Road Tips

Oley's Pizza - Fort Wayne, IN

On a couple previous visits to Fort Wayne and taking the drive out to the wonderful Joseph Ducuis restaurant in nearby Roanoke, IN (click here to see my entry), we've passed a pizza place along U.S. Highway 24 south and west of Fort Wayne by the name of Oley's Pizza.  Last summer during a dinner party at Joseph Decuis with some people from Sweetwater, one of the largest mail-order/Internet pro music dealers in the nation, I asked a guy and his wife about Oley's.  They both gushed about the place.  "Oh, yeah.  Oley's is the real deal," the guy told me.  His wife said she wouldn't eat any other pizza in Fort Wayne.  "And that's a problem," he explained to me.  "We live about 25 minutes away from Oley's on the north side of town."  While in Fort Wayne recently to meet with a consumer electronics dealer I've been working with, I decided to try out Oley's which was only a couple miles down the road from my hotel.

The original Oley's Pizza was opened in 1980 by Stephen "Oley" and Carol Olinger in the small town of Ossian, IN, directly south of Fort Wayne.  The Olinger's had visited Chicago on a number of occasions and wanted to bring the taste of Chicago-style pizza to the Fort Wayne area.  After opening their first restaurant, they developed a "double-crust" deep pan style pizza using a homemade sauce made from three different types of tomatoes with low citric acid, a blend of four cheeses, sausage that was sourced from local meat purveyors and cooked daily with Oley's special blend of Italian spices, and a special homemade pizza dough made with four different types of flour, malt powder, natural honey, fresh yeast, and extra virgin olive oil.  

Over the years, Oley's grew to multiple locations and some franchises were sold in Indiana and Western Ohio. Today, there are two Oley's in the Fort Wayne area - the "original" family-owned Oley's on Highway 24, and an Oley's Pizza Shoppe on North Coliseum Blvd. owned by Jim Parnin.  Steve "Oley" Olinger died in 2006 and his son, Kevin, took over the family operation.  

When the couple from Fort Wayne was telling me about the original Oley's, the woman said, "There's an Oley's that about 20 minutes from our house on the east side, but it's not the same as the one on Highway 24."  They both said the original Oley's is better than the franchise Oley's in Fort Wayne.   

I was staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fort Wayne for the evening and it had been a long day.  I thought for a moment about heading downtown to find a place to eat before I decided to drive the short distance down the highway to Oley's Pizza.  It was a two minute drive from the hotel to Oley's, situated at the corner of Homestead Rd. and U.S. Highway 24. (see map) 

There's ample parking in front of the building which is in a sort of mini strip mall with a couple empty spaces.  I saw the "Open" sign in the window and found a door to walk in.  To my surprise, I walked into the kitchen at Oley's.  Actually, it's also the area where people come to pick up "to-go" orders.  There are two swinging doors behind the counter and that takes you into the dining room.  

Walking through the dining room at Oley's, I found the main entrance down a hallway between the dining room and the bar area.  The bar area featured a small bar and a handful of booths and tables.  A boisterous bunch of middle aged women were at a six-seater table in the bar and they were pretty loud.  I decided to go back to a booth in the dining room to try and escape their cackling laughter.  

The dining area had sort of a cozy and warm atmosphere.  High back booths were along the north and west walls with a handful of sturdy wooden tables and chairs in the middle.  Can lighting gave off a subtle glow in the room.  I took one of the booths and it wasn't long until my server for the evening, Karmen, showed up with a menu for me.  She asked if I wanted anything to drink and I ordered a Bud Light in a bottle.  She came back moments later with an 18 oz. bottle of Bud Light and a frosty mug.  That was a nice surprise and a nice touch.  I poured the beer into the glass and took a drink.  There was some sort of weird taste in the glass.  It tasted sort of like a detergent that hadn't been fully cleaned out of the glass.  I figured my taster was probably off, but the second glass that I got when my pizza was served had the same taste.  Oh well - at least the glass was clean and cold.

In addition to pizza at Oley's Pizza, they also feature a number of appetizers, oven baked submarine sandwiches, Italian food entrees such as lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, and spaghetti dishes, and even barbecued ribs.  Well, they aren't really barbecued, according to the menu, but baked in a homemade barbecue sauce.   

I pretty much knew that I was going to get a pizza, but the only question was what size.  They have four sizes at Oley's ranging from small to extra large.  The only problem is that they didn't list the size of the pizzas in inches.  They had about a dozen specialty pizzas on the menu, but none of them really tripped my trigger.  A couple of them, I think I said, "No way!", out loud.  One of them was the Bulldog Steak and Cheese pizza.  It's basically Oley's Philly steak sandwich on a pizza, with the dough basted with a homemade creamy mayo sauce, topped a blend of their cheeses, Philly-style steak, green peppers, onions and red peppers.  Then they put A1 steak sauce on top of all that!  Ugh!  

Then there was the chicken club pizza - the sauce is a blend of ranch dressing and Oley's homemade house dressing.  Then they add their cheese blend, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and finally chicken and bacon.  Nooo!!!!  That goes on a sandwich!  Not a pizza!  

Karmen came back around and I asked her how big a small pizza was.  She said, "10 inches.  A medium is 12 inches."  I thought a small would do me fine, so I ordered my usual sausage, mushroom and pepperoni.  A thin crust, not the double crust they're famous for.  She asked, "What kind of sausage?"  

Oh!  I get my pick between the Italian sausage and the American sausage.  Karmen said the Italian sausage was a little more spicy than the American sausage.  "It's basically the same sausage," she explained.  "Only we add some spices to the Italian sausage to make it a little more zesty.  It's not all that spicy, though."  Of course, I took the Italian sausage.  

When Karmen brought my pizza out, I was ready to eat.  It was late - around 8:45 in the evening and I was hungry.  I noticed before the pizza came out that there wasn't any parmesan cheese on the table - only shakers of red peppers and dried oregano.  However, the parmesan cheese was delivered with the pizza sitting in the middle in a small container.

At first look, the crust looked thick, but it was just the rolled up edges that made it look that way.  The base of the crust under the toppings was thin.  The Italian sausage was in small chunks, but not ground up like Quad City-style pizza.   

