The Sweet Hamburgs of Akron: Swensons and Sky-Way

Waiting for my chicken to come out of the lard at Hopocan Gardens in Barberton, I asked the manager if there were any other interesting local foods I should try. Without hesitating he suggested Swensons (they do not use an apostrophe). Their sweet burgers—prepared with brown sugar, he said—were what he missed most when he lived away from Akron. Pigmon and I already had eaten lunch at Slyman's, Belgrade Gardens and Hopocan Gardens but clearly a visit to Swensons was important.

There are currently seven locations but we chose the original, in business since 1934. The old structure has been replaced by a new building but it retains some of the charm of the old drive in.



We pulled in and immediately announced our rookie status by getting out of the car and heading for the building. This is a true drive in with car service only. Before we were halfway across the lot, a "curb boy" came running to take our order.





There was no question about ordering a Galley Boy, their signature burger (or hamburg to use the local lingo). The curb boy seemed partial to the fried bologna sandwich so we got one of those too.



Not long after ordering, the curb boy trotted back and clamped a tray onto the car window. The Galley Boy was easily identified by its olive garnish.



I wasn't so sure about the sweet burger thing but somehow it worked really well. Even that mayonnaise-onion sauce, which I have to admit looks disgusting, played an important role in the Galley Boy experience.



The fried bologna was no slouch either. Next time I might order it well done and dressed with coney sauce. The curb boy said they encourage such customization.

We found out that there was a longtime competitor in the hamburg arena a few miles up the road, so it was off to Sky-Way to see how they measured up.





Sky-Way's menu is quite similar to Swensons but they have a few unique items. We couldn't pass up sauerkraut balls, apparently a favorite in the Cleveland-Akron area.





I wouldn't rate these filler-rich snacks too highly; I'm sure there are better kraut balls to be had. The hamburg too was a bit of a disappointment after Swensons. It was a perfectly fine fast food burger but, although it had a hint of sweetness, it lacked the unique seasoning of the Galley Boy.



Without question, Akron takes its burgers seriously. There are even claims that the hamburger was "invented" by Frank Menches, an Akron native, and the city hosts an annual hamburger festival each summer.

Swensons Drive In
40 S Hawkins Av
Akron OH
330-864-8416

Sky-Way Drive In
2781 W Market St
Fairlawn OH
330-836-2806

Rene G wrote:


Not long after ordering, the curb boy trotted back and clamped a tray onto the car window. The Galley Boy was easily identified by its olive garnish.

Did they have ciggarette/cigar girls there too? Looks like y'all were cruising the right way. Good stuff, another great post on another regional eat I was unaware of. Thanks for the info.

Peppy Grill in Indy calls their burgers
"hamburgs" as well, but unfortunately
they're nothing special - not bad,
but just a simple grilled patty.
Their chili is outstanding though.

i will be tring these spots. thanks rene g

SCUBAchef wrote:Peppy Grill in Indy calls their burgers
"hamburgs" as well, but unfortunately
they're nothing special - not bad,
but just a simple grilled patty.
Their chili is outstanding though.

Kewpee's also calls their burgers "hamburgs."

Rene G wrote:There was no question about ordering a Galley Boy, their signature burger (or hamburg to use the local lingo).

SCUBAchef wrote:Peppy Grill in Indy calls their burgers "hamburgs" as well

chicagostyledog wrote:Kewpee's also calls their burgers "hamburgs."

I should have chosen my words more carefully so as not to suggest the term hamburg is specific to Akron. It's a older version of hamburger, derived from Hamburg steak, once a common name for a chopped beef patty (before that patty made its way onto a bun).

Da Beef wrote:Good stuff, another great post on another regional eat I was unaware of.

You're not alone. I don't think many from outside Ohio know much about Akron's hamburger culture and its distinctive burgers (I know I didn't). When I was preparing for my talk at the Beef Symposium last October, I read quite a few books and articles on hamburgers etc. Most mentions of Akron are in connection with Frank Menches, the supposed inventor of the hamburger who I mentioned in my original post. Here's a little more of that story.

In October 1951, The New York Times wrote:Frank Menches who is credited with "inventing" the hamburger died here [Akron] today at the age of 86. He had retired in 1938.

Before the turn of the century, Mr. Menches, a brother, Charles, and a nephew, Robert, entered the concession business. At the Summit County (Akron) Fair in 1892, Mr. Menches ran out of sausage. In an effort to please his customers, he ground up a sausage and sold it as a ground meat patty. It was unexplainably named "hamburger" some two years later.

