Sunday, July 31, 2005

Food grab bag

One thing I love about Akron-area food is the sheer number of pizza joints that also serve chicken. I'm not talking about wings, I mean real honest-to-goodness fried chicken. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I grew up here, but I've always found pizza and chicken to be a natural combination. Order a large pie and an 8-piece box of chicken and you've got an instant picnic on a mild Northeast Ohio evening. Not that I'm well-traveled or anything, but I haven't seen the pizza-and-chicken combo anywhere else (have any of you?). Another wonder that can often be found at these restaurants is what is known as the jojo. Whereas chicken shacks far and wide serve potato wedges, jojos are a different breed entirely. These are some big shanks of potato, deep-fried and agreeably seasoned, often served as a side order with fried chicken. When I was younger, I used to dip mine in macaroni salad, but as you all know I'm weird, so don't mind me.

Another local delicacy, which I know can't be found elsewhere, is the Galley Boy, the signature burger of local legend Swenson's. The recipe is fairly simple- two patties (which if I recall correctly are seasoned with cinnamon), two slices of American cheese, barbeque sauce, chopped onions, mayonnaise, and sweet pickle relish, all on a toasted bun. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. I just found out there's a Swenson's near my new place of employment- another movie theatre, surprise surprise- and I'll drop in before work tomorrow to see if they're up to snuff. Although there's no reason to believe they won't be...

2 comments:

Champaign American said...

Better get a pair of extra loose pants and a bottle of Prilosec from what you told me. I was in New Orleans for a week and that about did me in. Went to the Doc when I got back and the term "acid reflux" came out of the meeting along with a prescription of Nexium..Now I've actually got to "pay attention" to what I shove in my pie hole these days....

Amy said...

I'm originally from Akron and moved to the West side of Cleveland a few years back. I really miss all the pizza-chicken places, and nobody around here has ever heard of jo jo potatoes, much less put them on the menu.

In fact, I was just having a debate with a co-worker about the existence of jo jos -- I was laughing at a t-shirt on the rubber city clothing company site [not that I have anything to do with them, except as a customer] that says "Akron: Like Vegas, with Jo-Jos" and she's all, What are jo jos? Apparently, in Parma they eat potato wedges and steak fries. Anyhow, that lead me to Google the term and stumble on your blog.

Luckily, just about everybody else in my family is in the city limits, so I come back a lot -- making it a point to hit Swenson's or the root beer stand (more of a Kenmore thing, I guess) in the summer.

Anyhow. I'm mostly just trying to kill some time at work, so I thought I'd share -- I see that it's almost time to blow this popsicle stand, so mission accomplished. Yay, me.