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| Display in the window of Home Bakery |
It
was a rainy, cold early December Saturday, but the comfort foods of small town
Ohio are an excellent remedy for nostalgia and loss. Early in the morning, I
stopped by the Home Bakery in Coldwater, Ohio. This old, independent bakery on
Main Street, which dates from at least the 1930s, has real homemade break and
pastries. When I was there, about 8AM, the place was hopping. There were four
customers ahead of me; two guys who were probably going to work, buying a quick
breakfast and two other customers who ordered a dozen and a half dozen of
doughnuts, respectively. While I was waiting, a kindly father brought three
young daughters into the store, roughly aged from 3 to 6 years old. When he
asked the girls what kind of doughnuts they would like to have, the middle
child spoke up emphatically, “sprinkles!” As for me, it was a simple order: a
loaf of white bread (a family-loved item), a pumpkin doughnut and a large cup
of coffee to take the edge off a bitter rainy day. The bake goods are fresh and
light; it is good I do not live in the vicinity. If I did, I would be 40 pounds
heavier. But this is the real thing, no preservatives and made by local people.
The total cost of my purchase was less than I would spend for a cup of coffee later
in the day.
There
is nothing quite like Maid-Rite
Sandwich Shoppe in Greenville, Ohio. It is an old diner-style restaurant
dating from 1934. There is a franchise of the same name that was founded in the
1920s and has stores sprinkled across the Midwest. Although those stores have
the same name and virtually the same products, there appears to be no present
link between the Greenville Shoppe and the current Maid-Rite franchise.
Long
before you walk inside, there is no doubt that Maid-Rite in Greenville is a
unique place. Often there is a line so long at the drive-in window that it
spills out onto North Broadway where the right hand lane is a line of cars waiting
patiently to order. The outside of the small brick building is adorned with
used pieces of chewing gum creating culinary piece of art of questionable
taste. The specialty is the Maid-Rite,
a loose meat sandwich of pure beef and spices, which seems to be primarily salt
and pepper but seems to have a hint of ground mustard. Ordering the Maid-Rite
with everything, the most common form, means that it comes with mustard,
pickles and onions. Part of the allure of the sandwich, I think, is that the
buns are steamed making the entire sandwich warm.
The
interior is a rather plain and simple. There is a counter, where swivel seats
invite patrons to have a quick bite to eat. Behind the counter a team of five
to six high school/college age employees take orders, cook the meat and
assemble sandwiches. There are usually a couple of older people who supervise
as well. Sitting at the counter means that you can watch the food being
prepared. Huge blocks of ground beef, about five pounds at a time, are dropped
into one of the two wells that have a hot plate on the bottom. One of the
employees mixes and stirs the beef until it is cooked to a golden brown,
gradually added the requisite spice. The same employee will pull out steamed
buns, place meat in it, and hand the sandwich to their partner standing
adjacent, who will add pickles, onions and mustard, optional cheese and wrap
the Maid-Rite in wax paper. While an incredibly simple sandwich, its popularity
and taste defy explanation.
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| Gum on the wall of Maid-Rite |
For
many people who grew up in western Ohio, and others of us who have connections,
places like Home Bakery and Maid-Rite are distinct reminders of home or family.
It is funny how we have abandoned these places, only to try to create chain
restaurants and coffee shops to remind us of those places we have left behind.
Perhaps this is a sign of our increasingly mobile society where when we move to
new places we default to the chain we know, rather than the local place we do
not. Either way, each time one of these classic places go out of business a
little bit of our identity, our heritage and our past fades away too.
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