Lolita and Edison's Pub, March 25, 2011

Michael Symon’s cadre of restaurants are some of the larger jewels in Cleveland’s restaurant crown. So it hasn’t been active avoidance that’s kept me from dining there, more timing and opportunity. That was until this past Friday when my friend Kate and I took a drive to Tremont for night nosh at Lolita’s Happy Hour part II.

Lolita wisely re-offers the chance at food and drink specials starting again at 10:30pm and we were lucky enough to snag the last two seats at the bar—specials are available at the bar, only. In addition to Lolita’s modest but powerful dinner menu we received the Happy Hour specials list which offers a few delicious bites for $5 as well as a heads up on what drinks are on the cheap that night. We ordered a round of $2 Sierra Nevada Pale Ales and poured over the menus.

Yeah, $2 Sierra Nevada Pale Ales. Most joints you’re lucky to get $2 Miller Lights at happy hour, but Lolita offers up one of the finest mass market brews at an unbeatable price.

Picking from Lolita’s menu would be hard enough on its own, but coupled with a selection of amazing $5 choices made the picking all the harder. Kate was the first to make any sort of decision, stating that we must get the crispy chicken livers from the appetizer menu. I countered this with roasted bone marrow, something I’ve wanted to eat for a while, but had yet to find it on a menu or in my price range. $8 seemed like a fair price for an experiment. While the whole $5 menu was piquing our interest, with two apps ordered we selected only the fried Brussels sprouts. Needing to round out our faux tapas meal with something of substance we agreed on the duck prosciutto pizza.

Business was booming for 10:30-11:00 on a Friday so we sipped Sierra Nevadas and caught up. I’m not entirely sure how much time had passed but was pleasantly surprised when our food arrived. Everything looked and smelled amazing and there was little hesitation before diving in. Having had a long standing issue with the consumption of offal I decided to dive in headfirst with some chicken liver. I’ve tried fowl liver in the past and never had anything pleasant to report about it. With one bite this dish changed my mind. With their outsides perfectly fried and crispy I was surprised when the insides all but melted in my mouth. The last time I tried liver I remember it tasting extremely metallic, but these were robust and meaty, a strong flavor that was certainly chicken at heart but approached beefiness in its power and weight. The livers were served on a bed of some of the creamiest, delicate polenta I’ve ever crossed fork with and garnished with bacon and mushrooms. Easily one of the best things I’ll eat this year.

Next we moved on to the marrow. I’ve long been intrigued by the consumption of marrow. It always seemed like a very primal, animalistic thing to eat. That only lions and bears and Vikings and other beasts of their ilk would crack open the bones of another animal and suck the rich, fatty substance from therein. But apparently it’s for fancy pantses, too. We received 3 stout bones that had been sawed open to expose the marrow and make for easier scooping. The marrow had been roasted with a simple salsa verde and was served with pickled onions and toasted bread for spreading. I scraped out the contents of half a bone and spread it on the bread. I could almost tell as the bread and marrow entered my mouth that this was going to be amazing. Marrow, if you’ve never had it, is the essence of beef flavor. Like bacon its flavor is fatty in the best possible way, and the marrow’s concentrated beefiness is like getting punched in the mouth with a steak filled with hamburgers. It’s beef to the highest degree and should be experienced at least once. I’m so happy to have tried this and can’t wait to have it again!

With the wild cards successfully played we moved onto the fried Brussels sprouts. Ranging from slightly charred to perfectly cooked, these sprouts offer a variety of tastes and textures on their own. They are then tossed with anchovies and capers for some salt and walnuts for extra crunch. There was also the perfect hint of sweetness throughout the dish which my taste parts noted as balsamic vinegar or a reduction, but it’s not listed on the menu so I can’t say with 100% certainty. Arguably as good as Melt’s sprouts in cherry lambic glaze, Lolita’s sprouts number amongst my favorite preparations of these tiny cabbages for both taste and approach. Finally we came to the pizza. Topped with a couple of soft cooked eggs, parmesan, rosemary, and gorgeous flakes of duck prosciutto this simple little pizza was the perfect marriage of sweet, salty, fatty, cheesy, and carbs. As fantastic as it was, a solid “B” for sure, in light of the three other “A” plates it just felt a little flat. Accompanied by less ambitious sides I’m sure it would’ve shined, but with the livers and the marrow on the table, few things would have seemed as bold and flavorful.

Full and more than satisfied we hung around to finish our beers before making our way to Edison’s Pub for a night cap. We were lucky enough to find Stone’s Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale on tap and had a few. The Bourbon Barrel ale is golden in color and produces a modest head with little lacing. It smells primarily of malt with hints of oak and maple. Its primary flavor is malt mingling with the woodiness of the barrel aging, with hints of vanilla and maple from the residual bourbon. A wonderful, hearty “dessert” beer if ever there was one. The Stone offering is on the completely opposite end of the spectrum. Classified as an American black ale and clocking in at 8.7 ABV the Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale is not to be trifled with. Its nearly pitch black in a glass with a small head and modest lacing. Its faint aroma is a mixture of hops and dark malts, both of which are subtle. With such an subtle fragrance I was surprised by how much depth of flavor this beer has—it’s from Stone so I shouldn’t have been. There’s a quick jab of malty-ness at first which I quickly overwhelmed by the dueling flavors of dark roasted malt and a heavy dose of pine-then-citrus hops. All together an amazing, flavorful, powerful but balanced beer, and proof contrary to my long held belief that black IPAs are generally unsatisfying. I realize that this isn’t technically a black IPA, but it does prove that dark beers can be made hoppy successfully.

The Fracas Affair

Fracas, an American Gastro-Pub, is the latest addition to Cleveland’s ever expanding restaurant roster. Opening late last year in the Centrum Theater at the corner of Coventry and Euclid Heights Boulevard, I’d been curious about before it even opened due to its Gabbo-like hype campaign. A hand painted sign reading “Fracas” first appeared on the awning buttressed by the Dog House and Chipotle. Later a sign in the window declared that it “[was] Coming.” Eventually the signage disclosed that Fracas was going to be a restaurant around the same time I started seeing ads in Scene, Cleveland’s free weekly. So my curiosity had been piqued already when I noticed that the print ads Fracas was running were declaring it “The Best New Restaurant in Cleveland!” A rather bold statement, I thought; a challenge even. And so with little hesitation I agreed to accompany Nicole to this new spot for dinner this past Tuesday.

Luckily Fracas is only a few blocks from either of our apartments so braving the latest storm-of-the-century-of-the-week was little problem. We entered the front doors of the old Centrum building to find the hostess sitting behind the disused ticket counter. She quickly escorted us down the hall and into one of the theaters. With no real way of knowing from the outside, I was slightly shocked to find that Fracas is massive. With a 3 or 4 story high ceiling and taking up almost all of the theater’s former seating area, Fracas has the potential to accommodate some large crowds, throngs, even. A huge peninsula of a bar juts through the middle of the dining room, adorned with fifteen taps. Surrounded by several dozen high stools, the bar alone seats more than some restaurants in the area.

It seems we were the first to arrive, and being the only two guests in this cavernous space was a little strange, but the staff on hand was amazingly friendly so the slightly uncomfortable feeling was quickly assuaged. Glancing through the drink and food menus I was relieved to find the drink menu was notably larger than the food. While I appreciate options at restaurants I feel, sometimes, that a menu too large spreads the quality too thin, at least when it comes to food. A competent bar tender should be able to master a laundry list of libations, but too much variety in the kitchen can compromise quality even in the strongest kitchens. Making a final choice was tough, so we just picked drinks first. I went local with an Old 21 Imperial IPA from Strongsville’s Brew Kettle. A rich, gold/blond colored ale with a touch of head and decent lacing, Old 21 is packed with citrusy hops, mostly grapefruit with a hint of orange and pine, and a pleasant bitter-malt aftertaste that borders the taste profile of some barley wines. Nicole chose Stone’s Levitation, an American amber ale with a strong hop presence but without the heft of a lot of Stone’s other offerings. Similar to Arrogant Bastard, but it’s possible to drink more than one or two Levitations in an evening if inclined.

With drink orders in we were still uncertain of our food choices so we selected an appetizer from the simple but well appointed offerings. House made potato chips with bacon onion dip was the final call, although the calamari, shell fish, and pretzels also sounded promising. The chips were solid, but not the best homemade chips I’ve ever had, they either needed to be dried more thoroughly pre-fry or drained better post-fry. Either way a fair few were greasy and limp and still tasting of fryer oil, the successful chips were wonderful. But the real star of this opening act was the dip, taking rich, decadent onion dip, always a favorite, and ratcheting up the deliciousness with bacon was inspired. The sweet/saltiness of the bacon balanced out the creaminess of the dip base, while the pork fat partnered with the mayo and sour cream for a ménage trois of artery wrecking flavor.

