Swensons kicks Skyway's buns

CUYAHOGA FALLS: Galley Boy, take a bow.

Swensons' double cheeseburger, an Akron icon, earned a new title Saturday when Iron Chef Michael Symon named it the winner in a battle with Skyway Drive-In's SkyHi double-decker burger.

The food debate was part of a new Food Network show, Food Feuds, which Symon is hosting.

Symon declared Swensons the winner before a crowd of several hundred who had gathered at High Bridge Glens Park on Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls for the recording of the show's finale.

Basing his decision on taste, technique and tradition, Symon gave Skyway the nod on tradition, saying that the burger had taken him back to his childhood.

For technique, he praised the way Swensons grinds its own beef and butters its buns for the classic sandwich.

When it came to taste, Symon picked the double-sauced Galley Boy, which comes speared with a pimento-stuffed green olive.

Steve Thompson, owner of Swensons, beamed as he posed for photos with his trophy and thanked Swensons fans for coming out. His cheering section included the Massoli family, from Massoli's Italian Bakery in Akron, which bakes the buns for Swensons' burgers.

Symon spent time on Friday at the Swensons on Cuyahoga Falls Avenue in Akron, and at the Skyway location on Turkeyfoot Lake Road in Green, seeing how both places make their burgers and taping segments for the show.

Thompson said he showed Symon how the restaurant grinds its meat, but he didn't give away the secret recipe.

''He ate a whole Galley Boy in about a minute and a half,'' Thompson said.

Skyway owner Bob and Kelly Knapp also said they didn't reveal all of their secrets to Symon.

''We had a really good time,'' Kelly Knapp said, who added the restaurant was pleased to win the tradition category.

Symon and a Food Network crew spent four days in the Akron area taping for the show, which is set to debut this fall. They also taped a feud in Barberton featuring a fried chicken battle between Belgrade Gardens and Whitehouse Chicken.

No date has been announced when the local feuds will air on television.