Schlotzsky's Deli

(Previously on our Great Lakes Road Trip: Timbits!)

Our last stop before we left Maumee, Ohio was lunch at Schlotzsky's Deli. Schlotzsky's is a sandwich chain that A had gone to quite a bit while he was in high school in the Midwest, but M had never been there before. It wasn't incredibly close to A's home, but it was on the way to the tennis courts he and his friends used to go to for lessons. As is his wont, he recommended that they stop by another haunt of his younger days.

Since this was M's first time at Schlotzsky's, she opted for the pick two option, which allowed you to mix and match between sandwiches, salads, soups, pizzas, and flatbreads. Lots of options. After some cool nights on our drive, soup seemed like a good choice, along with half a sandwich.

For the sandwich, M picked the fiesta chicken, which consisted of shaved chicken, cheddar cheese, black olives, roasted red peppers, chipotle mayo, lettuce, red and green onions, and tomato on a jalapeño cheese bun. The half sandwich was a good size, the ingredients tasted fresh, and everything worked well together. M especially liked the bread, which seemed a little crunchy on the outside but was really soft otherwise.

M's soup choice was gumbo, which if we remember correctly was a special. She thought this was good as far as flavor and quality, and it was a pretty large bowl for a partial order which was impressive. The pick two was a lot of food and very satisfying.

A got the Angus beef and provolone. It wasn't around when he was going to Schlotzsky's back in the day so he was interested to see how it was. On a whole, the sandwich was not as greasy as he remembered almost all of their sandwiches were before. That's not a bad thing, but it made the bread a little drier and harder to bite through. Overall this sandwich was just okay. A remembered these sandwiches being better when he was younger, but it's possible that he had just built them up in his mind as a fond memory of his youth.

After our Schlotzsky's lunch, it was time to hit the road for Chicago. It was a mostly uneventful drive except for a part of Indiana where it rained a lot and a cricket-like bug flew into our windshield and got stuck in the wiper, so we had to watch it disintegrate in the rain (gross). Once we got to Chicago, we checked in to our hotel and then headed over to visit family and have some good home-cooked food. It was a pretty good food day, and we were glad that we had a chance to have a nice relaxed lunch at Schlotzsky's instead of some unhealthy fried food at a rest stop!

Timbits Time

(Previously on our Great Lakes Road Trip: dinner at Sahara in Maumee.)

We woke up the next morning in Maumee ready for our next (and thankfully shorter) leg of driving to Chicago. A went out to get some Starbucks coffee, and having seen a Tim Hortons nearby, also decided to pick up some breakfast for us.

We've been big fans of Timbits ever since we first tried them in Canada about 7 years ago. They're similar to the Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts, but the flavors are slightly different and there are more flavors to choose from. (As an aside, does anyone remember those toasted coconut munchkins DD had once upon a time? I miss those.)

The Timbits we got that morning were a combination of chocolate glazed, honey dip, original glazed, and Funfetti. As a big fan of Funfetti, and sprinkles generally, I was pretty excited to see that A got those. It really just tasted like a donut hole with sprinkles, but sprinkles make everything better. A liked the chocolate ones a lot.

With Timbits in our bellies, we finished packing up and getting ready, and then set out to grab a quick lunch in Maumee before getting back on the interstate. A lot of the Tim Hortons near us at home have closed, so we were glad we had the opportunity to get some Timbits on the road!

Sahara

After driving through the majority of Pennsylvania and Ohio, we stopped in Maumee, Ohio (a suburb of Toledo) for the night. We had eaten a lot of junk on the road between our McDonald's lunch and the giant bag of onion rings, so we definitely wanted to eat something fresh and healthy for dinner. We weren't tremendously hungry after the onion rings, but the nearby places we found in Maumee weren't open super late so we had to eat soon after arriving. Luckily the place we chose, a Mediterranean restaurant called Sahara, had half orders for all the entrees, which was perfect for how we were feeling.

The first thing to arrive was a complimentary basket with a small bag of fresh pita and some fried pita chips. We tried some of the chips, but didn't eat too many of them since we were really more in the mood for healthy, clean stuff. They were pretty good, but we might have eaten more of them if they had come with some sort of sauce, like a Mediterranean style chips and salsa.

The next dishes to arrive were salads. Both of our entrees came with side order choices, and we both chose salad. We were expecting something on the boring side, mostly lettuce, since it was just a side order, but we were pleasantly surprised when what came was a big plate of salad with romaine, tomato, red onion, green peppers, cucumbers, and vinaigrette dressing. This was exactly what we were looking for after a day on the road, and the salad was very good, very fresh, and well-dressed with a simple olive oil and lemon dressing.

M chose a half order of the chicken shawarma ($10.95), described on the menu as "charbroiled chicken strips marinated and served over rice with garlic sauce," and also served with one side (she chose the salad). M wasn't sure what the garlic sauce was going to be, thinking it was just going to be some sauce drizzled over the rice, but was pretty happy when she saw what it actually was - toum. As a garlic lover, she had always loved toum, that thick, creamy garlic whip, and was pretty excited to see that on the plate. The chicken was pretty good, not too dry, the rice was buttery and soft, and the garlic sauce was full of strong, delicious garlic flavor. The entire dish felt so healthy, and it was exactly what she wanted out of dinner.

A got a half order of the hummos with meat ($12.95), which had meat options of gyro, beef or chicken saute, and he chose the gyro. His half order also came with a choice of 2 sides, so he got the salad and rice. This type of dish is the type of thing A really likes. The combination of meat and hummos always seems to hit the spot for him, and this was no different. The saltiness of the meat combined with the nutty creaminess of the hummos paired together perfectly. It was heavier than what M got, and A ended up using some of the aforementioned pita to wipe up the remaining hummos, but it was still a healthy dish. The rice was a basic pilaf with a nice buttery flavor and some spice that A couldn't quite place.

We both were pretty surprised and pleased to find a good Mediterranean restaurant in a relatively small town in the middle of Ohio. The flavors were solid, and we loved that they offered half sized portions, perfect for what we needed. We wish places in NYC would do that as well. Overall Sahara was a very good, healthy eating option, and a great end to our day.