We started with the white bean puree with grilled bread and olives.  This sounds like a relatively simple dish, but it was so good that I’ve been thinking about it regularly in the weeks since we had it.  Olives should be grilled more often–the sear enhances the sweetness–and the buttery grilled bread perfectly complemented the puree.

Sarah ordered the pork chop, which was flavorful and perfectly cooked.  I’ve never tasted a more tender, flavorful pork chop.  Maybe there was a tasty brine involved?  If you like pork, you should definitely order this.

I had the trout, which was tender, well-seasoned and flavorful.  You won’t go wrong ordering fish at Rockefeller’s.

Jonathan ordered the burger from the bar menu.  The burger looked pre-formed rather than freshly made, but it was still tasty and worth repeating.  The fries were excellent.

We are a bit sad to have never sampled the desserts, but we’ve always felt too full.  Maybe next time!

Sweet Moses is an old-fashioned soda fountain and candy shop that makes their own ice cream.  Walking in the door brings one back to the 1950s, and they even serve phosphates and other long-forgotten drinks.

We decided to split the Tin Roof Sundae.  The ice cream tasted rich and creamy but had a lighter feel than many other local offerings.  We really enjoyed it and look forward to trying out their homemade hot fudge and caramel sauces.

We also ordered a dark chocolate covered rice crispie treat to go, which we ate over the next couple days (it was huge).  The cinnamon pecans, Belgian chocolate and cripsy marshmallow center create a complexity rivaling the best fine dining desserts.

Jonathan would surely love Sweet Moses as well, and we look forward to bringing him on our next trip.

Sonic gave us a $50 gift card to review the opening of their new Cleveland-area location.  That was over a year ago when they opened on Snow Road, and we never made it there.  We still had the card when a franchise opened in Mayfield Heights, though, so we decided to check in out.

While Sonic’s menu is largely typical fast food fare, their quality and delivery method are a step above the competition. Over numerous visits we tried almost everything on their menu and were pleased with both food and service.

There are three ways to order at Sonic: the drive-in, where servers deliver your food on roller skates; the inside counter where there are tables to eat; or at the drive through.  We generally do drive-in for the uniqueness.  There are lots of pull up spots, and our orders have generally been accurate and quickly delivered.  We did have a communication issue once, but, after I walked up to the counter to correct it, we were given the item in question for free.  There is some confusion about tipping at Sonic, but Sarah and I do so for drive-in service.  The servers are doing about as much as at a typical restaurant, so it only seems fair.

Onto the food.  Sonic is known for their hot dogs, so one visit we each ordered Chicago dogs.  Sarah and I really liked all of the vegetables.

Sonic’s chicken fingers were crisp and juicy, and the burgers were tasty as well.  The fries are definitely above average, as is the ice cream.  It’s far better than McDonald’s, but not quite as good as Dairy Queen’s.  There is also a fun variety of slushes and limeades. Sarah especially liked the coffee ice cream drinks.

Breakfast is served all day, and we really liked their burritos.  The Supersonic is loaded with vegetables–tomatoes, onions, jalapenos–and was especially tasty.  We also enjoyed their appetizer selection which included mozzarella sticks and jalapeno poppers.

Sonic isn’t exactly the healthiest meal choice–despite a number of vegetable cameos, there are no salads and a good percentage of the menu is fried–but it’s definitely a fun place to visit once in a while.  We look forward to our next visit.

Full disclosure: We were compensated in advance for this review, as we stated at the beginning.  However, we were told to only visit after calling ahead so that they could be ready for us.  We never did this because it didn’t seem like a fair way of reviewing.  Every visit was unannounced, and we never told anyone at the establishment that we would be doing a review.

During all this, I started to doubt my dedication to beer.  What could compete with the refreshment of the first cocktail or the complexity of the second?

As Spicehound points out, the roasted malts of beer make it equal (at least) to wine in terms of both complexity and food pairing.  And there are plenty of good summer beers for hot weather.

So here’s the giveaway, for two free tickets to the IX center international beer fest.  Explain your appreciation for a specific beer in one of the following categories:

(1) Complexity.  Example: Dogfish Head’s Santo Palo Marron is the best beer I’ve ever tried.  The combination of carmelized woodiness (from the Palo Santo wood), subtle hop bitterness, sweet malt and well-hidden alcohol kick make it well worth trying.