Pulling the first piece off the pan and putting it on my plate showed a pool of grease under the pizza on the pizza pan.  And my first bite yielded a wonderful flavor of the combination of the cheese, tangy sauce, mild Italian sausage, and the spicy pepperoni.   The mushrooms - although called "fresh" in the menu - looked like they may have come from a can.  Not a deal breaker, for sure, but I didn't think they were fresh.  The bottom line question that I ask myself about any pizza I have - "Does it taste good with a beer?" - and the answer was "Absolutely!"  It was a very good pizza.    

Because the topping were so heavy on the pizza, I was able to finish four slices and asked Karmen for a box to take the remaining two pieces back to my hotel for breakfast in the morning.  When she came back, I asked her how many Oley's were still around.  She said, "Well, the one on Coliseum and this one are the only ones that I know of.  I went to the Oley's on Coliseum a while back to give that one a try and it's not the same as our pizza. I like our pizza better."  I told her that I'd heard that from some other people in Fort Wayne.  

I will have to say that Oley's was a great value.  The bill with tax came to $16.50 - that was for the pizza with three toppings and two 18 oz. beers.  The beers were $2.75 each.  Thank you very much!  I signed the tab at an even $20 bucks with the tip.  I tried to get a couple pictures of the bar area and the kitchen before I left, but it turned out that I had a grease smudge on the lens of the camera on my phone and the pictures came out blurry when I downloaded them on my computer.  Oh well.  One of the hazards of having an excellent pizza from Oley's, I guess.  I can certainly see why the locals think Oley's Pizza is the best Fort Wayne has to offer.  (Picture courtesy The Pizza Fan.com)

Powers Hamburgers - Fort Wayne, IN

An icon of Fort Wayne eateries sits in a little art deco building built previous to World War II just across from the U.S. Northern Indiana District Federal Courthouse - Powers Hamburgers (see map).  This little hamburger shop was once part of a small regional empire of hamburger joints that rivaled White Castle in their style, size and taste.  I was told by a sales person at Sweetwater Sound that I had to try Powers Hamburgers at least once.  On a recent visit earlier this summer to Fort Wayne, I stopped in for a burger (or two) for lunch. 

Back in the years before World War II, White Castle out of Kansas led the charge of small hamburger shops that popped up over the nation's landscape featuring small burgers cooked - or steamed - on flat grills.  This phenomenon also gave rise to the White Manna (or Mana) burger shops on the East coast.  In Dearborn, MI, four brothers who grew up in Northeastern Indiana - Leo, Clell, Harold (aka Jim) and Dale Powers - built a hamburger shop from the ground up on their own.  Their little stand - Powers Hamburgers - was a hit for the workers and their families at nearby auto plants.  In 1938 - three years after the opening of the first Powers Hamburgers stand - Dale Powers had moved to Port Huron to open a second location.  Soon thereafter, Dale opened locations in Grand Rapids.  

Leo Powers had decided to move back to Northeast Indiana and he opened the Powers Hamburger location near the downtown area of Fort Wayne in 1940.  A second location was opened in an industrial area in 1947.  At the height of their popularity, between 15 to 20 Powers Hamburgers stands were in business in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.  

In 1980, Leo Powers passed the business along to his son, Rolin.  Rolin opened a third Fort Wayne location in 1983, but it didn't prove to be as successful as the other two and it closed in 1989.  Along about that time, Rolin Powers was diagnosed with cancer and he died about a year later.  His sister, Marilyn Penick, took of the two remaining Powers Hamburgers in Fort Wayne and ran them until she sold them to 28-year-old Michael Hall in 1999.  Hall had been the accountant for Penick and Powers Hamburgers and wanted to learn the business from the inside out.  Penick liked him so much that she encouraged him to buy the business from her - the only non-Powers family member to own a Powers location.  

After Hall took over, he closed the second location in Fort Wayne in 2004, but continues to keep the tradition alive in the original Fort Wayne location.  Other than some structural improvements and new signage for the building, some tweaks to the menu (pictured right), and the hours (they used to be open every day, 24 hours - now they're open through the week at 5 a.m., 6 a.m. on Saturdays; and close at 10 p.m. Monday thru Wednesday, and at midnight Thursday thru Saturday), Hall has kept everything pretty much the same.  

Powers Hamburgers weathered a small storm about four years ago when plans to build a complex of mixed-use buildings comprised of a new baseball stadium, condos and hotels, as well as a convention center threatened the building.  Initial plans had the block on which Powers sits to be an open lot to be used for future development.  But a campaign by local Fort Wayne residents made city planners back off on their idea saving the last and only Powers Hamburgers stand in existence.  

There's a parking lot next to Powers Hamburgers that is probably too large for the number of seats they have in the place.  The small counter wraps around and seats about a dozen people.  There's a small booth in the back next to a back kitchen/prep area.  The grill is located on the north side of the building that looks out onto the corner of W. Brackenridge and S. Harrison streets.

Knowing that it is usually busy during the lunch rush hour, I waited until the middle of the afternoon before I stopped into Powers Hamburgers to try a burger.  I took a seat at the south end of the counter, getting a good glimpse of what goes on behind the counter.  The menu is located on the wall above and behind the counter.  In addition to their "slider" burgers, Powers also serves breakfast until 10:30 including eggs, omelette's, egg sandwiches and something called the "garbage plate" that has eggs, hash browns, meat and cheese added to it.  They also have coney dogs, chili, and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches on the menu.  But most of the people are going for the burgers.

I ordered two with grilled onions.  The burgers are hand-pattied and made to order - at least mine was. It could be when they get into a rush they just make a bunch of them up as a lot of people buy them by the sackful - just as they do at White Castle. (And, good God, don't ever mention White Castle in Powers Hamburgers!)  In fact, while I was there a couple people came in and bought eight or ten at a time to go.  

The burgers are smashed into the grill with a spatula and they cook very fast.  They serve the burgers on Aunt Millie's buns - actually they're more like dinner rolls.  Aunt Millie's main bakery and corporate offices are not far from Powers Hamburgers.  And they do make damn fine rolls and buns.  

The burgers were topped with copious amounts of grilled onions which kind of had a chargrilled-burnt taste to them.  I wasn't certain that I liked them with the grilled onions as even with a little bit of mustard on the top of them I couldn't really taste the burger meat.  I mean, it tasted all right - the burger was a little small and thin, but it wasn't misshapen or skimpy like the ones I encountered at the Cozy Inn in Salina, KS. (Click here to see my entry on that place.)  Yeah, I could see how a person could eat 6 to 8 at a time.  

