Welch's Dairy
 Copley, Ohio         Date of Visit  06/04/12           http://welchsdairycream.com/index.asp

Two years ago we swung through the drive through at Welch’s to try their frozen yogurt. Steph has been trying to get me to take her back ever since. We have a half day and decide to get a cone and try out the savory options on the menu. There were a few folks hanging out at the picnic tables eating ice cream and three well oiled dudes in coveralls waiting for lunch. The service is definitely slow in the middle of the day as there are just two young ladies working inside covering three windows, the drive through, the fountain and the grill.
 

Sacka Shrooms

When it was our turn we ordered some dogs, popcorn chicken and fries, onion rings and fried mushrooms. When you only make it once every couple of years you go big. While it took us a while to get our order in, it only took about the same amount of time until it was on a tray ready to go. It’s not easy to find clean spots on the picnic tables to sit across from each other but the girls are barely keeping up with the fundamentals so it’s no surprise. With a ginourmous cup of iced tea we got started.

The mushrooms and onion rings are almost exactly what I expected. Pretty standard but done well enough. What they most reminded me of were the weeks we used to rent a cottage at Lake Erie in Sandusky and in addition to family meals of fresh caught fish or corn and tomatoes, we were often left to our own devices for lunches etc. This meant skulking into the dockside grill or other location and ordering things that wouldn’t fit the government’s ever evolving dictates (and Mother's then) as to what we should be allowed to eat.
 

Often a bag of fried goodies isn't all that great but in the right setting with the right people they are perfect. Without the lake or the perceived wrongdoing they don't quite measure up at Welch's. The little cup of horseradish sauce really helped both, a trick they hadn’t learned at the lake 30 years ago.

The popcorn chicken actually appears to be cut pieces of white meat chicken rather than the corny quasi chicken slurry that you will find at most places with a drive through. The fries are fresh cut and are cleverly marketed as you order by the number of whole taters (1, 2, 3, etc.) you would like batonneted into the fryer. They are good fries but aren’t necessarily exceptional. Then there were the dogs. Again, if your remember way way back when this nonsense started, when it comes to dogs my heart had already been sold down the river. It’s true I have had a number of seriously tasty versions since, stupendous really (see this) but my heart and taste buds are still married to Jib Jab. While they try, Welch’s just isn’t going to compete in the pantheon of encased meats.
 

The bacon cheese was actually disappointing with a thin rasher of pork and melted cheese shreds that did little to boost the dog on a whole. The coney looked amazing. A thick paste of tomato and spice suspending thousands of little clusters of beef. The spice profile just didn’t live up to the appearance. Lack of significant layers of heat or savory or spice left the whole tube steak shy of memorable. The American classic with coney sauce, slaw, mustard and onions did the most to be interesting but even this combination tired before the whole thing could be devoured.

Next we returned to the window and were met with the same slow to order quick to serve combination to try the two froyo flavors of the day. Steph went with the coconut (I certainly wasn’t getting it) and I tried the lime. I think you can get them in a twist, almost anything but coconut and I would have gone for it. The lime wasn’t the best I’ve had from Welch’s but all three cones I have tried have been tasty. I am certain frozen yogurt is every bit as full of stuff suspiciously not good for you. Who cares. Fun flavors can engender some happy delusions every now and again without the world coming to an end. I doubt it will take two years for our next trip, for yogurt at least.