Flury's Café
 Akron, Ohio        Date of Visit  09/12/13       http://www.fluryscafe.com/  

We were headed to watch some folks apply gravity at Derby Downs in Akron where the All American Soap Box Derby takes place every year when substantial precipitation quickly altered our plans. We tried to hit the Boulevard Tavern in the Falls and discovered they wouldn’t be open until long past the time we had to grab lunch so we headed a couple of blocks over to Flury’s Café.
 

Pork Quesadillas Had Errors But Weren't Bad

The sign and building don’t do much to let you know there is a business operating there and fortunately the GPS pointed it out to us. It’s a tiny little place, which feels like a converted house, with two rooms. The first room is dominated by a miniscule open kitchen cordoned off by the counter seating and the other room has a menagerie of small tables, booths and chairs. The tables and chairs actually reminded me of what you would expect outside of a little Parisian place on the patio so I guess the word café is appropriate. The service is a little French as well, in attitude not form. Aloof, some disinterest and I was quickly aware that we were not regulars.

Some of the breakfast options sounded appealing but we both ended up with something much more lunchy. Steph ordered BBQ pork quesadillas with which came cheddar cheese, tomato, sour cream and their house salsa. It was a fair attempt but would have been much better had the smoked meat been less acrid, not exactly a smooth warm smoke ring, and if the sauce had some depth as well.
 

I’m not entirely certain if the sharp biting smoke came from the meat or the sauce but where ever it was it ruled the entire sandwich. The salsa was actually really bright and tasty with small bits of all you would want in the condiment…if only the bbq sauce had done the same. 

I ordered the Flury’s special burger, a double cheese with two special sauces. Ever since moving to the area I have encountered many replicas of the Galley Boy from Swenson’s. Nearly all of them are labeled the “house” burger instead of our copy of Swenson’s. In this case I prefer Swenson’s hands down. Flury’s is roughly the same size and comes with a burger set (tomato, lettuce, pickle) and the bbq/tartar sauce duo. I enjoy veggies on my burgers so that’s an upgrade from Swenson’s but the “tartar” sauce seemed no more than mayo losing the bite of the pickle, the patty lacked that signature sweetness and it costs almost twice as much. So for the privledge of wobbly tables and chairs and “French” service you could pony up the extra or get the deal and literally have folks dashing your Galley Boy to your vehicle. Oh and you get an olive on top. Sold.
 

This Is The Dessert They Showed That Table Behind Us, But Never Brought To Our Table

Sides were onion rings and their house made mac and cheese. The rings were functional, battered and fried mid-brown. The onions were a bit slippy in the crust, wriggling free and sliding out leaving a hollow tube of fried bread. We have had a number of severely disappointing mac and cheese options, this one wasn’t bad at all. The elbow pasta was done to a nice al dente. The sauce tasted of cheese, what a novel idea. The thing is...the stuff couldn’t taste much more like the blue box “dinner” than the prototype itself. Certainly nothing special but better than many who have tried to improve on the stuff we ate growing up. We may try breakfast at some point but we’ll be at the drive in for lunch.