Quaker Steak & Lube
 Canton, Ohio           Date of Visit  11/21/15           http://thelube.com

Disturbing bit of new, this. Been eating chicken limbs at the Lube for a long time. So long, in fact, I can remember my mom shaking her head in disbelief that a restaurant could make a business out of wings. “They used to just throw those out, you know.”, she would inform me. Good Lord, I’m old I was around when wings were new in Ohio. Well, it turns out maybe some folks can’t make a business of it. A friend and fellow aficionado texted me a link to a story of bankruptcy and sale, the central figure…the lube. Apparently, turning a cook your own steak restaurant into a wing joint, they could manage.

Surviving their huge expansion and franchising…not so much.

We don’t go to The Lube much anymore. Like many things in life, they changed, got fancier, built shiny buildings, added a bunch of things to the menu that weren’t fried or fry related, much more expensive, and so on. Over the years we parted ways, it’s how life goes. Family become strangers; enemies, friends; and some traditions nothing but memories. Fight it or roll with it, it’s going to happen.

B-dubs is closer to us, probably a little less expensive, does chicken and sauce in the same realm of quality and consistency, just not the experiences of old, but after hearing of the pending sale we trundled off to the closest outpost (one of the shiny ones) to stir up some memories. The Canton location doesn’t feel much like the original in Sharon PA but I doubt it feels much like it used to either. The theme was always there, it just got much more commercial.
 

We ordered the house chips which they had sliced somewhere near kettle thickness and fried to a light tan. There was enough salt to make them tasty and they were served with a Guinness cheese dip with a salty and lightly bitter tang. Not all of the updates are a bad thing I guess. We ordered wings with four kinds of sauce and mis-ordered another. Steph is a mild at B-dubs and a medium at The Lube oooops. The wings are big and fried well with a crisp and steaming hot interior. The only sauce that turned out to be a let down were the mild which, only seemed to make the wings sticky without adding anything worthwhile to the taste. Our fault not theirs. Beside that, one thing they always did, and still do, is coat chicken appendages with intensely tasty sauces. My favorite milder options the golden garlic with shards of minced spice in what appears to be an emulsion of butter or margarine and the Louisiana lickers with a Cajun dusting and tangy sauce are still fantastic. Lots of the advertised flavors shine through in every bite.
 

Always Been Cold & Crisp Veg With Full Fat & Tasty Dips
 

We tried the more recently added Thai ‘R’ Cracker with around the palate flavors from garlic and ginger to soy and sugar with a bit of a bite from the chili on the back end. They really did design some tasty sauces. The last was the Buckeye BBQ which is half warm fire and half dulcet sweetness which seem to join forces more than negate each other. Our server left us with a handful of strawberry Twizzlers, I always think I would prefer the cherry but when it comes to red rope licorice, strawberry is the way to go. Maybe it's the handful of candy that's breaking the place. Who knows what the trucking company is going to do to try to make the business profitable. If they change the sauces, they should probably just shutter the windows. If not, we may swing by every now and again to reminisce.