Other than the Menches brothers, there are several claims for inventing the hamburger—Charles Nagreen in Seymour, Wisconsin in 1885, Louis Lassen in New Haven in 1900, Fletcher Davis in St Louis in 1904. The common feature of these claims is they all lack supporting documentation. It is probable that cooked patties of minced beef served on a roll were not uncommon toward the end of the 19th century and it will never be possible to name the sandwich's sole creator. For a concise, well-researched summary of hamburger history see Andrew Smith's Hamburger: A Global History.

I didn't realize it while I was in Akron but the are two Menches Brothers Restaurants around Akron. It seems that Frank's great-granddaughter found his original recipe in 1991 and opened Menches Brothers Restaurant 4 years later.

Sometime between Menches' obituary and the creation of Menches Brothers' website, significant details of the story changed. Now it is said the brothers invented the hamburger seven years earlier (making them first) and there is a convenient (though unconvincing) explanation for the sandwich's name.

Menches Brothers website wrote:The year was 1885...

The place was Erie County, New York. Tiny amusement parks dotted the country and Americans spent their summers at the fairs. And when they are at those fairs and parks the sausage sandwich was high on their list.

Two brothers, Frank and Charles Menches, made a business of helping to feed those fairgoers. The summer of 1885 was a tough one. It was too hot to butcher hogs and the sausage supply was running low. Their meat supplier, however, offered to provide them with ground up beef.

They agreed, and the fried-up beef was not bad, but it was too bland. So the brothers added a little coffee and a little brown sugar. Soon the crowds were raving and craving for more. Frank and Charles Menches christened their new sandwich, the hamburger, after Hamburg, N.Y. The Erie County town where that first patty was made.

Although I find parts of this story very suspect (and no documentation has been provided) it seems pretty clear that the Menches brothers were early sellers of something close to the modern day hamburger.

Also on the Menches Brothers' website, it is claimed that Frank and Charles invented the ice cream cone.

I didn't realize it while I was in Akron but the are two Menches Brothers Restaurants around Akron. It seems that Frank's great-granddaughter found his original recipe in 1991 and opened Menches Brothers Restaurant 4 years later.

I've had the dubious pleasure of dining at the Menches Brothers restaurant in Massillon a couple of times while attending a film festival there. It is absolutely and completely the generic American "family restaurant" whose goal is to make nothing that would startle an elderly guest with unexpected flavor. It does okay when you want a club sandwich with frozen fries and the show starts again at 1:30, but that's the best you can say for it.

I've tried exploring as far as I could into Akron/Canton looking for something more interesting within reasonable distance of the theater, but never found anything that excited me much. Well, other than this.

Mike G wrote:I've had the dubious pleasure of dining at the Menches Brothers restaurant in Massillon a couple of times while attending a film festival there. It is absolutely and completely the generic American "family restaurant" whose goal is to make nothing that would startle an elderly guest with unexpected flavor. It does okay when you want a club sandwich with frozen fries and the show starts again at 1:30, but that's the best you can say for it.

Yeah, I'd looked at the menu on their website and there's little to suggest they're better culinarians than historians. Did you have a hamburger? They're made with coffee and brown sugar so one hopes they'd at least be slightly interesting. I have a feeling Frank and Charles didn't top theirs with "Big Mench Sauce" though.

If you find yourself in the area again, there's a Swensons in Jackson, only a few miles north of both Massillon and Canton. I don't know how the new places compare with the original location but I have a feeling you'd appreciate Swensons.

If I had one-- and God knows that's pretty much all there is to eat, hamburgers, in Massillon-- I don't remember it standing out from the ones at Kozmo's, Rockne's, or any of the other joints I find myself frequenting there. I suspect I used Menches Bros. as an excuse to escape hamburgers and have something else which was different, if ordinary in its own way.

I thought Doumar's, a James Beard American Classic in Norfolk VA, had a solid claim to first ice cream cone, also from the 1904 fair. The Menches site says they have a replica of an old waffle-cone maker. Doumar's actually uses a 100-year-old contraption to make your cone (though the ice cream itself is pretty crappy). Absent documentation, I tend to believe places like Doumar's, Louis Lunch, Lombardi's, etc who continue to use ancient equipment. Great post, as always, ReneG.

http://www.doumars.com/gallery.html

PS, Mike, the thing to do in Massillon is watch HS football. I imagine that the small-town USA spectacle of the most successful HS football team would be interesting.

Another useful contribution to the regional hamburger literature, Rene G. I'm just sorry I wasn't there to see the look on your face as you tried Swensons' mayonnaise-onion sauce.

