Ohio Wanderlust

A few weeks ago a friend and I were lucky enough to snag two Groupons to The Crush House at Gervasi. Upon arrival we also found out that The Crush House has an extended Happy Hour on Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m., so on top of the Groupon we also had access to discounted drinks and appetizers. A week after my first visit, I went back to The Crush House with Dave to celebrate his new job. Since the visits were so close in time, I decided to hold off on posting in order to share even more information with you. The Crush House is tucked in the back on the Gervasi Vineyard property and has multiple outdoor patio levels -- which is perfect for this time of year. Both times I arrived around 5:30 and was able to get a seat on the patio. The Crush House does not take reservations, but does call ahead seating starting at 5:00 p.m. nightly. During my first visit, my friends and I split two appetizers: The Crispy Fig Crostatas -- made with "dried figs, cream cheese, r...

The annual Tremont Greek Fest took place over Memorial Day weekend -- 2017 was the 47th annual festival hosted by the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. The festival lasts for four days and we managed to find time to drive up to Tremont for the last day of the festival and were joined by some friends. There is a schedule of events starting later in the evening each day, but we were essentially there for the food and were not alone in that idea. We arrived at the banquet hall around 1:30 and there was a line out the door for the Taverna. Throughout the grounds there were smaller stands for ordering easy to carry items like gyros, but the Taverna had all of the dinner portions. The food at the Taverna comes from the parishioners old family recipes and is cooked and served up by the parishioners as well.  We ordered the Vegetarian Stuffed Pepper which came with a side of Lemon Potatoes.  We also ordered some savory pastry items to go with our meal --...

On Tuesday, May 23 Crave Cantina opened in Cuyahoga Falls. You might recognize some familiar touches from Akron's longtime staple Crave located on E. Market street -- Crave Cantina is owner Aaron Hervey's second concept restaurant focusing on pan-Latin cuisine. Dave and I made a reservation for May 24 and were able to get a spot on the second day that Crave Cantina was open. One thing we struggled with was parking, note that Crave Cantina is located on a pedestrian only street -- we parked on Riverfront Parkway which runs parallel to Front Street. Parking is also available in the Red and Blue Decks which are owned by the city of Cuyahoga Falls. On the inside of Crave Cantina, there are subtle touches connecting the two restaurants, for example the artwork at both was created by Akron native George C. Roush II, and the signature handblown glass lights from Crave  have been reimagined by the creators in Crete for the new location. After the cosmetic similarities, the ...

Dave recently suggested that we spend the summer checking out all of the local coffee shops in the area. Between our desire to read more books and the constant stream of work that needs done on our computers -- it seemed like a really good idea. On Saturday we woke up to rain in the forecast and then headed out to Four Kids Coffee near Belden Village Mall. The timing of our visit was even more opportune, because Four Kids Coffee just opened a brand new location in Alliance, OH right across the street from the University of Mount Union campus. As I've mentioned before Mount Union is near and dear to my heart and I'm slightly disappointed that this wasn't available while I was a student, I would have spent a lot of money at Four Kids Coffee (more on why later). Four Kids Coffee is a "family focused coffee shop" named for the owners' four kids. There is a meeting room available for larger groups (you can reserve the meeting room by stopping into the shop ...