I made short work of my burger and I asked the counter guy/grill cook to make me one more without the onions. I wanted to see if I could get a better taste of the meat.  On hindsight, I should have gotten a double because this one was also pretty thin and with not a lot of meat.  The great tasting Aunt Millie's bun overpowered the overall taste of the burger meat.  Next time - double burgers.  

I can't say that Powers Hamburgers were outstanding, but they were far from being "just average".  I'm sure it's one of those tastes that the locals grew up with and crave when a Powers hamburger calls their name.  But for the history of the place, the way that you literally go back in time when you enter that building, and the tradition of making the burgers the same way they have for over 70 years, Powers Hamburgers is a must stop if you're ever in Fort Wayne.   

Coney Island Wiener Stand - Fort Wayne, IN

While in Fort Wayne late last year, I was talking with one of the sales guys at Sweetwater, a large pro music equipment and instrument dealer who we do business with, about unique places to eat around Fort Wayne.  He was telling me of a little hot dog shop in downtown Fort Wayne that had been open for nearly 100 years - Coney Island Wiener Stand.  He raved about the chili dogs at the place. Since I love a good chili dog, I made a note of it. On a recent trip to the area to meet with a potential new dealer, I stopped at Coney Island and had lunch.

This history of Coney Island dates back to 1913 when it first opened its doors (some accounts have it opening in 1914).  A large contingent of Greek Macedonian immigrants had come to Fort Wayne to find a better life in the early 1900's. Many of them opened restaurants in the area.  Thanks to the 1904 Lousiana Purchase Exposition, commonly known as the St. Louis World's Fair, the wiener on a bun was suddenly one of the most popular items for Americans to eat. Three of those immigrants, Harry Dorikis, James Samaras and Stilos Papas came up with the idea to open a wiener grill in downtown Fort Wayne.

Three years later, one of the three orginal owners sold his portion of the business to Vasil Eschoff, a Macedonian immigrant who came to the United States without his family.  Vasil Eschoff worked at the restaurant for 14 years before he brought his family to the United States.  I understand that was a common practice among Greek Macedonians to come to America alone, then send for their family once they got established during the early 20th century. 

The remaining two original owners eventually sold their interest in Coney Island to Jack Geroff and Russell Litchin and moved back to Greece.  Eschoff and Litchin eventually bought out Geroff and continued to work in the restaurant each day over the next 30 plus years.   

In the late 50's, failing health forced Vasil Eschoff out of the business.  His son-in-law, Russ Choka (pictured at right), also a son of Macedonian immigrants, took over Eschoff's portion of Coney Island.  Choka had married Eschoff's daughter, Helen, a dozen years prior.  Two years later, Russell Litchin left the business and turned his portion over to his son, Chris.  

Russ Choka worked at Coney Island every day, seven days a week, for the next 40+ years.  There were stories of how he would open the restaurant in blizzards just because he had no reason not to be there.  Choka was the longtime face of Coney Island and his son, Michael, came into the business at a young age to help out.  Cancer took Michael's life in 1993 at the age of 42 and his sister, Kathy, and their brother, Ron, stepped in to help out.  Russ Choka was said to have a gruff exterior, but had a heart of gold.  He mentored a number of young kids during the years he worked behind the 16 seat counter at Coney Island.  Kathy Choka said that her dad was the only father figure that many of the Coney Island employees had in their lives.  

Sadly, in December of last year, Russ Choka was climbing the stairs at his house to go to bed one Friday evening and his heart gave out.  "This is the way he would want to go," Kathy Choka told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette after her father's death.  "He didn't suffer."  

Kathy Choka took over her father's part of the business and continues the tradition of Coney Island today.  "It's all about the continuity," Kathy Choka told the local newspaper. "The product is not going to change."

The hot dogs at Coney Island are grilled on a flat grill located by the front window that looks out onto West Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne (see map).  Between 1500 and 2000 hot dogs are cooked on the grill on a nearly daily basis at Coney Island.  They steam the buns at Coney Island and the bun steamer is just behind a glass partition next to the counter where there's a food preparation area.  

The restaurant, itself, is in a long narrow building with tables on one wall opposite the counter.  Old pictures of Fort Wayne from years ago along with some whimsical signage adorn the walls.  The stools at the counter look like they are the original ones from when the place first opened years ago.  Even there is a front door to the place, a number of people use the backdoor entrance to go through the small kitchen in the back to the dining area of the restaurant.  It's one of those things that only the locals know it's all right to do.

The menu at Coney Island is pretty basic.  Along with hot dogs, you can get burgers, chili, baked beans, homemade pie and chips.  Their baked beans must be pretty good as they had those available for carry-out in either a bowl-size or a pint-size container. I took a seat at the counter and knew I was going to get a couple Coney Hot Dogs - basically chili dogs. - with onions.  

A young girl came over to greet me and I ordered up two of the Coney Hot Dogs from her - with onions. I was hoping the ginger Altoids I had in my car would kick in before I had to meet with my prospective dealer later in the afternoon.  I got a glass of water to go along with the meal.

It didn't take long at all for a couple coney dogs to be placed in front of me.  The dogs and buns were long and narrow, not very big at all.  Three of these would have been fine with me.  It had a layer of their homemade Greek style chili with a ribbon of mustard underneath a copious amount of fresh onions.  From the first bite, I liked the taste immensely.  They reminded me of my long-time favorite hot dog shop in Sioux City, IA - George's No. 1 Hot Dog Shoppe.  The chili had no beans in it and had a wonderful and flavorful spice to it.  It wasn't a hot spicy taste, just a nice smooth complimentary taste that went will with the grilled taste of the hot dogs.  I do like a good flat-topped grilled hot dog.  It's tough to beat a good steamed hot dog, but the taste of the old grill at Coney Island was clearly evident on their hot dogs.  The steamed buns gave them a nice light and chewy taste. It was simply an outstanding hot dog.  

