‘Are the tomatoes here yet?”
Dan Julian, owner of Julian’s cafe in Akron’s Goodyear Heights, hears that a lot this time of year from customers hankering for Dan’s Tomato Sandwich.
Julian began picking the ’maters from his garden last week.
And for the next few weeks, he’ll be proving food doesn’t have to be complicated to be yummy, serving freshly sliced juicy tomatoes, a squirt of mayo and lettuce between two slices of white bread.
“The tomatoes are like sugar. They’re like dessert,” fan Glenn Young said. “We all wait for that board in the restaurant to say Dan’s Tomato Sandwich.”
A while back, Young, 75, a retired Akron Public Schools teacher who lives in Akron’s Ellet neighborhood, even wrote a short poem, “An Ode to the Tomatoes,” about the end of tomato-sandwich season at Julian’s.
But for now, there’s lots of juicy goodness to be had at the modest eatery off Goodyear Boulevard. Don’t worry about the drip factor — the waitresses bring extra napkins.
“They’re drippy-licious,” said Young’s wife, Bonnie, 75, also a retired Akron teacher.
She’s a purist, eating them the way Julian intends: just lettuce and mayo. (Prepared this way, they’re $4.75, including chips and a pickle.) Some insist on adding bacon or cheese. Some want onion, and Julian obliges.
He uses soft white Italian bread made by Orlando Baking Co. of Cleveland. Southerners who claim tomato sandwiches as their own argue for plain old white bread, but Julian notes his heritage is Italian.
Last week, Marie Harvey, 67, of Cuyahoga Falls, a retired FirstMerit manager, enjoyed one of the first Dan’s tomato sandwiches of the season. She likes them toasted, without mayo. She gets a side of olive oil to dress the sandwich.
At home, Harvey makes her own grilled version, sprinkling fresh basil on tomatoes she gets from an area farm.
Julian, 62, who lives in Akron, said the key is his well-tended garden: “I don’t use any pesticides, herbicides. I just use plain old hard work.” He grows German Pinks and Brandywines — both old heirloom varieties, with beefy fruit. He also grows other veggies, such as green peppers, which show up in his stuffed green pepper soup.
Julian said he has long grown tomatoes and he ate tomato sandwiches as a kid so it seemed natural for him to put the sandwiches on the menu — when tomatoes are in season, of course — not long after he opened Julian’s in 1998.
The former Isaly’s restaurant serves just breakfast and lunch, offering such items as burgers, Philly steaks, Reubens, salads, housemade soup and daily specials. Last week, specials included lemonade flavored with rhubarb from the garden.
Julian had been a longtime food and beverage manager at Hilton Inn in Fairlawn and the Holiday Inn in Bath Township, when he decided to strike out on his own.
He figures he comes by the food business naturally. His father owned a pub in Pittsburgh that served food like meatballs and homemade bread. The Julian’s menu provides some family history, telling about how he and his twin brother, Dean, would hang out in a playpen at the pub.
After the Isaly’s had closed in Goodyear Heights, Julian and his wife, Mary, a site coordinator at an area hospital, frequently drove by and saw potential, despite the building’s appearance.
“It was a dump. There were holes in the floor,” recalled Julian.
Today, it is a cozy, super-clean place, with cream and pinkish walls dotted with landscape paintings by area residents.
“He’s very particular” of his food and his space, said waitress Dodie Varca, one of roughly 10 full- and part-time employees.
Julian’s is at 314 Pioneer St. Call 330-798-0043. Hours are 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Kingfish at Montrose
The new Kingfish seafood restaurant — a new concept from the Rosewood Grill folks — is taking shape on “Restaurant Hill” off state Route 18 in Copley Township.
Chris Oppewall, managing partner of Hospitality Restaurants Group of Fairview Park, told me in an email Tuesday that he’s planning for a mid-September opening and the menu “is a work in progress.”
He said earlier it would have an East Coast vibe, and indeed, its dark gray clapboard exterior and faux tower is reminiscent of Cape Cod. The clapboard is actually cement siding, one of the construction workers told me.
Class at Graf Growers
Learn how to use summer fruits and herbs to make liqueurs at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Graf Growers in Copley Township.
Northeast Ohio cooking blogger Judi Strauss, who worked for the OSU Extension Service, will lead the demonstration class. Recipes will be provided, along with samples and snacks.
You must be at least 21. Cost is $15. Sign up by calling 330-836-2727 or go to https://squareup.com/market/graf-growers. Graf Growers is at 1015 White Pond Drive in Copley.
Market Day planned
The Akron Honey Co. is hosting another Market Day on Saturday near Every Blooming Thing florist at 1079 W. Exchange St. in West Akron.
This second market of the season will run from noon to 4 p.m., featuring locally produced food, including ready-to-eat items, and nonfood stuff like soap and candles. New will be an area to lounge, thanks to a new West Akron shop called Birchwood Supply Co. that sells vintage home decor and upcycled items.