Our minds now slightly relieved of order anxiety we were finally able to place entrée orders. I selected the angus burger under the belief that most restaurants can be reasonably judged based on the execution of their burger. Nicole chose excellent sounding gnocchi. On such a slow night orders arrived quickly and we were able to dive right in. My burger, ordered somewhere south of medium and north of medium-rare, was cooked perfectly, solid seer on the outside, equally pink and brown in, allowing for the maximum flavor combination of meat and heat. And, man, was it meaty! Like beef on ten, just a few nibbles of meat this good could convert most of PETA. Topped with caramelized onions in Port reduction, apple wood bacon, and smoked Gouda, Fracas could almost be accused of gilding the lily with this dish. Luckily all the ingredients married so well that it was like devouring a four part harmony between grilled brioche. For my side I picked the fries (the other option being the chips, but we’d already ordered those), which were obviously cut fresh and delicious, if a little soft on the outside. Nicole’s gnocchi was also excellent. Locally made Ohio City black pepper gnocchi came swimming in a smoked gouda Alfredo and accompanied by wild mushrooms, leeks, English peas, and grape tomatoes; as rich, hearty, and delicious as it sounds. My main concern when I saw the menu entry for it was that the gouda Alfredo would overwhelm the rest of the dish, but it was elegantly subtle, offering a rich smokiness on the back end of the palette, while allowing the rest of the swimmers room to shine. The meaty wild shrooms were the co-stars of this picture while the leeks provided some much needed onion-y high notes in this sumptuous affair, and the tomatoes and peas provided color and texture contrasts. An absolutely delicious but extraordinarily filling dish.

We agreed that our first experience with this new restaurant was great and warranted another visit in the near future, possibly for the fish and chips, meatloaf, or risotto. Or maybe just to try the intriguing beer-amisu from the dessert menu. Maybe not the best restaurant in Cleveland, Fracas is definitely a welcome addition and well worth a stop.

Aoeshi Cafe: Cleveland Sushi At Its Finest

Man-oh-Manischewitz did we have some amazing sushi this week!

Tuesday was my last day off this holiday weekend so I tried to make the most of it. I slept in a little, I had myself a workout at the gym, I watched some Battle Star Galactica. All in all a pretty solid day that was capped off with a trip to the pool to take some of the heat out of a hottt day.

But all this activity leaves a body hungry so we started thinking about food options. Burgers were out having just had $5 burger-and-beer specials at the Cedar Lee Pub. It seemed that something lighter and on the healthy side was called for. The idea of Aladdin’s was tossed around until Nicole suggested sushi. As much as I love—love—sushi, I rarely ever think of it as a meal option. Almost never when weighing dinning options will I suggest it, it’s an idea that must be brought to me.

Having decided that sushi was the plan of attack for the evening’s repast we were then stuck with the decision of which restaurant to visit. And with four in the immediate vicinity it was not an easy choice to make. We’d already had a good experience with Ariyoshi on Lee, and I’d had a nice lunch at Tree Country Bistro on Coventry so the quality of half our choices could be vouched for. Pacific East, also on Coventry, has won numerous awards from local papers and is usually pretty busy which suggests that it, too, has merit. But with all this in mind we somehow decided on the mystery fourth contestant: Aoeshi Café.

Located just a few doors down from the Cedar Lee Theater—as well as previously the reviewed Charles Stewart Parnell Pub and Cedar Lee Pub—I’ve walked past this quiet little café numerous times, but never really stopped to notice much more than a sign in one window that simply says “Japanese.” I’ve seen people coming and going from the restaurant, but I’ve never seen it overly crowded, hell, I didn’t even know what the place was called until we got there, it was just “the other sushi place on Lee.” But we’d made our decision to try some place new a ventured on.

When we got in the place there were only two other customers there, seated at the sushi bar (Aoeshi does not seem to serve alcohol) as well as the chef and our server. We seated ourselves and parsed the concise but delicious menu, marking our order on the provided Sushi-Score-Card. Our order looked something like this:
2 pieces yellow fin tuna nigiri
1 piece eel nigiri
1 spicy tuna roll
1 eel and avocado roll
1 flower roll
1 order edamame

The steamy hot edamame appetizer was the first to arrive, almost to hot to handle at first. After a few steamed fingers and a little—very little—patience we began devouring the salty soy beans, popping them from their pods. The only remnants looked like the last reel of an Invasion of the Pod-People-type movie. Already hungry to the maxxx this little snack only primed the pump for the real action.

Our main course arrived quickly, all arranged on a large plate that had been laid out in a simple but elegant manner. The first thing to go was the yellow fin. Light, sweet, a hint of melon like fruitiness, and just the right amount of fishiness. Perfect in just about every way, this was one of the single best pieces of sushi I’ve ever eaten. This piece of fish alone should serve as argument for the consumption of raw fish, that eating raw and cooked are two completely different, albeit equally delicious, dishes. Next I chomped down on a piece of the eel and avocado roll. The eel was perfectly cooked; well balanced between supple and firm, and perfectly seasoned with a sweet and salty, light barbeque-like sauce. The taste of the eel, which is as delicious as eels are creepy, slightly overwhelms the extra subtle avocado, but the lean saltiness of the fish is beautifully complimented by the fattiness of the alligator pear. Next was the flower roll. Comprised of tuna, salmon, and roe this was about as “sushi” as sushi gets. Having had some mixed-at-best experiences with roe (fish eggs, caviar) in the past I was a little nervous about it but as it turns out these were amazing. The lighter, sweeter taste of the tuna was perfectly balanced by the hearty, meatiness of the salmon in the roll, with a slightly crunch, mildly fishy bite from the roe. Nicole then offered me a piece of her spicy tuna roll which was, as she said, one of the weirdest, best STRs she’d ever had. It’s been a while since I’ve had another STR so I can’t pinpoint the difference, but Aoeshi’s was definitely a bit different. It was certainly one of the spiciest STRs I’ve had, with a chili heat that sneaks up on you in the aftertaste then lingers for just long enough.

On a cooking/travel show I was watching one time the host suggested that sushi be eaten the way it is served and that if it were meant to be dressed in anyway the chef would have already done it. I don’t agree 100% with this, but I do make sure to eat a little of everything plain before messing with condiments. So, having tasted a little of everything on the plate unadorned I made a second lap this time with a little soy and wasabi. The already soy seasoned eel/avocado didn’t need a second dunk in soy, but the nasal zing of the wasabi was definitely a welcome addition to this party. The flower roll, which was already excellent, was jazzed up a bit with the spicy green stuff and the soy? Well, what doesn’t benefit from a bit of salt, right? Eaten either way, though, everything we ate was delicious, with Nicole assuring me that her eel nigiri was, indeed, so good.

And then the check came and like woah! was the price right. We were both agreeably full of a lot of delicious, healthy food for less than thirty dollars with tip. It must be the small dining room and staff that lets Aoeshi keep costs down because even the "premium" rolls, like my flower roll, topped out at about $6. Great food and great prices, `nuff said.

But it’s just sushi, right? I mean some raw fish, a little seaweed, and some sticky, vinegary rice, but nothing amazing, right? Wrong. This meal was so good that since Tuesday night every time I get hungry all I can think about is eating that sushi again. I think that’s the mark of a truly great meal. Not just something that fills you up and provides some basic level of nourishment, but something that sticks with you and elicits some sort of response even a few days later. I’ve just finished my lunch, but writing this has set my mouth watering and my stomach quivering with antici…pation of the next visit to Aoeshi.

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/16/777774/restaurant/Cleveland/Aoeshi-Cafe-Cleveland-Heights

Hot Damn, it's Hot Dogs!

After what seemed like years of food haute couture, comfort food is making a strong resurgence. In the last five years or so a slew of notable restaurants have opened their doors to an adoring public clamoring for new takes on old favorites. The mighty hamburger has received a hardcore makeover at Chicago’s Kuma’s Corner. The humble grilled cheese has been boosted to legendary status by Cleveland’s Melt Bar and Grilled. And across the rest of the country macaroni and cheese, casseroles, and soups are all reclaiming their thrones in the pantheon of serious, delicious food. And now it looks as if the lowly hot dog is poised for a serious comeback.

