New Era Restaurant
 Akron, Ohio        Date of Visit  12/06/14         Website 

Have heard about this place and their strudels for a bit now. I’m a fan of Al’s Corner in Barberton for that kinda food, but it’s often been hard to get there when they are open. New Era in Good Year Park has lengthy hours and similar ideas about cuisine with some Yugoslavian twists…how different from Hungarian? Lets find out.
 

Which Is More The Point? The Menu Raises Questions.
 

The new location is large with a full bar…the logo on the menu seems to find this an integral part of the restaurant. The feeling of the place is still very family oriented. This is good and bad.

The warm feel of family working together is counterbalanced by a particular lack of systems of a professional bent. A few folks are stuck waiting for attention at the door upon their arrival, the floor staff has a break (in the dining room) chatting on the cells and thinking about rolling tableware, but still there is an overarching sense of their interest in their customers.

Our experience started well but continued to slide as we listened to unhappy conversations with kids etc. Keep the family feel up front, handle family business in the back.
 

Steph tried the fried chicken with jojos and applesauce. The applesauce was unremarkable and the jojos were unbreaded…different from the classic Akron tater prep and less interesting as result. The chicken was fine but lacked seasoning regardless of the crisped breading. I gave it an eh. I ordered the paprikash which they have featured for 75 years now…I still much prefer Al’s. The paprikash juice (as they refer to it here) is thin and oily with a bit of spice, familiar paprika and little else. The chicken was fall apart tender and the thick ribbons of dumpling were fine, but all cried out for something more.
 

Fall Apart Chicken & Fat Dumplings In The Paprikash
 

We had started with a half order of the cevapi, Serbian sausages, which were lean, sans casing and deceptively spiced. Think of a link shaped burger with something going on inside. The flavor was pleasant and sufficient (more so than all of the chicken) and it was a profile that haunted you for the rest of the day. It might turn you off to be thinking five hours later…what did I eat?..but sometimes that is a sign of tasty. Steph even enjoyed them.

The strudel is good. Just plain good. The apple is filled with fall spiced fruit, the cheese with salty, rich and lightly sweet savory. Both are wrapped in layer after layer of thin crispy happiness. But. I would still take the strudel at Al’s any day. Nothing wrong with New Era…I just prefer everything more at Al’s.

Maybe it’s the heritage, the ingredients, the cook…who knows. It’s always a learning experience to enjoy other peoples cuisine…today it just reminded me of someone else’s version.