First off, my hotel was circular and I mean circular. I stayed at the Quaker Square Inn which used to be a grain silo for Quaker Oats back in the day. Everything there was round and old fashioned. The inn also smelled like a grandma’s house. I don’t mean that in a bad way, it just smelled of old furniture and baking (they made homemade oatmeal cookies daily). They also had an old railroad train car that the Inn converted into a diner. It was fun to sit in the train car and have a side order of nostalgia with my lunch.
I worked with the Akron Police Department and they are a fantastic group of people; very friendly, considerate, and hospitable. They took excellent care of me while in Akron and introduced me to some nice restaurants. I had my very first taste of fried macaroni and cheese at the Lockview. Fried Mac and Cheese highly decadent and surprisingly good. It is very rich, so take it slowly.
At Bricco I had fried dill pickles with garlic aioli and a well-cooked, moist pork loin. I don’t really like dill pickles that much, but it just goes to show that everything taste better when deep fried because I loved those blasted fried pickles. I had great time that night because many of the officers came out to dinner with me and then took me on a tour of Akron. There are some lovely parts of the city, especially the neighborhoods with brick streets and large trees.
On Wednesday I had to “Flee to the Cleve” as they say on 30 Rock and drove up to Cleveland. I decided that it was essential for me to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame juts out onto Lake Erie and the water really made the setting lovely in the sunlight. The building itself is architecturally interesting with a large glass pyramid. I spent quite a bit of time in the museum (what a shock!). I would have to say the highlights were:• Madonna’s bustiers from the Blonde Ambition tour
• The hand written lyrics of John Lennon’s “In My Life” which is one of my favorite Beatles songs
• The guitar that Paul Simonon smashed on the Clash’s “London Calling” album
• And the red jacket from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” which 8 year old Jen would have died to have seen
I really enjoyed all of the videos and credit given to the roots and founders of rock – especially one of my favorites, Sam Cooke.
The new Iron Chef, Michael Symon, is from Cleveland and has several restaurants in the area. I tried to get into both and could not get a reservation at Lola and I couldn’t find Lolita. It got totally lost in Cleveland trying to get back to Akron because of construction; a 40 minute trip took me over and hour and a half. Good times!
I had the opportunity to go out on a police ride-along with the Akron PD. It turned out to be one of the most exciting and enlightening experiences I have ever had. I got a tour of the police station, attended roll call and went on patrol for 4 hours. I rode with Officer Evans in one of the more sketchy neighborhoods of Akron. We drove around and answered a few minor calls. Then we got to ride lights and sirens across town to a 30 person gang fight. It was so cool to go that fast. When we arrived at the fight, one of the suspects started to flee and Evans followed him down alleys in the car which rocked. Evans jumped out of the car and chased him down. It was straight out of an episode of “Cops.” I sat in the squad car with the suspect for a few minutes (I was in the front seat so no worries) and the suspect kept asking me to roll down the windows. I did not. I got to witness a gun shot residue test and how they process gang members. I got to ride lights and sirens again because a fight broke out again in the same location a little later in the evening. I also got to go to a homicide crime scene and watch them process the scene. I am so grateful to the Akron PD for letting me tag along.
When in Akron you must eat at Luigi’s. It is, hands down, the best pizza I have ever had in my life. It is also a local favorite of the Akron PD. I went out after my ride along (around midnight) with the captain who set up my ride along. If you order a salad you can add mozzarella cheese on the top. When they talk about cheese, Luigi’s isn’t kidding; you can’t even see the salad because of all the wonderful, fresh mozzarella cheese. I cannot emphasize enough how fantastic the pizza is…just know that they don’t take credit cards so go with cash.
Who knew Akron would be so awesome?
2 comments:
Man! That sounds like a really cool cops episode! What kind of work are you doing with the cops? That sounds like a cool adventure...the pickles and the mac and cheese would have been an adventure enough for me, but then to go with cops on top of that!:) You'll have to tell me how they made the mac and cheese...Jodi
Newburyport MA loves Akron OH!
Especially Luigis Pizza. Whenever I'm in Akron, which is twice or thrice a year, I order up a bunch of Luigis.
Glad to hear you had fun in Ohio. For those of you who haven't been, do yourselves a kindness and check out the northeast quadrant of the Buckeye state.
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