YOUR OHIO
memories and more
What was your favorite campus food or restaurant? We asked our readers and Facebook friends to comment on beloved eating spots. Here are some of our favorite responses: I’d like to thank Bakery Pizza and the Burrito Buggy (after a night at the Greenery, of course) for my Freshman 15 that I still have with me! Once I was out of the dorms it was all about Souflaki’s and Miller’s Chicken.
Tom’s Pizza on Court Street. They were the first to cut pizza in squares! It was amazing. —Sally Fairfield Miner, BSED ’71
The Frisch’s Big Boy on Union Street. It was a link to my home in Columbus, and as a scared freshman, it was always comforting. My friends Stanly and Craig and I from Parks Hall made frequent visits there — a nice break from the Grosvenor dining hall food. The 50-cent grilled cheese sandwiches had a flavor that I never experienced anywhere else! Now, no one lives in Parks, no one eats in Grosvenor and Frisch’s has left the campus, but all those wonderful memories of OU in the mid-’60s remain.
—John Denti, BS ’70 A Baker Center “burger” in the Frontier Room. For two years my board job was busing tables, being a “soda jerk” and a short-order cook. I made untold numbers of “have it your way” burgers and phosphates (for those old enough to remember what those are) of every imaginable flavor combination, as well as milkshakes and malts. Other than having to work a Friday or Saturday night shift it was the best board job on campus.
—Jim Strnad, AB ’67 Hobbit House rocked! Neat little place in the basement off of Court Street. Mystical theme and great sweet wheat rolls.
—Michael Massa, BSC ’82 Frisch’s for shakes; Miller’s Poultry; Boyd cafeteria on grilled cheese day.
—Sandra Smith Boehm, BSED ’75 I signed up for a dining club in a private home on Elliott Street, as best I can remember. The club contained eight members who enjoyed the daily conversations as much as the food. We were a very diverse group of students
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—Melanie Bassett Abrajano, BA ’00
with majors running from engineering to psychology. We talked frankly and openly about a wide range of issues despite the sensitive nature of some topics and shared a lot of laughs as well. Never able to duplicate the experience quite as well in the years that have followed.
—Leo Everitt, BSEE ’53 When my parents came to visit me it would be Sylvia’s because not only was the food awesome, but I could only afford to eat there when my parents paid for it!
—Lori Abrams Geiger, BSC ’92 My favorite place to eat was Blackmore’s restaurant on Court Street. The students fondly referred to it as “Bmores.” In addition to the delicious food, the owner, Mr. Bob Blackmore, hired students to work as servers during the school year. Mr. Blackmore requested that we work one hour for each meal. … We did not have a limit as to the size of the meal so we would usually have a BIG breakfast and very nice dinner. In addition, when we arrived a little before 5 p.m., the chief cook, Thelma, would always have a “snack to hold us over” until after we finished work. Mr. Blackmore was very generous to all of his student servers.
—Craig Gorris, BSIT ’61
Casa Nueva. Great local, seasonal food with a conscience. Excellent atmosphere, delicious specials and a great place to grab a drink. My one wish is that they would sell their salsa and salad dressings online so I could get them in Colorado.
—Sally Lasko, AB ’95, MA ’02 The Ideal Restaurant, commonly known as the “Ordeal” and formerly called The Spot, located at the northwest corner of West Union and South Court streets. … Women who lived in university housing had a 10 p.m. curfew on weekdays and 11 p.m. on the weekends. The last few minutes before curfew the lights in the lounges would be turned out or way down to give couples a small bit of “necking” time before the males were ushered out the door. After departing, it was common for the guys to head uptown for a snack, and the “Ordeal” was the closest place to eat. Their well-known egg special was just the thing to top off the evening.
—Richard Kehl, BSME ’58 If one wanted to go all out, there was the Berry Hotel. The Berry would serve a madeto-order mouthwatering steak the size of a dinner plate. The campus cafeterias were a good choice. … The Sunday noon meal was tops. One summer Sunday I recall my father and one of his employees surprised my roommate and me with a visit at Men’s Dorm. The cafeteria had completed serving; however ... the personnel said, “No problem, bring them down. This is on the house.”
—Thomas Hevlin, BSED ’49 Goodfella’s pizza. That is all I could afford at $1 a slice. Best pizza ever.
—Rachel Mullin Finkler, BSHCS ’02
NEXT ISSUE’S QUESTION: Let’s talk style — what did you wear (or regret wearing) as a student? Write to us at 112 McKee House, 1 Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, or email us at ohiotoday@ohio.edu. You can also “friend” the Ohio University Alumni Association on Facebook to respond to this and other questions.