Worth a Time Out: Van Ness's Time Out Sports Bar (Fremont, OH)

The happy unexpected is always something my spouse and I appreciate on our travels, especially when it comes to food. The Firefly Grill In Effingham, IL (which I wrote about here) definitely qualifies, as does Sandusky’s Small City Taphouse and its combo of sushi and craft beer.

As a matter of course, I have gotten familiar with the usual haunts my wife’s side of the family frequents on a regular basis. It’s easy to expect the typical with any eatery out in the rural parts of Ohio, but when it comes to Fremont, the seat of Sandusky County, a nice surprise awaits if you drop by Van Ness’s Time Out Sports Bar.

Pretty Fly for a Walleye: A Day in Port Clinton, Ohio

Marblehead Lighthouse, just one of the many attractions located in or along
Lake Erie near the town of Port Clinton, Ohio

With the Labor Day weekend at hand, millions of folks around the country will be getting in their last summertime vacation jaunts. For many in Ohio, this means a trip up to Lake Erie to ride the coasters at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky or to enjoy the leisurely lake life on South Bass Island and Put-In-Bay.

Chances are if you're driving through here, you'll pass through the proclaimed "Walleye Capital of The World" in Port Clinton, Ohio. Lest you think that nickname is just a cute saying, community members back that up annually when they brave often windy and frigid temperatures on New Year's Eve to experience the Walleye Drop, a tradition that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.  But that's not all this town of just under 6,000 has to offer the visitor though, as we found out recently.

State of Roamance: The Bates Farm Kitchen (Sandusky)/Georgetown Vineyards (Cambridge)

When you roam around the state of Ohio as much as we tend to do, you end up at a lot of places that are definitely worthy enough of a mention despite the one singular visit. This is the case with these two venues we had the pleasure of visiting recently in The Bates Family Farm up near the lakeshore in Sandusky and the combination Georgetown Vineyards/Southside Brewing in the foothills of Appalachia in Eastern Ohio's city of Cambridge.

The diner concept is one that has proven durable over the years, and usually those that sport a unique atmosphere or those that try just a little harder for something beyond the basic are the ones that grab your attention. The latter aspect is what drew us to The Bates Farm Kitchen during a recent visit to Sandusky.

Big Craft Beer in a Small City: Small City Taphouse (Sandusky, OH)

Access to Lake Erie is just one of the reasons why locals and tourists
alike flock to Sandusky, the county seat of Erie County

The northern Ohio tourist destination that is Sandusky, best known for the world-famous roller coaster mecca Cedar Point Amusement Park, is not the first place I would expect a craft beer destination to reside. Not to say that this town of roughly 26,000 hasn't seen the effects of the state's craft beer boom - two nanobreweries in the forms of Ferndock Brewing and Amusement Ales and Brewing are currently cranking up their operations within the city limits.

Nor would I pick Sandusky as having certifiably solid restaurant specializing in Asian dishes. Heck, even a big city like Columbus still has its own issues in that department, considering a chain like P.F. Chang's can win (614)'s "ColumBest 2017" nomination for "Best Asian Restaurant."

But as the saying goes, appearances can be deceiving. Small City Taphouse, comfortably embedded within Sandusky's downtown, proved to be a winning enterprise on both those points to my spouse and I during a recent visit to their location with family.

Ice Cream Chronicles (Year 3): Going Straight to the Source

During my first year of these Ice Cream Chronicles, I got the pleasure of experiencing the ice cream from Toft's, founded in 1900 and holding the honor of being Ohio's oldest operating dairy. Alas, I was chagrined to find out during my most recent travels through Fremont that the small little company store located in town had closed down.

That fact, combined with the intensely hot and humid weather we experienced during our Cleveland mini-excursion, meant only one thing: it was time to venture directly to the source - Toft's combination headquarters and ice cream parlor located in Sandusky, home of the famed Cedar Point Amusement Park.

Ice Cream Chronicles (Pt. 10): Everyone Needs Their Toft's

The front of the Fremont parlor location

While my final ice cream post for the summer of 2014 is about the Sandusky-based Toft's, in reality it's about much more than the ice cream from Ohio's oldest dairy. 

Founded in 1900, Toft's was actually one of the first Ohio-based ice cream brands I saw advertised here in the Columbus metro area. A freezer case where one could grab a couple scoops of their ice cream is available to customers of The Andersons General Store in the Sawmill Road area of Northwest Columbus. Ironically, seeing it on every visit to the store was one of the main reasons why I never sampled it since moving here, despite my finding out that this is just about the only place in Central Ohio to sample their products. I figured since it was always there, I could have it anytime I wanted.

