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8/2/2012 - West Side Leader
     

By Kathleen Folkerth

Restaurateur Rockne Becker is shown second from right with the staff at his new eatery, Rock Fresh. Many of his employees are local students who are learning about the restaurant business.

Photo: Kathleen Folkerth

CUYAHOGA FALLS — Rockne Becker has taken his 35 years of restaurant experience and interest in healthy eating and put it together in Rock Fresh, his new eatery at 3883 State Road.

Becker, who started the Rockne’s chain of restaurants, said Rock Fresh is a casual dining establishment with dinner entrees, soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts.

“The whole idea of the Rock Fresh concept is we try to give you the best of ingredients, with no preservatives, and we try to deal with as much local as we can,” Becker said.

The menu features comfort foods with a German influence, such as sausage or pork with sauerkraut, stuffed cabbage and peppers and chicken paprikash. Becker also makes his own meats for Reuben and corned beef sandwiches, he said. He also makes his own sausage.

As for salads, he features an organic greens salad, wedge salad, slaw and barley side salad. Soups, like French onion, are all made fresh, Becker added. He also offers a children’s menu.

Desserts featured are bread pudding, pineapple upside down cake and chocolate walnut torte. Breakfasts such as French toast and potato pancakes are available for morning diners.

Becker said he also offers something he calls Oz Water, which is a pineapple, lemon and mint-infused water that he was inspired to make from TV’s Dr. Oz.

Living a healthy lifestyle is something that Becker said he has become more interested in recently.

“I used to go to bed at 4 in the morning but now I get up at 4 in the morning,” he said. “I’m 63 and I hope to live to 103.”

Also unique about Rock Fresh is that Becker is working with local students to teach them the restaurant business. He started working with students from Cuyahoga Falls High School and now is working with Woodridge High School and The University of Akron students.

“These kids, they are like sponges,” he said. “They absorb everything and they run my life better than I could.”

He said the students learn everything from how to prepare food to what it takes to run a small business.

In addition to table service, Rock Fresh also allows customers to phone in an order for pickup.

Rock Fresh is open Mondays through Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 330-923-ROCK (7625) or go to www.rockfresh.biz. Cash and checks are accepted and an ATM is onsite.

Editor’s note: Advertiser features appearing in the West Side Leader are provided as a service to the advertiser and our readers. They do not serve as an endorsement of any company, person, product or service. All information contained in these features comes directly from interviews with company owners or their representatives and from additional materials provided by them.

     

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