Taking on Swenson's and the Galley Boy

Looks like time for a fun post to write after a few days of Browns and Devils losses and the news about the Hagerstown Suns, I could use a lighter-hearted post to work on.

On my recent day trip, I managed to take care of half of my promised Akron Cheeseburger Food Feud on the way home.
With time being a restriction, I consider myself fortunate to get that much accomplished, as by going out of the way a little on the ride home, I was able to also see something that I have always wanted to see as well, which I will address in a future post.

Swensons drive in is part of the Akron argument on which local staple cheeseburger is superior, Swensons and the Galley Boy or their top

competitor-Skyway drive in and their Sky High burger.

I drove a little out of the way to find the Swensons location in Stow, Ohio(just outside of Kent) and it was well worth the time.

I was not really hungry yet but wanted to try the vaunted Galley Boy, which is the Swenson's featured burger.
I didn't order other items, but Rachel had a Vanilla Milk Shake, which she reports as tremendous.
Swenson's is a drive-in, so you eat in your car and they were quite busy with the beginnings of the lunch rush
.
However, the service was very friendly and reasonably fast, considering the time of our visit.
Swenson's old-time car hops (No skates though) run from car to door and I do mean RUN!

I would highly doubt that one would see an out of shape person working at Swenson's unless they would be the cook because they have little choice other than to get into shape with all the running!

Swenson's rolls are all homemade and brought in daily from a local bakery, which gives the roll a fresh baked taste.
The beef that they use is also a special mixture that they do not publicize, so things are kept in house for the most part, which usually results in better food.
The Galley Boy comes with two patties, extra cheese, and two special sauces.
You can add anything else to the burger, but that is the basic model.
I added some pickles but wanted to keep things as basic to the burger as I could for the first time.
All Swenson's sandwiches come with a green olive toothpicked through the top, which is fine by me-I like olives!
The two sauces are barbecue and tartar and I must admit as not being a huge fan of barbecue sauce, I did have some concerns about the Galley Boy.
My first bite hit more of the BQ and the lovely Cherie asked what I thought about it thus far.
Honestly, I was non-plussed, but it was not bad.
Then, a change as the BQ mixed more with the tartar sauce that created an awesome mix of tart and sweet that I loved.
Just that simple and quick, I went from a 'this is OK, but what's the fuss" to zooming up the charts on my burger list.
It was that good.

As our carhop took the trays away, I told him we were visiting and would be hitting Skyway in the future and I asked what makes Swenson's better than Skyway?
He quickly blurted out the response in a voice that I reserve for discussions on the michigan Wolverines-"The Galley Boy is unique, the Sky High is just a glorified Big Mac! and we run everywhere for the best service, they walk to your car and act like you have all day!".

All and all, I recommend Swenson's the Galley Boy highly and I am sure that I will return one day for another Galley Boy, but to be fair, next year-Skyway will get its turn at bat.
Thanks to the lovely Cherie for the pictures and allowing the extra time to be spent on cheeseburgers, but her kindness would be rewarded as we will see in a future post that came about all because of the out of the way drive....
Also thanks again to Tom Noe for the idea of these stops with pictures from his blog Exploring Food My Way, found in the links to the right.
For Tom's thoughts on Swenson's-click here....

Photo Credits:Cherie Heimberger