I did have my meeting at my prospective dealer later in the day and they did agree to carry some of our products.  I had to do an event at Sweetwater the next day and I had planned on telling the guy from there about my visit to Coney Island.  Shockingly, I found out that he had passed away from leukemia a month before.  Now each time I come back to Fort Wayne, I'll have to stop at Coney Island and have a couple three coney dogs in his memory.   It's plain to see why they've been in business for nearly 100 years.  Coney Island is one of those great little slices of Americana in the heartland of the U.S. 

J K O'Donnell's - Fort Wayne, IN

During a trip to Fort Wayne to do a presentation for the staff at Sweetwater, one of the largest dealers of products for professional and amateur musicians in the nation, my colleague Simon set up a get-together for some of the sales staff at an Irish bar called J K O'Donnell's.  He'd taken some of the staff there before and they were sequestered in a partyroom where they had a fixed menu of appetizers and entrees.  Oh, and unlimited beer.  Simon got it set up for another night of food and beer when we were there just before Christmas last December.

Downtown Fort Wayne is not unlike many mid-sized Midwestern communities that has suffered from an economic downturn over the past 10 to 20 years.  With an urban flight of both people and businesses, store fronts have closed up, people are living away from the center of cities, and downtown areas have become ghost towns after 5 p.m.  A number of business people saw the need for a revitalization of the downtown area and one of those men was Scott Glaze, the owner of a company that made medical grade wiring in Fort Wayne.  Glaze traveled often for his job, both across the United States and to foreign countries.  He was struck at how some similar sized cities had a downtown area with shops and restaurants that he didn't find in Fort Wayne.  He wanted to begin a renaissance of the downtown area, but knew he couldn't do it alone.  

Glaze got a group of what he called "crazy entrepreneurs" on board for his vision of a downtown revitalization in Fort Wayne.  He knew it wouldn't happen overnight, but he had to help get the ball rolling in regard to bringing the downtown back to a vibrant destination.  Along with his wife, Melissa, Glaze wasn't certain if he wanted to open a retail shop or a restaurant for their part of the revitalization project.  They just knew they wanted to do something. 

It was during one of his trips to Castlebar, Ireland to a facility that worked with his company, Glaze found himself in a quaint Irish bar that he fell deeply in love with.   The Irish pub gave him the inspiration to open an authentic Irish pub in Fort Wayne.  Along with partners Dennis and Jeremy Rohrs, and managing partner Kim Jacobs, the Glaze's opened J K O'Donnell's in August of 2007.  Two years later, they expanded into a building beside the business and made that an overflow/party room with extra restrooms.   

The main dining room consists of a quaint three-sided bar with a highback bar area that goes from ceiling to floor centered in the middle of the room.  Regular tables and high tables like you'd find in an Irish pub were throughout the room.  You have to walk through the dining area to get to the party room in the back corner of the restaurant.  

Simon had invited about 25 of the top Focal Pro loudspeaker salesmen to the little soiree that snowy evening.  Like before, he settled on a number of appetizers and a fixed menu for dinner.  As many of the Sweetwater people made it into the room, the appetizers were brought in and a waiter went around taking drink orders.  

The beer list at J K O'Donnell's is pretty extensive with a mix of domestic and imported beers.  They had a number of very good Midwestern microbreweries to choose from including the Three Floyds brewery out of Munster, IN.  (Click here to read about my visit to the Three Floyds brewpub.)   For my first beer of the evening, I went with a Three Floyds Alpha King pale ale, a very forward and hoppy pale ale that I like to drink from time to time.  

The appetizers were set on a table and they consisted of chicken wings, an artichoke dip served with toasted bread slices, homemade potato chips (that were way over-cooked) and Simon's favorite - fried pickles.  Here's a picture of Simon taking a bite into the fried pickles at J K O'Donnell's.  Quite actually, the fried pickles were the highlight of the appetizer spread with the artichoke dip a close second.  The fried pickles weren't dill spears like you normally will see with that type of appetizer, but rather dill chips covered in a beer batter that was very tasty.   

I had finished my Three Floyds Alpha King and decided that while I was in an Irish pub, I'd better get an Irish beer.  I ordered up a Smithwick's the second time around.  But when the waiter brought it to me I found it to be very flat.  So much so that I didn't even finish it.  I got the waiter's attention and told him that I wanted something else.  I ordered up a Bell's Two Hearted pale ale and stuck with that the rest of the evening.  

The fixed menu we had that evening had a number of items off of J K O'Donnell's regular menu including fish and chips, Irish stew, an authentic corned beef and slaw sandwich, as well as a corned beef and cabbage entree, and bangers and mash.  Actually, Simon had talked up the Shepherd's Pie before we got there and I was disappointed to not see it on the fixed menu.  Even though both the corned beef and cabbage and the corned beef and slaw sandwich sounded good, I ended up ordering the Irish stew which was the closest thing to Shepherd's Pie without the mashed potatoes on top.  (A late arriving Sweetwater person actually ordered the Shepherd's Pie.  Had I known I could have done that, I would have.)

Our meals began to show up and a couple people at the table I was seated at got the fish and chips (below left).  The fish looked a little dark and both people said that it was a little overcooked.  Like the homemade potato chips, the fish was darned near burnt from the fryer on the outside.  It was like the oil in the fryer was too hot and they should have taken the fish out a minute earlier.  The fish was a little rubbery, it was reported to me by those who had it, probably from the overcooking.  

My Irish stew was actually pretty good.  It was thick and hearty with a very robust taste.  It had large chunks of all-natural beef along with a potpourri of vegetables in a dense gravy/broth.  A side house salad came with the Irish stew that went well with the meal.  A guy at a table next to me got the corned beef and cabbage.  And while it did look very good, I was overly happy with my Irish stew.  It was a good "stick-to-your-ribs" meal on a cold winter evening in Fort Wayne.  

Many of the Sweetwater gang began to filter out before 9 a.m. as they had a 7 a.m. sales meeting the next morning.  I settled up the bill with the waiter and it was actually pretty reasonable for the amount of food and drinks that we had.  I'd have to say J K O'Donnell's did a fine job in capturing the essence of an authentic Irish pub with the food, the extensive beer list and the decor throughout the place.  The wait staff was quick and efficient, and it was a pleasant evening all around.  Simon does these little parties from time to time when he comes out to Fort Wayne to deal with Sweetwater.  Now that I've been indoctrinated into the Sweetwater culture I'm sure I'll be back to J K O'Donnell's at some point quaffing a few beers and hopefully getting the Shepherd's Pie.   

