I think I may change my title from Lisa, Finder of Lost Recipes, to Lisa, Akron’s Culinary Historian.
Well, maybe that title is sort of implied by my job.
But every time I get a request for a recipe from the past, I end up delving into a bit of Akron history to track it down.
It happened recently with a request I received from Tina White of Stow, who was feeling nostalgic about the former Ed Micheli’s Restaurant in Akron’s North Hill. Micheli’s was located at 1295 E. Tallmadge Ave. for 55 years, before it closed in May 2005.
White was hoping to find the recipe for Micheli’s blue cheese salad dressing. White’s mother, Dixie L. Enlow, had worked at Micheli’s in the late 1950s, and had kept in touch with him until she died on July 20, 2001.
“I used to go buy quarts of the dressing when the restaurant was still open. The salad dressing was one of the last things she wanted to eat before she died,” White said. “A lot of people will agree, it was the best ever. Also, his kidney bean salad was delish.”
Adamo Adelio Giovanni Micheli, known as Ed or Eddie, was born in Akron and lived his entire life in Tallmadge. He graduated from Tallmadge High School in 1947, and enrolled at Kent State University with hopes of becoming a lawyer. But life, and his mother, Angelica, had other plans.
In 1950, she purchased an 18-seat, one-room restaurant near the intersection of East Tallmadge Avenue and Brittain Road, which they named Ed’s Hamburg. He and his mother ran it after his father died two months later, with his sister Anna serving as the curb girl.
His mother kept the place going when he was drafted in 1951, and he returned after two years in the Army with experience as a mess steward.
By 1957, the restaurant expanded to a full-fledged drive-in, and by 1963, to Ed Micheli’s Restaurant. The late 1960s saw the addition of a banquet room, liquor license and lounge, and a name change to Micheli’s Restaurant & Lounge. Micheli remained in business for the next 55 years, retiring in 2005.
He died July 24, 2011, at the age of 82. Micheli’s only survivor at the time of his death was a niece, Michele Zeller of Tallmadge, his sister Anna’s daughter.
When I contacted Zeller, she was surprised to get the request for her uncle’s recipes, and even more surprised because she knew exactly where they were.
“I was just looking at them the other day,” she said. Recently, Zeller had been going through some of her uncle’s belongings and had the recipes — the exact ones that White was looking for — in hand just days before my call. That sweet serendipity makes my job such a delight.
Zeller couldn’t recall Enlow, but knew that her uncle would have. Micheli was known for keenly remembering all of his customers. “Even after he retired, we would run into people and he would know where they sat and what they drank and what they ordered,” she said.
She did recall the dressing, noting that her uncle made it with Italian Gorgonzola, which made it just a little different than other blue cheese dressings out there. It was his secret ingredient. It also included some bottled French dressing, which gave it a pinkish color, she said.
Zeller and I agreed that allowing me to reprint the recipes would be a nice tribute to her uncle and would help to keep the memory of his restaurant alive.
The bean salad recipe already was converted to a reasonable amount for a home cook, but the salad dressing recipe made six gallons. I have broken it down to make one quart.
Unfortunately, the dressing contained a commercial cheese flavoring extract that is probably going to be difficult for most folks to find. It is available for purchase, but only by the case. So unless you want 12 quarts of cheese flavored extract, my advice is to just leave it out. The dressing won’t be exactly the same, but it probably will be close enough.
Here are his recipes.
ED MICHELI’S
BLUE CHEESE DRESSING
3½ cups mayonnaise
4 oz. crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
4½ oz. dry cottage cheese (see box)
2 tbsp. dried parsley flakes
⅓ cup white vinegar
¼ cup bottled French dressing
Seasoned salt, to taste
2 tbsp. Cheeztone liquid cheese extract (see note)
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly. Pour into container and keep refrigerated.
Makes about 1 quart.
Note: Micheli used a commercial product called Cheeztone, which is a soy-based liquid extract of vegetable proteins and cheese flavors used as a flavor enhancer. It is available from restaurant suppliers and can be ordered at www.amazon.com, but only in cases of 12 quart-sized bottles. Liquid cheese extracts are not readily available in most grocery stores.
ED MICHELI’S BEAN SALAD
5 cups cooked kidney beans
¾ cups diced celery
¾ cup diced Spanish onion
1 cup diced sweet pickles
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. white pepper
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp. sweet pickle juice
Rinse and drain the beans thoroughly. Combine with other ingredients and mix well. Chill before serving.
Makes 10 servings.
Lisa Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or at labraham@thebeaconjournal.com. Find me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @akronfoodie or visit my blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/lisa.