Fuel your appetite at Quaker Steak & Lube

Colerain restaurant adopts automotive theme

The Four-Wheeler appetizer

ENLARGE PHOTO

Footlighters present 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever'
11/6/09
Encore Theatre adds younger production
11/6/09
New craft show brings vendors to Hamilton
11/6/09
Dinner theater benefits local crisis center
11/6/09
Chinese acrobats swoop into area this weekend
11/6/09
> More headlines

By Sue Perine O’Reilly, Contributing Writer 3:07 PM Wednesday, June 24, 2009

At first glance, it almost looks like an old-fashioned gas station. There’s even a gas nozzle on the door to enter the place and an old-fashioned gas pump sitting in front of the building.

But do a double-take before trying to lap around this new place and you’ll see that it’s actually a restaurant -- a unique restaurant in decor, in food selections, and in the community for it’s weekly charitable events.

It’s called Quaker Steak & Lube Restaurant and one just opened in March in the Colerain area of Cincinnati.

“It’s America’s # 1 Motorsports-theme family restaurant,” according to general manager B.J. Cahill.

Quaker Steak & Lube Restaurant has an all-motorized vehicle decor theme on the inside, which includes large parts of classic cars, racing cars, hot rods, boats and motorcycles hanging from the ceiling and on the walls. There’s even a large bar, shaped like motorcycle handlebars, in the Corvette Room. It’s one of three rooms in the restaurant, which seats 400, including the outdoor Brickyard Patio.

But the fun doesn’t stop here. The theme follows through on the menu and food.

For example, in the Starting Line-up (appetizers), customers may order the O-Ring Ontenna, a Lube Original, or the 4-Wheeler, among other selections. The O-Rings are not your ordinary onion rings. They are 1-inch thick-cut rings that are breaded and fried crunchy and then stacked high on a Baby Moon Ontenna (antenna). The 4-Wheeler is a quadruple treat with O-Rings stacked high on an Ontenna, served with soft pretzels, mozzarella cheese sticks and crispy Italian-breaded dill pickles. Sauces served with this treat include cool Ranch, marinara and beer-cheese dip.

Quaker Steak & Lube Restaurant, the second one in our area (the other one is in Milford), and the 32nd one in the U. S., first opened in 1974 in an actual old gas station in Pa. Co-founders “Mo’ and “Jig” started out with steaks, but in 1976 they started serving wings with some of the 21 original sauces that they created.

The Wings served with the sauces is what keeps the crowd coming back. The Wings are nationally-known for their flavor, as well as for the sauces. The wings are fresh, never frozen and they’re the only food cooked in a separate oil. In 1988, “The Lube” won “Best Wings in the USA.” Since then, the restaurant has won over 100 national -and international awards for its wings and sauces.

The twenty-one wing sauces have different degrees of hotness, described on the menu’s “Wing-O-Meter.” Start with the yummy mild sweet BBQ sauce with the Sprintster Wings, which is the least seasoned on the meter (90 is their heat unit). Progress up the meter, if you dare, to the Atomic Wings Sauce, which has a meter reading of 150,000. Sniff this sauce and it clears your sinuses. This sauce is so hot that Cahill says anyone who tries it must sign a release form first. Any patron who tries it also gets his name on the Wall of Flame in the restaurant, as well as a bumper sticker for his car that says “Atomic Wings Survivor.”

The sauces are served with other dishes, too, including a Lube Original, customer- favorite sandwich, The Lubeburger, as well as their award-winning BabyBack Ribs. The ribs are seared, rubbed, and roasted for seven hours before they land on the grill and sauce is added.

There’s a unique kids’ menu, called Kids Lube Cruisers, for only $3.99. Kids under ten can get macaroni and cheese, baby carrots, Jell-O and much more.

Finish Line desserts are for all customers with a sweet tooth who still have room to eat more. One popular dessert is the Triple Rich Fudge Brownie for $5.99.

This unique restaurant aslo serves Leaded Fuel, which is beer and alcoholic beverages, and Unleaded Fuel, which includes soft drinks and iced tea.

“Fun is huge here. Live it! Love it! Lube it!,” says Cahill.

Contact this writer at suoreilly@aol.com.

How to go

WHAT: Quaker Steak & Lube Restaurant

WHERE: 3737 Stonecreek Blvd., Cincinnati (Colerain area in Stonecreek Strip Mall, next to the new Olive Garden location)

WHEN: Open 11 a.m. - midnight. Sunday - Thursday; 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday & Saturday

COST: Starting Line-Up (Appetizers) $4.59 - $13.95; Souped-Up (bowl of soup) $3.99; In-Field Greens (salads) $3.99 to $9.99; Jumbo Wings & V-8 Wing Combos $8.29 - $27.99; Beefed-Up Steakburgers $7.59 - $8.79; Baby Back Ribs $12.99 - $17.99; Flamebroiled steak $11.59 - $17.99; Kids Lube Cruisers (Kids Menu) $3.99; finish Line Desserts $4.99 - $5.99

MORE INFO: (513) 923-9464; www.quakersteakandlube.com

CRITIC’S CHOICE: Lubeburger; Sprintster (sweet) wings; choice of 21 homemade sauces; 4-Wheeler, including 1-inch thick cut onion rings; Babyback BBQ ribs

Share this article