Did you happen to get a look at the Chipped Ham at Sky-Way? I've never heard of that.

Chipped chopped ham is everywhere in NE Ohio, Western PA, and WV, for whatever reason....

PS, Mike, the thing to do in Massillon is watch HS football. I imagine that the small-town USA spectacle of the most successful HS football team would be interesting.

file photo

I bring Tigers swag back for my kids every time I go to the film festival, but my favorite encounter with Massillon football was leaving a late-night screening of Bride of Frankenstein only to find much of the town standing in the middle of the street at midnight. If they'd had torches, I'd have thought they were gathering to storm the old Frankenstein place, but they were merely waiting for the team bus to get back from the big game. Two obsessed subcultures passed in the night, neither disturbing the other...

Anyway, since my dining during this film festival is normally purely defensive, I was very excited that Swenson's in fact turned out to be as good as it did, and word spread enough that I directed others there as well (normally we festgoers stick to the downtown area, which is why I'd never spotted the Swenson's about six miles away on a new mall strip halfway to Akron). I actually liked the combination of the barbecue sauce and the mayo sauce fine, it's not that different from 1000 Island, but what makes it work is that the burger is pretty well made, thin 30s-style patties and a toasted bun. The fries are frozen but cooked well done, which makes them better than average, and I really liked that you could get a cherry phosphate. For the first time, I actually have a place in Massillon I'll look forward to returning to.

Another place I can recommend, marginally, in the area was a family restaurant type place called Variety's. Okay, the atmosphere is pure old folks, but the very American food is freshly and honestly made, mashed potatoes with real potatoes, hand-breaded cod for the Friday night special, etc. I wound up there twice, God help me, and portions are absurdly huge, but I've absolutely done worse, by far, in the Massillon area. (I don't mean to insult their food choices, because it really is the nicest town, so happy to have a few film buff tourists visit and watch movies in their 1915-vintage theater.)

I went to Barberton for chicken, too, and it made me appreciate how prosperous Massillon was, and how well kept up it is. But I'll post that in a Barberton chicken thread.

Swenson's Drive-In Restaurant
5815 Wales Ave. NW
Massillon, OH
(330) 833-5454

Variety's
2843 Lincoln Way E
Massillon, OH 44646
(330) 832-7305

I've had Swensons on my radar since at least 2010, when this thread first appeared. So I was excited to finally get a chance to try them and also Sky-Way and Bob's Hamburg, the last one being another spot long on my to-try list. After a little bit of browsing around I soon found a third drive-in giving Akron as many as Kenosha. So the question then became is Akron's burger game on the same level as it's most famous residents basketball game? Seeing as how I had jimswside on my side it was more than possible to try all four spots out. I gotta keep my burger credentials at a presidential level.
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Bob's Hamburg

The reason we'd be in Akron was the fact we were headed to Pittsburgh. I knew when we decided to take the trip that these stops would be made but there were plenty of others to stop into as well. So we did the homework and found Bob's to close early Sunday at a time we probably wouldn't make it. Thus it was the very first stop of an eventual thirty.


Our view at the counter

Bob's is the elder statesman of burger shops in Akron having been around since 1931. They're the only one on here that's not a full service drive-in. More like a diner, and dive. Surprisingly the bleached blonde spiky hair was nowhere to be found on the walls inside. It's got everything going for it as far as a classic All American Hamburger stop. They do a classic Midwest style smashed burger on a very old school 4x2 grill with a broiler on bottom used to toast the buns. The balls of beef are the biggest I've come across from a spot as old as Bob's but I don't know if it's always been that way. While prices have changed they're still damn cheap coming in at $4.40 for a single and less than a dollar more for a double. All the way is mustard, pickle, onion, lettuce and Bob's Special Sauce. I had to go with that and came to learn the special sauce was very similar to chili sauce with a hint of cumin. The onions were of the McDonald's variety and thus you couldn't help but think of Mickey D's when eating this burger. Though the rest of it, specifically the beef, made this one so much better. Probably my favorite in Akron. I do love those onions.


Double Cheeseburger
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Swensons Drive-In

Ah yes, finally. As Peter already points out there's quite a few locations of Swensons but the original is the one to go too. Sunday evening so it was packed with cars and runners, literally, the Curb boys sprint to and from each car. Seriously hopeful none of them startle the wrong guy in that crazy state. The star of the show here is the Galley Boy. The cheeseburger I long wanted to try. I love unique eats and while some of them don't add up I thought the Galley Boy was a whiz kid. The top sauce was a mayo based concoction similar to the ones in the spots coming up while the bottom sauce was the sweet tangy variety Peter describes. When it was all put together I thought it worked wonderful. As this was our last stop before heading home I immediately regretted not ordering another for the road. I also realize I forgot to get a bologna sandwich. Hopefully there's a next time. I liked Swensons.






