Restaurant owner David DeLapa said he’s “scared … I don’t know what to expect” and he doesn’t “know how many to bring.”
He has a lot on his plate. He opened his own restaurant just last year, and this weekend marks the debut of his Sammie’s Bar & Grill at the National Hamburger Festival in downtown Akron.
DeLapa, whose restaurant is at 498 South Ave. in Tallmadge, has to figure out how many burgers to bring for the crowds expected at the festival along downtown’s Main Street and at Lock 3 Park. Last year’s event drew 20,000.
DeLapa launched his restaurant — named after his daughter, Samantha — last fall after working as a manager for a chain eatery for 14 years.
This year, more than 25 restaurants will participate in the burger fest: some local, such as Sammie’s and Akron mainstay Bob’s Hamburgs, and others such as the well-known Steel Trolley Diner on the historic Lincoln Highway in Lisbon.
More than 50 different burgers are on the menu, along with other festival fare such as ice cream, kettle corn and funnel cakes. And, of course, Menches Bros. in Green is returning. The eatery is owned by descendants of Frank and Charles Menches, Akron natives who maintained they invented the hamburger at a fair in New York state in 1885.
This year features the new “Akron Healthy Eats” lineup, what festival organizer Drew Cerza calls “healthier burger alternatives” such as turkey and veggie burgers. Even White Castle will offer its Savory Grilled Chicken slider, along with its beef patty sliders. Interestingly, the plain grilled chicken slider has 180 calories and 7 grams of fat, while the company’s original beef hamburger has 140 calories and 6 grams of fat. But White Castle’s breaded chicken-breast sandwich weighs in at 390 calories and 28 grams of fat.
Sammie’s will unabashedly serve its calorific Sammie’s Slider, a beef burger topped with Velveeta, sauteed onions, dill pickles and mayo, as well as a slider version of the Heart Attack Burg, which has Velveeta, bacon, chili, sauteed onions and sour cream. Ahem.
Sound Garden Cafe, at 2156 E. Waterloo Road in Akron, touts its “homegrown music” fare as well as its burgers and vegetarian offerings. For the festival, Sound Garden will serve its B.B. King bacon burger, along with a vegetarian burger.
Also making its festival debut is the Game Grill + Bar, the new street-level restaurant at Canal Park stadium in downtown Akron. The Game’s festival offerings include a small version of its burger with Guinness-braised mushrooms and onions, topped with Swiss cheese.
“I’m going for the jugular,” said the Game Grill’s chef, Steve Smith.
He’s referring to the various culinary contests, such as best traditional burger and best creative burger. Area food bloggers and Akron police detective Paul Bralek will judge, said Cerza, who also founded a wing festival in Buffalo, N.Y.
In Akron, the hamburger festival retains its quirky charm, with a “Bobbing for Burgers” contest, a hamburger eating contest, the crowning of a hamburger queen and more. There also will be music and children’s activities. Admission is $5. A portion of proceeds goes to Akron Children’s Hospital. The festival runs from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. For more information, visit www.hamburgerfestival.com.
Peninsula celebrates
While downtown Akron will be hamburger heaven this weekend, Peninsula on Sunday will be the site of a celebration of food and farming in the Cuyahoga Valley.
For Local Food Fest: A Homegrown Gathering, more than 25 vendors will sell fare along state Route 303 and throughout the village from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bronson Church, 1712 Main St. (state Route 303), will host a free Speaker Series: 11:30 a.m., Rebecca Jones-Macko of Cuyahoga Valley National Park on the history of farming in the valley; 12:30 p.m., Darwin Kelsey of Countryside Conservancy on farming in the valley today; and 1:30 p.m., Tracy Emrick of Countryside Conservancy on Preserving your Bounty.
Tours of five Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Initiative Farms will take place at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. for $5 per farm. At 1 p.m. at the GAR Hall patio, 1785 Main St. (corner of state Route 303 and Riverview Road) Brian Doyle of SOW Foods will offer $1 tastings. Also at the GAR Hall, Ohio beers and wines will be available from 1 to 5 p.m.
Food tastings will also be available at Trail Mix Peninsula, 1600 W. Mill St. in downtown Peninsula, with chef Larkin Rogers.
Free parking is available at Boston Township Hall, Peninsula Library and Woodridge Intermediate School. For a $2 donation to the local swimming spot the Quarry, parking is also available at Heritage Farms.
For more information, visit www.explorepeninsula.com/local-food-fest.
