SHALE TAVERN & GRILLE

Have cameras, will travel, is a motto that prompts my husband Jack and I to hit the road every chance we get - even if it's just for an hour or so. As winter rolls in, though, our outings become few and far between. So when the temperature was predicted to reach an unseasonably warm 68 degrees on a near-winter morning not long ago, we figured it might be the last chance we'd get for a while to get outta Dodge.

But what might our destination be? Basically, we have four choices: North, South, East and West. Well, we reasoned, we haven't seen the Ohio River for a while - so we pointed the car south to East Liverpool. And by the way, that relatively new Shale Tavern & Grille near Lisbon is a place we've been meaning to visit and it's right on the way home.

We tooled around for a bit on Broadway Wharf in East Liverpool, happily snapping photos of a tug chugging up the river pushing a huge barge. After that, we wandered around a few city streets to see some of the old buildings, stopping just short of crossing the Newell Bridge to West Virginia this time out - frankly, we were getting hungry.


The Shale Tavern, which is located next to a Days Inn, used to be the Saratoga Restaurant - and it sure is impressive to look at. Inside are two beautiful stone fireplaces (the one on the bar side was fronted by two overstuffed easy chairs that were tempting - they looked far more cozy than the high-backed wood chairs and bar stools (although they were quite comfortable, too). The stuffed deer head on the rugged stone chimney keeps watch on the expansive bar that takes up almost the whole side of the room (there's another "restaurant" section with its own fireplace). The mirrored built-in carved wood "hutch" that stores liquor bottles behind the bar is just awesome.

As is our preference, we opted for the bar side, where five brews are on tap including the local Shale Ale, one of the Great Lakes Brewing varieties, Blue Moon, Bud Light and Yuengling. Jack likes to try specialty ales, so the Shale Ale was his choice. I'm far less adventurous when it comes to the stuff, so it was Yuengling for me.

I should note that the restaurant reportedly is owned by Mike Naffah, also owner of the Days Inn. The decision to reopen the former Saratoga (and the choice of name) was made because of the increased business at the motel as workers come to the area as part of the burgeoning Utica Shale development in Columbiana and nearby Carroll counties.

I'll also be honest and say that as of this writing, we've been to the tavern just once (after all, it's a bit of a hike down there from Mineral Ridge). But I'm also delighted to say we'll be going back every chance we get - the food we had was outstanding and we look forward to trying more. 

Take, for instance, the wonderful sounding entrees; our visit was at lunch - the place is open for lunch only on Sundays, by the way - so we just weren't hungry enough to go for the crabmeat stuffed haddock topped with Hollandaise sauce ($15.95), Tavern Beef with smashed redskin potatoes ($13.95) or the jumbo shrimp scampi on a bed of linguine ($14.95). There are daily specials that sound great as well, but they're weekdays only when the tavern doesn't open until 4 p.m. (the Tavern Beef, for instance, is $12.95 on Wednesdays).

The ribs and chicken, which the menu says are "soon to be world famous," may be an option as well; a half rack (dry rub or barbecue) is $13.99.

We, however, stuck to the list of sandwiches and burgers at our visit. Jack picked the steak hoagie for $6.99, adding grilled onions, mushrooms and peppers for another $1.29 and substituting cole slaw for the usual fries. Once I saw the Blue Devil burger - half a pound of Angus beef topped with bleu cheese crumbles and haystack onions with fries ($8.99), it was mine, all mine.

The fries were good - the thin Idora Park style - but they weren't very hot and I suspected they might have been fried much earlier in the day and reheated. Everything else we ordered, though, got a total of two thumbs ups. The slaw was particularly good, Jack said (I took a bite and agreed). And his steak hoagie was excellent as well, providing enough to bring half of it home.

It was the burger, though, that was the real standout. The beef was very tasty, and I loved the buttered and grilled bun. Truthfully, I'd probably eat sawdust if it were covered in bleu cheese, but those onion straws really made the difference. Somehow, they managed to stay amazingly crisp until I'd polished off the entire burger.

And, they were delicious; the result is that I pledged to order the haystack onion blossom with bistro sauce appetizer ($5.99) next time we visit!

If you go:

Shale Tavern & Grille
40964 State Route 154
Lisbon, Ohio 44432
(330) 420-0045

Open 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 4 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.