Campus Pollyeyes

440 E Court St,

Bowling Green, OH 43402

 www.campuspollyeyes.com

FEATURED STORY FROM THE Best of BG – 2013 ISSUE

Pollyeyes:

Where Stuffed Breadsticks are King

“It was the early 1990s and our employees were always messing around with new ideas, and one day they made these pepperoni and cheese doughballs,” says Campus Pollyeyes owner Bob Nicholson.

Before long, they were making breadsticks stuffed with pepperoni and cheese, chicken and cheese, and other combinations. “And they became a hit on the menu,” he says.

So much so that today, not only have Pollyeyes’ stuffed breadsticks become part of local restaurant lore, but the restaurant receives two to three out-of-town orders each week from BGSU alumni living all over the country — from Wisconsin to Los Angeles, from Arkansas to San Francisco. The frozen breadsticks and ingredients travel in freezer bags by U.S. Mail.

The chicken and cheese breadsticks are most popular, and customers can order as many as five items with their breadsticks. They’re served with a choice of homemade sauces.

Although the breadsticks get the headlines, Campus Polleyyes is also known for its unusual oval-shaped baked spaghetti — topped with a blend of Colby, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses — and its conventional thin curst and pan style pizzas and specialty pizzas. Among the specialty pizzas, Pollyeyes serves up a taco pizza, a roast beef special with ranch, a grilled chicken special with ranch, and a garlic-basted white pizza with no red meat or pizza sauce.

A college athlete, Bob Nicholson began working at Campus Pollyeyes full-time in 2007 after leaving a professional golf career that included stops as a teaching/club pro at courses in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Toledo. He purchased the restaurant from his mom and dad, Robin and George Nicholson, in 2011.

Like all but one of his five brothers and sisters, Bob grew up working at his parents’ pizza shops. George, or “Crazy George” as he may best be known as in Bowling Green, has been a Bowling Green restaurant staple since 1967. That’s when George, at 19 years old and driving a 1962 Volkswagen bug, relocated to BG to open Pagliai’s Pizza on South Main Street.

Pagliai’s on South Main is well-known for its all-you-can-eat buffet that runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day; its salad bar voted the “Best in Wood County” at the Wood County Fair; and its lasagna and spaghetti dishes. Pagliai’s offers a similar sub and pizza menu as its sister shop to the north. There are no stuffed breadsticks, but cinnamon breadsticks are on the menu.

George Nicholson figures he’s been making pizzas for 49 of his 66 years. A small  cheese pizza was 90 cents and a soft drink 10 cents when he opened Pagliai’s on South Main in ‘67.

“At one time, in the 1980s, Bowling Green had 25 pizza shops and made the Guinness Book (of World Records),” George recalls. “It was not just the pizza business, it was like war. It was like hand-to-hand combat. But I didn’t mind the fight.

AN ADDITIONAL FEATURED STORY ABOUT CAMPUS POLLYEYES CAN BE FOUND IN THE Best of BG – 2012 ISSUE