Sure, the hot dog has long been standard fare at the ball park, camp outs, and lazy Sunday afternoon lunches, but recently there has been a hot dog renaissance throughout the Midwest. I think a lot of the credit for this re-popularization is due to Chicago’s Hot Doug’s who are renowned for filling their casings with a variety of wild game and exotic spices then topping them with everything from artisanal cheeses to homemade chili. Since its grand re-opening after a 2004 fire, the fervor and desire for gourmet dogs has spread with new establishments opening and established joints getting some much deserved love.
http://www.hotdougs.com/

What We Eat is Laughable is no stranger to the dog, both Justin and Nick have waxed poetic on the humble tube steak after visits to Columbus’ Dirty Franks and pilgrimages to Hot Doug’s and O’Betty’s in Athens, Ohio. I have, in the intervening months, had a wonderful Dirty Franks experience and there’s a Hot Doug-ing in my near future when we trek out to the Pitchfork festival this summer. I can not wait! But I’m here today to praise the burgeoning hot dog culture in the Cleveland area.
http://www.dirtyfrankshotdogs.com/
http://www.obettys.com/

I’ll begin with the humble Dog House on Coventry. A hot, tiny walk-in about a block from my apartment, the Dog House is a fantastic mom-n-pop dog shop serving things up simple and delicious. Most of the dogs offered at the Dog House are variations on the Coney and named for various Cleveland institutions. My favorite is the Tri-C, a mouthwatering combo of Chili, Cheese sauce, and Cheddar; get it? But if you’re in the mood for something different, the Dog House also offers Polish Boys, Cleveland’s signature encased meat dish. The Polish Boy starts with a Polish sausage (natch) and is loaded with coleslaw and fries, then topped with barbeque sauce. The Polish Boy is generally attributed to Seti’s, a lunch cart that can be found parked out side Dean Supply on Woodland Avenue, and is a favorite of Cleveland super-chef, Michael Symon. The Dog House also boasts one of the best Italian Beef sandwiches this side of Chicago, according to a Plain Dealer review of the establishment, but I’ve not tried it yet. As if that weren’t enough, the Dog House offers both regular and sweet potato fries along side their dogs, both of which are absolutely delicious, and fantastic hand dipped milk shakes. Though the Dog House can get a bit pricey, it’s definitely worth a stop when dining on the East Side.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-dog-house-cleveland
http://www.shopatdean.com/store/pc/home.asp
http://www.yelp.com/biz/setis-polish-boys-cleveland-2

The impetus for this column, however delicious the Dog House may be, is a new gem in Cleveland’s increasingly glittery Food Crown: the Happy Dog. Set up in quiet hole-in-the-wall bar on Cleveland’s west side, Head Chef Eric Williams (Momocho) has brought the Happy Dog back from the brink with the unbeatable combination of gourmet hot dogs and an amazing beer selection.

The Happy Dog shares a few things in common with some of the aforementioned doggeries, most notably a proliferation of amazing and unusual toppings, but where other establishments have pre-selected topping combos for you to choose from, the Happy Dog puts the power into the customers’ hands. The “menu” at the Happy Dog is a check list of the fifty (50!) topping options and sides. Customers choose between an all-beef frank, a veggie dog, or falafel and then check off as many of the condiments as they’d like at a flat rate of $5.00 per dog. And with such a laundry list of topping your dog options are nearly limitless, meaning each visit can be just as delicious but totally different from the last.

On my first visit I kept things (sorta) traditional, topping my dog with:
The chorizo chili was incredible, spicy but not overwhelming; it provided a hearty base for the tangy nacho cheese sauce on top. The caramelized onions brought some much needed sweetness to the party, balancing out the meatiness of the dog and chili, and the spice of the chili and cheese, as well as some texture to an otherwise soft palate dish. To keep this mountain of delicious company in my stomach I ordered a side of tater tots (quick aside: who would order fries when there are tater tots on the menu?) with a few sauces to dip them in.

I loved the chipotle hollandaise, it was creamy and spicy and unctuous and amazing, one of the best condiments I’ve ever tasted despite the fact that I think hollandaise is a little gross. I loved this so much I want to put it on everything from now on. The house made ketchup was disappointing in comparison, a slightly sweet, kind of sour tomato-y sauce that I kept expecting to get better, but it never really did. But the genius of the hollandaise and the hot dog more than made up for it.

The only problem I can foresee with the Happy Dog is: I can’t stop thinking about what I’m going to build next time! Brie, bacon, and onions with black truffle honey mustard? Smoked Gouda and Mole? Fried egg, bacon, chipotle hollandaise, and cheddar? I’m not sure, but I can’t wait to eat my way through this menu!

OH! And if gourmet dogs and a beer list fit for a king weren’t enough, the Happy Dog is quickly becoming a regular and reliable spot to see up-and-coming punk, indie, and country bands!
http://www.happydogcleveland.com/

Reuntied And It Feels So Good!

My old college roommate, Aaron, came back to Ohio for a visit this past weekend so naturally we had to celebrate by eating and drinking too much. Just like old times!

We met up Sunday night at the Cuyahoga County Airport where his younger brother, Tim, is a flight instructor. Tim was nice enough to take us, along with our friend Nick, up in a single prop, four seat plane for a sundown buzzing of the North Coast. We flew over Geauga County to look for my parents’ house and then out over the lake for a view of Cleveland few have seen. It was a beautiful evening and my first time in a plane so small, but the turbulence and stalls from the tiny air-machine were enough to unsettle even this roller coaster vet’s insides. All concurred on this point and it was decided that the only cure was beer and food. A short deliberation and the fact that even thought it was Sunday night there was still an hour wait at Melt (yeah, I told you it was that good) sent us to Lakewood’s Buckeye Beer Engine.

Affiliated with the Buckeye Brewing Company, the Beer Engine is a comfy little spot to grab any number of delicious beers, both from Buckeye and abroad, as well as chow on some seriously tasty bar food. And since Buckeye offers weekly and monthly specials every visit is new and exciting. For example March’s Ridiculously Huge Burger of the Month is the so-called O’Fatty Melt. Where the Beer Engine’s Fatty Melt nestles one of their ½ pound burgers between two grilled cheese sandwiches, the O’Fatty swaps out the grilled cheese for two (that’s right, 2) grilled Rubens! Seriously.

Anywhoozle, I’ve supped there a few times and have tried a couple of the Beer Engine’s delicious burgers, so I thought I’d go for something new this time. Well, a new burger at least. On this visit I opted for the Tuscan. Building on the ½ pound burger base the Tuscan is topped by herbed goat cheese, caramelized onions in balsamic reduction, roasted red peppers, and bacon (natch). Not being a fan of the texture of peppers I opted out of those, but it was fine since the rest of the burger was so flavorful. The ground meat blend the Beer Engine is extremely flavorful and benefits from not being cooked past medium. The bacon is, well, it’s bacon. And bacon is always good and beloved by all (even vegans) but unlike Cedar Lee Pub & Grill or Kuma’s Corner, BBE’s bacon is pretty standard; thick cut and flavorful for sure, but nothing amazing or out of the ordinary. The real stars of this show are the cheese and onions. The buttery, gamey zing of the goat cheese was the perfect foil to the sweet-n-sour onions ensuring that the Tuscan tagged three out of four taste buds with flavor graffiti that simply said “Awesome!” (4 of 5 if you’re the type to count “umami.”)

And at a place called the Beer Engine there was certainly beer being drunk, right? You bet there was! Round one I went up against Southern Tier’s Backburner 2010, the brewery’s latest entry in their annual Barley Wine run. With 10% ABV and a metric buttload of hops and malt, Backburner is a pretty serious brew, but certainly one of the most even keeled Barley Wines I’ve ever sampled. Most are so crammed with hops that they taste of grapefruits lost in pine forests (definitely a good thing), but this particular iteration falls more into the malty/caramel-y camp. In the second round I took on Buckeye’s own Beaucoup D’Houblon. A double IPA with saison tendencies, this ultra hoppy beer (115 IBUs) combines fruity esters and grassy/hay flavors to create a flavor profile similar to that of bubblegum! Not at all what I would expect a beer to taste like and I was certainly skeptical of the draught list that said as much, but there it was. Amazing hops burst, followed by grass and fruits, with an aftertaste that suggests a few hours old piece of original Bubble-Yum; delicious!
http://buckeyebeerengine.com/

Day two of this reunion was carried on at Fat Head’s Brewery and Saloon on Monday night, this time we were accompanied by Nick’s wife Melanie as well as Nicole. Fat Head’s is a Pennsylvania based brew pub that opened a branch in North Olmstead in the past few years. Fat Head’s boasts a roster of 10 beers brewed on rotation or based on season as well as offering dozens of other choice micro brews. March is, apparently, “Head Strong Month” at Fat Head, offering up “40+ extreme beers.” This means Fat Head’s guest beers, as well as a few of their own brews, are offering higher ABVs and IBUs, read as: beers not for the faint of heart. I started the evening off with a pour of Fat Head’s own Hop Juju Imperial IPA. Clocking in at 100 IBU and 9.3% this was a seriously delicious draught. Lots of citrusy hops and just the right hint of malt made this go down quicker and smoother than it should have. To chase it I moved over to the guest list for a Brooklyn Blast Imperial IPA (8.2% ABV). Another hopped up offering that drinks like the Brooklyn East India Pale Ale turned up to ten. It’s initially grapefruit city, then briefly detours into floral town, before swerving into a piney rest stop; like gin and grapefruit juice, only much, much better.

