When Wendi and I were students at what is now Cincinnati Christian University, one of the places we enjoyed going to grab a bite to eat was Penn Station East Coast Subs. We lived in Cincinnati in the early 1990s, and at the time, Penn Station made all their subs on a grill. They were known for their steak-and-cheese subs, fresh-cut fries and fresh-squeezed lemonade.
A number of years ago, we stopped in to get a steak-and-cheese sub at the Penn Station in Fairlawn, and I noticed something different. Gone were the days of cooking the meat on the grill, tossing on the cheese and splitting a nice piece of French bread and tossing it over everything until the cheese was melted. Instead, the sandwiches were started on the grill, but finished in a conveyor belt oven.
Living in Wooster, it is not so easy getting a sandwich, especially when the closest location is 31 miles away. When we were in Fairlawn, we always preferred to go to Five Guys Burgers and Fries (but now we have one in Wooster, you can read about it here). So, when we found ourselves coming back from a trip to Cincinnati to attend a lecture by Richard Osterlind (check it out here), we ended up pulling a Bugs Bunny by taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque. We ended up stumbling upon a Penn Station in Maineville, Ohio, and we figured: Why not?
I ordered a chicken teriyaki sub, and Wendi ordered a steak-and-cheese with mushrooms. We shared fresh-cut fries and a lemonade. Had we thought it through, Wendi probably would have left off the mushrooms, and we both would have shared half our subs.
The menu has expanded since the old days in Cincinnati. They now offer a club sandwich, a Reuben, grilled artichoke, tuna salad and cold subs. Jeff Osterfeld opened his first store in Cincinnati in 1985. Today, there are more than 300 restaurants in the Midwest and East Coast. One of the more popular subs is the Dagwood. It is a bunch of deli meats, like ham, corned beef, pepperoni, along with a bunch of grilled mushrooms, onions and peppers, plus cheese. For me, I always got one of two subs: A steak-and-cheese or a chicken teriyaki with banana peppers.
It was a nice trip down memory lane when we accidentally discovered Penn Station. The quality of the food is real good, as is the taste. I just wish they would get rid of their conveyor belt ovens and cook everything on the grill. But, it probably makes for a more efficient work flow. While, to me, Penn Station does not make a true Philly cheesesteak, it still makes a good sandwich. The french fries are awesome. Wendi loves fresh-cut fries, and Penn Station always delivers. And, the restaurant is known for the freshness of its ingredients.
If you have the opportunity to eat at a Penn Station East Coast Subs, then I suggest you take it. While we ate at the Maineville store, the map below is for the Fairlawn location because of its proximity to Wooster, our home base.
