The chances that my husband Jack and I will drive all the way to anywhere in Columbiana County just to have a meal are somewhere between slim and none. Oh sure, we love to have lunch at Das Dutch Haus in Columbiana and BB Rooners and Ricky's English Pub in Salem -- all of which I've told you about in previous blogs (http://mahoningvalleyeats.blogspot.com/2011/10/das-dutch-haus-restaurant-bakery.html, http://mahoningvalleyeats.blogspot.com/2012/03/b-b-rooners-food-spirits.html and http://mahoningvalleyeats.blogspot.com/2011/02/rickys-english-pub.html). But I don't recall ever once making a special trip just for the purpose of eating.
If we do stop anywhere, it's because we're on the way home from a photography outing at Beaver Creek State Park, Broadway Wharf in East Liverpool or maybe The Bison Ranch just outside Ellsworth to see if any of those big hairy guys are out in the fields.
But those odds are much improved now that we've been to Shellabella's on Main in Columbiana. We "discovered" it, in fact, as a result of an offer by MyValleyDining.com, from which I purchased a $25 gift certificate for something like $10. Uh-oh, I worried - would it be worth the trip?The short answer is a resounding yes. To begin with, when was the last time you found a cozy cafe-type eatery that has a full bar? That alone was enough to seal the deal for us. Once we'd tried the food, though, we knew we'd be back.
The place has two main dining areas, one of which includes the bar (guess which side we picked)? The bar itself is decorated with sports memorabilia, including a sign with a really old-time Cleveland Browns mascot that we haven't seen for many years. Interesting antique-looking "stuff" is on the walls and tucked neatly away on shelves and shadow boxes as well.
The big surprise, though, is the menu; not only is it fairly extensive, it features quite a few things that are unique, at least to us. For openers, we considered deep fried Asiago olives with bistro sauce ($6.29), breaded fried pickles with dill sauce ($6.29) and a "Yummy Roll" ($6.99). The latter, described as a deep-fried egg roll wrapper with cream cheese and a southwest cheesy chicken mixture covered with garlic ranch sauce, was just too tempting to pass up.
Plenty of salads and low-carb wraps are available, all of which sounded delicious (well, except for anything that has cucumbers in it - IMHO, the only good cucumber is one that's been turned into a pickle). Dinner entrees are all over the map, from steaks to chicken and fish to Italian dishes - most are in the $10.99 to $15.99 range. Our visit was at lunchtime, though, and those aren't on the lunch menu (and in any event, we wouldn't have been that hungry). But we did vow to return if only to try the sesame crusted tuna with sweet teriyaki glaze ($15.95) and chicken spindellinni, or sauteed chicken breast with roasted red peppers and spinacn in garlic cream sauce on a bed of cheese tortellini ($14.95).
First, we perused the daily lunch specials, and until the last minute I had my eye on the bacon garlic ranch avocado burger with garlic ranch dressing ($9.50). Just before our server came to write everything down, though, I switched to the hot spinach, garlic and chicken croissant with gourmet cheese, chopped chicken, garlic mushrooms, feta, mozzarella and fresh spinach on a grilled croissant roll ($8.79). The devil might have made me do it, but more likely it's because if you put it on a croissant, I'll eat it (well, as long as you leave out those cucumbers). I chose fries instead of cole slaw, although for a buck more I could have upgraded to other sides like sweet potato fries.
At the outset, we learned that the Yummy Roll couldn't have a better name, except perhaps "out of this world" roll. It's a little too small to share as we did (that's why it's an appetizer, I suppose), but having a whole one to yourself would be so filling you wouldn't be able to eat a whole lot else. It's crispy on the outside and ooey-gooey on the inside, sort of reminiscent of crab rangoon except with chicken flavor. Positively decadent!
Both our sandwiches were unusually good, a tribute, I suppose, to the slightly outside-the-box ingredients in many of the dishes here. I'm not a big cole slaw fan, but I loved the Vidalia slaw here - but Jack, more of a slaw traditionalist, wasn't quite as enthusiastic about it. And departing from our usual practice of taking half of our sandwiches home for later, we both managed to stuff down both halves even on top of that Yummy Roll. That's not because the sandwiches are smaller than most, but rather a testament to their wonderful taste.
Admittedly, we ran into a couple of minor glitches early on, including being "forced" to switch to a different beer because the Yuengling tap wasn't working properly. On the plus side, though, the short beers are served in exceptionally frosty mugs - another thing that will get my attention every time.
It also became evident that only one server was on duty, and understandably she was having a tough time dealing with at least three full tables on the bar side and one or two in the other room. As I watched, I couldn't help but think of "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get" from Alice in Wonderland. But in addition to working hard, she had a delightful sense of humor - and our longer-than-customary wait came only at the beginning. Once we'd placed our order, it arrived very quickly and was served with a friendly smile.
If you go:
Shellabella's On Main
108 S. Main St.
Columbiana, Ohio
(330) 482-1700
Open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday.
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