Episode 020 — BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, Fairlawn, Ohio

Twenty episodes in, and the quest has earned a seat at the bar.

BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse in Fairlawn sits right next to Summit Mall, which makes it the kind of place that could easily become just another convenient stop for shoppers looking to debrief over a meal. What keeps it off that list is the bar program. The tap selection is deep, they brew their own craft beer on site, and the bar itself is the kind of setup where you settle in, pick a game on one of the many screens above you, and lose track of how long you've been there. That's not an accident of layout. That's a well-built bar doing exactly what it was designed to do.

The wings are the reason this stop made the episode log. BJ's has a house sauce that does something most chain-adjacent brewhouse wings don't — it earns a second order. Magic is the right word for it without being able to fully explain why. The wings are solid, the sauce is the story, and the bar setting makes the whole experience land better than it would at a table in the dining room.

Solo stop, good call. Sometimes the bar stool is the best seat in the house.

BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Fairlawn
Google Maps

Host: Mike "PFFMaestro"
(Solo episode)

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I Can Do Another 12: The Global Chicken Wing Show is about finding the best chicken wings on the planet, one honest bar, restaurant, backyard at a time.

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Episode 019 — Block 7 Bar & Grill, Barberton, Ohio

Right across the street from M & M's Taphouse, which means Barberton just became a two-stop wing town.

Block 7 Bar & Grill does not advertise itself from the outside. The facade is modest in the way that certain bars have perfected over decades — small enough to walk past, big enough to surprise you once you're through the door. Past the entrance it opens up considerably, a full bar leading into a back room with pool tables and the kind of energy that exists in places that have never needed a marketing budget to stay full.

There is something about Block 7 that reads as slightly dangerous and entirely fun, which is its own particular category of bar and one that this show has a soft spot for. Classic bar-style wings, sauced correctly, served without ceremony in a room where nobody is performing for anyone. The sauce-to-wing ratio is right. The heat is honest. The setting makes them taste better than they would somewhere nicer.

This is the less-traveled road. Not every stop on this quest is going to be a boutique bar or a brewery with a view of the river. Some of them are Block 7 on a Tuesday, and those might be the ones worth remembering most.

Barberton is delivering. Two stops, zero disappointments.

Block 7 Bar & Grill — Barberton
Google Maps

Host: Mike "PFFMaestro"
Co-Host: Jon "PFFNinja" or "Wingman

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I Can Do Another 12: The Global Chicken Wing Show is about finding the best chicken wings on the planet, one honest bar, restaurant, backyard at a time.

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Episode 018 — M & M's Taphouse, Barberton, Ohio

There is something specific about walking into a bar where the owner is behind the bar.

Not a manager. Not a shift lead covering a Friday night. The owner, pouring the beers and making the wings, in an old converted bank in the heart of Barberton, Ohio. That detail tells you everything you need to know about M & M's Taphouse before you even sit down.

The building has presence. A converted bank has bones that a purpose-built bar never quite achieves — high ceilings, real square footage, the kind of space that handles live music and a few pinball machines and a crowd without feeling crowded. M & M's fills it well. The atmosphere is the kind that develops when someone who actually cares about the place shows up every day and pours the drinks themselves.

The wings are outstanding. That word is not an accident. The secret M & M's sauce is the reason — a house recipe that doesn't get explained, just experienced. Sauce is the whole game on a wing, and this one is boss. Order a round and then order another one to figure out what's in it. You won't figure it out.

Hidden gem is another term that gets overused. In Barberton, it applies.

M & M's Taphouse — Barberton
Google Maps

Host: Mike "PFFMaestro" Fraser
Co-Host: Jon "PFFNinja" or "Wingman"

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I Can Do Another 12: The Global Chicken Wing Show is about finding the best chicken wings on the planet, one honest bar, restaurant, backyard at a time.

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Now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts