The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Time of the season
Fligner’s Market draws diners near and far in search of corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day
Bright eyes and masked watering mouths were in Fligner’s Market, 1854 Broadway in Lorain, on March 17 as thousands of fresh corned beef dinners were sold for St. Patrick’s Day.
Every year, people travel from across Northeast Ohio to Fligner’s get a taste of the popular corned beef sandwiches and dinners, said market co-owner Ben Fligner.
“We’ve had businesses call in to order dinners from Strongsville and Sandusky,” Fligner said. “It’s so much easier to prepare for large orders when they call ahead; we can have them ready for pickup instead of having them wait for 50 dinners to be packed.”
With 40 businesses placing callahead orders and people picking dozens of dinners, the market goes through thousands of pounds of meat, potatoes, carrots and cabbage for the meals, he said.
“We spent the past four days prepping the meat and getting ready for the dinners,” Fligner said. “It’s a fun thing we do.”
Meals consisted of either corned beef, red skin potatoes, carrots and cabbage, or a corned beef sandwich with coleslaw and pickle.
“I feel like we give a good meal for a really good price,” Fligner said.
The market has used the same recipe for about 15 years, he said.
“It’s a really old Irish recipe,” Fligner said. “It’s really well liked.”
Dinners are out the door at a steady pass all day, Fligner said, and it couldn’t be done without the dedication of his staff.
“We have a great crew who dedicate the time to this dinner,” he said. “They have it down to a science and they’re like a well-oiled machine.
“We have two lines of people who put the dinners together.”
With the just-passed anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, Fligner said he was reflecting on how different selling dinners was last year.
“We were selling dinners at the start of lockdown and everything was different,” he said. “We are so blessed to have regular customers come back.”