While most of the beers at Fat Head are big and flavorful, the “Fat” in the name comes from the food menu. There is nothing small or restrained about the menu, each appetizer, sandwich, and burger is bigger and meaner than the last. Having gorged on burger the night prior I skipped over that delicious and inimitable section in favor of the “Headwiches.” But with so many options I was completely stuck for what to get. My first thought was the “Bay of Pigs,” a mammoth take on the Cuban sandwich. Or maybe the “Head Banger,” a sandwich-ized take on the pub classic bangers and mash. Ultimately I picked the “South Side Slopes” for a variety of reasons—most of which were between the buns—but also because it was picked as one of the Best Sandwiches in the USA by that paragon of journalistic integrity: Maxim Magazine. I had to know if they were right or not. But before judgment is passed, let’s take a look inside. This monster starts with a huge grilled kielbasa, then topped by potato-cheddar pierogies, caramelized onions, cheese, and horsey sauce. Not to shabby, but does it all add up? At first, only sort of. Although I tried to get a little bit of everything into the first few bites I found the rest of the components to be totally over powered by the big and bold kielbasa. But after a few bites I finally got into it. The potato and pasta in the pierogies help mellow out the smokey bite of the sausage while the tangy cheddar and horseradish add some sharper notes to the big brassy tones of sausage and potato. And the caramelized onions once again add some much needed sweetness to the mix. Delicious to be sure, but I’m not sure if it ranks as one of the Best Sandwiches in the USA.”
http://www.fatheadscleveland.com/

Between these outings and the trip to Detroit I’m certainly no healthier than I was last Thursday, but I got to spend time with some of my favorite people, eating amazing food and drinking fantastic beers. Certainly time well spent!

I couldn’t find the original Maxim Best Sandwiches article, but another source (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04234/365002-46.stm) provided the rest of the top ten:
10. Steak & Cheese -- Mugsy's Sub Galley, Yankton, S.D.
9. Cuban Sandwich (of pork, ham, etc.) -- Latin American Cafeteria, Miami.
8. French Dip -- Phillippe the Original, Los Angeles.
7. Brisket Sandwich -- Kreuz Market, Lockhart, Texas.
6. Beef On Weck -- Schwabl's, West Seneca, N.Y.
5. The Southside Slopes Headwich -- Fat Head's.
4. The (half shrimp, half oyster) Peace Maker -- Acme Oyster House, New Orleans.
3. The Combo (of rib tips and pig snout) -- C & K Barbecue, St. Louis.
2. The Nuke (ham, beef, turkey and three cheeses) -- The Staggering Ox, Helena, Mont.
1. The Fat Darrell (chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks with marinara and fries) -- R.U. Grill & Pizza, New Brunswick, N.J.

Driving to Dives and Diners

The band scored an out-of-town gig this weekend, so Friday night we loaded up the car and made the trek up to Detroit for a show with our friends the Sons of Adray. The show was at a cozy little dive called the New Way Bar. The New Way was the perfect spot for our bands’ reunion: dark, hot, and smokey with Elvis and British heavy metal serving as the between band soundtrack and on of the coolest sound guys ever. The beer selection at the New Way is almost exclusively domestic bottles and cans and the liquor shelf was comprised mostly of whiskey. You could pay a few dollars more for a Heineken or a Corona, but then again you could also pay some one to punch you until you felt tipsy. Basically what I’m trying to say here is that the New Way is the quintessential dive bar with an uncharacteristically clean rest room. After playing and sweating and partying into the night and sleeping it off on chairs and couches and floors and the Adray’s drummer’s house we headed back to Ohio sometime around 12:30 or 1:00pm. Our mission for the drive home, besides a safe return, was sweet, sweet sustenance.
http://www.myspace.com/newwaybar
http://www.myspace.com/sonsofadray

We began our cruise down 75 South on the lookout for signs of food. Freeway-side signage only pointed the way towards Bob Evanses, Burger Kings, and Big Boys, but when you’re out of town why eat what you can eat at home. We needed something local and new. And that’s when I saw it: “Beef Jerky Unlimited, Exit 6.” That sign was all I needed to remind me of the last time we hit the D for a show. On our way back we stopped for breakfast at an amazing little diner somewhere between the Motor City and the Glass City, but all I could remember about it was that it was next door to the beef jerky store. So we pulled off 75 at Luna Pier and made our way to Gander’s Family Restaurant.

I have no idea how long Gander’s has been in Luna Pier, but the building and hand-painted sign suggest a long time. The inside, however was updated at some point; the late 80s would be my guess, but it’s a bright, friendly space with booths lining the walls of the small dining room, a few tables in the middle, and a counter that serves as the (gasp!) smoking area. We seated ourselves and ordered water and coffee. The coffee at Gander’s is exactly what a diner should serve: dark, rich coffee that tastes like coffee. No fancy roasts or blends just flavorful, rejuvenating coffee. And thankfully, too, as it seems like it’s harder and harder to find a good, simple cup anymore. Sure, there are a number of excellent local boutique shops in the area and chains like Starbucks offer a great brew, but sometimes a simpler cup is what the doctor orders. Anyways, I’m digressing. Gander’s menu is exactly what one would expect from such and establishment, burgers, hot sandwiches, chicken/steak/meatloaf in the entrees, and breakfast served all day.

I couldn’t remember for the life of me what I had last time, but I knew it was breakfast and it was good. I looked over the breakfast page a few times and ultimately arrived on the Southern Sausage Omelet. Filled with cheese and hash browns the Southern Sausage is an excellent foundation for the generous helping of sausage gravy ladled on top. Now, sausage gravy is something I’ve only recently warmed to, but if every restaurant made theirs as well as Gander’s I’d probably be ordering it on everything. Thick, rich, and creamy, the gravy was jammed full of bits of spicy breakfast sausage and the whole thing created a symphony of simplicity when tasted all together. The slight tang of the American cheese and spiciness of the sausage counter-pointed the creaminess of the gravy with the potatoes and perfectly cooked eggs serving as the melody to the more flavorful components’ harmonies. A breakfast at Gander’s comes with a side of hash browns so I go to sample them by themselves, also delicious; brown and crispy on the outside, firm but yielding on the inside. But does such deliciousness and opulence come with a hefty price tag? Not at Gander’s it doesn’t. My check for my food, Joe’s Western Omelet (their most popular item) and two coffees was just a few cents north of $16, not a bad price especially considering I didn’t feel the need to eat again until about 9:30 that night.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ganders-family-restaurant-luna-pier http://www.cityoflunapier.com/LocalBusinesses/tabid/5463/Default.aspx

Gander’s is certainly light on flash and flare, but they more than make up for a lack of fanciness with excellent food, friendly service and a damn fine cup of coffee. This restaurant is absolutely worth the hour’s layover in Luna Pier, plus it gives you an excuse to visit the pier and Beef Jerky Unlimited which offers way more flavors of jerked animal flesh than I could ever imagine (gator or buffalo jerky, anyone?).
http://beefjerkyunlimited.com/site/index.php

Ridiculous Eats XIII: This Is Why I'M Fat

I haven’t been on the “Ridiculous Eats” kick as much as usual, but having had a recent brush with the limits of food-too-muchery, I felt it was definitely time to revisit the land of too-plenty.