The Galley Boy Hamburg
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Sky-Way Drive-In

Next up was another locals favorite, this one around since 1952. We went to what I believe was the original but then we passed this one seen above with neon and I was able to snap a perfect pic at the red light. This place too is curbside service only and though it wasn't as packed as Swensons there were some people there. The site brags about the beef being fresh and the burgers being cooked to order. You want a medal for that? Their famous "sandwich" is the SkyHi which is a double decker hamburger with special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onion.


SkyHi Sandwich

Sounds familiar but Jim called it a generic Big Mac without the signature McD's onions. No sesame seeded bun either, instead it was toasted plain. I liked it more than that but not as much as Jim's Hamburger Heaven in Elmhurst which I think makes the best Double Decker burger. The special sauce from here was more like a garlic infused mayo and I pretty much agree with Peter's assessment in that it's a perfectly good fast food burger but in a town taking them so serious it's not the best. I forgot to order the onion rings and those looked really good.


The insides
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Dilly's Drive-In

If what I read online was correct than Dilly's is the baby of the Akron burger boys. It only got its start in 1986. There's not nearly as much online about this spot but the Akronite's that like it swear by their signature dilly sauce. It too is a curbside only drive-in and home to the Dilly Burger.


Double Dilly Burger

This was another damn good burger but I couldn't detect the tangy BBQ/Sugar sauce that was in a Swensons offering. From what I read there was many comparing the two so I don't know if thats supposed to be the case or not but it was a good burger. Someone described the sauce as tartar sauce though I didn't think it tasted much like that. There was some relish and green olive taste to it and I liked it with the cheddar but didn't detect another sauce. They also have a pepper burger served with fried banana peppers on top. Again...I forgot to order that. Haha.


The insides

Dilly's probably has the best view of all of the Akron Drive-in's. You can see the Goodyear Airdock, the Rubber Bowl, the Derby Downs, and watch planes land at Akron Airport while in your car enjoying a Dilly Burger.


The now vacated Rubber Bowl...See ya next time
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Bob's Hamburg
1351 East Ave
Akron, OH 44307
(330) 253-2627

Swensons Drive In
40 S Hawkins Av
Akron, OH 44312
330-864-8416

Skyway Drive-In
951 E Turkeyfoot Lake Rd
Akron, OH 44312
(330) 896-9350

Dilly's Drive-In
1921 Triplett Blvd
Akron, OH 44312
(330) 798-0170

Excellent report! That bun at SkyWay really looks odd, though. It almost looks like they took random parts of multiple buns and tried to make them fit together.

I thought Bob's Hamburg was by head and shoulders the best of the bunch - those minced onions - Id eat at Bob's pretty often if I was in town.




Thinking back - the Skyway burger was pretty good as far as a Big Mac style impression goes. -

Pretty cool area: Akron>Youngstown>New Castle.

the Goodyear Airdock was impressive -

Thanks for the updates DaBeef and jimswside. Heading to Kent this week to take my daughter to college. Akron is only 10 miles away, so it could be a destination for a meal.

Not sure how this local burger shop evaded me on my first visit through as I love me some sliders. Hamburger Station is a small local chain (3 locations) in the Akron area. I found this old article online and it says the original Hamburger Station opened in 1975. I'm pretty sure I visited a a location other than the original.

Hamburger Station

The burgers are sliders and they go for a dollar and change. I went thru the drive-thru and ordered two. Unfortunately this place has seen better days, either that or people love it for their unsteamed buns and chemical tasting onions atop a piece of un-melted cheese. So basically they pay no attention to the three things that make a spectacular slider. I threw the other away.

Poor Little Slider

Bad day? Maybe but doubt I ever find myself answering that question as there are some damn good burgers available elsewhere in Akron. Like Swenson's. Though I didn't have a burger from there this time and instead opted to try the bologna sandwich rec'd by Rene G upthread. I thought it was as good if not better than the burger and at something like $3 it's a steal of a deal. No pic bc it was late and thus dark. By the way, the night I visited the Cavs went down 3-1 in the NBA Finals and Akron was an absolute Ghost Town around Midnight. I'm guessing it was a bit different about a week later as the hometown kid did the impossible and brought a championship to Cleveland in doing so.

#Believeland

Hamburger Station
Multiple Locations
Akron, OH

Swenson's
Multiple Locations
Akron, OH