Cork 'N Cleaver - Fort Wayne, IN

Back in the 1960's, a number of - what was then - upscale steakhouse chains popped up across the nation offering good food in a wholesome family atmosphere. If you're over the age of 40, you probably remember Stuart Anderson's Cattle Company, Mr. Steak and Boar's Head, to name a few. All of those companies have gone out of business years ago, but one steakhouse name from the 60's that I do remember is Cork 'N Cleaver. It turns out there's still a Cork 'N Cleaver in Fort Wayne, IN and when I was out there with my colleague, Simon, for a presentation at Sweetwater we had dinner there one evening.

The first Cork 'N Cleaver opened in 1964 in the Phoenix area offering high quality steaks, seafood and chops in a casual and cozy Southwestern ranch-style setting. The concept was so popular that there were soon well over 80 locations in over two dozen states. In the mid-70's, the Chart House restaurant chain bought the Cork 'N Cleaver brand. Changing food attitudes spelled the demise for many steakhouse restaurants like Cork 'N Cleaver and the beginning of the end of many of the locations happened in the 80's. Chart House began to close Cork 'N Cleaver locations beginning in the early 80's and by the early 90's there were just three locations left - Fort Wayne, Evansville, IN and Kalamazoo, MI. (The original Phoenix location is still open, but was not part of the chain.)

In 1994, a young executive for Chart House restaurants, Wally Seward, bought the remaining three Cork 'N Cleaver locations from the corporation and moved his family from Daytona Beach to Fort Wayne. Quite seriously, that had to be both a cultural and climate shock for the Seward family. But Seward believed in the Cork 'N Cleaver concept and wanted to keep the name going. After all, he got his start in the restaurant business with Cork 'N Cleaver.

Wally Seward - pictured right

In 1975, Seward was a student at Jacksonville University in Florida when he took a job working at the local Cork 'N Cleaver location as a server. It was there where he met his future wife, Ellen, who was a hostess at the restaurant. Over the years, both Wally and Ellen earned promotions that took them to a number of Cork 'N Cleaver locations working in many levels of capacity. When Chart House bought the Cork 'N Cleaver restaurants, Wally became a Cork 'N Cleaver restaurant manager at locations in Kansas City and Orlando, then became a regional manager in Atlanta and in Cincinnati before becoming the V-P of Operations for Chart House at the young age of 34. He was 41 when he moved his wife and their three young kids to Fort Wayne.

Unfortunately, Wally Seward tragically passed away in 2007 at the very young age of 53 leaving Ellen and his son, Josh, to run the restaurant. Josh had gone to college to learn restaurant management so he could follow in his father's footsteps. He just didn't think that he was going to have to run the restaurant sooner than later.

I had picked up Simon at the airport earlier in the evening and we were at the hotel figuring out where we wanted to go eat dinner. It was a Sunday night and we knew that most restaurants wouldn't be all that busy - or we ASSUMED they wouldn't be that busy - so we didn't bother making reservations anywhere. When we finally decided to go to Cork 'N Cleaver, a restaurant Simon had eaten at before during his previous visits to Sweetwater, we took off for the 15 minute drive to the steakhouse. When we pulled into the parking lot at the location along Washington Center Road (see map) we found a very packed lot full of cars. I said to Simon, "Maybe we should have made reservations."

We went inside and found that it was, indeed, packed. The hostess told us that it would be a 10 to 15 minute wait, which wasn't that bad. I said to her, "We figured that on a Sunday night we wouldn't need reservations."

She sort of snottily replied, "We strongly suggest reservations at all times." It was like I was just talked down to by a maitre d' at a high-end Chicago or New York restaurant rather than some 20-something part-time hostess at a restaurant in Fort Wayne.

When we were finally seated, it was in one of the myriad of dining areas throughout the Cork 'N Cleaver restaurant. We were near the salad bar and in kind of a high traffic area. There seemed to be a lot of birthday celebrations going on in the restaurant involving families. And there also seemed to be a number of older people dining in the restaurant.

Our server for the evening, Pamela, greeted us and sat down the menu for that evening. It was literally engraved on a meat cleaver, not a sharp meat cleaver, but a real meat cleaver. It featured, of course, steaks and seafood, along with chicken and pork entrees. The only problem is that only one person could look at it at a time as there was just one. I wasn't certain that I liked the clever cleaver concept (I just couldn't wait to write that).

Pamela asked us if we wanted to start out with an appetizer and Simon said that he fancied the seared tuna with wasabi - six one-ounce pieces of sushi grade tuna, seared rare, drizzled with a wasabi sauce and served with kimchee cabbage and ginger. OK, that sounded good to me, as well.

While we were waiting for the tuna to show up, I looked long at hard at the cleaver menu to figure out what I wanted to get that evening. I definitely wanted a steak and the first thing that popped up on my screen was the Pepper Steak - a 14-ounce New York strip that is rolled in cracked peppercorns and marinated overnight. (They didn't say what it was marinated in.) However, it was served on a bed of grilled onions and topped with a brown sauce. (It didn't say what kind of brown sauce, so I figured it was just a gravy.) It sounded good except for the onions and the sauce.

They also had prime rib on the menu and I hadn't had prime rib in a long, long time preferring to eat more lean cuts of beef when I've gone out. But the 10 oz. prime rib sounded pretty good that evening.

Simon had his eye on the coffee-encrusted filet. He remembered that I had the coffee-encrusted filet at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill restaurant in Vegas earlier this year. "You didn't like it, if I remember," Simon said.

I said, "I don't know if it wasn't that I didn't like it as much as I was disappointed that we had a fixed menu and what I really wanted to order that night wasn't available." Actually, it was pretty good.

Pamela came back with the seared tuna appetizer and asked if we were ready to order. I pretty much had made up my mind to do the pepper steak, but I wasn't sold on the grilled onions and the sauce on top. I asked if I could just get the regular New York strip rolled in the cracked peppercorns, then grilled. She said, "Well, the regular New York strip isn't marinated overnight." I asked if I could get the Pepper Steak without the onions and the sauce on the side and she said, "Sure!" Then she asked, "Would you like sauteed mushrooms to go along with it?"  I couldn't say no!