The location of this gorging was Cleveland Heights’ own Cedar Lee Pub & Grill. Located about a block from the similarly named movie theatre, the Cedar Lee Pub occupies a great location. Inside the bar is simple and welcoming; a large bar is centrally located with seating areas on either side. The minimal décor is charming with little on the walls to distract and our two-person booth was cozy and comfortable. Cedar Lee Pub offers a solid beer list and hosts some great nightly specials (on Monday night five bucks will get you a burger, fries, and a Labatt draught!). At a glance the CLP&G’s menu offers standard bar food, sandwiches, salads, wraps, etc., but nestled in the center panel of the menu is a laundry list of some really amazing burgers. The “Boss Hog” boasts pulled barbequed pork and fried onions, the “Polish” adds pierogies to the burger, and the “Say Cheese” is loaded with three different cheeses, bacon, and tomato on toasty garlic bread. Needless to say, the Cedar Lee Pub & Grill is not messing around.

(not the actual clp&g breakfast burger)

While pouring over this magical list of meaty morsels we sipped out beers, mine a wonderfully bitter and hoppy IPA from Stone Brewing and Nicole’s a Guinness, the real King of Beers. Deciding was tough, to say the least, but knowing that CLP&G is just down the street helped re-assure us that we could always come back for more. So, when the waiter came around to take our order this is what we put in: for Nicole the “Horsey” burger, slathered with horseradish, topped with cheese and pickles, and accompanied by a side of Thousand Island dressing, this burger has a super pungent bite. Ordered medium-rare, her burger was perfectly cooked and delicious. I, after some serious deliberation and a desire for something dangerous, finally picked the “Breakfast” over the “Boss Hog.” While there are numerous burgers out there boasting breakfast options as toppings (the “Kuma” at Kuma’s corner, the “Jamburger” and Jam, and the “Cyclops” at Buckeye Beer Engine to name a few) the Cedar Lee Pub and Grill offers two variants on this theme. The first is topped with bacon and a fried egg, sunny-side up, a la the aforementioned. But when the CDP&G says breakfast, they mean breakfast. My burger, an 8oz. patty before cooking, came topped with cheddar, bacon, scrambled eggs, and a hash-brown patty. Cooked somewhere south of medium but north of medium-rare, the burger was perfect. The bacon the Cedar Lee Pub uses is excellently smoked and cured, it tastes exactly the way bacon should taste, only better (the only other time I can recall having bacon this good, like better-than-bacon-good, was at Kuma’s). The generous scoop of scrambled eggs was also cooked exactly right, in that sweet spot between runny and rubbery. There are breakfast joints out there that can’t seem to get this right so maybe the CLP&G should offer some classes. But it was the hearty, greasy, salty goodness of the hash browns on top that took this burger out of bacon-and-egg burger territory and into the Ridiculous Eats zone. The richness of the fried potatoes added a great deal of depth and flavor to the burger without overpowering the other components, more of a supporting cast member rather than a lead. Amazingly, I polished this burger off in no time flat along with the delicious hand-cut fries that filled the rest of the plate space. Nicole opted for onion rings with her burger, a standard, but flavorful entry in the onion ring category, CLP&G’s are good, but I don’t think they’ll be taking home any awards for them.
http://www.myspace.com/cedarleepubandgrill
http://www.cedarlee.org/

The Cedar Lee Pub & Grill’s big front windows provide a good look inside, and the bar’s simple, unassuming interior kept me moving down the street in the past, but after my extraordinary evening and amazingly absurd burger there, I think I’ll be stopping in more often!

Quick Bites

I feel like I post pretty regularly, but I’ve been a little busy lately and have missed a few great meals in the last few weeks, so here’s run down of some of the last month’s food highlights:

Struck by a sudden sushi craving Nicole and I investigated Ariyoshi Japanese Restaurant on Lee Road. Ariyoshi’s dining room is elegantly understated, and patrons may sit at either a table, dressed simply in white, or at the sushi bar. What Ariyoshi lacks in décor is more than made up for in menu. The number of food options is almost dizzying, to help sort things out we ordered warm sake and hot tea. The tea was a delicious, full bodied green tea, the kind you only seem to get at good Japanese restaurants and decent coffee shops and the sake was good. I guess? I don’t know that much about sake but I know what tastes good and we had no problem putting this down. Its pungent first taste was well complemented by its subtle floral and vanilla aftertastes. Having finally made my decision, Nicole had no problem making hers, we ordered. Our meal consisted of:
One spicy tuna roll
Two pieces of unagi (eel)
Two pieces of yellow fin tuna
One piece of octopus
One piece of squid
One piece of crab
One red clam
The spicy tuna roll was one of the best I’ve ever had. I tend to stay away from rolls as all the other additions to the roll seem to detract from the fish, but this was outstanding! The yellow fin was also spectacular. I order this almost any time I get sushi and Ariyoshi’s was maybe the best I’ve ever had. With a clean delicate taste, this tuna has faint sweetness to it and a fatty, slightly fishy end. Perfect with just a little wasabi and soy sauce. The unagi was also spectacular, perfectly broiled with just a touch of a salty/sweet/smokey sauce over it. The red clam was… interesting to say the least. Taste wise it was fine, clean, fresh, and salty, like a sip of ocean water, but it was texturally, um, different. Not bad, but not something I’m likely to try again. The squid was similar. I usually love squid, but every other time I’ve had it it’s been cooked in some way. Raw, however, it leaves me a little cold. It has very little taste and felt a bit like chewing on a slightly fishy rubber band. I’ll be sticking to calamari from now on. The octopus, on the other hand, was a revelation! It was generally tender with just a slight toothiness to it, and the flavor was crisp and clean, requiring no further doctoring. Amazing. Last but not least was the crab. Definitely the most average piece tried that night. It was just a piece of steamed crab leg, in eating this, though, I discovered that in lieu of drawn butter wasabi and soy sauce make pretty great dressing for crab. At the end of our meal instead of dessert we ordered one more piece each of the toro, or fatty tuna belly. A more expensive and flavorful cut our toro was extremely clean tasting and had an aftertaste of watermelon, which was great, but it also seemed to have been recently thawed and still very slightly frozen, which wasn’t so great. The overall experience was phenomenal and I would definitely recommend Ariyoshi for sushi in Cleveland Heights, and not only was the food and service outstanding, had we nor ordered sake and the toro we would’ve been both well fed for well under $15!
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/16/1435794/restaurant/Cleveland/Ariyoshi-Cleveland-Heights

As outspoken proponents of the breakfast and brunch arts, Nicole and I are always on the prowl for great morning grub. While the Inn on Coventry is our go-to breakfast spot, there are numerous places in Cleveland serving up delicious morning munchies. A few weeks ago when we both had a Saturday off together we headed over to Shaker to eat at the Vine and Bean Café. Nestled in the cozy first floor of one of Shaker’s elegant old homes, Vine and Bean has the atmosphere any place serving breakfast should seek: homey and relaxed with the wonderful smells of coffee and the griddle filtering throughout. Vine and Bean’s dishes are all made from the freshest local ingredients seasonally available so the menu is subject to change, but it seems their chef is on point as the whole thing looks amazing. We started with cups of their fresh brewed coffee. Vine and Bean is a coffee shop in addition to restaurant so they know their way around a cuppa, and their dark roast is an excellent, full bodied way to start a meal. For our brunch I ordered the Gingerbread Waffles. Two huge, hearty homemade waffles loaded with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, these uber-waffles come piled with maple poached apples, honey-whipped cream, and homemade caramel sauce. The amazing this about this was, that for as massive and rich everything was, at no point did it seem overwhelming. Sweet, sour, spice and fat were all in perfect balance in this dish and it disappeared off my plate almost immediately. Nicole opted for the biscuits and gravy. We had both concurred that we were neither of us huge fans of this southern standard, but V&B’s iteration of this classic must be tried. Built on a base of cheddar scallion biscuits, topped with scrambled eggs, and a creamy sausage gravy loaded with sausage bits. Simple but somehow refined, Vine and Bean has turned this simple fair into a modern and almost elegant dish without losing any of its rugged charm. And it doesn’t stop at breakfast, Vine and Bean delivers modern takes on classic cuisine all day long with an equally amazing sounding lunch and dinner menu.
http://vineandbeancafe.com/

