FARM & TABLE

Adams Street in Toledo has turned into an urban hub with a dynamic mix of shops and restaurants. It is where you’ll find the chef-driven Fowl & Fodder reinventing classic comfort foods.

Chef Aaron Lawson took the helm in 2020, crafting favorites with a twist.

“I fell in love with global, unique flavors like Japanese, Mandarin, coastal southwestern Latino cuisine,” he says. “I started finding ways to take down-home comfort food

Pizza Span

and put a spin on it, like our southern-style Banh Mi.”

Both locals and out-of-towners flock here for full-service Sunday brunches. (The new country-kitchen-style seating can accommodate 50 diners.) Tuesday through Friday switches to a counter-order system for hurried work-day meals or to-go boxes. No matter the day, the favorite here is Lawson’s chicken and waffles.

Chicken tenders are tossed in seasoned flour, dipped in Ohio hot sauce and served on top of cornbread waffles. Lawson’s homemade Ohio Hot Sauce on the crispy tenders goes well with Milligan’s Ohio Ma-

This Ashtabula County eatery is housed in a repurposed structure its founder bought for $5 in 1972.

Yes, the Covered Bridge Pizza Parlor is housed in an actual covered bridge. Formerly known as Ashtabula County’s Eagleville Covered Bridge, the wooden structure dates to 1862. Gary Hewitt purchased it for $5 at an auction in 1972 when it was being replaced.

“He and another guy took it piece by piece,” says Renee Hewitt, Gary Hewitt’s daughter, who today operates Covered Bridge Pizza Parlor with her brother, Paul Hewitt. “It was stored at my grandparents’ [home] for a couple of years before the south end of it was built in North Kingsville, and then a few years later, he took the other half of it and built another place in Andover.” ple Syrup — a perfect balance of savory and sweet.

The siblings took over in 2018, and the parlor continues to make the pizzas using a family recipe. Variations of their mother’s pizza recipe were previously crafted in the Hewitt home and have been enjoyed by customers since the 1960s.

Fowl & Fodder is also hyper focused on providing meal options that are free of gluten, nuts, dairy and eggs. Vegan dishes are available here too, like the coconut-milk waffle with warm house-made almond and cashew granola, seasonal fruit jam and Ohio maple syrup.

Growing up in Toledo, Lawson spent summers with family in Kentucky and Tennessee, which infused his Midwest roots with southern influences. Those visits revolved around down-home cooking, farming and supporting locals. Fresh green beans and tomatoes and eating hot water cornbread shaped his philosophy. Eventually, he returned to the South to study culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

These formative years made Lawson who he is today. Supporting local purveyors is evident in everything he does. On any given day, he’s sourcing Ohio apples drizzled with local honey for sides or pairing signature dishes with small-batch craft cocktails from Toledo Spirits. He also supports local food charities and partners with Toledo Metroparks, embodying the Fowl & Fodder philosophy: “Food for Everyone.”

“There’s no reason why you can’t make chicken and waffles just as beautiful as a $100 steak dinner,” says Lawson. “The food has to speak to people.”

Sarah Miller

614 Adams St., Toledo 43604, 419/214-1588, fowlandfodder.com

“People move away and come back,” says Paul Hewitt. “And they can’t wait to stop here to get one of our pizzas.” 6541 N. Main St., North Kingsville 44068, 440/224-2252 — Tate Raub

House of Spirits

This beautiful Victorian home in Marysville offers just the right atmosphere for a menu of classic and creative cocktails.

Located in a Victorian home in downtown Marysville that dates to 1884, House of Spirits has the perfect look for a Prohibition-era cocktail bar. e beautiful red brick house sits prominently on Fi h Street with a rounded front porch, white trim and a lovingly refurbished interior that brings the structure back to its original state.

e building was once home to a local doctor and for years it housed a restaurant called Doc Henderson’s. When the owner retired, he sold the place to Bruce Daniels and Rick Crago, who rst renovated it as Hinkley’s, before giving it another faceli and reopening it as House of Spirits in 2019.

e hushed interior features a handsome bar lined with bourbon bo les. Side rooms with vintage furniture and xtures o er quiet havens for sipping cocktails. Local musicians play the rst and third Fridays of each month.

As the name implies, House of Spirits utilizes a cocktail-forward concept. e bar team, led by manager Hayden Owens, creates a new menu every season, cra ing light, refreshing cocktails in the spring and summer and rich, warming options in the fall and winter.

“We fresh squeeze everything, make all of our syrups, do all our infusions in-house,” says Owens. “A lot of that requires seasonal items like herbs and fruits and spices.” ey also excel at the classics from Negronis to sidecars and daquiris to Aperol spritzes. You can’t go wrong ordering the house old fashioned, built around a Maker’s Mark bourbon blended especially for the Marysville cocktail bar.

To create new drinks, Owens takes a few di erent approaches.

“Sometimes I’ll pick a fruit I like and go from there,” he says. “We’ll pick a avor and match it with a liquor and turn it into a cocktail. e other way is picking a classic cocktail and doing a ri on that, including doing an infusion or di erent avored syrup, or adding a liqueur or taking one out.” ere is also a small selection of dra and bo led beer, including ales from Ohio breweries like Seventh Son Brewing Co. and Olentangy River Brewing Co. Customers will also nd a short list of wines by the glass and the bo le. To supplement the libations, the kitchen produces elevated bar snacks like bacon-wrapped dates, deviled eggs, charcuterie boards, atbreads and wings.

Owens curates a dense, two-page menu with around 250 bourbons, rye whiskeys, Irish whiskeys and Scotches. e selection is constantly rotating and is rife with unique nds. Owens is focusing on purchasing single barrels from distilleries, which get bo led and featured only at House of Spirits.

Nicholas Dekker

318 E. Fi h St., Marysville 43040, 937/7382088, houseofspiritsmarysville.com