Classic Restaurants of Youngstown by Thomas Welsh

Author:Thomas Welsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2014-06-12T00:00:00+00:00

These charming mermaids graced the former site of the Club Merry-Go-Round until their partial destruction in a recent renovation. The bas-reliefs along the nightclub’s walls were the work of Victor Kosa, one of the community’s most prolific interior designers. Courtesy of Joseph Cherol.

Many customers were drawn by the tavern’s food, which was prepared by Lucille Walsh, who ran the kitchen she leased from the Kennedys. “Lucille’s burgers were among the most popular on the West Side—one-fourth of a pound of juicy Angus beef for just twenty-five cents,” Mrs. Kennedy recalled. “Lucille was also famous for her macaroni and cheese, which had this incredible sauce that included five different types of cheese.”

The Polar Bear Lounge was located near the intersection of Mahoning Avenue and Steel Street, a gritty artery studded with workingmen’s taverns. These establishments included Charles Serednesky’s Open Hearth Grille, whose menu featured an engaging mix of American favorites and traditional Ukrainian dishes, including cabbage rolls, smoked sausage, stew and potato pancakes. Serednesky and his wife, Chris, continued to operate the tavern until his death in 1990.70

Those traveling farther north on Steel Street, beyond the point where it merged with Salt Springs Road, encountered Cherol’s Bar, sandwiched between a neighborhood market and a banquet hall, which occupied the former site of the Club Merry-Go-Round. While the tavern offered barroom favorites like chili dogs and hamburgers, it also sold traditional Italian food, which Joseph and Laura Cherol prepared.

Steve Moritz, the current chef at Molly’s Restaurant & Lounge, became an unofficial “helper” at Cherol’s as a young boy. “I begged Joe for a job for over a year, and finally, he let me help out,” Moritz recalled. “I would go out with Laura when she picked the tomatoes, and I learned how to make tomato sauce from scratch.” He recalled that the building’s cavernous basement contained a wine press, which the couple used to make barrels of wine.

One of Cherol’s closest neighbors on Salt Springs Road was Molly O’Dea’s, established in the early 1950s by entrepreneur Nick Conti. While the tavern’s name left some passersby with the impression that the business specialized in corned beef and cabbage, its menu was strictly Italian. “It was named after Nick’s sister, Madeleine O’Dea, the head cook in the kitchen,” explained Jim Precurato, who bought the business from Conti two decades later. “I secured the recipes for the pizza and hot sausage from Nick, and they’re still used today.”

Hearty Italian cuisine was also featured at Tiny’s Tavern, where owner Sam Krish created a welcoming environment for customers who wanted to compete at morra, an Italian hand game, or to play traditional Italian card games. “All the Italian food they served was homemade,” noted former patron John Thomas, “and we used to spend hours back there playing scopa, briscola and tressette.” Thomas added that the tavern’s near neighbor, Blake’s Bar, under owner Pat Malandra, offered a similar Italian American menu.

By and large, however, the taverns in the vicinity of Steel Street and Salt Springs Road specialized in modest fare, and hot dogs were a perennial favorite.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.