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Spouse-owners split seating for each clash
By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal columnist
Published on Saturday, Nov 10, 2007
Three hundred sixty three days a year, Julian's restaurant, which sits at Pioneer and Malasia in Goodyear Heights, is a quiet place where friends come to eat and greet.
But those other two days . . .
Well, that's when things really get heated up. And not in the kitchen either.
In the dining room, where every booth is usually packed, owner Dan Julian pretty much guarantees wall-to-wall barking on the two days out of the year when the Cleveland Browns take on their long-standing gridiron rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The next time is at 1 p.m. Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh in the event you've
been visiting another planet.
Dan Julian — a die-hard Steelers fan — not only promises the pump-up-the-volume atmosphere; he actually encourages it.
Helping to stir things up — and, again, not in the kitchen — is Mary Julian, Dan's wife of nearly 13 years and a cast-iron Browns fan from way back.
That's right, the Julians — while solidly in love — are split when it comes to the Browns and the Steelers.
So much so that those two days out of the year when the teams play, the couple dress up the restaurant in their favorite team memorabilia (jerseys, posters, teams photos, you name it) in preparation for the BIG game.
Family feud
Mary takes one side and Dan the other.
So, all that's left for the diners — er, fans — to do is to choose where to sit.
Truly all that separates these fierce-but-friendly opposing viewpoints is a shiny, brass rail that runs down the middle of the dining room.
So, it's Browns on the right and Steelers on the left.
Diners can now cheer for their favorite teams on two newly-installed television sets.
It was Tasty Pure salesman Bill Weirtz, a lifelong Browns fan, who urged me to visit this ''divided'' restaurant.
Birthday gift
''For Dan's birthday this year Mary gave him his dream gift — a three-day trip to Steelers Fantasy Camp,'' Weirtz wrote.
''Dan found out the hard way that his good cooking had taken its toll and he was too out of shape to get down into a four-point stance anymore. Needless to say, he came home with a pulled hamstring.''
Incidentally, Mary, 51, is manager of the admitting department at the Cleveland Clinic .
Her husband, 54, — who played high school football in his native Clarendon, Pa., near Pittsburgh — said he actually got to play with some of the Steelers at the Latrobe, Pa., fantasy camp.
''There were guys there from all over,'' he reminisced. ''One guy had come all the way from Germany. And there lots of father/son teams . . . ''
His favorite Steelers player of all time? No. 58 — Jack Lambert.
When asked about her all-time favorite Browns player, Mary Julian wasn't able to quit with just one. No, she went on and on.
Of course, being a die-hard Browns fan myself, I saw no need to interrupt her. ''Clay Matthews — No. 57,'' she happily began. '' Bernie Kosar, when he played. Lyle Alzado. Eric Metcalf.''
Picking sides
Dane Julian said game-day rivalry at the restaurant is so serious ''that Browns fans would rather wait in line than be seated on the Steelers side.''
''I always tell 'em they'll get much larger portions if they sit on the Steelers side,'' he joked.
''But, no, they'd rather wait to sit on the Browns side. Or what I call the side of Hope.''
Julian was touting that the Steelers have won the last seven grudge matches against the Browns and 13 of the past 14 games.
And there's this: The Steelers are a 91/2 point favorite Sunday.
''So, we're overdue,'' an emboldened Mary Julian chimed in, adding that her son, 21, a student at Bowling Green State University, is also a Browns fan.
Dan, who also was married before, has two daughters. ''One is a Steelers fan like me,'' he boasted.
''But the other doesn't care,'' he added in a lowered voice. Clearly, he's hard at work to change that.
Unlike the real Dawg Pound, Julian's restaurant is an alcohol- free zone.
No doubt, that plays a huge role in keeping the rivalry good natured.
In the meantime, we'll just have to wait and see who at Julian's on game day will be eating crow.
Or. put another way, just who will be having their eggs — scrambled? Or over easy?
Stay tuned.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
Get the full article here.
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