Simon ordered the ground coffee filet with some rice pilaf. Pamela asked if we wanted any other sides and she made some suggestions including garlic mashed potatoes with crab meat. Oooo... That sounded good. I ordered that for Simon and I to share.

The seared ahi tuna appetizer was quite good, actually. It was served with both soy-sauce and a sort of honey-mustard sauce along with the kimshee. We both got three pieces each and it was a nice start to the meal. The tuna was very flavorful and delicious. It was a very good start to the dinner.

Along with the meal, we got Cork 'N Cleaver's "award winning" salad bar. I had forgotten my phone back at the hotel, so Simon did the honors of taking pictures of the meal for me. He tried to do his best in capturing the essence of the salad bar, but the back lighting was just too intense. The salad bar was really nothing special above and beyond any type of salad bar I've encountered at any similar steakhouses. The most notable exception was the sweet raspberry vinaigrette dressing that I got. Simon was just amazed. "I can't believe you got that dressing," he exclaimed. "It was more like raspberry jam!" It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't get it again if I went back. Simon got the homemade creamy bleu cheese dressing for his salad and he said it was good.

Pamela came back to pick up our salad plates after we were finished and let us know that our steaks were coming shortly. I ordered up two glasses of the Franciscan cabernet for Simon and I to enjoy with our meal. She brought them out the just before our steaks showed up on the table.

When our steaks came out, we were ready to eat. My steak wasn't covered in peppercorns the way I had envisioned it to be when I ordered. But it was rare with a cool center when I cut into it. I still don't know what they marinated the steak in, but it was pleasant enough to the taste and the meat was very juicy. I dipped a couple pieces of the steak in the brown sauce I had off to the side and I'm glad I didn't get it on top of the steak. While it wasn't bad, it would over overpowered the taste of the steak and I'm glad I decided to just get it on the side.

Simon poked at his steak and cut into it to make sure it was rare enough for him. He took a bite and said, "This isn't coffee. This is pepper." He sort of shrugged his shoulders and decided to eat it as is. It, too, was a perfect rare with the cool center. He was happy with what he got.

The sauteed mushrooms were a good complement to the steak, but the highlight of the meal had to be the garlic mashed potatoes with the crab meat. It was absolutely fabulous. I put it in between Simon and I and we took turns dipping into the potatoes and crab meat. The crab meat was chunky and you could easily taste it in the mix. I said, "You know, this is so stupidly easy to make at home. I don't know why I haven't made this before."

It was a lot of food and I had trouble finishing my steak. I don't know if it was from the meal or what, but I had some gastric uncomfort for the next couple of days while we were in Fort Wayne. I finally began to feel better around noon a couple days later. The steak was so large and so rich that it probably aided in my discomfort.

I can see why people in Fort Wayne flock to Cork 'N Cleaver. The service was very good, Pamela did a fine job in taking care of us. The food was good, definitely above average. I've had better steaks at other places, but the steak I had at Cork 'N Cleaver was tasty enough, although there was a lot of fat on it and it got tough to cut in some places.  But you could get that anywhere.  The atmosphere at the restaurant was fine enough, relaxing and inviting. I'm sure I'll be coming back out to Fort Wayne at some point and while I may not go out of my way to go have dinner at Cork 'N Cleaver, I could see myself going back for a good meal.   

Joseph Decuis - Roanoke, IN

One of the great things about my job is that my boss allows me the opportunity to eat in some fine restaurants from time to time. While I usually will try to find a good burger, a juicy steak or a great pizza, when the opportunity arises to eat in an exquisite restaurant I'm not one to turn it down. I had the recent opportunity to do just that at a Creole gourmet restaurant in the small town of Roanoke, IN - Joseph Decuis.

Roanoke is located about 10 miles away from the southwest side of Fort Wayne, about halfway between Fort Wayne and Huntington. (see map) Roanoke is not unlike many of the hundreds of small towns across the Midwest that have fallen on hard times over the years. Once a thriving small town in the 1800's and well into the 20th century, the advent of cheap transportation and changing buying habits allowed for people to bypass the retailers and merchants in the small town for the "big city" of Fort Wayne. Many buildings in downtown Roanoke stood empty for years before a revitalization program in the 1990's began. And spearheading the renaissance were the Eshelman's - Pete; his wife, Alice; and Pete's brother, Tim.

Pete Eshelman was a minor league pitcher in the New York Yankees farm system in the mid-70's. A shoulder injury cut short his baseball career after a couple of seasons, so the Williams College graduate took a job in the front office of the Yankees working under the enigmatic George Steinbrenner. It was while working for the Yankees he discovered two important things that would affect his life. The first happened to be the concept of insuring sports and entertainment companies for long term contracts that they needed to take out on athletes and performers. The second discovery was a young aspiring actress who lived next door to him in Greenwich Village - a Denison College graduate who majored in theater and film, his future wife Alice.

Pete and Alice Eshelman - pictured at right.

The Eshelman's lived in Boston and New Orleans before a business opportunity found them settling in Roanoke in 1986. It was in the basement of their house in 1989 that American Specialty Insurance was formed along with Pete's brother, Tim, a finance man with a background in insurance. American Specialty Insurance describes themselves as the industry leader when it comes to insuring both professional and amateur sports organizations, teams and leagues, motorsports organizations, and entertainment entities such as amusement parks, casinos, convention centers, special events and horse tracks.

Whenever a client would come to town, the Eshelman's would cook dinner at their house. Quickly deciding that entertaining clients in their home with three young children was difficult, they bought the old bank in Roanoke and set up a small entertaining area complete with a kitchen and dining room. It was there that many of the deals that made American Specialty Insurance one of the top insurance companies of its type in the world were consummated.

Word got out that there was this private dining place in Roanoke that was in the old bank that served hellaciously great food. In 2000, Alice Eshelman decided to open the Cafe Creole using recipes that were passed along within the family way back from ancestors who lived in Louisiana just after the Louisiana Purchase. One of those ancestors was a man by the name of Joseph Decuis. The Eshelman's eventually changed the name of the restaurant to Joseph Decuis (pronounced by the locals as De-KWEEZ, but the probably more authentic pronunciation, courtesy of my French-Canadian colleague, Simon, is De-KWEE). In fact, the logo for the restaurant is the actual signature of Joseph Decuis on his Last Will and Testament dated 1822.

