Diamond Grille
 Akron, Ohio         Date of Visit  04/07/12         No Known Website

We were treated to this little landmark once years ago and have been trying to get back to write it up for the site. There isn’t a web site (no surprise at all) and the peripheral local trackers don’t always have the right information about time etc. so we ended up not getting in three times. This time we called, they’re open, they don’t care what we’re wearing, and they take checks so we don’t have to hit the ATM. No Website No Credit Cards! When you experience the diamond it all sort of makes sense. Don’t expect online info or swiping a card anytime in the foreseeable future. The Luddites manning the Grille are entrenched and proud of their fixation in time.
 

Couple of Breads with Good Butter

Lunch time, parking lot filled with Cadillacs and other luxury mobiles inside the place isn’t packed but it is buzzing. Two servers are scurrying in a mad dash to keep things moving, the older because I think she had many more tables, ours because she couldn’t do more than one thing at a time. This was going to take a bit. The other waitress actually picked up a lot of work at our table while we were there, she might have been able to do the whole thing by herself, it was already close.

When I imagine the super secret high-roller steakhouse dining room in Old Vegas; this is what I think the room behind that was set like. You know, Old Blue Eyes' private dining room. The lighting, colors, furniture, etc. all sing out “One For My Baby” and you expect the rest of the rat pack to file in and begin the night's frivolity. Paragons of Akron business sit in the booths, some retired, some needing to get back to the office talking business, baseball and just about anything else. The long bar is well stocked and busy as it’s time polished dark wood holds classic cocktails awaiting service to lubricate the conversations and coming afternoon.
 

We perused the lunch menu, those things that can be ordered, prepared, devoured and paid for in time to get you back to work. We bucked the trend, seeking to recall the dinner experience we had years ago. The dinner menu was delivered and again the time machine opens it’s doors. Salads and steaks, a small handful of surf or other turf options for them that don’t get it. That about sums it up. Sprout eaters need not apply. New fangled, less expensive cuts added to franchise steak menus (think cowboy/flat iron steak), nope never heard of ‘em. We went all in, at lunch, ridiculous! We certainly made the tables around us jealous as the dinner fare walked past their half empty salad plates. They’ll be back soon, later in the day.

We did order one thing from the lunch menu, it just sounded interesting. Blue pea salad. Later we found out dinners come with salads and sides, Oooops. We rounded everything out with the filet mignon, the Boston strip, shrooms, and Willy fries. A basket of fair at best white and pumpernickel bread was quickly joined by the pea salad which thankfully was manufactured from fresh (not cooked) peas. I love peas until they are cooked into gray mooshy grodiness. Mixed with bleu cheese, celery, hot pepper flakes, and other spices in a bound salad, it was really nice. Crunchy peas worked well with the bleu and the pepper flakes added a perfect hint of spice. The salads were next, the house with a Grecian dressing and blue cheese crumbles and the house made bleu cheese. The vinaigrette on the first was strong enough to stand up to the bleu, I’m not certain exactly what type of moldy cheese they are using but it imparts a mild flavor rather than a sharp kick. Their version of bleu dressing is also old school, thick; kindergarten paste thick; and isn’t overwhelmingly bleu.
 

Then came the plates that left the salad munchers gaping and chattering. Serious slabs of beef arrive oozing mid rare juiciness. High quality product, done right, and that’s it. If you are looking for a snazzy seasoning, frilly garnish, go elsewhere. The plate says “Our steak is good, here is some, eat it.” They’re right, not the best of all time but a contender for high honors. Shrooms were a perfect addition to the steak, a shake of salt and pepper and that’s all you need. The Willy fries are a take on their home fries with some extra kick from pepper flakes, onions  and who knows what else. Seared on both sides on a flat top there are endless variations of texture and taste. The middle was a little limp and greasy for me but the crunchy exterior was great.

Seriously good meat, functional service, and a chance to enjoy a steak in a period of time where I was only allowed baby food…that’s what the grill offers me. It would never function as a regular hang-out, I don’t fit in but I would certainly choose them over some franchised attempt to recreate the feel in a more modern setting.