In the scope of things, Toft's is a real gem in that it remains locally and family owned. Their parlor at their headquarters in Sandusky is from all I read a truly nice setup and worth a visit (and yes, that is on the docket for me.) However, it may not be the optimal way for a neophyte to their products to sample their ice cream. From various visitors' reviews, it appears that they do not allow traditional sampling (e.g. using little spoons to sample various flavors) like most other ice cream places. This is made up quite a bit by the size of the scoops they serve you: they are HUGE, essentially making a small-size a large and a large-size something closer to ludicrous-size (to borrow a Spaceballs reference.) It seems like visitors would be best served by knowing what they really, really want and bringing a large appetite or a friend (or perhaps both.)

The interior of Toft's Ice Cream Parlor in Fremont

Fortunately, there is a remedy for this: Toft's has two more parlors nearby, and my spouse and I had the pleasant opportunity to make a side trip to the location in Fremont (which does allow sampling) on a jaunt to the supermarket to pick up a few items.

Residing in an aging strip mall in the northwest portion of town, this Toft's parlor doesn't look like much from the outside. The interior also shows the age of the building it resides in, but is otherwise well-kept and roomy. Besides their ice cream and related items such as sundaes and shakes, a variety of lunch items are available, including locally-based products like Ballreich's potato chips, Tony Packo's pickles, and a sandwich featuring Root's shredded chicken.

As lunchtime was just around the corner, we did our fair sampling of their many selections (including the Key Lime Pie, Mackinac Island Fudge and the Black Sweet Cherry) before settling on a single scoop option (scoops are very reasonably priced, from $2.75 for a single scoop to $5 for a quadruple.) Our selections, the Muddy's Sea Salt Slam (released in concert with the Toledo Mud Hens baseball team, this flavor sports salty caramel streaks and chocolate covered peanuts in vanilla ice cream) and my standard butter pecan were very similar to the quality and texture of the ice creams we sampled at Velvet Ice Cream in Utica.

Sunday scoops are hard to beat

What made this visit stick out here was this was the first visit with a youngster in our tow (my spouse's niece.) Her eyes lit up when we asked her if she wanted to join us on our supermarket trip, and even more so when we said we were going to drop by Toft's. And for her, there was no debate: it was Tons of Turtles (a caramel extravaganza featuring chocolate-caramel turtles and caramel slivers inside a french vanilla base) or bust.

I realized as we sat together enjoying our scoops that, despite all the enjoyment that my adult-aged self has received from my visits to all these ice cream shops, it never could match the raw excitement you get as a youngster. Ice cream, whether it be from the iconic ice cream truck and its blaring music, the mom & pop shop on the corner, or the big chain place at the mall, is one of the first things with which one typically identifies and associates as one grows up. This is a place that lets you swirl sweet memories into a base of your own special selection of flavors, and this affiliation often carries through to adulthood, no matter if you have moved on to "better" ice cream.

In other words, everyone who loves this frozen treat inherits and, in a way, needs their version of Toft's. So whatever name your own Toft's goes by, remember it fondly, fly their flag proudly, and keep licking away.

2017 Update: Toft's location in Fremont closed down in 2016.  However, their corporate location in Sandusky continues on business as usual - for more information on them, please consult my blogpost detailing our visit.

Location Visited:
Toft's Dairy Ice Cream Parlor
1306 Oak Harbor Rd
Fremont, OH 43420
(419) 334-7400

Headquarters:
3717 Venice Road
Sandusky, OH 44870
(419) 625-5490

Buckeye Firsts: Putting in at Put-in-Bay

Go figure - my first encounter with the town of Put-in-Bay, Ohio, was smack dab in the middle of California gold country in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 2010.

Truth be told, I had neither a clue exactly where the unusually-named town was in the Buckeye state (I knew it was somewhere around Lake Erie) or what made it particularly special when my spouse (then girlfriend) noticed this flag for Frosty Bar proudly posted in the gift shop at Mercer Caverns in Murphys, CA.  I learned that Put-In-Bay was a popular summer destination and recreation spot for the locals located on South Bass Island on Lake Erie, but didn't learn too much more about the place until my spouse guided me for a visit there three years ago this July in what was my first big Ohio-based excursion.