Chow Line videos
Three new videos on canning salsa, canning pickles and freezing as a food preservation method are available at Ohio State University Extension’s Chow Line blog at http://u.osu.edu/chowline. Chow Line is a column on food, nutrition and food safety offered by OSU Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.
‘Tropical Ohio’
A.I. Root, the 145-year-old candle maker, is offering a “Tropical Ohio” cooking class from 6 to 7 p.m. Aug. 14 at its facility at 623 W. Liberty St. in Medina. Cost for the demonstration-style class is $15 and includes recipe cards and tastings. Deadline to sign up is Monday. Call 330-723-4359.
Root’s gift shop features an array of prepared foods, and the class will feature items that can be purchased there.
Wine room in use
The House of Hunan at Fairlawn Town Centre created a wine room in its recent remodeling and is now offering wine tastings.
At 7 p.m. Aug. 16 it will feature Chilean wines, three red and one white, along with specially prepared food with an Asian flair. How’s that for an international evening? For tickets, which must be purchased in advance, call 330-864-8215.
Farmers markets triple
We’ve got farmers markets, lots of them. Ohio now has 300 markets. That’s triple the number of a decade ago, according to a new report. Nationwide, the number of markets in the USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory is up to 8,268 this year. That’s more than double the 2004 number.
The directory is a list that market organizers volunteer to be a part of, so the actual number of farmers markets may be higher. It was released as part of National Farmers Market Week. The directory is at http://farmersmarkets.usda.gov.
Five-course dinner
D’Agnese’s at 566 White Pond Drive in Akron will A to Z Wines at its five-course dinner at 6 p.m. Friday. Courses include an heirloom tomato and watermelon gazpacho with feta toast, pan-seared scallop with melted leek risotto and blood orange butter, roasted pork shoulder with blackberry wine sauce and mascarpone polenta. Cost is $45. Call 234-678-3612 for reservations.
Are we not clones?
Devo — well part of Devo anyway — and wine! Akron’s own Gerald Casale, co-founder of the new wave band, will sign bottles of his 50 by 50 Pinot Noir at a sampling event from 3 to 6 p.m. Aug. 15 at West Point Market, 1711 W. Market St.
Casale created the brand, from the 50 by 50 vineyard in Sonoma County, Calif. From music star to wine creator. Why not? It’s been done before. The 50 by 50 is a blend of two Pinot Noir clones. Somehow it seems so right to write about clones — even if they’re grape clones — and Devo in the same item.
The wine sells for $39.99 a bottle; only 280 cases were produced.
Lords, ladies invited
Go Edwardian at a Victorian mansion. Hower House will be site of a Victorian/Edwardian tea, a la the popular Masterpiece Classic program Downton Abbey, from 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 17.
Edwardian attire is being encouraged for the event, organized by Tea and Thyme of Cuyahoga Falls. The fare will include roasted onion soup with cheese toasts, blueberry and almond salad, strawberry cream and kiwi and lemon scones, petite chicken Waldorf croissants and more. Davidson’s organic tea will be served.
The event includes a program and a tour of the 28-room Second Empire Italianate mansion. The Cellar Door gift store will be open. The Hower House, at 60 Fir Hill on the University of Akron campus, was built in 1871 by Akron businessman John Henry Hower. His descendants donated the mansion to the University of Akron in 1970.
Cost is $30 for adults and $18 for children ages 8-12. For reservations, call 330-972-6909.
Chefs at fundraiser
Tickets are still available for the Six Courses for a Cure dinner Friday at the Sheraton Akron/Cuyahoga Falls to raise money for the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation.
This is the fifth year that area chefs are teaming up for the dinner to raise money for research into graft-versus-host disease, a complication of bone marrow transplants used to treat leukemia patients. The evening begins at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception and silent auction. Courses will be paired with wines.
Tickets start at $150 for the black tie optional event. The Sheraton Suites is at 1989 Front St. Visit www.sixcoursesforacure.com or www.cowdenfoundation.org.
Food trucks at church
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church at 50 N. Prospect St. in downtown Akron is getting on the food truck bandwagon. The church will host a Food Truck Round-Up from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Aug. 21 in its parking lot, behind Haven of Rest.
Rolling in will be Mobile Sushi, The Orange Trük, Wholly Frijoles, Stone Pelican and Premier Crepes. Local pop band the Acid Cats will play on the church lawn. For more information, call 330-376-5154.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook, www.facebook.com/KatieByardABJ.