The original executive chef at Joseph Decuis was Lisa Williams. However, since 2005 Aaron Butts has headed the kitchen operation at the restaurant. Butts started his career when Cafe Creole opened in 2000 as a line chef, but worked his way up through the ranks by showing his prowess not only in his culinary skills, but his management skills, as well. Located at the back of the main dining room in the original bank building, the kitchen is open and you can easily see Butts and his crew working on dinners for the patrons.

I happened to be in Fort Wayne working with my colleague, Simon, who heads the Focal Pro loudspeakers division for our company in North America. Our largest pro account is Sweetwater located in Fort Wayne. If Sweetwater was a restaurant or a grocery store, they would garner an entry on Road Tips just by the shear level of professionalism the company exhibits and how they present themselves within the professional music industry.

We were there to demonstrate to the Sweetwater sales staff and others who work there a high-end audio system consisting of a pair of the $180,000 dollar Focal Grande Utopia EM loudspeakers driven by a pair of Devialet D-Premier integrated amplifiers. The system was set up on the stage of Sweetwater's own 220 seat theater, a state-of-the-art facility that features custom-designed lighting, video and sound. (If you click on the picture, you can see the thin amplifiers laying on the stage with the speaker wire running to the loudspeakers.) Even though Sweetwater doesn't have the authorization to sell these speakers, we felt it would be good to expose the staff at Sweetwater as to what high-end esoteric audio is all about. And Focal and Devialet are certainly both leaders in high-end audio.

After packing up the system after a day of sound demonstrations, Simon suggested we go out to Joseph Decuis for dinner. It was only a 10 minute drive from our hotel and even though there was a light snow falling, it was an easy drive down a four-lane highway. My GPS took us right to the front door of Joseph Decuis. (See map) On the way, Simon had made reservations via Open Table on his smart phone. I've used Open Table a couple of times and I should probably use it more when I travel to larger cities. We walked in precisely at 7:15 p.m. The hostess sort of recognized Simon from previous visits (he's been there probably more than a half dozen times during his travels over the past couple of years to Sweetwater) and Simon saw that Aaron Butts was cooking in the kitchen. "Good," he said as he turned to me as we walked to our table. "Aaron is in the house!"

Joseph Decuis' culinary philosophy centers on the concept "farm to fork" meaning that they primarily use local organic grown beef, pork and chicken - some of it coming from their own farm, Heritage Farms. It's there that the Eshelman's raise Wagyu beef for their restaurant. Long considered the finest type of beef available for steaks in the world, Heritage Farms raises their Wagyu beef in an all-natural and humane fashion that they learned from the legendary Wagyu beef pioneer, Mr. Shogo Takeda. Joseph Decuis is the only restaurant in America that raises their own Wagyu beef for consumption at their dining establishment. Joseph Decuis also uses about a dozen other local organic farms to get vegetables, fish, cheese and humanely raised veal. There's even a Michigan City, IN farm they use to get caviar from salmon and whitefish from Lake Michigan.

We were seated in the atrium room just off the main dining room and kitchen of Joseph Decuis. It was the Christmas season and a brightly lit tree was the center piece of the room. Simon and I took a table along the wall and were given menus to look through. Simon's eyes lit up when first glanced at the menu. He said, "Oh, God. They have the Lobster Carbonara!" It's an appetizer and they take chunks of lobster meat, mix it with homemade Orecchiette pasta - kind of little round discs of pasta - then add homemade and cured pancetta with locally grown chanterelle mushrooms. They top it with a spinach style Swiss chard and then finish it off with homemade Sambal, a somewhat spicy pepper based sauce found in Southeast Asia. It was no wonder Simon was jumping up and down in his seat when he was describing it to me.

Our server for the evening, Nancy, came over to greet us. She looked remarkably like my wife's and my good friend Marcia Schroeder. Other than the long hair, she could have easily been Marcia's long-lost sister. She asked if we wanted anything to start out for a drink and Simon was already perusing the wine list. He said we were going to order some wine and we'd probably just go with that.

Simon told me, "The French wines on this list are cheap. Here's a 1999 Chateau Simard for $50 bucks!" I don't know French wines at all and when I asked if that was a good price, Simon replied, "It's a GREAT price!" 

He let me look through the wine list at some of the Californian and South American wines they had that I was familiar with. The prices on those wines were a little high and I wouldn't have felt comfortable ordering something like that at those prices. I said, "Well, if the French wine is good and at a good price, let's just go with that."

The menu at Joseph Decuis changes periodically and one thing they did not have on the menu that evening was any of their locally farm-raised pork. I had seen that on the menu on line when I first looked up Joseph Decuis after Simon was telling me about it. (We had gotten into Fort Wayne on a Sunday night and we were considering going there that evening, until I found that they're closed on Sunday's.) The Wagyu beef strip steak was not a consideration at $75 bucks a pop. But they had a few other things that caught my eye.

They had osso bucco that evening, served with a butternut squash polenta with pan-fried brussels sprouts and chanterelle mushrooms. Simon told me, "The key to these things are the chanterelle mushrooms. They're just great."

Simon was telling me about the "Chef's Tasting" on the menu. For $90 bucks a person, Chef Aaron picks out the menu he wants to make for the table that evening and pairs each course with a wine. Simon was telling me about the time he came out with Bob Muller from Dangerous Music, known for their D-Box that is used in many high-end recording studios, and Fab Dupont, a New York-based writer, producer and mixer with whom we work closely with Focal Pro loudspeakers. Simon said that they sat down and almost immediately the first course with a glass of wine came to the table. Simon inquired, "What's this?"

Fab told him, "Oh, when I made reservations earlier, I told them we wanted the Chef's Tasting tonight." Simon told me that everything was outstanding.

Seafood and fresh fish seemed to dominate the menu that particular evening. Since the restaurant is based upon a Creole theme, they had a Creole black grouper etouffee on a bed of dirty rice and spinach. It was either that or the osso bucco. But Simon was also pushing the Massachusetts pan-fried diver scallops. "Heavenly," he described them as being.

