356^th Fighter Group
 Canton, Ohio        Date of Visit  12/10/12        http://www.356fg.com/ 

We have had the 356th Fighter Group on the list for a while but it has never made the top of the list until Steph was picking me up from the airport so she surprised me by driving around the block instead of heading out onto the freeway. Inside the restaurant feels like another place sort of wedged into time from some decades ago. Our server essentially made her way through the motions in a way that certainly didn’t convey any excitement. We kept it simple with two soups and two dinners.
 

Great Wheat Bread
 

We were delivered a round loaf of crusty and rustic wheat bread which we quickly reduced in size. Full but light wheaty flavor with all of the texture you would associate with the fully cracked grain.

The soups were far and away the highlight of the visit. The beer cheese soup was thick and rich with significant cheese flavor and just a touch of spice on the back of the tongue.

The French onion was well done with loads of the now sweet vegetable soaking in the beef broth, a splash of brandy and a slightly different take on the crouton and cheese. Instead of cutting a round of toast to float on the soup, they used a pile of square croutons of which some took on the soup and others stayed crunchy beneath the cheese. I would return for the soups. The dinners…not so much.
 

Steph ordered the Asiago and pretzel crusted chicken. The chicken was dry but the crust had instilled a sense of hope which it didn’t quite deliver. The breast was laid atop angel hair pasta which was infused with a harsh and unforgiving marinara sauce which didn’t work by itself or with the chicken. The cheese, pretzel, garlic and herb crust’s flavor wasn’t bad but wasn’t even a contender in trying to save this dish.

I ordered the seafood imperial. I believe I have some understanding of what the word imperial means but I certainly wouldn’t apply it to this bowl of pasta. Tiny bits of shrimp, scallop and crab (I think…at least that’s what the menu said) were frightfully overcooked and subdued by a stodgy and pasty parmesan cheese sauce. Every bite was the same and boring thing…over and over. It didn’t take long before I was averse to another bite and wishing I had ordered a bowl of soup instead of a cup and left it at that. The soup wasn’t good enough to warrant another visit all by itself.