A few steps from Medina’a Public Square is a popular, Victorian-themed restaurant — Miss Molly’s Tea Room and Gift Shop.  It is pretty, feminine and very, very floral. Roses predominate — they are found on all the teapots and teacups, they spill out of vases and adorn the wallpaper. There are also lace table cloths , heart-shaped sandwiches and Christmas lights all year long.

Miss Molly’s is a very successful restaurant — if you don’t have a reservation for lunch, you may have to wait in the hall and twiddle your thumbs for a long, long time. And it consistently gathers accolades from the local media. (“Best of the Best” from the Medina County Gazette and  Fox 8’s Hot Spot in the Akron/Canton area.)

Here’s what you see here on an average weekday lunch hour.  At a nearby table sit four generations of women: a young woman with her infant daughter, her mother and her grandmother.  At another table, a group of eight animated middle-aged women are gathering, bearing gifts.  It’s clearly someone’s birthday or special occasion.

A few moments later two mothers walk by with four- year old daughters in tow.  The little girls are dressed in ruffly frocks and patent leather shoes — perfect attire for their first Victorian tea.  They will probably be served the “Little Miss Molly” — double-decker peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches and pink lemonade.

The food is also very feminine : salads, puff pastries, scones with Devonshire cream and preserves served on pretty plates.  Selection of teas is extensive and everyone gets an individual china teapot.

Here are some Miss Molly’s classics:

Heart-shaped puff pastry with the signature strawberry pretzel salad.

Chicken, tuna and pimento cheese served with love.

The experience doesn’t end there.  The check is paid at the gift shop which is filled with its own temptations.  Buy your very own rose-strewn teapot and some exotic teas to go with it — or original oil paintings, handmade jewelry, books, note cards. The selection is extensive.

Miss Molly’s is a popular place for bridal and baby showers and birthday parties.  Since they are open on Friday evenings, they can also accommodate rehearsal dinners.

The restaurant is  located on 140 W. Washington Street, one block west of Public Square in the former Medina Telephone Exchange building.

Hours are 11:00 – 3:00 Monday-Saturday, 12:00 -4:00 on Sunday and 5:00-8:00 P.M. on Friday.  For more information, go to www.missmollys.net.

First — the cooking class.  Sandy Baugh, a retired middle-school teacher with a warm, animated manner, runs her classes in the small cafe in the back of the store.  She doesn’t have a stove yet — the Root Company has  acquired one for her and it will arrive soon.

However, she makes extensive use of crock pots and a counter top pizza oven and has produced seven offerings.

This afternoon, in keeping with the Lenten season, the fare is meatless. Sandy begins with a Greek Rice Salad filled with anchovies and capers accompanied by a zucchini red pepper sesame cheese bread.  The key ingredients in both dishes come from bottled sauces from Stonewall Kitchen of Maine and are sold by Root — Stonewall Kitchen Classic Greek Dressing and their Roasted Red Pepper Sesame Sauce. Both offerings are very good, especially the Greek Salad.

She then moves on to two crock pots, one filled with a vegetarian chili and the other with a lentil soup.  Once again, the Stonewall sauces — Maple Chipotle Grill Sauce and Traditional Marinara Sauce are key.

While a pizza is baking in the little pizza oven on the counter, Sandy, keeps up a running commentary and offers two pasta salads — sun dried tomato pesto pasta — which several people in the class like very much, and a Mediterranean pasta made with an asparagus soup mix (Wind & Willow Red Pepper Asparagus Soup Mix) which is a bit bland.

The pizza, a Boboli crust with a Stone Kitchen Marinara Sauce covered with sauteed mushrooms and eggplant — very reminiscent of  that Italian restaurant staple, Eggplant Parmesan –  is the last item.

The class ends with a handful of recipes, a 25% coupon for all kitchen products, and an invitation to browse the extensive selection of sauces and mixes from a variety of manufacturers that Root carries.

And then, on to the rest of the store and the 20% off on candles.  Not a bad way to spend the day.

To contact Sandy for private classes:  call (330) 723-4359

For class schedule:  go to www.rootcandles.com

Recipes for all the dishes mentioned are available at www.stonewallkitchen.com .

Endless choices from Stonewall Kitchen

As a bonus to Root Candles, step outside and walk around to the back of the huge, red-brick Root store to discover Medina’s best-kept secret – the Root Factory Outlet.  Aromatic candles and seasonal decorations overflow from cardboard boxes and industrial-style shelving – and all are sold at greatly discounted prices.

Click here to see more pictures from the Root Factory Outlet.

Cool Beans, located in an 1871 building on the northwest corner of Public Square, offers an extensive menu of coffees, teas and pastries, as well as lunches.  They are noted for serving especially good soups, but the sandwiches and salads excel as well.  All are made daily in the state of the art kitchen visible behind the glass partition – where cooking classes are periodically conducted.

Samuel Barnard built the handsome brick building after the 1870 fire devastated most of Medina’s business district.  The first building to occupy this site was a two-story log cabin constructed in 1818.  The first floor served as a tavern and community center and the local court was held on the second floor.

Alas, the Medina Farmers Market on the square is finished for 2009, but you still have three more weeks to visit the Indoor Farmers Market at Medina Contractor Connection, 941 N. Court St. The market runs 9am-1pm for three Saturdays in November (7, 14, 21) with local farmers, bakers, and craftspeople.