Be careful where you step — on certain days, anyway — at this restaurant.
I was visiting D’Agnese’s Italian restaurant in West Akron last week and my foot landed in a patron’s dessert, but Cooper didn’t get all yappy about it.
Cooper is a schnoodle, a schnauzer and poodle mix, and he’d been enjoying the “Demi-Glace Popsicle,” a treat from the pooch-friendly menu at D’Agnese’s.
Yup, a treat made with frozen meat stock. What’s not to bark about?
This was Pooches on the Patio, perhaps the premier al fresco doggie-dining experience in the area. The dogs — providing they behave themselves — can join their humans on Monday evenings when the patio is open.
Cooper was among about 10 furry, four-legged patrons last week at the restaurant on White Pond Drive, near Interstate 77.
The canine menu features a cartoon outline of a dog bone with a listing of various entrees. The grub is served in aluminum pans. The lamb and rice, which features “lightly seasoned lamb meatballs,” is often a sellout.
“This is like coming to the dog park, but with food for the adults and dogs,” said Cooper’s human, Angela Ellison of Bath Township, who chose a salad of mesclun greens and chicken.
Ellison, who works in customer service at the Novus eye clinic in Tallmadge, said it’s nice for her and her boyfriend, Jerry Sude, to be able to go out with their dog after a long day at work. Sude is an optometrist and co-owner of the Novus clinics. His mother, Helen Sude, joined them last week.
This isn’t just a flash-in-the-doggie-dish event. D’Agnese’s co-owner and chef Joe Gallagher unleashed it about five years ago, not long after the restaurant opened in 2010. He had offered it at the former Bistro in Bath Township.
Jim Belardo, the other D’Agnese’s owner, recalled that Joe “said ‘dogs and patio’ and I was kind of like, ‘really’?”
As Belardo said this, one of the evening’s few outbursts of yapping occurred. It was quickly over, with none of the humans seeming to mind.
“This has become a great thing,” Belardo said, noting that Mondays can be slow nights for restaurants. “We probably increase business by 20 percent on some [dog] nights.”
The doggie menu features “Fifi” portions “for the petite appetite” at $4, and “Bowser” portions “for the chow hound” at $5.50.
Gallagher, the man behind Pooches on the Patio, was born in Ireland, spent much of his growing-up years in the Cleveland area, and cooks Italian food at D’Agnese’s.
And he has an English bulldog named Gus, which he presented to his wife, Rachel, when he proposed to her.
“She couldn’t say no to a puppy,” he said.
Gallagher liked the challenge of coming up with a menu that appealed to canine palates. “Peas and carrots are probably the favorite vegetables in the [meat] entrees,” he said. “I think it’s because they’re sweeter.”
Along with carnivore entrees such as chicken stir fry, he offers the Veggie Dog: potatoes, scrambled eggs and spinach.
“I sometimes make a doggie biscotti,” said Gallagher, who started working in restaurants at age 15 and attended culinary school at Cuyahoga Community College.
It wasn’t just small dogs last week. Two collies — among the regulars — showed up. Their owners are Betty Hodgson, who is the intake coordinator for the Northeast Ohio Collie Rescue, and her husband, David Gray. The brood lives in Granger Township.
Customer Chell Maxwell of Akron ordered the chicken stir fry for her miniature schnauzer, Pippin. “This is so European,” she observed.
For another pet-friendly option, the Lockview in downtown Akron has started offering dog-friendly time on its rooftop patio from 5 to 9 p.m. two days a month. Call 330-252-5128 for dates. There’s no special dog menu at Lockview, but as at D’Agnese’s, water bowls are provided.
D’Agnese’s prefers reservations for you and your dog for Pooches on the Patio, but they’re not mandatory. Call 234-678-3612. D’Agnese’s is at 566 White Pond Drive.
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.