VASILIOS RESTAURANT & PIZZERIA

Sometimes, my husband Jack and I are really slow on the uptake. Make that really slow; Vasilios Restaurant & Pizzeria is celebrating 30 years as we speak - but would you believe our visit in mid-June was our first time there? Sure, we've driven past the place countless times, usually - as was the case with our first visit - on our way home from poking around somewhere in Ashtabula County. 


On this occasion, we'd been to historic Ashtabula Harbor and Geneva-on-the-Lake, where we enjoyed a large appetizer platter at the Old Firehouse Winery. We weren't terribly hungry when we got to Vasilios, but we figured we could get something to nibble on and take the rest home for later.

There's a banquet room that can handle up to 60, and one of the big attractions here is pizza (the first thing diners encounter - pun intended - is the pizza stand right at the entrance). The restaurant is open and airy, and in good weather there are a couple of small cafe-type tables outside. Admittedly, the views of busy highways are less than
spectacular there, but hey, we didn't come for the scenery; it's food we're most interested in.


Breakfast is served here all day, for the record, and for me, that's a Martha Stewart good thing. That's the main reason I like Bob Evans, to be honest (that plus the fact that they're extremely generous with the buy one, get one free breakfast coupons). Neither of us enjoys eating breakfast at the "regular" time, but put that incomparable sausage gravy and biscuits in front of me any other time and get out of the way!

Here, though, we stuck with non-breakfast foods; in part, that's because we figure it's pretty hard to totally ruin bacon and eggs so that's not a good choice for review, and partly because we were in the mood for something a bit more substantial. And unlike Bob Evans, this place has a liquor license (I don't know about you, but eggs and beer just don't mesh). There's no beer on tap, but that's fine with us; it always tastes better in a bottle (and the beer and super-frosty mugs are just the way I love it). Several wines are available as well, including Canyon Road, one of our favorites.


Because pizza is a specialty here, we ordered an Old World to take with us when were done (a medium 12-inch for $8.50 plus $1.50 to add pepperoni). We both ended up getting linguine with clam sauce ($9.50) - red for him and white for me. 

I got wedding soup, always a favorite, to start - and the broth was delicious. There wasn't much of those tiny round things (orzo??), but the chunks of chicken, meatballs, greens, onions and carrots were generous. Jack ordered shrimp gumbo, which I normally don't care much for, but it was quite good and had a noticeable kick. Italian dishes are a specialty here, by the way - everything from veal, chicken and eggplant parmesan to ravioli to stuffed shells to gnocchi.

The linguine entrees were totally non-standard, topped with chunks of celery, black olives, onions, mushrooms and clams. My white sauce didn't have much of a distinct flavor, but it was good - and Jack liked his quite well. The bowls were huge, and we each brought home more than half of our orders and even had enough to share with our daughter Chris and her husband Jerry next door. As for the pizza, it smells and tastes very much like our favorite Brier Hill-style at Sunrise Inn in Warren, but with a thicker crust. Outstanding!

We didn't waste much time going back, and once again it was for a very late lunch after taking photos at several of Ashtabula County's 18 covered bridges. Several other folks were here as well - always a good sign when a place is busy other than at peak dining hours. 

This time, I settled for broiled whitefish, choosing my favorite soup in the world, wedding, instead of a salad. Jack picked the seafood platter with fries (salad instead of soup). The platter, a reasonable $9.95, contains four scallops, three jumbo shrimp and whitefish.

The soup was quite tasty (truth is, I don't recall ever eating a wedding soup I didn't like), but the fish was a bit of a disappointment. It was described as having a "light" red sauce, which I interpreted to mean not thick and heavy like pasta or marinara (I'm not a fan of red sauce and fish; both of us absolutely love linguine with clam sauce, but we disagree on what kind. I'm a white, he's a red, and never the twain shall meet.

As it turns out, the sauce here was very tomato-flavored and bright red - and the whole thing was covered with chunks of zucchini, onion and green peppers (all good) plus those funny olives that I think start with a K (not so good; give me a green olive by itself or in anything, but that's as far as my olive-loving goes). Actually, the sauce was very flavorful - but for me, just not on fish, please. Once I scraped most of that off, though, the fish itself was quite good. There were three substantial-sized filets, and I took quite a bit home to be consumed happily by Jack the next day.

All was good with the fish platter, except turns out one of the items on it was smelts, which is not one of his favorites. The breading was relatively heavy and crispy, so I threw caution to the wind and tried one - not bad at all, although I won't say they'll ever be a favorite seafood dish.

Vasilios does have a posted list of daily specials: Monday, it's a combo eggplant and chicken parmesan; Tuesday, chicken marsala; Wednesday and Friday, all-you-can-eat fish; Thursday, eggplant rotellini; Friday, Greek spaghetti; and Saturday, Italian platter. I expect the specials change occasionally, though, so if you want to make sure your favorite is on the menu, give them a call before you go.

If you go:

Vasilios Restaurant & Pizza
500 Trumbull Ave.
Cortland, Ohio 44410
(330) 638-3718

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vasilios-Restaurant-Pizzeria/119898652449

Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday

BOB EVANS

It's a bit out of the ordinary for me to review a chain restaurant, and even more uncommon when it's one that doesn't serve alcohol since most of the time, my husband Jack and I eat out for very late lunches and dinners when we enjoy a glass of wine with our food. 