(2) Refreshment.  Example: There’s nothing like a Bavarian Hefeweizen with a lemon wedge on a hot day.  My favorite occasion of this was seeing Pere Ubu at the rock hall and following that up with a visit to Edison’s to split a pitcher of Fransiskaner.  The sharp carbonation and clean yeast finish made for great thirst-quencher. (This entry sort of covers the next one as well)

(3) Fond memories.  Example: Whenever I have a malty German beer such as Brew Kettle’s Big Woody, I think back to when I ate dinner outside at a Munich bar and had a tall beer with pork and spaetzel and then another with an apple dumpling.  It was a tipsy walk back to the youth hostel.

Each comment should exemplify one of the previous categories.  You can enter once for each category, for a total of up to three entries.  The only restriction is that no entries about beers by Anheuser-Busch are eligible based on their practice detailed here. 

Entries are due by noon on Thursday, May 10th.  The winner will be chosen using random.org and announced shortly after that.

And the winner is… Ryan, for comment #8, picked by Random.org. 

Thanks to everyone who entered.  I look forward to trying some of your suggestions!

We were invited to a media preview at “The Spread” buffet at the soon to open Horseshoe Casino in Tower City.  We were, on the whole, very impressed with the food.

The executive chef, Steven Varga, gave everyone a short tour of the facility and fielded questions.  The establishment has a farm-to-table, seasonal emphasis.  They highlighted spring asparagus on their salad bar and plan to use plenty of local zucchini as the months progress (we seem to have a limitless bounty around here).  We asked about local beef and poultry and were told that it was “Ohio Grown.”  I was hoping for something like Tea Hills Farms, but on the whole they seem to be doing a really good job with the local emphasis.

Executive Chef Steven Varga

Varga worked for many years in Las Vegas but started his career in Cleveland at the famed Baricelli Inn.  His culinary expertise really shined in all of the savory foods we tried.

Sarah’s plate

Salad

The grilled asparagus was very good.  They were a bit more well-done than we generally like, but the chopped boiled egg on top worked really well.  There was also an excellent local beet salad with Lake Erie Creamery goat cheese.  We didn’t get a chance to try the BLT or Caesar salads.

Italian

The baked orecchiette with sausage was excellent.  The most impressive element was the pizza, though.  My fresh tomato pizza wasn’t much to look at, but the wood burning oven clearly came through in the best crust I’ve had in Cleveland (although I haven’t tried Biga or Crostadas).  Apparently they’ll be introducing a whole wheat sourdough crust as well.

American

We didn’t get much from the American station, but what we had was excellent: pickled carrots and beets, and a very good rendition of potato salad.  Their cheese area was also outstanding and included aged goat cheese, a richly complex cheddar and a unique but tasty sage derbyshire. We heard that the fried chicken was really good and the puff pastry chicken pot pies looked worth trying as well.

Duck Enchiladas, one of many “small plates”

Shuffle

The shuffle station is a continually changing mix of ethnic foods.  Their feature today was Latin, including my favorite dish at the establishment, duck enchilada.  The sauce was rich and spicy but not heavy, and the duck was perfectly cooked.  They also had fried perch with chili garlic sauce, a very original and tasty take on local fish.

Carving and Rotisserie

Ribs (from their smoker) were a standout, perfectly seasoned and well-smoked.  They needed no sauce and, in proper barbecue tradition, had just a bit of toothsomeness and were not quite “falling off the bone.”  I smelled the smoke on my fingers later that day and wished for more.  They also have excellent sauteed oyster mushrooms.  We didn’t get a chance to try the other offerings, but the rotisserie Cornish game hens looked worth trying for a future visit.

Seaweed salad, kim chi, Edamame salad

Asian

The Asian section included Sarah’s favorite dish, sweet and sour shrimp.  The shrimp were huge, only lightly battered, perfectly cooked and covered with an excellent sweet and sour sauce.  I also really enjoyed the green curry clams and snap peas, which were very flavorful but somewhat milder than traditional green curry.  They also had excellent Kim Chi, moderately spicy and not too funky.

Pastry

Desserts were a huge letdown.  Despite their using an imported gelato server, the gelato itself tasted mostly of butterfat.  Traditional gelato uses milk, but theirs apparently uses heavy cream, which masks flavors.  The texture was also off, too hard and slightly icy.  I asked repeatedly about where the gelato was made and was told “It fits right in the trays.”  My guess is that it’s from a carton.