When Nancy came back to the table to take our order, Simon immediately said, "Well, I need to get the lobster carbonara appetizer." I asked if it was big enough for two, Simon gave me a dirty look. He said, "Well, two could share it, but it's so good that I won't let you have any of mine."

I looked at Nancy and said, "We'll take two..."

Simon ordered the osso bucco and I took the Creole black grouper etouffee. For a good measure, I also wanted to try a small bowl of the "Gumbo du Jour" which that day was a homemade seafood gumbo.

Being that each item on the menu is made from scratch, the time between courses can be pretty long. That was OK as we weren't going anywhere in a hurry. It was great to relax with a little wine and conversation after listening to music all day long. Simon was telling me that some of the online reviews from people about Joseph Decuis weren't very flattering. He said that some he read were really ripping the place for slow service, overpriced food and not being a good value. I said, "This place is in the middle of farm country. I know those people. They probably heard about the place, thought they'd come here and get a steak and side of potatoes with a salad bar like any number of steakhouses or supper clubs throughout the Midwest. Then they see the only steak on the menu is $75 bucks and the other food is this eclectic, high-end fare that they have no idea what it is. They order something and decide they don't like it. This isn't the kind of place for those kind of people."

Simon told me, "I have no doubt that if this restaurant was anywhere other than this small town, like New York or Chicago, it would get at least one Michelin star." Simon has eaten in enough excellent restaurants that he would know.

Nancy and another server brought out our lobster carbonara. They sat the bowls down in front of us at the same time, another high-end restaurant custom. The lobster carbonara was - in a word - outstanding. At the first bite we both took, I looked at Simon and he looked at me and we immediately began to laugh. It was so friggin' good! The chopped chanterelle mushrooms were everything Simon said they'd be - they were plump, had an almost meaty consistency, had a great taste to them. Yes, he was right. The key was the mushrooms. But you couldn't overlook the big chunks of lobster along with the Sambal sauce they had. It wasn't all that spicy and had more of a taste like a spicy marsala sauce. And the pancetta had a nice somewhat smoky flavor to it, but it was very salty. So much so that I was drinking a lot of water to quench my thirst the rest of the night.

After we finished the lobster carbonara and about 10 minutes after our pasta bowls were removed, my seafood gumbo came to the table. It had large chunks of seafood swimming in a smoky broth, topped with a dollop of steamed rice and chopped green onions. It was very good. I offered a bite to Simon and he said that it was very good, as well. I can't say that it was the best gumbo I've ever had, but it was up there.

About 20 minutes after Nancy took my gumbo bowl away, two other servers brought out the Creole black grouper etouffee and Simon's osso bucco. Of course, the presentation was exquisite. Simon's meal was placed in a large rimmed bowl and featured a nice size chunk of veal shank with the center-cut bone rising as the centerpiece of the meal surrounded by the polenta, brussels sprouts, fingerling carrots, sliced potatoes and, of course, the chanterelle mushrooms.  

My Creole black grouper etouffee also sat majestically on the plate, with large chunks of seasoned grouper covered in an etouffee sauce sitting on top of the dirty rice and the cooked spinach. From the first bite, we both began to laugh again - it was just outstanding.

We traded bites of our meals. Simon gave me a chunk of his osso bucco and it was moist, juicy and overly flavorful. He said that he thought my grouper was pretty good, too. He told me, "I think the best osso bucco I've ever had was that place out in Vegas (Panevino). But this comes close." 

He also said, "You know, I don't really care for polenta, but this stuff (butternut squash polenta) is very good!"

Quite honestly, after the lobster carbonara and the seafood gumbo, I could have easily stopped at that. But the Creole black grouper etouffee was so phenomenal that I couldn't stop eating. I was full as the food was very rich, but I couldn't let an smidgen of this dish go to waste. It was truly magnificent.

Finishing off our wine after the meal, Simon and I were savoring the remnant taste of what we had. When Nancy dropped off a dessert menu, I groaned. Simon had been raving about the Caramel Pot de Creme all day long. He even said that it was so good that one time when Fab Dupont and he were there with some other people, Fab came up with a song for the dessert. I told Simon that I'd share some with him, that was until I saw something that popped out at me from the menu. It was a seasonal dessert consisting of a Pumpkin-Mocha creme brulee with a tiny layer of chocolate at the bottom of the dessert bowl. I said, "Oooo... Now THAT sounds really good."

Simon said, "You want to get that? We can get the pot de creme the next time." Geez, I hope there is a next time for me.

And it was as good as advertised. The caramelized mocha topping was thick and Simon and I were laughing as we were trying to break through to the pumpkin creme brulee. The taste was exquisite. I'd never had pumpkin creme brulee before and while the pumpkin spice wasn't overpowering, it sort of lingered on the tongue after each bite. And at the bottom of the dessert cup was the shallow layer of chocolate. It was just exceptional.

After dinner and after we paid the bill, we took a short tour of the restaurant. In addition to the atrium and outdoor seating in the summertime, they have the main dining room (below left) where you can easily see into the kitchen as they prepare your meal. It's small and cozy, but no one was seated in there that evening.

On the side of the restaurant opposite the atrium is an addition the Eshelman's bought to expand the restaurant into the building next to the original old bank building. (The Eshelman family have restored 15 buildings in downtown Roanoke to be used for their businesses. I believe this building used to be an auto parts store.) This dining room is more of an art gallery with works of art painted by a local artist, Tim Johnson, who now lives in France. In this dining room was the bar area for Joseph Decuis. Nancy came over and was telling us about some of the artwork, one of which was a sketch of Joseph Decuis sitting with his wife on a horse drawn wagon.

Simon said, "Hey, look in the vaults!" They had two old bank vaults that they kept their wine in. One of them had been turned into a wine humidor. It was a brilliant and interesting use of space in the old bank. The original doors were still on the outside of the vaults with glass doors inside one for the humidor.

I know I've been accused by some of being wordy in a handful of my posts, but the length of this one is justified considering the experience I had at Joseph Decuis. It's amazing that you'd find this type of fine dining in a small town in northeast Indiana. The food, the service, the atmosphere - everything was top-notch. I'm slowly getting more into the pro sound side of things for our company and I know I'll have more opportunities to come back to Fort Wayne to work with Sweetwater in the coming months. I just hope I have the opportunity to once again dine at Joseph Decuis at some point down the road. 

 

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