Toledo Ohio & Tony Packo's
by Liv | Published on January 10th, 2007, 9:26 am | Travel
Let's keep on chugging on. Today, my blogs of the past are from Toledo Ohio. Why Toledo? This is where I was born. Why is it interesting? Because I say so.Most people know where Toledo is, even if they've never been there. Toledo, which has been notarized by a world famous glass company, motor vehicle manufacturing, and even the show MASH. It's an urban community built mainly by Irish, polish, and German immigrants much like many other eastern populaces. It's an area filled with culture, and rhythm, with which an attitude of pride manifests itself in it's citizens.
I was born in a suburb of Toledo called Oregon in a hospital called Saint Charles. Don't ask me what religion it is, but obviously its a hospital of some sort of religion. The first few years of my life were spent in a house beside the oil refinery with huge burn-off stacks roaring huge flames into the air.
Down the road is ethnic meat markets, bakeries, all catering to the ethnic needs of the residents. Before Giant Walmarts, and one-stop shops, food came fresh and often required visiting Lee's meat market where stuffed landjagers and meats hung from the ceiling.
In Ohio, especially Toledo it's cold during the winter. With the lake, and the cold weather, Snow was an expectation every year. Chili, Soups, and Coffee are the mainstay diet of an environment like this. It's probably a state law that residents own an Iron Pan to make chili, as I think they even serve newborns the stuff to christen them to the world. But Toledo is more than stuffed sausages, chili, or fat kids with blonde hair and a Hitler mustaches running around in the snow.
Toledo's most famous restaurant is that of Tony Packo's. For those in the know, Tony's is about as world famous as any one restaurant can be. The secret of it's success relies on (you guessed it) it's Chili Dogs.
It's a tradition in the area, that's brought nearly every president, every actor, and every dignitary to walk through the rustic bar, and suck down a authentic polish sausage, covered in chili and onions, with a side of pickles. The walls of Tony Packo's is covered with air-sealed hot-dog buns from floor to ceiling, each signed from celebrities like Michael Jackson to Bill Clinton.
While I love Tony's Chili-Dogs, the real secret is their Stuffed Cabbage. An authentic ethnic food of beef, pork, tomatoes, and cabbage, to really test exactly how much of the mother country you've got in you.
I think that's what I loved about Philadelphia when I went, it reminded my of Toledo. Unlike Greensboro, people there still know where they come from. While the environment of the south seems to be that which tries to eliminate it's southern stereotype and replace it with baseball stadiums, high-rises, and tech friendly savvy people. Big cities like Toledo, Philly, NY, still have the nitty gritty, dark and dirty, the culture, the guys playing basketball on the corner, the street vendor that sells his mother's recipe on a bun, the attitude, and a defining image that looks back at the rest of the world and says "Whatcha YOU lookin at PUNK?"
