Where’s Wally?

In Akron, Tallmadge and soon, Montrose.

Wally Waffle, a local breakfast favorite, is adding a third location, set to open this spring in the Acme Plaza off state Route 18 (Medina Road) in Bath.

“We’re going against the big guys,” Justin Miletti, 39, co-owner with his brother, Josh, 36, of the future Wally, referring to the nearby Bob Evans and Cracker Barrel.

“If everything goes right, we’ll open April 1,” said Josh Miletti, who owns the Wally Waffle in Akron's Highland Square neighborhood. Justin owns the one in Tallmadge. This will be the first joint venture of the Miletti brothers.

The new Wally Waffle will open in much of the space previously occupied by an On Tap Grille & Bar. This On Tap location shut down last year after more than 21 years in the plaza.

“We’re hoping that folks appreciate having a local [eatery] in a spot that’s populated mostly by chain restaurants,” Justin said.

It will offer the same menu as the other Wallys, one focused on eggs, pancakes, sandwiches, salads and, of course, waffles. The dozen-plus varieties include the Elvis, boasting peanut butter and bacon cooked inside and bananas, honey and whipped cream on top; and the Better Day, made with oat bran batter mixed with apples, raisins, pecans, coconut, pineapple and carrots, topped with sliced banana.

Oh my, I am seriously craving breakfast right now, though it's late afternoon as I write this.

Low-priced yummies include Wally Fries loaded with green peppers, onion and cheese for $1.25, and the Good Morning, two eggs, toast and choice of Wally Fries, grits or breakfast meat for $5.49. Nothing on the menu costs more than $10.

See the Wally Waffle Montrose Facebook page for information on hiring.

The Highland Square Wally is at 845 W. Market St. The Tallmadge location is at 100 North Ave., in the Village at Town Centre. In 2017, it replaced the Wally Waffle in the Eastwood Square shopping center on South Avenue.

The Miletti brothers are the grandsons of John Mazzola, who with his brother, Russ, started the Wally Waffle enterprise in 1975.

So who is Wally?

John Waffle didn’t sound that good, Josh Miletti said. “Neither did Russ Waffle. It was just the alliteration.”

Mardi Gras menu

Steve and Marcy Baker, owners of the venerable Ido Bar & Grill in Akron, are big fans of Mardi Gras, annually serving up what they bill as “N'awlins cuisine” on Fat Tuesday and the days leading up to it.

This year it will be available for 15 days, nearly twice as long as in recent years.

To keep the craziness down in the small kitchen, Steve Baker is breaking up the yumminess into two menus — one available now through Saturday, 4 p.m. to close, and another from Monday through March 5, available all day until close. (The Ido is not open on Sundays.)

This week's menu features seafood gumbo (shrimp, crawfish, crab meat and andouille sausage), N’awlins BBQ Shrimp, char-grilled garlic oysters and more.

You’ll have to wait for the menu beginning Monday for po'boy sandwiches. Six kinds will be available, including one with oysters, shrimp, lettuce, tomato, bacon and remoulade, inspired by a po'boy Steve Baker had in New Orleans. That menu also features chicken and sausage gumbo, crawfish and shrimp etouffee and Low Country shrimp and grits.

If you want Bananas Foster (caramel flambé and all) for dessert, you’ll wanna be there this week. The menu beginning Monday offers blackberry peach cobbler and other desserts.

The regular menu will be available, except for March 5, Fat Tuesday, when the Mardi Gras madness will take over except for the Tuesday night pork chops special, which will still be available. (You can’t go too wild in Akron, I guess.)

The Ido is at 1537 S. Main St., Akron, north of Firestone Boulevard. Visit www.idobar.com. The phone is 330-773-1724.

More happy time

35° Brix, 3875 Massillon Road, Green, has added a second happy hour, running 8 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The menus includes $5 cocktails and $6 appetizers, and you get a free appetizer if you sit at the bar.

Co-owner Kerry Janke told me he's trying to "extend the shoulders of the night bar business."

Last year, the restaurant expanded its long-standing happy hour to Sundays. That runs from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Kerry and his wife, Amy, opened the restaurant in Heritage Crossing off Massillon Road in Green in 2016. (The unusual name, 35° Brix, is a reference to the sugar content in ice wine. The place offers many other wines, as well as beer and liquor.)

Phone is 330-899-9200. For a menu, go to www.35brix.com.

Yummy 'little pies'

Orders are being taken for hamantashen pastries made by the Women's Chavurah group at Anshe Sfard (Revere Road Synagogue) in Bath Township.

Prepaid orders are due March 10. An order form is available at www.akronshul.com.

Each year, the Women's Chavurah has helped to celebrate Purim, which this year begins the evening of March 20, by making thousands of the pastries. The triangle-shaped hamantashen are sold by the dozen, with prune, raspberry, chocolate, cherry, apricot or poppy seed filing, or an assortment.

You don't have to celebrate Purim to enjoy these yummy "little pies" — my hubby's term for them.

Orders can be picked up at Anshe Sfard, 646 N. Revere Road, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 17, or by appointment. Call 330-867-7292.

Pigs + Pinot

This is a fun pairing. The Kent Cheesemonger, which sells wine in addition to cheese, is teaming up with the nearby Burnside Barbecue in Kent to offer Pigs + Pinot from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

The event will be at Burnside, at 154 E. Main St., downtown Kent.

"Attendees will get an up-close look at the process of breaking down a hog for retail cuts," says a promo for the event. Some of the cuts will then be cooked for tastings paired with wine from the Kent Cheesemonger.

Cost is $30. Go to the Pigs + Pinot Facebook event page for tickets. Burnside Barbecue celebrated its first birthday last month. Its phone is 330-346-0334.

Mardi Crawl

Kent's second Mardi Crawl begins at 5 p.m. March 2, with participants checking in at the Venice Cafe, 163 W. Erie St., between 5 and 8 p.m. to pick up bar crawl passes and Mardi Gras-themed giveaways and enter a raffle.

Cost is $15, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Ben Curtis Family Foundation.

To purchase tickets, go to the nonprofit Main Street Kent's website, mainstreetkent.org.

Wine dinner



The Galaxy Restaurant, 201 Park Center Drive, Wadsworth, will feature wines from Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa at a 7 p.m. Thursday five-course dinner. Cost is $99. For reservations, go to galaxyrestaurant.com or call 330-334-3663.

Send local food news to Katie Byard at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or on Facebook.