Samples are 25 cents each.
Chicken goes west
Folks in Medina County are clucking about the area’s first White House Chicken, a franchise of the Barberton-area chicken house.
The new store is expected to open in mid-May at 3737 Stonegate Drive, behind the Staples off Pearl Road, in Medina Township.
Randy Osborne, who most recently worked as a general manager at a Chili’s, is the owner. He bought the rights to open White House stores in Medina and Cuyahoga counties. Osborne said he will employ about 30 full- and part-time workers and is still hiring.
White House Chicken began in Barberton more than 60 years ago. Today, there are also stores in Green, Tallmadge and Wadsworth.
There are three other Barberton-area chicken houses remaining: Milich’s, Belgrade Gardens and Hopocan Gardens. All serve chicken fried in lard, a method brought to the area by Serbian immigrants, and served with rice and tomato “hot sauce” and vinegar-based coleslaw.
UA open house
The Hospitality Management program at the University of Akron will host an open house for prospective students from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 16 at Crystal Room Bistro in Gallucci Hall, 200 E. Exchange St., Akron.
Prospective students can meet students and faculty and watch ice sculpting and vegetable carving. Register via email at Jamal@uakron.edu or call 330-972-6601; or email mehlber@uakron.edu or call 330-972-5393.
Culinary benefit
Speaking of UA and its culinary program, this year’s Spring Graduate Chef Dinner — open to the public — is Saturday and will feature dishes from Aaron Hervey (Crave in downtown Akron) and Anthony Scolaro (111 Bistro in Montville Township), as well as other chefs.
This is the 12th anniversary of the Culinary Artists Club, which hosts the eight-course meal.
Festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m. A cash bar will offer wine and beer. Tickets are $50. The dinner will be served at UA’s Crystal Room restaurant inside Gallucci Hall, 200 E. Exchange St., Akron.
Phone 330-972-6615 for reservations, which are required. Money raised will benefit the Culinary Artists Club, which focuses on students learning and competing in fruit, vegetable, and ice sculpting.
Beef and wine
Executive chef Jason Miller and sommelier Matthew Forrest of the Galaxy Restaurant in Wadsworth are teaming up for the Circle L Limousin cq Ranch Chef & Sommelier Pairing dinner from 7 to 9 p.m. April 15.
Five courses will each feature a different preparation of beef from the area’s Circle L Limousin Ranch, paired with five wines in the Cellar Room of the Galaxy, 201 Park Centre Drive, Wadsworth. Cost is $74 plus tip and tax. Call 330-334-3663.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com.