If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now

Piero's Pasta House
5367 Lake Road East
Geneva-On-The-Lake, OH 44041
(440) 466-2498

NO SOUND IS more comforting than the crashing of waves washing up on the shore of Lake Erie, and there is no better time to hear them than first thing in the morning as they wash you out of sleep. Of course, nothing makes their wake-up call more worth heading than the knowledge that a blue and white-striped box of Madsen's Donuts awaits you downstairs. Madsen's Donuts, as has been previously noted, sells the finest creme sticks, jelly sticks, cinnamon sticks, chocolate-glazed, cinnamon-sugared, and powder sugar-dusted doughnuts this side of anywhere (sorry, Peter Pan). The frosted and sprinkled varieties aren't half-bad either. Get 'em $8.20 a dozen, and just try to not eat more than one a day.

For dinner, aside from doughnuts (which, rest assured, is a side dish), we stopped by Piero's Pasta House. This place has been written up by several Cleveland-area newspapers (that a local paper would recommend its readers make an hour's drive is no small accomplishment) and alongside Alessandro's is one-half the dynamic Italian duo of Geneva-On-The-Lake. The pasta is suspiciously fresh, the sauces light but rich, and there always seems to be a crowd inside, even in the town's off-season when the Lake Road strip is eerily deserted.

Dessert, a peach bread pudding made by my mother, was so good I've asked for the recipe so I can make it and pass it along. It was the perfect way to cap off a day of delicious treats, even if the Indians couldn't cap it off with a trip to the World Series. There's always tomorrow?

Madsen Donuts, Since 1938

Madsen Donuts
5426 Lake Road East
Geneva-On-The-Lake, OH 44041
(440) 466-5884

MY DOUGHNUT LOVE runs deep and at Madsen is where it begins. I have few fonder childhood memories than waking up over July 4th weekend, wandering downstairs and out to the front porch to find family members gathered about boxes of doughnuts. Thinking about it now, there may have been twice the number of doughnuts sitting on the table than family sitting around it. Given the size of my family, that's a rather remarkable accomplishment.

There's always room for doughnuts

We've discussed my love for doughnuts before, specifically regarding a variety found here in Greenpoint. Nothing, however, competes with the creme sticks found at Madsen--the unbelievably chocolaty frosting, the light marshmallow filling, the spongy fried dough--for which hungry Madsen's customers line up daily, stretching out the screen door of the 70-year-old establishment. The jelly-filled, sugar-covered sticks are my personal favorite, with a jelly filling that tastes like jam rather than fake fruit; the almost-crispy cinnamon sticks get snapped up just as quick. And, all day, tray after tray, Madsen sets out a stready stream of freshly-made doughnuts to replenish those bought as quickly as patrons can carry them away. It's positively ritualistic.

Which is why here, in Geneva-On-The-Lake, doughnuts are served with every meal, and sometimes in-between. Eat up.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: He probably already did.

The Italian Re-Birth of a Dairy Queen

Alessandro's
6540 Lake Road West
Geneva-On-The-Lake, OH
(440) 964-5766

AS FAMILY LEGEND goes, my grandfather first came up (and kept coming) to Geneva-On-The-Lake when the little Lake Erie town was in its resort-town heyday. That was during the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1950s he bought the now-century-old lakeside house he still owns and the family, to this day, still frequents. He bought the house the same year my mother, the middle of seven children, was born, and with this small army waiting in the wings he decided to make another purchase: a Dairy Queen franchise.

The kids all had college tuition to earn and, besides, they needed something to keep them busy in the summer. So, this was the trade off--make ice cream now, go to college later. The stories from those Dairy Queen days are nearly endless in my family. Business was brisk through the 60s, died off with the town's waning, aging popularity during the 70s, and by the 80s the former hot spot was mostly abandoned save for a few buckets of marshmallow topping.

The 'old Dairy Queen' was re-imagined as an Italian restaurant in the mid-90s by my uncle, but the food never won over any of the locals. It was sold to another Italian man in 2001, Alessandro , a native Italian, who promised to try the same Italian trick. The town said it would never stick. They weren't expecting the food to be so damn good.

How good is the food at Alessandro's? Really, really good.

For the first time in 40 years the parking lot off Lake Road is packed just as it used to be, with lines of waiting customers spilling out the doors. The town may be run down a bit more than it used to be, like the old Dairy Queen's exterior, but the new life inside owes a debt to the fantastic food coming out of the kitchen (that folks in this town will line up to pay $12-plus for a plate of pasta should tell you just how good it is).

Alessandro's, in truth, is part of an slow but sudden revival in this once-thriving resort haven, by many accounts Ohio's very first. While fun, games, and dancing have all been parts of its heritage (my grandfather boasts of getting Cab Calloway's autograph after a 1930s dance), fine food has never been a fine point in any of the stories I've been told. Doughnut shops, ice cream parlors, a few pizza establishments--these are the vendors of Geneva-On-The-Lake's past. Alessandro's is one for its future.

My linguine with zucchini and seafood was infinitely better than a similar dish I ate at New York landmark Patsy's just earlier this week; that pasta, zucchini, shrimp, and crab can all be cooked in one dish and not one wind up overcooked is remarkable to me. My mother's mushroom ravioli were light and rich, with tiny cherry tomatoes brightening up the dish, and my grandfather's meat lasanga, by all reports, wonderful. The antipasti platter of mushroom and tomato bruschetta (garlicky without overpowering) with tomato, mozzarella and basil on fresh focaccia was simple yet exciting.

It's a far cry from the days of toppings fights and "Rose and Tony's pepperonis" pizza, but it's new life in a place with seriously great heritage, Dilly Bars and all.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Most certainly.