MARC BONA Features writer, cleveland.com spoke to Bill about What’s Ohio favorite fast-food French fries? - Sokolowski’s University Inn memorabilia going up for sale - Browns items, sausage, golf, restaurant experiences, more: Market at the Food Bank auction opens next week
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What’s Ohio favorite fast-food French fries?
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2024/04/whats-ohio-favorite-fast-food-french-fries.html
CLEVELAND, Ohio – When you think about it, who doesn’t love French fries?
A recent survey has gauged each state’s favorite fries, with McDonald’s coming in as the overall favorite with 43% of the vote. But Ohioans prefer Wendy’s, according to the poll from casinoreviews.net researchers. Only three other states – Arkansas, Kentucky and Montana – chose Wendy’s.
Wendy’s was founded in Columbus in 1969 and is based in Dublin.
The survey polled 2,000 Americans.
The top eight eateries for fries:
1. McDonald’s
2. Chick-fil-A
3. Five Guys
4. Wendy’s
5. Burger King
6. Arby’s
7. Checkers/Rally’s
8. Popeyes
Other findings
• 41% of responders said they consume fast-food fries weekly.
• When it comes to texture, crispy was the overall choice at 57%, followed by lightly fried, 18%; crunchy, 15%; and soft, 10%.
• Garnering 2% or fewer of the vote: In-N-Out Burger, Culver’s, Shake Shack, Jack in the Box, Sonic, Whataburger, KFC and Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s.
• Del Taco, Taco Bell and White Castle received no votes.
Here’s the full map showing each state’s favorite restaurant for fries along with other findings.
Sokolowski’s University Inn memorabilia going up for sale
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Memorabilia from one of Cleveland’s iconic and treasured restaurants is being liquidated at a sale next month.
About four years after the restaurant closed its doors, the many mementos from Sokolowski’s University Inn in the city’s Tremont neighborhood will be sold to the public.
“It’s time. We’ve been meaning to do this,” Michael Sokolowski told cleveland.com about the bittersweet moment.
“This is it; this is our life.”
The cash-only sale is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the Seamus-O building at 4700 Lorain Ave., in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood.
The restaurant’s brick and wood-paneled walls were filled with artifacts and framed photos ranging from a multitude of sports stars like Jim Brown to polka king Frankie Yankovic. Fixtures, neon signs, pictures and prints hung throughout the 8,700 square-foot restaurant that opened in 1923. The bones of the restaurant, though, go back to the 1830s.
With that history comes many memories for Sokolowski and his family.
“It comes in waves,” he said. “You have memories, but this is kind of like the final straw to the whole process, I guess, is getting rid of the memorabilia we had at the restaurant.”
That memorabilia captures snapshots of Cleveland: Pennants from Cleveland’s 1948 and 1954 World Series teams and items from Leisy’s Brewery, which closed in 1958 and is a favorite among breweriana collectors.
“My dad before the war drove for Leisy’s. He was the youngest driver they had; he was 24 years old. … Mr. Leisy really liked my dad a lot and told him, ‘Take whatever you want.’ "
Sokolowski can’t venture a guess about the number of items, but he said there are close to 1,000 pictures alone. Plus there’s a butcher-block table, sturdy copper pots, framed historic panoramic pictures of Cleveland, a photo of an early Ohio State football game, antique trunks, sports memorabilia, taxidermy items, bar stools, autographed pictures.
“I told my brother and sister, ‘No one is going to buy a picture of us with a celebrity.’ Those are going to go by the wayside.”
What won’t go by the wayside are the memories Clevelanders have of the restaurant. Diners were treated to comfort food with Cleveland flair – pierogies to paprikash and more. And a busy Saturday could bring in 500 customers.
Sokolowski’s University Inn was never a tourist trap. Locals embraced it, out-of-towners found it. With its unpretentious cafeteria-style format, the restaurant was named a 2014 winner of the James Beard Foundation’s “American Classics” Award. The restaurant closed during the coronavirus pandemic, just shy of 100 years in business.
“It’s a lot of history,” Sokolowski said. “I could be doing something and get this heartwarming feeling. I will remember a memory from Sokolowski’s or a person.”
He said he still has dreams about the place, a quick jolt of anxiety, that a door was left open or someone is stealing something from the restaurant.
“Then you wake up,” he said, “and the restaurant’s gone.”
Browns items, sausage, golf, restaurant experiences, more: Market at the Food Bank auction opens next week
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Market at the Food Bank – a huge foodie fundraiser for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank - is coming up, and its auction of food and entertainment packages is set to go live noon Monday, April 15.
It allows folks to mingle and sip wine and beer while sauntering through the facility and nibbling on appetizers prepared from a variety of Northeast Ohio restaurants. The annual fundraiser is 6 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday, April 21.
More than 50 items are included in the auction covering a range of experiences covering dining, concerts, sports, wine and more:
• Loge seats for Justin Timberlake at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse with Marble Room Steaks & Raw Bar dinner and Hilton accommodations overnight.
• Rolling Stones at Cleveland Browns Stadium with pre-show dinner at Johnny’s Downtown.
• Golf at Barrington Golf Club in Aurora and Sand Ridge Golf Club in Chardon.
• Browns autographed items including a Myles Garrett football.
• Private Cleveland Metroparks Zoo experience.
• Dinner for eight by chef Brandon Chrostowski of Edwins in Shaker Square. (Chrostowski is an honorary co-chair of the event, and this is traditionally one of the most popular auction items.)
• Tickets to “Michael Jackson the Musical” at Playhouse Square with overnight at Hotel Indigo and dinner at Don’s Lighthouse.
• City Hall tour, including special art and historical elements throughout the building, lunch in the Red Room and a photo-opp visit with Mayor Justin Bibb.
• Premium wine and Bourbon collections.
• Dinner for four at Jaja in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, planned personally with chef John Bell.
• Cleveland Museum of Art docent-led highlights tour for four, ambassador membership and dinner at Provenance.
• Sausage-making class for 10 by Aber Sausage.
• Guardians tickets.
• Columbus overnight package with COSI and Columbus Crew tickets.
• Sweet Bean chocolate tasting.
• Dinner at Alley Cat Oyster Bar, Sora and Lago in Cleveland and Strip Steakhouse in Avon.
• Vacation packages including golf at Pebble Beach and California wine country.
Tickets are $125 ($200, VIP, with 5 p.m. entry). Go to e.givesmart.com.
The food bank is at 13815 Coit Road, Cleveland.
Last year’s event raised more than $340,000 – the equivalent of more than 1 million meals.