Akron Life January 2023

330 FLAVOR AWARDS

T I NY WONDER

Smoked duck bao buns

food, they make recom mendations, and they just become friends.” Popular customer picks include various ramens ($16-$18) and the Tamagoyaki ($14), which is a take on deviled eggs. The egg whites form an ovular base, while a togarashi hol landaise emulates the inner yolk. Prosciutto takes the place of bacon crumbs, and paprika smoked in-house and dill top the dish. “That’s what we shoot for — those classics that are very approachable, but then have a slight weird element to it,” Ulichney says. Another favorite is the smoked duck bao buns ($18), which involve curing the duck for five days in a fruity pink peppercorn salt before smoking it in cherry wood flavor. The dish comes with watermelon radish and apple slaw, candied shishito peppers, crispy garlic, sesame seeds and roasted fennel aioli. “There’s a lot of citrusy fruit notes … that really make it pop,” he says. “They’re very vibrant.” “We do some wild food, in a little bit of a wild space,” Bailey says. “It took a life of its own as we started putting the pieces together. So we ran with it like, We’re just gonna embrace our weird. ” AS Behind American Legion Post 19, 783 W. Market St., Akron, squarescullery.com and whiskey barrel wood chips, creating an earthy

Cozy and hip, Square Scullery Noodle Bar features just 13 indoor seats — a wraparound booth with cheetah print cushions and light blue chairs. Its inno vative dishes draw in guests to the point that staffers have to turn away up to 30 people in an evening. The Highland Square busi ness started as a food truck and then a carryout-only kitchen, but diners wanted to stay and eat in the waiting room, which had just a couch and a coffee table. After 1 1/2-months of DIY artsy renovation, the transformed dining room opened in late 2019. The co-owners painted a colorful geometric mural, hung faux flowers and green ery from tiered frames on the ceiling and turned fishing bas kets from Thailand into light fixtures. They framed pieces of artwork like one that’s a guide to florals and another that blends root vegetables with the female form. “The goal was to create … a whole immersive experience,” says co-owner Heather Bailey. “We wanted people to be submerged in this culture … with this quirky, kitschy environment.” The experience often involves camaraderie between diners.

Smoked pork ramen

Tamagoyaki

“When we’re filled, you get to know everybody

sitting around you pretty quickly,” says co-owner and chef Matthew Ulichney. “Sometimes people will share

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