Rounding out the dining adventures I’ve had recently but haven’t been able to post up is Number 1 Pho. I feel like this restaurant has been in Cleveland forever, but it wasn’t until about two weeks ago that I finally made it in. My only regret is not eating there sooner! Pho, if you’re not familiar, is a Vietnamese soup. The base of which is boiling hot beef broth and rice noodles into which sliced, rare beef is added to continue cooking. Bean sprouts, basil, peppers, lime, and hot and soy sauces can be added to taste. Working with a somewhat loose set of ingredients, Pho is almost endlessly customizable or variable depending on available ingredients, location, and dietary constraints. We started our meal with an appetizer made of spiced shrimp paste wrapped around pieces of sugar cane and steamed. With a side of sweet spicy chili sauce, this was a great little bite to kick start the old gastric juices. For the main course we both ordered the soup. Nicole chose the Pho with sliced beef and beef balls. With the basil and lime and hot sauce, this dish had everything going for it. Hearty and savory with a nice bit of acidity from the lime and a serious kick from the hot sauce it verged on a perfect flavor profile. The rare beef added to cook in the broth was wonderfully tender and the meat balls were perfectly cooked and seasoned, but had an interesting texture. I opted for the seafood variant, with a delicious fish stock as the base this soup was loaded with shrimp, squid, and fish balls. I was a little nervous about the so called fish balls at first, but they were delicious and tender, with a little bit of the stock they were the very essence of the taste of good seafood. The seafood soup arrives unadorned but is spiked with a handful of onions to add some depth to the dish. Amazing and delicious, but searing hot on it arrival, Pho is something to sip and savor, not wolf down.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/number-one-pho-cleveland

A Very Cleveland Night Out

With the snow falling fast and furious in Cleveland recently, the Cabin Fever has been hitting hard and often. So last week Nicole and I braved the elements to get out of our apartments for a few hours. Our mission was a taste of the near West Side, the neighborhood known as Ohio City. While certainly not strangers to Ohio City we opted to try a few newer places in order to spice things up a bit.

Our first stop was the Velvet Tango Room on Columbus Road. Nestled in the first floor of a house, the VTR is a bar and restaurant specializing in classic cocktails. As their website will tell you: “Once, there was a time when people understood the art of cocktails. A cocktail was not just a drink - it was a mood, a place, an aesthetic statement.” And that’s just what they do. Soft lighting, candles, and wood paneling give VTR a timeless, classic atmosphere while funky jazz floats off the stereo. While serving a higher class of cocktail than the average bar, VTR is surprisingly free of pretention; it’s simply the kind of place where fans of delicious, hand crafted cocktails can sip on a bit of history and a bit of invention.

While VTR’s mission is to present the highest quality cocktail possible, drawing on the mixology’s rich history, they’re not above innovation. Combing the best spirits available with the finest mixers and a slew of house made sodas, syrups, and bitters means VTR’s libations are as potent as they are delicious. After perusing both—that’s right both—drink menus Nicole and I ordered. For her a Manhattan. A classic cocktail usually consisting of bourbon or whiskey, vermouth, and bitters, the Tango Manhattan features VTR’s own wine reduction syrup, giving the drink a fullness and warmth not usually found in the traditional recipe. Served up in a cocktail glass this was one of the best Manhattan’s I’ve ever tried. I ordered the Old Fashioned. Building on a foundation of citrus muddled with sugar and bitters, this whiskey drink beautifully balances three of the four tastes. Deliciously smooth to sip with a beautifully subtle finish, this is easily one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had. Certainly a great way to start the evening, but all this perfection has a price, so be prepared to shell out or get there early for happy hour! This is certainly the Cleveland parallel to Chicago’s Violet Hour.
http://www.velvettangoroom.com/

With fancy-pants drinks tickling our hungry bones we departed the Velvet Tango Room in search of some eats. During one’s time in Ohio City there are plenty of food options, but hungering for something new we made for ABC the Tavern at Nicole’s suggestion. A bar that’s trapped between dive and respectable, ABC’s atmosphere is an atmosphere of no atmosphere. High ceilings, little to no décor, and dim lighting should signal blandsville, but somehow ABC pulls it off. We seated ourselves to a soundtrack of Al Green’s greatest hits—almost always appropriate—and ordered a round of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPAs (along with Sierra Nevada’s pale this is one of the best widely available IPAs in the country). We scanned the short but tasty menu filled with bar food standards—appetizers, sandwiches, sides, etc.—and placed an order for their burger and the Jamaican Jerk Chicken sandwich.

Nicole’s burger was perfectly cooked and topped with frazzled (fried) onions. Absolutely amazing, any burger joint throwing raw onion on a burger is missing an opportunity to make their Average-Joe meat sandwich an All-Star by frying those aromatics up! My chicken had been slow cooked until it was juicy and tender, then pulled and tossed with a house made jerk sauce. Crammed to the gills with ginger, sweetened with some brown sugar, lightly torched by some hot chilies, with just a hint of smokiness the sauce made this sandwich one of the most messy, delicious things I’ve eaten in a long time. It was one of those beautiful moments of eating something and suddenly realizing it’s exactly what you’d wanted but had no idea. Both sandwiches are musts should you visit. Like all good bar food should, these beauties on buns came with sides of fries, but ABC doesn’t serve your everyday French fry. Sixe wise these were just north or shoestring, but just south of a full sized fry; boot-string, perhaps. Expertly fried, ABC quickly tosses their fries with salt, pepper, parsley, and green onions for a little extra something in every bite. Outside of the sweet potato fries I had at Frank’s in Akron Monday night, ABC’s are the best fries I’ve had in a long time.
http://cleveland.citysearch.com/profile/7984921/cleveland_oh/abc_tavern.html

Our hunger pacified for the time being we were still looking for a little of that night life, so we made one last stop before heading home in what would eventually become last week’s Snowpacalypse. Our last call of the evening was made at the Academy Tavern on Larchmere in the Shaker neighbor hood. Another no-frills, locals and regulars type joint, the Academy is the place to go for an Early Bird Special, the game on TV, and plenty of beer that tastes like beer. The perfect spot to end a great night out. We ordered a few Beam-and-Ginger-Ales, the drink that’s quickly becoming the drink of choice as winter winds down, and watched the Cavs come from behind for decisive victory over the hated Celtics. There’s nothing fancy about the Academy, but who needs fancy when you’re just plain good?
http://www.yelp.com/biz/academy-tavern-cleveland

This night out helped reinforce one of the greatest aspects of living in Cleveland: no matter your budget or location there's always a place to go that offers the best food, the best drinks, the best night out. All of Cleveland's neighborhoods and suburbs have a treasure trove of restaurants and bars just waiting to be discovered.

Souper Market? I'll Take the Soup, Thanks!

With two west-side locations, Cleveland's Souper Market is an occasional treat enjoyed on the odd early trip to Lakewood or Ohio City.

At least it was until about two weeks ago!

As I was driving into work a few weeks back I noticed this sign in a window along Carnegie Avenue:

(OK, not this one exactly. This is one of the west-side locations, but the east-side shop is too new to have Internet pictures up yet)

I was so souprised I nearly wrecked my car rubbernecking!

It was about two days, though, before I was able to actually make it in, but it's safe to say that the new east-side Souper Market is every bit as good as its cross-town counterparts.

One of the great aspects of Souper Market is their willingness to give you samples before you make a decision, so my first trip in I tried a few spoonfuls before selecting their special for the week: Potato-Havarti-Bacon! This creamy potato-based soup has the cheese cooked into it so it's velvety smooth and luxuriantly rich. The goodness is ratcheted up a dozen notches or so by the addition of a generous handful of bacon added to the top. Veggie readers take comfort, though, many of Souper Market's offerings are meat optional so you could enjoy this, too! Vegan soup enthusiasts take heart! Souper Market regularly offers several vegan options, too!

My second trip earlier this week found me spoon deep in one of my favorite Souper Market offerings: Jambalaya! This thick, spicy concoction is loaded with tender pulled chicken, spicy chicken sausage and few shrimp. It's hearty, spicy, and filling; the perfect foil to Cleveland's often brutal winter days, but thankfully not so spicy as to be unpalatable.

The east-side installation of Souper Market is great news indeed as there are precious few places to get a quick delicious lunch in East Cleveland, I'm just going to have to make sure I don't eat there more than once a week!

Plus, Souper Market is more than great soup, they also offer a variety of healthy salads, delicious artisanal breads, and a rotating cast of sides. My first few west-side visits were accompanied by delicious pierogies. It seems that Souper Market is now proffering homemade Crab Cakes!

http://www.thesoupermarket.com/

A (gasp!) Mediocre Melt Meal?

Say it ain't so, sandwich gods, say it ain't so!

My friend Trish was home for the holidays recently and we hadn't hung out in over a year so we decided to get together Tuesday afternoon. Our plan of action was to grab some lunch, catch up, then grab a drink or two somewhere. Fun enough.

