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photo by Maggie Harris
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photo by Maggie Harris
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photo by Maggie Harris
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photo by Maggie Harris
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photo by Maggie Harris
Magic City’s Remarkable Diner may be a diner, but Culinary Institute of America grad, chef and co-owner Dan Remark operates its kitchen like that of a finer dining restaurant.
“The same thing that goes on in any high-end restaurant, the type of language used is the same language here. We’re going to sear or saute it — use those same classical
techniques,” says Remark, who was previously the original executive chef at Mustard Seed Market & Cafe.
Its menu is full of finer interpretations of breakfast and lunch diner fare like steak and eggs with beef tenderloin filet au jus. Kitchen staffers use small to large classical dices on tomatoes, peppers and onions, and greens come from organic-certified County Line Family Farm in Wadsworth when in season. Remark avoids overly processed ingredients and runs a kosher-style kitchen, with meats such as beef bacon that is Ohio farm-raised and smoked on-site at Marshallville Meats in Wayne County. He uses the fat from cooking the beef bacon to fry the hash browns, and the coffee is from Pearl Coffee Co., which is roasted in Akron. Instead of using canned sausage gravy like many places do, Remarkable Diner makes its own called SOS, modeled after the version Remark ate when he served in the Army. It’s seasoned beef in a cream sauce made with heavy cream, milk and butter. Many items including burgers, fresh-cut fries and house-made chips are seasoned with the house Remarkable seasoning that has garlic, onion and a slightly smoky secret ingredient.
Find several global dishes including the migas ($11.99), which features seasoned chicken chorizo ground from chicken cut in-house. Cooks mix that with scrambled eggs and sauteed peppers and onions, and top it with jalapenos, cheddar, tortilla strips fried in-house and grated Mexican chocolate.
“You taste layers. You have the spiciness of the chorizo, the crunchiness of the tortillas, the cooling element of the cheese,” Remark says. “You got this back and forth of heat to savory to crunchiness.”
Kitchen staffers slice Vienna corned beef in-house for different iterations of a Reuben including an omelet, burger and sandwich, which all come with house-made Thousand Island dressing that’s heavy on horseradish. Remark loves the sandwich ($13.99) that comes with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut on rye, which is grilled on both sides.
“You have the softness of the corned beef and sauerkraut offset by this toasty bread on the inside and outside,” he says. “They marry all those flavors together.”
Remark and his wife, Valeri, value being a part of Barberton, so they show spirit for Barberton City Schools with a purple door, purple plates, purple wooden trim and purple T-shirts. They also honor the Remarkable Diner building’s history as the Magic City Diner by keeping and slightly tweaking some of its dishes like the loaded B-Town bowl ($11.99), which is served with turkey sausage, beef bacon, turkey ham, SOS, home fries, onions, peppers, scrambled eggs and cheddar. And locals pack the restaurant for monthly specials like the popular waffle in a luscious brown sugar bourbon sauce with bacon. It’s not only a spot for elevated from-scratch food but also a place where community members can bond.
“We wanted to keep that community element to it,” Remark says, “because Barberton’s a wonderful community.”
451 Fairview Ave., Barberton, remarkablediner.com
