CRANBERRY STATION RESTAURANT

Warm summer days just beg for day trips -- at least as far as I'm concerned -- and one of the delights in hitting the road is finding interesting restaurants. On one of those awful 90 degree-plus days back in July, that's exactly what my husband Jack and I did.

At least once a year, we head to the Pymatuning State Park spillway near Linesville, Pa., to see those huge, hungry (and downright ugly) carp climb all over each other to get to bread chunks pitched over the railing by visitors who can't believe their eyes. They're so thick that here and there, equally hungry gulls walk on the fishes' backs, trying to steal the bread before it even gets to those gaping mouths.

The gulls, however, have a decided advantage: If you toss bread in the air, they'll fly over in droves and it's a sure bet one will catch the chunk in mid-flight. The whole thing is an awesome sight, so if you haven't been there yet, there's still plenty of good weather left before the snow flies.

On this day, we rounded up our friends Jerry and Barb from Niles, and the four of us spent a bit of time oggling the fish monsters just like the rest of the gawkers. But in short order, the blistering heat took its toll and we almost flew faster than those gulls to get back to the comfort of our air-conditioned car. Once we could breathe again, though, we decided we were hungry -- although we weren't sure whether to blame that on the time of day or watching those carp scarf down the bread.

So, we headed back toward home with an eye toward finding a place to satisfy our craving for food - preferably a place we hadn't tried before. Not long after we crossed back into Ohio, we reached Andover, and right on the town square, there it was: Cranberry Station Restaurant. The neat windows and red awning above the entrance were very inviting, and since it was early afternoon, we didn't really care that the place doesn't sell alcohol -- it was good food and something cold to drink that we were after.

Inside, it's a one-room affair but quite spacious, with several large tables and comfortable high-back wooden chairs. At 1:30 in the afternoon several folks were here finishing up, chatting with each and other and the servers, so we figured this is a popular place with the locals.

The walls are filled with country-style artwork and hand-made items, most of which are for sale. Right next to our table there was a table holding lip gloss and handmade soaps in a variety of tempting scents. Curious, we asked out server about them, and she absolutely raved about the lip gloss. Learning that it was just $1 a tube, Barb and I figured why not and bought several to take home -- and yes, they're wonderful.

Dinners here range from around $7.99 to $15.99, the latter for a strip steak. Croissant sandwiches are under $7, and they have several burgers and subs as well. I eyed the Cincinnati Chili ($6.49), a dish I've loved ever since I was a kid growing up not far from the Queen City. For the record, it's basically spaghetti topped with chili instead of spaghetti sauce; here, they add black olives and onion and the whole thing comes with a salad.

There are daily specials as well as plenty of "standards" on the menu such as a corned beef on rye sandwich with Swiss cheese for $5.49 - it can be served hot or cold. A grilled Swiss cheese sandwich with bacon and tomato on rye is just $3.99, beef liver and onions is $6.99 and roasted turkey breast with dressing and cranberry sauce is $8.99, to give you some idea of the range of offerings and prices. In short, I'd think there is sufficient variety here to please just about any palate.

Hungry as we were, we started with appetizers all around. Except for me -- I love corn nuggets so the choice was a no-brainer - it wasn't an easy decision, especially since we wanted to try four different things to share. Jack didn't take too long, choosing the breaded mushrooms. Barb followed with potato skins, and finally Jerry opted for a cup of chili. We all were quite pleased (especially my with the corn nuggets, which were much like corn fritters). The chili was a little harder to share so I can't offer a personal opinion, but Jerry said the chili had a too-strong tomato base and not much chili flavor. That didn't keep him from polishing it off, I hasten to add.

It took longer for us to pick entrees than it did for the appetizers - lots of delicious-sounding items here - but pick we did. It was lunch time and very hot outside, so I wanted something cool. The croissant sandwich with chicken salad filled that bill perfectly ($5.99, and I could have had tuna salad instead). It came with a side of either macaroni salad or potato salad, but since they were out of macaroni salad, that, too, so potato it was. To drink, I picked cranberry lemonade, which our server told us is a very popular drink that they serve at events Cranberry Station caters.

Jack, always a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, went for the meatloaf dinner ($7.49). He had a choice of potato, salad or vegetable plus a roll and butter, and he picked fries and a salad with raspberry viniagrette dressing. Jerry finally settled on the fried fish sandwich.

Like me, Barb wanted something cool, so her pick was the deluxe tuna salad ($6.59). Our server then asked what kind of dressing she wanted -- I don't recall for sure, but I think she chose bleu cheese -- and after the server left we wondered why there was a choice of dressing. The tuna salad we're all used to comes pre-mixed, usually with mayonnaise. Oh well, we said - guess Barb's in for a surprise!

In fact, she did get a surprise - and a very pleasant one. The tuna salad here, it turns out, is a huge mound of tuna -- no filling whatsoever -- with the dressing served on the side to be added to the tuna as you like. Neat concept, we agreed - and quite delicious.

Jack happily shoveled down every single bite of his meatloaf, pronouncing it "very good." My chicken salad was delicious as well, although it, too, was a bit different. The typical mayo used to bind it together was totally absent, replaced by something that had a bit of a mustard taste to it. Jerry proclaimed his fish sandwich "good," but nothing to write home about.

When she noticed that we had cleaned off our plates, our observant server trotted out a fabulous dessert tray loaded with goodies from key lime/strawberry cake and fresh-based pies. We were stuffed, but these looked way too good for some of us to resist. Jack picked a slice of apple pie and Jerry couldn't resist a big slice of yummy-looking chocolate cake. Barb was the only holdout, saying she absolutely couldn't get another bite down.

Beverages here are served in Mason jars, and I couldn't help noticing when our server delivered a just-made milkshake to another table (also in a Mason jar). Another no-brainer for me: For dessert, I'll have what she's having, I told our server.

For the record, they use Edy's Ice Cream here, and it goes in the shakes as well. The "soda fountain" was just on the other side of our table, and I was surprised and thrilled to see not one, but three generous scoops of chocolate ice cream go in the jar (most chocolate shakes are made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup). Not a lot of milk was added so I figured it would take a while before I could get it through the straw without sucking my face inside out. Not so; it was kept on the mixer long enough to thin it down perfectly. It was, in fact, my very own little piece of Heaven.

Desserts here are kept on a chilled tray so they're fairly cold when they reach the table. So although Jerry said the cake was very good, he would have preferred it served at room temperature, if not slightly warmed.

If there's a real downside here, it's that there's only one single-stall restroom; that could, we imagine, be problematic when the place is full of folks drinking that delicious cranberry lemonade.

If you go: Cranberry Station Restaurant
68 Public Square
Andover, Ohio 44003
(440) 293-6651

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our server said the restaurant opens daily between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. and are open till 11 p.m. on weekdays except Mondays, when they close at 3 p.m. On weekends, closing is 11:30 p.m.