We decided on Melt for lunch since Trish had never been but had heard good things. We got there around 1:15 and only had a short wait for a table, maybe fifteen minutes as opposed to the hour one might wait in the evening. Once seated we ordered some drinks and continued catching up. I had a Harpoon Winter Warmer, a malty Christmas ale with spices, not bad, but nothing spectacular. The bit of Trish's that I tried was a rich, hoppy, full bodied ale that I liked a little better. But, no matter, we were at Melt where there is great food and a huge beer list, right?

I should've taken heed, but I didn't realize at the time that my mediocre beer choice would predict things to come that meal. After much debate we settled on some sandwiches, Trish chose the Winter Chicken with grilled chicken, honey-tomato chipotle sauce, and pepper-jack. I opted for the special of the month: the Mighty Macaroni Melt, a serving of homemade mac'n'cheese breaded and fried, placed between two pieces of cheese and bread, then grilled. Sounds amazing, no?

No. Well, not totally bad. Not bad at all actually, just not great. The mac'n'cheese by itself was really good. Rich and creamy, made with a tangy white cheese. The cheese added to the sandwich was just standard American, not bad per se, but it didn't bring a lot to the party. The bread was the usual thick cut bread Melt uses for all their sandwiches. It all looks and sounds fine on paper, but it was just a one note sandwich, cheese and bread and cheese and pasta, all tasty, but a little redundant. In retrospect some pepper-jack might have helped things out. All the rich, creamy, bread-y tastes could've benefitted from being cut with some spice. Other tasty add-on might include Melt's amazing carmelized onions in Port wine reduction, bringing a little sweet into the mix would've helped, too. Or I could've asked for some hot sauce on the side, Melt usually offers Sriracha. Certainly there were things one or both of us could've done to elevate this sandwich to the lofty heights of the rest of the Melt menu.

That said we had great time out, for our second round of lunch beers (don't judge!) I had a Southern Tier Old Man Winter, an Old Ale, this brew has tons of rich hoppiness and just the right touch of malt. After taking a few minutes for our beer and sandwiches to settle we meandered back to the east side of Cleveland where we took a walking tour of Coventry before hunkering down at La Cave du Vin for some fancy micro brews. I opened with an Otter Creek Quercus Vitis Humulus. This is one of the most delicious and complex beers I've ever tasted. QVH starts life as a barley wine style brew, it then has sauvignon blanc grape juice added to it and is re-fermented with champagne yeast, finally it is aged in oak barrels. The resulting beer has the sweet and spicy bite of a good barley wine, with the hops and malt competing for control of your mouth. Then the sauvingnon blanc kicks in, lightening the load of the rich, heavy barley wine with its signature crisp, clean citrus and tropical flavors. The aftertaste is where the oak barrel comes in, leaving just a hint of woodiness in the back of the throat. Really tasty, but as weird as the bartender had promised. I closed the evening with one of my all time favorite beers ever, Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. It's deep, dark malt is roasty and toasty, the perfect way to shake off a cold Russian or Cleveland night's chill, it has a great bitter coffee aftertaste, like the finish of a perfectly brewed cup of dark roasted coffee served pitch black. What makes this even better is that La Cave serves Old Rasputin on their nitrogen tap so it always pours rich and frothy and is absolutely worth the 3-5 minute wait for the beer to pour and settle correctly. Old Rasputin is great from the bottle, amazing from the tap, but on nitrogen it's fucking transcendent.

So, despite my first so-so experience with Melt we had a great night out, enjoyed some great company, and drank some mighty fine beers.

See what La Cave Du Vin is pouring here: http://www.lacaveduvin.com/

Road Trip: Eating and Drinking in Rochester, New York

Nicole and I recently made our way to Rochester, New York, to see fiery haired chanteuse, Neko Case. Of course coffee and junk food were consumed on the way; it was a road trip after all, but nothing terribly remarkable. Although, I will say that McDonald’s ice cream is actually much better than I remember it being, same goes for their caramel sauce.
http://www.visitrochester.com/

Anyways, after the 4 hour journey, give or take, and a brief respite at the hotel, we ventured out in search of food. Whereas we could’ve roamed the streets of Rochester for hours looking for some tasty vittles, Nicole had planned things out ahead of time and we made a b-line for Dinosaur Barbeque!

After parking, mostly just on-street parking, or in our case on-bridge, we were greeted by numerous motorcycles roaring off into the night, a loud, but by no means dubious, indicator of what we were in for. As we got closer and the motorcycle exhaust dissipated we could smell the smoke. If you’re ever headed into a barbeque establishment and you can’t smell smoke of some sort, run. But the smoke was pungent at Dinosaur Barbeque so we ventured on.

Entering the building we were met by a large room of boisterous guests eating, drinking, and enjoying their evening. There was classic rock and Americana on the stereo, and a couple dozen beers on tap. So far, so good. We ordered a pitcher of the house brew, Dino-Ape I believe it was called. A light refreshing ale that tasted like, well, beer. A beer that tastes like beer doesn’t seem that strange but if you consider what is mostly available at bars and restaurants these days beer flavored beer is a bit of an anomaly. Choices are usually between rich, heavy micro-brews and bland, watery macro-brews. While the former certainly has a time and place, that latter leaves little choice when it comes to something tasty and simple. Luckily Dinosaur Barbeque has seen to it that their delicious `que is complemented by a tasty but not overwhelming brew.

Finally seated, my biggest complaint with D.BBQ was the fact that while waiting to be seated it was incredibly difficult to hear the names called over the PA, with music playing and people behaving as if they were at a backyard barbeque it’s hard to hear your name being called, some of those vibrating pager/coasters might be a better caller here, but I digress. In a table with menu in had we poured over the options. As a BBQ joint Dinosaur’s has struck a balance between too-many and too-few options. A few platters of their specialties, a selection of sandwiches, a bevy of burgers, and appropriate appetizers made the choosing a little easier, but not much since the whole place stinks of sweet, wonderful `que.

Platters, it was stated, arrived with a choice of two signature sides and honey cornbread. Wanting the most bang for my buck I knew that my destiny was in platter-town. But which to choose: Brisket? Pulled pork? Ribs? Ultimately it came down to the either the ribs or the pork/brisket plate, and the ribs won out. For sides I picked the BBQ beans and Mac-n-Cheese. Nicole supped on pulled pork with mashed-potatoes-and-gravy and beans-and-rice. While we waited we drank and talked and examined the décor. Dinosaur BBQ as opted for a kitschy, throw-back vibe, so the walls are adorned with old advertisements for movies, beer, alcohol, movies, and so on. Charming and laid back, really the only appropriate set dressing for a BBQ restaurant.

Our food arrived and it was well worth the reasonably short wait. The beans were rich and spicy, having cooked for who-knows-how-long in a meaty sauce spiked with jalapenos. The Mac-n-Cheese was creamy and delicious, topped with a spicy dust I fell pretty certain is the house rub. Oh, and the ribs? Well… they were pretty good. I guess. If you like ribs, at least. And I do. Like ribs that is. Especially these ribs!

All kidding aside Dinosaur BBQ does what they’re supposed to and they do it right. Their meats are marinated of 24 hours, then dry rubbed, smoked and sauced. All this means a succulent, meaty, smokey, fall-off-the-bone, juicy rib. The real key to all this is the smoking. Yes, you can make great ribs on a charcoal or hard wood fire. Yes they are delicious. But for a truly special rib, slow-smoking is the way to go. It’s the only way to really infuse that “BBQ” flavor throughout each bite, not just in the bark, and it’s the only way to give the meat that pinkish ring just inside the crust that lets the eater know that this has been slow-cooking for a while. And I know there are some out there that say a dry rib is the only real rib, but truth-be-told I kind of like the mess of a wet rib, finding myself slathered in sauce, in search of post-meal wet-wipe is all part of the barbeque experience. I managed to sneak a few bites of Nicole’s meal and discovered the pulled pork (Boston Butt, natch) to be just as moist and tasty as my ribs, while her beans and rice were spicy and still had great texture. So often beans an rice become starchy mush while sitting in a warm pot all day. These, however, were superb.
http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/rochesterIndex.php

