One of the first interior design elements you’ll notice about Rossford’s new foodie haven, Devour, is a chalkboard that proudly proclaims all the local companies that Devour sources from. Treasuring its hometown roots, this business, owned by Ryan Bogdanski and Camille MacKinnon (wife of Rossford Mayor Neil MacKinnon III), seeks to expand on the NW Ohio flavor palette through innovative takes on comfort classics. Bogdanski, the former general manager at La Scola Italian Grill and a UT grad, has been around the food industry for the last 12 years.
Continually changing the menu to play with what works, Bogdanski wants to keep people excited. “I just changed the menu up, actually,” Bogdanski said. “The bacon jam grilled cheese was a (temporary) feature and it sold so well, we placed it on the menu. Any time you come in, there’ll be something different you can try.”
Located in the former space of Burger Bar 419, Devour is its own animal— and though they’re new, they’re already filling their booths with hungry and curious denizens. “Our menu is kind of diverse. We have some more adventurous things along with the basic stuff,” says Bogdanski. “We serve (food) next door as well (the bar Billy V’s shares a door with Devour) and they like a lot of fried food and pub fare. We have something for everyone.”
The Appetizers
The entire appetizer list looked like it would happily satisfy our bellies, but with a pescatarian in the group, we couldn’t just go all in on the Meat and Cheese Board. Instead, we shut her up with the Dill Pickle Dip while we savaged the Beer Cheese Tots. The beer cheese kicks the flavor up on this enormous pile of crispy tots (the way they ought to be!) along with tomatoes, bacon and chives. The Dill Pickle Dip turned out to be a fantastic choice, accompanied by enough chips to scrape the dip bowl clean (which will happen).
The Entrées
You can do your belly a serious solid with their entrées here. Running the gamut from salads to a taco option to sandwiches of many flavors, you’ll make many visits without repeating. And you’ll need to because each entrée selection has a gourmand twist that makes it unique to Devour. Their hot dog, the Bull Dog, is a masterfully piled assortment of foodcraft, featuring nacho cheese and their secret Devour sauce, all of which provides a southwestern kick. Their most popular option, the Short Rib Philly, takes you to the other side of the country and lives up to the hype with tender slices of beef paired with flavorful onions and peppers.
If you can’t make it to Philly for real, Devour will take care of you. And if you’ve got a hollow leg, Devour has the sandwich that will fill it. The Devour Dagwood, a mountain of meats, cheeses and fresh veggies between two slices of bread is meant for two.
But if you welcome the challenge of the near impossible, you can certainly take this journey alone. “I did this more as a novelty,”Bogdanski says of the massive club sandwich construction, “but we’ve sold 15 or 20 of them. We had one guy actually eat it by himself.”
The Desserts
Desserts at Devour are like a secret off-menu component that you have to unlock at the moment. Inquiring about a dessert option scored us some bread pudding, which was their only official option, but they gave a sneak peek of a potential dessert they’re messing with— fried apples and vanilla ice cream. Delicious! Hopefully this one makes the menu, because it will become a destination dessert. As in, ‘let’s go to Devour and get some fried apples with ice cream!’
For those of you who work near Rossford, hit this place up on your lunch break. The rest of us will have to settle for dinner. And of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that it also perfectly functions as a great beer-quaffing hangout, as they serve Maumee Bay Brewing Co. options while Black Swamp Brewing drafts are coming soon. You’ve done us proud with this one, Rossford.
Welcome to the Toledo Foodie Scene.
11am-9pm, Monday-Thursday; 11am-10pm, Friday; 4-8pm, Sunday. 159 Superior St., Rossford. 419-214-1124. facebook.com/devour.rossford
