You may not want to watch sausage being made. But Al’s Quality Market in Barberton — known for its wide selection of sausage and Old World fare — wants to make sausage more fun to buy.
This year, in a break from tradition, the market’s sister operation, Al’s Corner Restaurant, is staying open through the end of the year.
The two businesses are side by side on Second Street Northwest in downtown Barberton; customers can walk from one place to the other without going outside.
This means that customers flocking to the market for fixings for their holiday meals can enjoy eats from Al’s Corner Restaurant.
The market, a local institution, and restaurant are known for their ethnic yummies and attract customers from all over the region, with the holidays being an especially busy time.
Until this year, the 15-year-old Al’s Corner Restaurant at 155 Second St. NW had taken a hiatus the last two weeks of the year, said Denny Gray, owner of both businesses. The lunch spot typically serves from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
On the menu: big plates of food at inexpensive prices: stuffed cabbage; Al’s Quality Market sausage with sauerkraut; cabbage, dumplings and butter (halushka) and more. Service is cafeteria style. It will be closed Christmas and New Year’s Day. The market, normally closed Mondays, will open Dec. 28.
Gray also reports that he will offer Al’s After Hours on New Year’s Eve. The day is one of the busiest shopping days of the year at the market, when sausage and sauerkraut fly out of the place.
Al’s After Hours will run at the restaurant from 2 to at least 5:30 p.m. (when the market is scheduled to close). Beer, wine and munchies will be available.
Also at the market this year, Gray is tweaking the old-school service model.
Employees are doling out numbers so customers won’t have to stand in line to wait to order meat at the counter and cash out. Some people waited 90 minutes or more last New Year’s Eve. Gray has even installed a PA system so customers can hear their numbers being called out.
“I’m thinking instead of waiting in line for an hour and half, you can take a number and you can go sit down, or walk around the shop,” Gray said.
“It will just be a better experience.”
Last year, Gray moved the businesses to Second Street from nearby Tuscarawas Street in downtown Barberton.
Also at the market, customers can now find Pick salami, also called winter salami, made in Szeged, Hungary, and named for the founder of the company that makes it, Mark Pick.
The salami, made from a mixture of pork meat, pork lard and a secret mix of spices, is likely the only salami that has its own museum: the Pick Salami and Szeged Paprika Museum.
So why is the market called Al’s? Dennis Gray, a former bearing salesman, bought the market — an institution in Barberton since the 1940s — and the restaurant in May 2005 from Tim and Jeannette Eberhardt. The Eberhardts had taken over the market in 1999 from Al Pramuka, the “Al” in the establishment’s name and a former councilman who died in 2002, and other owners.
Samosky’s pizza
This pizza had me at butternut squash. I’m a big fan of the nutty-tasting winter squash, which along with apples, arugula, red peppers and brussels sprouts on Jason Samosky’s Inverno pizza. (Inverno means winter in Italian.)
Samosky, 38, the owner of Samosky’s Homestyle Pizzeria in Valley City in Medina County, whipped up that pizza for the U.S. Pizza Team National Trials this month in Chattanooga, Tenn., and took home the award for best pizza in the gourmet category.
The win earned him a free ticket to compete in the World Pizza Championships in Parma, Italy, in April.
Samosky, who began the shop with his aunt and uncle about a dozen years ago, is among 20 members of the U.S. Pizza Team and has won five national titles in U.S. Pizza Team trials. That’s the most held by anyone on the team.
You can try the winning Inverno pizza at the Valley City pizza shop at 6738 Center Road. The phone number is 330-483-2000.
Samosky isn’t the only Ohioan on the U.S. Pizza Team. He’s joined by Brad Corbin, owner of Sloopy’s Sports Cafe in Lakeside and Port Clinton, and Michael LaMarca, owner of the Master Pizza chain in Northeast Ohio.
Sean Brauser, founder of the region’s Romeo’s and Pizza Fire chains, has been to Italy eight times, competing in the annual World Pizza Championships. He was a member of a team of the U.S. Pizza Team that took gold in a dough-tossing competition — a team “acrobatic” event — in 2006 and 2007.
Stollen Christmas
The Blue Door Cafe & Bakery at 1970 State Road in Cuyahoga Falls is again a stollen spot for the holidays, selling the traditional German bread made with nuts, raisins and dried fruit.
Stop in and buy, or order ahead by calling 330-926-9774 or sending a message via the the Blue Door Cafe & Bakery page on Facebook. You can learn why Blue Door owner Michael Bruno rejects the notion that stollen is a cake — he says it is a bread — and see a picture of Blue Door stollen on the Facebook page.
Here are holiday hours this week: open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday and closed Thursday, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. On Saturday, open for breakfast and lunch 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner, 6 to 9 p.m. Open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Next week: closed Monday and Tuesday, as usual. Open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday Dec. 30 and New Year’s Eve, and closed New Year’s Day. On Jan. 2, open for breakfast and lunch 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner, 6 to 9 p.m. (Dinner is typically served two nights a week, Friday and Saturday.)
The dinner menu, under the direction of chef Torsten Schulz, a Michelin-started chef, and, like the breakfast and lunch menu, celebrates seasonal and local food.
The cafe began offering dinner hours last year, and each Friday and Saturday evening, the dining room gets a mini makeover. Tablecloths go on the tables. Out comes the crystal and bone china. For reservations, call 330-926-9774.
Christmas dining
A few readers wanted to know if there are any area restaurants open on Christmas Day. The inquiries made me think of the scene in A Christmas Story. The one where the turkey gets stolen by the neighbors’ dogs, and the family ends up having dinner in a Chinese restaurant.
So I made a few calls. No surprise, I guess, that at least three Asian restaurants in the area are open Christmas Day: House of Hunan in Fairlawn (330-864-8215) and Pad Thai in Bath Township (330-668-9981) and Hudson (330-650-9998).
House of Hunan owner Cheryl Suen suggests reservations. House of Hunan also is open New Year’s Day. Call for hours.
Also open Christmas Day, but only from 9 a.m. to noon, is Beau’s Grille at the Hilton in Fairlawn, across from Summit Mall (330-867-5218.) This is by no means a comprehensive list.
Store closing
The West Point Market, the gourmet food emporium, plans to stay open through Christmas Eve, close Christmas Day and then reopen the next day, Saturday, (only Brownie Points card holders can shop Saturday; see details below) with items priced at significant discount. The store will close for good at the 1711 W. Market St. site by Dec. 31.
West Point, while it is leaving West Akron, plans to keep its valuable brand going with a new store in Fairlawn and also is planning “satellite stores.”
Also, an “interim” West Point Market is planned, and could open as soon as February. Officials are not ready to disclose the location of either the interim store or the new store in Fairlawn.
Why is West Point, which has been in business for nearly 80 years, leaving its West Market Street site? Store owners got an offer they couldn’t refuse. A developer plans to build a plaza, anchored by a Whole Foods, on the West Point property. An entity affiliated with developer S.J. Collins of Fairborn, Ga., outside Atlanta, paid $4.5 million for the West Point property, according to county records.
This week, West Point tweaked plans for what it is calling its “pre-move close-out sale,” explaining that on Saturday, the store will only be open — from noon to 5 p.m. — to Brownie Points card members.
Then on Sunday and through Dec. 31, or earlier if inventory runs out, the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to anyone. All sales are final.
Food notes
Reminders ...
• On New Year’s Eve, Nuevo will offer a four-course Tequila Dinner. Call 330-762-8000 for reservations.
• Also on New Year’s Eve, Chowder House in Cuyahoga Falls will feature Louis Prpich’s homage to Julia Child with a menu of some of her favorites. Reservations are suggested for both. Call 330-794-7102. The Chowder House is at 2028 Chestnut Blvd.
• On Dec. 30, Papa Joe’s, 1561 Akron-Peninsula Road, will serve six bubblies at its annual Champagne Tasting Dinner. Festivities begin at 7 p.m. Courses include crispy-fried oysters on the half shell and grilled South African lobster. Cost is $99. Go to Papa Joe’s Facebook page for information. Call 330-923-7999.
• Piscazzi’s Merchant Tavern in Akron is among local eateries offering a special menu on New Year’s Eve. The tavern is at 1824 Merriman Road in the Merriman Valley. For reservations, call 330-865-9510.
• Ken Stewart’s Grille, 1970 W. Market St., is open 4 to 8 p.m. Sundays this month. Call 330-867-2555.
Send local food news to Katie Byard 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.