Sated by pork and beer we toddled off to the show where we were treated to one of the best concerts I’ve seen this year (and I’ve seen a few this year). Case’s voice filled up the venue, blanketing guests in her velveteen sorrow. Her band did what seemed impossible at the beginning of the show, and made the large, high-ceiling concert hall seem like a much smaller, more intimate venue. Instead of trying to fill the space with sound the restrained and made the room seem to shrink, like each of us was getting a private performance. Case and her band worked through the bulk of her two most recent releases (Middle Cyclone and Fox Confessor Brings the Flood) and a handful of older tunes. Simple, direct, and one of the best live acts around, Case’s sorrowful songs are delightfully counterpointed by her disarming stage persona and wonderful sense of humor.

http://www.nekocase.com/

Post show we were still in the mood for some night living so we trekked a few blocks to Lux Lounge. At 666 South Avenue, Lux plays up their eerie address, with dark décor and Halloween leftovers. Cute, charming, $1.50 PBRs, and a hell of a juke box, Lux is a great late night stop in this sleepy little New York community.
http://www.lux666.com/

After a good and well deserved night’s sleep we awoke to hungry bellies despite the previous evening’s repast. Breakfast was further mapped out by Nicole and we drove to the Highland Park Diner. A diner in the most iconic sense, Highland Park offers all the standard breakfast and lunch diner far you could want, with a few surprises. Nicole opted for an omelet, bacon and cheese, which was tasty but nothing terribly new. The English muffin that accompanied it, however, was something altogether different. Dwarfing in size most commercially available English muffins, this thing had nooks for days and crannies for weeks. My choice was the Mexican Alarm Clock. A tortilla muy grande topped with refried beans, cheese, and scrambled eggs making a sort of open faced breakfast burrito. Both breakfasts came with sides of seasoned potatoes which, oddly, had a certain fishiness to them that neither of us could put our fingers on. The Highland Park Diner also serves a pretty decent cup of coffee which, thanks to the friendly wait staff, I never saw the bottom of.

http://rocwiki.org/Highland_Park_Diner

Well fed once again and with a long journey home we pulled up stakes and made for Ohio. While we didn’t find much in the way of afternoon entertainment in Rochester, NY, we certainly ate and drank well during our few hours of vacation.

Fine Dining on a Budget in Cleveland

Fine dining and reasonable budgets don’t always mix, but if you know where to look you can find exactly that in the Ohio City neighbor hood of Cleveland. Located on West 25th street, around the corner from the Great Lakes Brewing Company, is Sam McNulty’s mini-empire. The most recognizable portion of this is Bier Markt, a bar modeled after Belgian beer halls, serving a variety of beers with a focus on beers from Belgium. Also located within the building is Bar Cento (pronounced chen’-toh) which is where my friend Kate and I ended up eating an amazing meal last night.

Originally we had planned on getting Indian food, but there is a dearth of decent sub-continental cuisine on the near west side of Cleveland. Hungry and undeterred we wracked our brains for food ideas. Ultimately we decided that (A) we weren’t hungry for any certain food stuff or ethnic cuisine so (B) any and everything was on the table and that (C) our destination should offer the following:
1. Good eats
2. Decent prices and
3. Beer
We also stipulated that dinner could not be too heavy as we both had post-meal plans.

Finally Kate suggested Bar Cento, a place I had heard of (it’s owned by my landlord) but had never been. Kate vouched for the tastiness and reasonable pricing of their food, so we made the trek. On our arrival things were jumping, but we were told there would be but a 10-minute wait for a table. This seemed reasonable for a Friday night so we grabbed a seat and some beers from the bar. The beer: Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Christmas Ale; rich, spicy, and with a hint of orange, this is the beer to drink this winter, hands down. But be warned its ABV is 7.5 so they can, and will, sneak up on you.

We noticed a few of our other bar mates were happily munching away so we decided to grab some menus and eat at the bar instead of waiting for a table. Bar Cent has a nice, big, heavy bar so this is not a problem. The menu is short but solid, boasting a variety of Italian fare, a strong beer selection, and a huge wine selection.

After a few minutes of scanning the menu we came to the conclusion that we wanted pizza, narrowing our choices from Bar Cento’s 10 pies down to 2. The finalists: Apple Prosciutto with gorgonzola or Sunnyside with provolone, pancetta, eggs, and black pepper. The victor: Sunnyside. While Bar Cento’s pizzas would make a fine meal for one, split two ways they might not make it so we ordered some anti-pasta, too. While there are a number of meats, cheese, olives, and pickles to choose from, we decided to try a bit of them all with the Big Board, a sampling of all the meats and cheeses.

Having ordered we sipped our Christmas Ales and waited. When our food arrived, and promptly, too—considering the number of people in the bar that night—we didn’t know where to start. The pizza looked like the dream of the breakfast lovers everywhere and the anti-pasta board was loaded with incredible looking fare. We tucked-in to the meats and cheese first sampling a little bit of everything. The Spanish chorizo was at the top of my meat list, along with the prosciutto. I was pleasantly surprised by something called bresola and Italian cured beef, with a tangy bite. Cheese wise I was pretty into all of them but there were two nutty, hard cheeses reminiscent of Romano and Parmigianino, and a delicious few slices of a cheese that tasted like a hard brie. The few slices of pickled cauliflower that came along were tasty but no mach for the rest of the board. The big surprise of this portion of the meal: prosciutto wrapped dried cherries, wow!

As for the pizza, well, I love few things on this earth more than pizza and breakfast. Sure, you can eat pizza for breakfast and it’s great. You can have breakfast for dinner, that’s great, too. But the two have never fully reconciled, until the Sunnyside. Rich, tangy provolone and pancetta set a delicious foundation for the 4 sunny-side-up eggs baked on top. This was really a perfect bite almost every time, few blank spots and plenty of the good stuff all on top a great thin crust.

As we digested and finished our beers Kate and I agreed on a few things. That (1) this was exactly what we wanted (2) neither of us had known that before eating and (3) that made it all the better. We also agreed after the Big Board had been all but licked clean that there are few pleasures in life as deliciously simple as meat, cheese, and bread. Very little else is needed, save for good spirits and good company. Economically speaking we did ok, too. About $15 each for some delicious pizza and a healthy portion of artisanal cheeses and cured meats, while not the dollar menu, is still pretty reasonable in my book.

For the full menu, directions, and links to Bier Markt and Speakeasy, visit their website here:

Breakfast Befit the Betrothed

So check this out: I'm going to get married. Yeah, your fatty foodie friend popped the question right after preparing a rack of smoky babyback ribs, baked beans, and sauteed zucchini and yellow squash. That was the last day of our vacation, so on the way back to civilization the next morning we were naturally looking for a local breakfast spot. What we found was the Windmill Restaurant in Holland, Michigan.



Some cursory internet research tipped us off to this place, a cozy greasy-spoon-type place, tucked into the quaint downtown area. This is the kind of joint where you'd expect the service to be as buttery as the food, and I'll be damned if it didn't deliver on both counts. It's pretty clear that they're known for their breakfasts, even though they do have a lunch menu as well.

Words to live by: "Breakfast Served Anytime." This is how you know you're about to eat well and hearty.

Standard diner breakfast fare abounds on the top half of the menu page, but things start to get interesting around the house specialties. I'm intrigued by something called a Bird's Nest: a pile of hash browns and bacon bits, topped with cheddar cheese and two eggs:



I got my eggs over medium because I didn't want a yolk-y mess. Props to the short-order cook for nailing that. As great as that looks, here's the best part:



A BIG FUCKING CINNAMON ROLL!!! Actually, they give you the choice of this, a muffin, or their homemade toast (as in, they bake their own bread, then toast it). I had to put the quarter there to give you a sense of scale, but even that's misleading. This thing was huge. Like, eat it with both hands huge.

As amazing as my breakfast was shaping up to be, I could not have been prepared for what landed in front of Erin. She ordered a little something called the "Hashbrown Omelette," which I assumed would be a traditional omelette stuffed with hashbrowns, which seemed like a nice convenience for those of us who tend to combine our breakfast foods. Wow, was I wrong...



THE OMELETTE IS INSIDE THE HASHBROWNS!!! I'm honestly not sure if there's even eggs in there. I do know that it's a greasy melange of cheese, sausage, and onions inside what appears to be about a pound of hash browns. This sucker is huge too - luckily they offer a half size for patrons who don't want to die of an immediate coronary. Take a look inside. How could you not want to put this in your taste hole?



If you ever find yourself in southwestern Michigan, get thee to the Windmill. Don't be upset by the lack of an actual windmill: the food will more than make up for it.

Postscript: After breakfast Erin told me that I'm never allowed to eat a hashbrown omelette, for fear that the imminent and inevitable cardiac arrest would spell the end of our marriage. 'Til death do us part indeed...