Breakfast, however, is a bit different. Except for the year Jack retired after 33 years of teaching at Niles McKinley High School and the day school started that fall we were sitting on the beach at the North Carolina Outer Banks lifting plastic glasses of champagne toward Ohio at 8 o'clock in the morning, the spirits never have moved us at that hour of the day.

 

And breakfast, I would argue, is what Bob Evans does best; besides that, it’s an Ohio staple, starting out in the small town of Rio Grande (for you tenderfeet, that’s “Ryoh,” unlike the river that separates Texas and Mexico). Corporate headquarters are being relocated from Columbus to New Albany this year, and the company today is a $1.7 billion restaurant and retail food products company with somewhere around 600 full-service restaurants in 18 states and more than 100 company-owned Mimi's Cafe locations in 22 states.


That's not to say the other meals aren't good, though; in fact, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say we've never had a "bad" meal here. And now that the chain has undergone a substantial remodeling outside and in, it seems a good time to give it a plug.

There's another little secret I'll share up front for what it's worth (and to us, it's worth plenty): Sign up online to get email news, and you'll get great deals on meals. Just about every week, we get BOGO offers for breakfasts and dinners. To be honest, some are good for a single day and usually don't arrive much in advance (they tend to be on holidays like July 4 or days like the day after Thanksgiving when, we suppose, business is slower). Still, there have been very few we haven't cashed in. There's also a requirement of purchasing two beverages - which aren't the cheapest on the block - but especially when you consider that we're usually able to bring home some leftovers, these are not-to-be-missed deals.

When it comes to breakfasts, I have two favorites here to which nobody else can yet compare, starting with sausage gravy. This does, however, require a bit of background. Coming from a farm and a cook-from-scratch mother, sausage gravy was a staple of growing up. But when I got married, it was to a handsome fellow who (gasp!) didn't much care for sausage in any shape or form, although he did manage to get some down when I'd cook sausage gravy and biscuits for whatever crowd we were with the morning after our New Year's Eve celebrations. But once we stopped partying quite so hard probably 20-plus years ago, the sausage gravy just never got made. Luckily, it was served at Bob Evans; so once or twice a year, we go there for breakfast (served all day, I should add) and I'd get my fix. 

And then they changed it. No longer was it the white gravy with visible and plentiful sausage crumbles; suddenly, it was dark brown, the sausage seemed harder to find and that wonderful down-home taste took a turn for the worse. 

Then one fine day much, much later I saw the photo in the menu and realized it was white once again - be still my heart! Needless to say, I wasted little time ordering it, and it's become my go-to, blues-chasing breakfast ever since. Prices can vary from place to place, but around here, a good-sized bowl of gravy with two of those giant buttermilk biscuits goes for around seven bucks.

When we get one of those breakfast BOGO coupons, though, we try our best to get the most for our money by ordering items that are very close in price (with these deals, you get one free, but it's always the least expensive of the two). My pick of the litter is the Farmer's Choice ($8.29), which comes with eggs (any style), hash browns, home fries or grits, bacon or sausage (patties or links) and your choice of a fruit crepe, two hotcakes or two slices of French toast. It's a great deal, and if you haven't tried those crepes yet, you're in for a real treat.

Jack usually opts for the Big Egg Breakfast - same price - with three eggs, sausage or bacon and a breakfast side (several choices here, but most often he gets whole wheat toast).

Lunch and dinner entrees are all over the map, ranging from big salads to pasta to fish, and there are several "55 & Over" possibilities that are smaller and a bit less expensive. One of my favorites is the slow-roasted turkey breast, with plenty of tender meat over bread and celery stuffing with mashed potatoes and gravy and a side. Jack, however, is fond of the potato-crusted flounder filet, which usually comes with a baked potato, broccoli and baked rolls or buttermilk biscuits (he substitutes other things for the potato and broccoli depending on his mood at the time). He's had the salmon filet, too (with a choice of Bob Evans Wildfire BBQ sauce or garlic herb butter) and likes that almost equally well.

Bob Evans has other options that aren't readily available at other restaurants, too, such as a $5 carryout value menu that includes a number of items including signature soups (we especially like the tomato basil and beef vegetable). Every once in a while we'll take one home for later - it's plenty for two very large bowls.

Another option is the family-size meals to go (there were 10 on the menu last time I checked). Priced at just under $20, they include a main meat - such as chicken breasts or tenders, turkey breast or country-fried steak - and one large side and freshly baked bread sufficient to serve four; call ahead for quick pick-up. Other options are offered for special occasions like Thanksgiving, with prices based on the number you'll be feeding. When you factor in not having to spend hours cooking, the price isn't bad at all.

Here's another tip: Bob Evans puts nutritional information on its website as well as recipes for quite a number of the foods for which they're known (slow cooker meatloaf, Italian Sausage, Tortellini Soup and yes, that sausage gravy, for instance). 

Each store also has a small selection of gift items, and on several occasions we've purchased whole pies from the in-store bakery (the cookies and banana bread are delicious as well). On one occasion, I bought bags of Bob Evans medium roast coffee when they were on sale at two for $10; it's good coffee, but much too mild for my taste. There's a new bold roast being advertised now that I'd like to try, but so far it hasn't been available by the bag at either the Austintown or Niles locations where we're frequent diners. Neither is the company's new loyalty card (spend $60, earn $4), launched in Dayton not long ago. We'll keep an eye out!

If you go:

Bob Evans
1100 N. Canfield-Niles Road
Austintown, Ohio 44515
(330) 652-8211

http://www.bobevans.com

Open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday; Sunday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.