TUSK a vintage-inspired spot with hearty breakfast food, more in Barberton | Local Flavor

The new, family-owned TUSK diner in Barberton is a place where you can enjoy a tasty breakfast in a cool, retro environment.

For a recent Saturday breakfast, my husband Steve and I enjoyed sitting at TUSK's vintage lunch counter, which is the one from the old Woolworth department store in downtown Akron. Both the restaurant's central counter and its mint-green booths are carryovers from when the space formerly housed Al's Corner Restaurant.

Chef-owner James Phillips opened TUSK in late October.

At this restaurant, you can get breakfast all day. The diner also features lunch and dinner offerings, with hours running until 8 p.m.

Steve and I, who were both in the mood for breakfast at noon, started out with hot tea for me and coffee for him. I hadn't ordered pancakes at a restaurant for eons, so I went for the silver dollar pancakes ($10) with elderberry compote, Ohio maple syrup and sausage.

My six little pancakes, dusted in confectioner's sugar, were lovely, with the compote adding an additional sweet touch along with the syrup, which I asked our server to heat up for me.

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The star of my breakfast was the deliciously savory sausage, an extra special, large patty with fennel flavoring. Here's what makes this 4-ounce sausage so amazing: It's a hand patty made to order, with the ground sausage coming from Holiday Sausage Company in Cleveland.

Steve chose the hearty Magic City Skillet ($14), featuring three eggs over easy, house bacon, smoked ham, chef's potatoes and multigrain toast. His big breakfast was served on a rectangular metal tray atop a charger plate.

My husband was more than satisfied with his skillet. The chef's potatoes featured large chunks of russet potatoes with diced, roasted pimiento pepper and a secret seasoning blend. As it turns out, the Magic City Skillet just happens to be TUSK's top breakfast seller.

Other breakfast choices are the biscuit and gravy, kimchi egg scramble, avocado toast, egg salad BLT and breakfast bodega, which features a fried egg, sausage patty, greens, tomato, avocado and manchego cheese on a bun.

Phillips makes his biscuits and gravy from scratch daily.

"As far as I know, there isn't anywhere else around here doing that," he said.

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Lunch and dinner fare at TUSK

For lunch and dinner, Phillips sells a lot of fish and chips ($17), which Euclid Fish Co. of Mentor imports fresh. The fish is either wild Alaskan cod or Lake Erie perch, served with homemade tartar sauce.

The fish is chicken-fried, using the same seasoned breading featured in TUSK's buttermilk fried chicken. That gives the breading an extra crispy texture and unique taste compared to other fish and chips, the chef said.

Next time we go to TUSK, Steve and I agreed, we'll try the menu's main fare for lunch or dinner.

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During our visit last month, we couldn't leave without sampling TUSK's big, gourmet cookies ($4). We were tickled to learn that our waitress, Alyssa Smith, baked them.

I ordered a peanut butter and jelly cookie, which had a jelly-spread center with honey-roasted peanuts on top. It was the cookie special of the week.

Steve went for the dark chocolate chunk cookie, which was perfectly topped with sea salt. We shared our special cookies, which were the perfect toppers to our satisfying breakfast.

James Phillips' restaurant background

Phillips, 36, who graduated from the University of Akron with an English degree, has worked in kitchens his whole adult life. That includes top-end fine dining, food trucks, counter service and coffee shops.

He was executive chef for the Akron RubberDucks at Canal Park from 2017 to 2019, where, his work on the park's Extreme Food Menu included the Notorious P.I.G. in 2017.

"Working there for the RubberDucks really cemented my thought that this area's my home," Phillips said of the Akron area.

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He and his wife, Julia, who live in Norton, searched for their own restaurant space for a couple years before finding it in Barberton. Al's Corner Restaurant was in the spot from 2001 to 2014, when the current Al's owner relocated to Barberton's Second Street.

"It had been sitting empty for a while and it really just was the most perfect location right there in the heart of downtown at Fourth and Tuscarawas there. So it's visible in both directions from either end of the street and really just kind of deserved to be a centerpiece, like a showpiece for Barberton to be proud of," Phillips said.

His goal is for TUSK to become "that cornerstone, community family restaurant that everybody in Barberton knows and loves."

The original owner of Al's Corner Restaurant, Tim Eberhardt, and his father installed the nostalgic Woolworth lunch counter in the space before opening the restaurant in 2001. They also salvaged the eatery's vintage green booths from the former Lake Restaurant burger joint that was down the road, where Kavé Coffee Bar is now.

The Phillipses worked on their new TUSK space from March until fall opening, including cleaning, painting, installing equipment and running new electric.

"The goal was to restore the vintage and retro vibe without making it into a gimmick," Phillips said. "We just really wanted to bring the old-fashioned counter service luncheonette into the modern, 21st century with a more global menu, local cuisine and homemade everything."

Phillips named the restaurant TUSK to honor the downtown business district where it's located. TUSK is an American restaurant with a melting pot of food that Americans eat, he said. That includes everything from biscuits and gravy to hummus, falafel and black garlic stir fry. The children's menu also includes falafel nuggets.

The menu's Slavic influences include a kielbasa roll and potato as well as cheese pierogies. They're inspired by both Phillips' Polish roots and the ethnic Polish community in Barberton.

And in an homage to Akron, Phillips also offers classic sauerkraut balls, a breaded sauerkraut and sausage small plate served with whole grain honey mustard.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Restaurant: TUSK

Address: 545 W. Tuscarawas Ave., Barberton

Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday

Information: 330-590-2245 or www.tuskdiner.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: TUSK's all-day breakfast is a hit in Barberton | Local Flavor