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| - For years, Szalay's was just of one of those many curious relics dotting the roadways of Cuyahoga Valley. My interest didn't extend much beyond how to pronounce it. (suh-LAYs seems to be the consensus vote,) I didn't eat vegetables back then, at least not voluntarily. I was on my way to Burger King, dude.
My eating habits have improved markedly since the Bad Old Days, and now I stalk farmer's markets like a serial killer, armed with a recycled hemp bag and a guilty conscience from decades of addiction to processed junk. I've gone so far the other direction that I buy vegetables that I've never heard of before, have no idea how to prepare, and sometimes don't even bother to actually eat....condeming them to impromptu microbiology experiments in the bottom of the refrigerator.
Szalay's is a bit of a paradox though, when it comes to farmers' markets. It predates the farmers' markets craze by a long time, and judging by the huge crowds that now overrun this once-empty roadside market, Szalay's has grown and profited from the trend towards locally-sourced produce, but it doesn't seem to acknowledge or participate in some of basic tenets that made the movement what it is: local, organic, and seasonal.
First of all, the origin of the produce isn't labeled anywhere. I'm not sure if this is just ignorance, arrogance, or what. The produce here is exceptionally fresh-looking, generally much more so that the sad pickings-over at your chain grocery store, but I have no idea what was picked 2 days ago from the local farm vs. what emerged from a DDT bath 3 weeks ago in Chile. Clearly some of the produce is imported, but I have no idea from where. There is zero mention of the "O-word" anywhere, either, so I have to assume that a full arsenal of synthetic pesticides were deployed on everything, including the French baguettes.
I think it's just an old-school mentality: a cucumber is a cucumber....why the hell are people suddenly asking where it came from? They've been operating like this forever, so why change.
Szalay's does sell lots of regionally-produced baked goods, jams, snacks, and other assorted gift shop trappings. (The Amish are, of course, well-represented here.) Unfortunately, they also seem to have found the most low-end producers in the entire stratum. I've never been too impressed by any of these snacky things that I've been suckered into buying. The pies are dreadful. The sweet potato chips should be illegal. Resist the knick-knacks. It's like stuff your dear old Grandma would make, if your dear old Grandma was a very poor cook.
Although the green-stuffs are fresh, you're not going to find anything unusual here. Szalay's offers one basic variety of your commodity vegetables. No designer yuppie lettuce or dainty mini-eggplants here, if that's the kinda of stuff that gets you off. I know it does for me. (What....you've got purple peas? No shit. I actually hate peas, but I'll take a pint of those purple ones. This is the sort of irrational thinking I usually employ at farmer's markets.)
There is one undeniable asset to Szalay's: their sweet corn is incredible, especially from their roasted corn stand. As I mentioned, some of the produce at Szalay's has unknown origins, but there's no questioning where the corn comes from. You are surrounded by it....besieged by it. Szalay's cornfields occupy huge stretches of the river valley. And if you're blind, you can hear the constant gunfire that they use to keep the birds and deer from eating the crop. (Some days, it's like the entire valley is under mortar attack.) All that noise pollution seems justified, however, when you're sitting on a picnic bench with a perfect ear of corn in your greasy hand and butter running down your face. (Mock Midwesterners all you want... we've got The Corn and without it you'd all fucking starve to death.)
The bottom line with Szalays is: it's just more appealing (....in a delusional, romantic sort of way) to buy my vegetables from a rustic barn in the scenic Cuyahoga Valley than from a suburban strip mall, even if I know that some of this stuff probably came off the same wholesaler trucks that supply the masses at Giant Eagle. So, I keep coming back all summer until they shutter down at end of October. What can I say? I'm a corn-whore.
3-1/2 stars for Szalay's. Deduct a star for sneakin' in the imported produce without making it clear what's what, and a half star for those goddamn air-guns turning the valley into a freakin' war zone.
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