Before we made the trip over to Put-in-Bay, we took a side trip over to Marblehead Lighthouse, the oldest operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes. Built in 1822, this lighthouse has a history that mirrors most of the lighthouses my spouse and I have visited, related to improvements in technology and transfers over the years from one agency to another. However, each of these unique landmarks spins its own intriguing storylines as time wends forward, and this is no different here at Marblehead. The small fee ($2 per person at the time) we paid to access the top is worth it, if only to get the unique panoramic view that all lighthouses are designed to gather. From our vantage point, we were easily able to see the various Lake Erie islands as well as monoliths of speed that are the roller coasters of Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky.

For those who don't own their own marine transport, the only way to get over to Put-in-Bay is by way of ferry.  Jet Express offers the faster method of transport in the form of catamarans with water jet engines, and its port on the island is closer to the downtown area.  However, since we were in no particular hurry to get over to the island or the downtown, we chose the more leisurely transport offered by Miller Ferry.  Aside from the cheaper fares (roughly half the cost of their competitors), they offer automobiles the chance to get on the island and allow people to bring their bikes along (for an additional fee.)

Once on the island, we strolled along the roads heading to downtown and I noticed one thing fairly quickly: Put-in-Bay knows what pays the bills (tourism) and there are plenty of opportunities for the city's visitors to separate themselves from their cash.  Bi-plane and helicopter rides, laser tag, golf (both the putt-putt and regular variety), bike rentals, museums, caves, historic buildings - you name it, this place probably has it somewhere.

We targeted the basics on this visit.  My spouse (then-girlfriend) made sure I knocked out two Ohio culinary staples during our tour of the city. Having lived in California (and within stone's throw of the big wine producers), I knew that the Golden State had little in the way of wines produced by native North American sweet grape varietals such as Niagara and Catawba. Heineman's Winery, established in 1888, offers a rounded representation of what's out there in terms of Ohio wines for a casual wine fan and/or newcomer like me.  The tour ($7 these days) itself also proved fairly decent and included the Crystal Cave, where one could view the world's largest geode. My spouse and I tried a sampling of their offerings at $2 per plastic cup. While I have gone on to sample better versions of these varietals as time has gone on, at the time, these sweet wines proved refreshing on what was a very warm day.

With no real food to speak of at the winery other than a cheese plate, we moved on into downtown to find something to eat. Unlike typical trips where we suss out good eats beforehand, we were here to seek out the second basic on the list: my first sampling of walleye and perch.  After wandering from place to place, we found what we were seeking at The Boardwalk.  Essentially, this restaurant acts as one huge concession stand on the Main Deck with three different options. Meanwhile, the Upper Deck is where you can receive more of a sit-down-style service, and then there's Rita's Cantina, which essentially acts as the restaurant's bar and general hangout area.  We stuck with the Fish Shak on the Main Deck for what seemed to be a slightly high-priced platter each of your basic fried walleye and perch, along with fries and onion rings.  Nothing spectacular about either preparation, which in this case provided the perfect neutral setting for my fish-tasting battle.  In the end, I preferred the walleye just a wee bit more, but would not turn down a good perch dish if I was in a seafood mood.

Finally, we traveled down to see Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial.  Originally built to commemorate Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's naval victory during the War of 1812, the memorial now stands as a symbol of the peace between the United States, Canada and Great Britain.  While we could not not go to the top of the memorial tower (one of the tallest within the continental United States) at that time due to ongoing construction, the live demonstrations (including firing of a cannon,) the historical artifacts and information within the visitor center, and the ample greenspace to amble around made this historical site well worth the visit.

On the ferry ride home, I remember sitting with an arm around my future spouse, breeze in our faces as our transport lumbered toward the mainland.  As I glanced over the water, the sun starting to set on the horizon from where I had traveled, I contemplated this first big travel excursion within this state and what I had with going with this then long-distance relationship and confirmed what I probably already knew deeper down.

Ohio as a new home?  Yeah, I can see that happening.  No problem at all...

Marblehead Lighthouse State Park
110 Lighthouse Dr (Google Maps)
Marblehead, OH 43440
(419) 734-4424
Website

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial
93 Delaware Ave (Google Maps)
Put-In-Bay, OH 43456
(419) 285-2184
Website

Heineman's Winery
978 Catawba Ave (Google Maps)
Put-In-Bay, OH 43456
(419) 285-2811
Website

The Boardwalk
341 Bayview Ave (Google Maps)
Put-in-Bay, OH 43456
(419) 285-3695
Website