The Market Day is happening in advance of the Aug. 24 premiere of Cleveland Hustles on CNBC. That’s a new show from LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s production company, which will include Akron Honey Co. among the companies it showcases. A watch party will run from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. at the Mustard Seed Market & Cafe in Akron’s Highland Square.
The 3-year-old Akron Honey is a small-batch venture created by Brent Wesley, also an R&B singer, whose stage name is Wesley Bright. Go to www.akronhoney.com.
Square Fest Sept. 10
The Square Fair, a county-fair-style baking, canning and gardening competition, is returning to Square Fest in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood, set for Sept. 10.
Organized by the Highland Square Garden Club, it attracted 60 entries in its first year.
Categories are produce, flowers, baked goods, canned goods and herbs. Deadline to enter is noon Sept. 9 and the fee is $3 per entry. Information and forms can be found at www.akronsquarefest.org.
The city-sponsored Square Fest, along a stretch of West Market Street in Highland Square, will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 10. The Mustard Seed Market & Cafe will host after-hours activities.
Greek fest in Canton
The Grecian Festival returns to Canton for the 40th year Thursday through Sunday.
The festival is so big it’s held at the Canton Memorial Civic Center, 1101 Market Ave. N., instead of at its sponsoring church, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox in Canton.
It features loads of Greek food, including pastries; beer and wine; raffles, dance and musical performances and more. Admission is free; you pay for the food. A Friday rock concert and Club Greek on Saturday night cost $10 each. The outdoor terrace and drive-thru are open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
For hours and a schedule, go to www.grecianfestivalcanton.com.
Uptown Grille opens
Cuyahoga Falls has a new family restaurant/ice cream shop called Uptown Grille at 3883 State Road.
The breakfast-lunch-and-dinner place, which opened this week, is a little south of Steels Corners Road, in the plaza space that formerly housed the Rock Fresh eatery.
Uptown’s breakfast menu boasts the old standbys: eggs, pancakes, omelettes and the like. Lunch and dinner items include a mix of soups, salads, deli and “from the grill” sandwiches, including burgers, fried cod and fried pork loin.
Milkshakes, sundaes and other ice cream treats are on the dessert menu. Co-owner Janet Snell Cazin, an Akron school teacher, notes the place serves Hershey’s ice cream, which is not widely sold in the area. “We felt like we could capitalize on that,” she said.
Hershey’s is based in Harrisburg, Pa., and is not related to the chocolate company.
Cazin owns Uptown with her boyfriend, Dave Dragus, who most recently managed a Max & Erma’s in the Columbus area. She said when the new school year begins she’ll focus on the classroom, while Uptown will be run by Dragus and his sister.
“He’s the cook,” Cazin said of Dragus.“When I go back to school, my love is teaching.”
The restaurant has 10 full- and part-time workers, “family and friends,” she said.
Hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. The phone is 234-571-5762. See the complete menu at www.uptowngrillecf.com.
Starbucks
The rumors aren’t true.
A Starbucks spokeswoman quashed rumors that the yet-to-open location in West Akron would be a Starbucks Evenings, offering beer and wine, in addition to the regular menu.
So no booze at the location at 1971 W. Market St., formerly China Gourmet, across from Ken Stewart’s Grille.
The spokeswoman provided an opening date of late September, and confirmed the store is replacing the one at 2279 W. Market St., near Sand Run Road.
The Evenings rumor likely gained some traction because the China Gourmet had a liquor license that has not been transferred to another business. The building has been extensively renovated, though it has no Starbucks signs yet.
Winning burgers
This year was the second time I’ve been a judge for the National Hamburger Festival. Yikes, we had to sample more than 20 burgers. But that was nothing compared to the burger binge in 2014, when we had fewer judges and we each sampled more than 30.
Here are the winners of this year’s festival, which stayed open through all the rain last weekend in downtown Akron:
• Best Traditional Burger, first place: Legends Sports Pub & Grille in Green; second: Sammie’s Bar & Grill in Tallmadge; third: Uptown Grille in Cuyahoga Falls.
• Best Cheeseburger, first place: SWAT food truck; second: Legend’s; third: Menches Brothers in Green.
• Most Creative, first place (tie): The Square Scullery food truck and Youngstown’s Martini Brothers (The Federal); second: Dave’s Dinners in Akron; third: Blue Rock Cafe in Hudson.
• Best Sauces/Toppings, first place: Hatfield’s Goode Grub food truck; second: Square Scullery; third: SWAT.
• Best Vegetarian, first place: Smoke the Burger Joint in Jackson Township; second: Stray Dog Cart mobile food in Akron ; third: George’s Lounge in Canton.
Send local food news to Katie Byard at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or on Facebook at www.facebook.com and read the Akron Dish blog at www.ohio.com/food.