Umamimart » Ohio

Motherly Delights

Sonja — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Don’t you love home cooked food?

Assorted veggies, or “namul”, chwee namul which is some kind of vegetable that I don’t know the English name and fiddle head ferns + roasted asparagus.

Kimchi soup. Yes there a plain soup version rather than a stew. Much lighter and basically broth and in this case with clams added.

One of my favorite Korean foods, mook. Somehow jelly is made out of acorns but I swear it’s not disgusting but it is actually flavorless. But somehow with a soy based sauce, extra crunchy seaweed, sweet bell pepper and pea shoot, it becomes amazing.

Yakshik, which is sweetened sticky rice mixed with sugar, soy sauce, pine nuts, raisins and chestnuts. Usually there are dates added but I just like the plain version. I realize that the descriptions of all these foods don’t sound so appetizing, but when you are used to it you love it!

The Ultimate Breakfast of Champions: Wally Waffle’s Chicken ‘n Waffles

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:17:00 +0000

Wally Waffle has been an Akron institution for as long as I can remember, but for some reason, I have only started to frequent it in the past few years. The menu focuses on breakfast items, and I guess from the name of the establishment, it’s the waffles that are its specialty, but they also serve everything from gigantic omelets to club sandwiches, and dessert classics like waffles with 5 scoops of ice cream on top.

The only downside to the joint is that it has very odd hours and it’s hard to go there when you have a craving because it’ll be closed. You have to time it so you’re either unemployed or skip work, or are fortunate to work in the area so you can go over there
and get your bfast on.

This was my first time having chicken and waffles so I honestly have nothing to compare it to, but I went with a very knowledgeable friend. Also, I’ve had fried chicken and waffles separately, so it wasn’t hard to tell that this was A-MAZING!

As the sign says, 3 pieces of fried chicken (breast, thigh, and drumstick) are served on top of a standard 4-triangles-making-up-a-dinner-plate-sized waffle. Sizzurp comes in a bottle to use as you wish.

Okay, let me tell you, consuming this chicken was like dying — my life flashed before my eyes: me being born, me losing my first tooth, me getting an awful perm, me taking ballet in college, me parallel parking outside of Wally Waffle’s… Each chicken piece was covered in an extremely thick batter coating which was extremely crispy. It was so crispy that whether you bit into it or cut it with a knife, your incision was clean — no rubbery bits and no tearing off more than you could chew at once. It wasn’t so crispy that it broke off in your hands, it was juuuuuusssst rrrrriiiigggghhhht.

Inside, the meat was well-cooked, tender, and moist. It was a pity there wasn’t more, but seriously, I could eat that crispy coating and chicken skin all day for the rest of my life. Adding sickeningly sweet syrup contrasts with the savory salty taste of the chicken, which is what was awesome. Flavor explosion!

The waffle on the bottom was a nice contrast. Slightly sweet compared to the chicken, but added that soft texture that went well with the extreme crispiness of the chicken. A buttery pillow which soaks in the syrup and fat from the chicken (and possibly the optional butter ball that comes on the plate), it was going straight to my thighs but do you know what? I WANTED MORE.

Speculation was raised as to how the chicken was prepared. Lard? Crisco? Double fried? Chicken that was fried while frozen? Various combinations of these? There was definitely something very MAGICAL or WRONG done to these chicken parts to make them taste like this.

After this feast, I went on to my friend’s house to eat pound cake with strawberries and neopolitan ice cream. Yes, this was all before 2:30PM, and yes, I had eaten breakfast, and yes, I did go on to eat dinner. And no, I am not in a food or diabetic coma right now.

Wally Waffle (Downtown)
338 Locust Street
Akron, Ohio
330-762-3388

Wally Waffle (Tallmadge)
750 Darrow Road
Akron, Ohio 330-633-7400

Wally Waffle (Barberton)
Opening Soon!

*More Wally Waffle pics by Thomas D’Invilliers here.

American Graffiti Style (Akron)

Sonja — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:18:00 +0000

This is a bit old, but these pictures are from when I visited home for a couple days. Home meaning Ohio. Anyways I always like to pig out on totally American food when I’m there…$2 frozen custard that is totally FUCK YOU to Tasty-D-Lite and of course huge platters of fried sampler appetizers. Hello, chain restaurants??

Anyways, this one is a bit of an institution. I guess I took drive-ins for granted. Drive-ins, the one shining star (or is it beacon?) in a humdrum Midwestern upbringing. Um anyways…

You have to go at dusk, preferably in a convertible. It was cool though we had a Smashing Pumpkins CD.

For some reason all the guys here look like they play lacrosse. Also they are always in a hurry. You flip your lights on to let them know you need a menu.

As you can see, a “hamburg” is $1.60. I think ordering it is mandatory but I don’t eat hamburgers.

The following pictures are bad quality but I was totally jonesing for those fries.

[Vanilla] milkshake in the cup holder is Rule #2.

Sorry that’s how I eat my hotdogs! I didn’t even have to tell them to add extra relish.

Buttery buttery yellow-orange American cheese grilled cheese on white. This is like the worst and best thing I’ve ever eaten. Other than a corndog covered with french fries that was pretty good too.

That’s the total for 2 orders of french fries, milkshake, hotdog, grilled cheese and toned sexy calves.

Swensons
40 Brookmont Rd
Akron, OH 44333
United States
T: +1 330-665-1858