Clockwise from upper left: Mocha ball, strawberry macaron, mango passion macaron, lemon macaron

The chocolate pudding / mousse shots were cloyingly sweet, and the chocolate chip cookies, while passable, tasted like they came from frozen dough. The two good desserts were the mocha cake balls and the strawberry macarons, which tasted intensely of fresh strawberries.  While the rest of the restaurant was batting around 1.000, the desserts were at .200 or so.

 ***

We very much enjoyed our visit to “The Spread” and look forward to returning on a date night (no one under 21 is allowed).  Prices are $9.99 for breakfast, $13.99 for lunch and $23.99 for dinner.  Considering all of the great options, this really isn’t a bad deal.  You do need to register for a Ceasar’s total rewards membership to get these prices (non-members pay $2 more), but membership is free.

Thanks to Bite Buff for passing along our information to the casino so that we were invited.

And if anyone’s interested, I’m at :57 in the video posted here.

Slideluck Potshow (SLPS) is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to building and strengthening community through food and art.  SLPS operates multimedia slideshows combined with potluck dinners in about forty cities around the world.  For each event, artists submit up to five minutes worth of images and guests bring along delicious food to share.  The evening begins with a couple hours of mingling and dining on home-cooked dishes, and then the lights are dimmed, the crowd is hushed, and a spectacular slideshow commences.

To me it sounds sort of like Pecha Kucha with some yummy food.

The very first Cleveland Slideluck Potshow is going down on Thursday May 3 from 6:30pm to 10pm at the smARTspace at the 78th St Studios (1305 W 8th Street, Suite 116).

Just $5 if you bring a dish to share & $11 if you don’t at the door.  They’ve extended the deadline to this Wednesday April 25th if you’d like to submit some art/photos for the slideshow.

Here’s a link to their facebook page & event page.

For additional info, here’s a link to Cool Cleveland post on the event.

Hope to see you there!

Cajun Dave’s is located inside the Water Street Tavern and is basically just a counter and a kitchen.  We ordered the Cajun Dave’s fries ($8), appetizer gumbo ($5.50) and shrimp creole ($12) to split.  All apps were actually a dollar cheaper for their 3-7pm happy hour.  Jonathan ordered the smoked gouda mac-and-cheese.

We were a bit surprised at how long we had to wait for our food, about 30–35 minutes.  We also felt a tad out of place both as a family and 30–40 somethings.  The music is loud, there are lots of televisions, and almost no one looked over 23.

Once our food arrived, we were quite happy with it.  The fries were clearly fresh cut with lots of meaty debris (fragments of slow-cooked beef), cheddar cheese and horseradish sauce.  The portion was huge, enough for a meal for 3–4 people.  This was so tasty I kept thinking about it on the way home.

We also enjoyed the gumbo, which had a good cajun spice flavor and plenty of saucy shrimp, sausage and chicken.  We grabbed a bottle of hot sauce, though, to spice it up a bit.

The shrimp creole was a bit disappointing.  The tomato sauce could have used more depth of flavor, and even adding hot sauce didn’t quite kick it up enough.

Jonathan’s smoked gouda macaroni and cheese was a standout, though, rich (but not overly so) with nicely cooked pasta and plenty of smoky cheese flavor.  He was unhappy the next day that he couldn’t just eat leftover mac ‘n cheese rather than a regular Sunday dinner.

The beer list, like the establishment itself, is pretty mainstream.  The most adventurous options–bottles included–were Great Lakes Dortmunder and Shock Top Wheat IPA on draft.  I’ve had the GLD a lot–it’s a good standby–and the Shock Top was surprisingly tasty.  If you’re looking for an exciting beer list, though, try somewhere else.

We’d definitely like to eat more food from Cajun Dave’s–maybe the Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffe, the Jambalya, and a redux on the fires–but we could live without dining at the Water Street Tavern, at least on a Saturday night.  Take out might be a good option next time around.

The kids’ fishing event in Mogadore is also worth checking out.  It’s being repeated a few times in the next few months, is free and your kids get fishing equipment.  Give them a call if you’re interested.

Black Ginger Lager

Despite this, though, it’s been one of the tastiest and best-received original brews I’ve made.

Black Ginger Lager

6 lbs. dark malt extract
1 lb. extra dark malt extract (or more dark extract)
1/2 lb. black patent malt
3–4 oz. freshly grated giner
1 oz. Perle hops (boiling)
1/2 oz. Perle hops (flavor)
1/2 oz. Perle hops (bitterness)
1 oz. Tettenang hops (flavor)
1 oz. Tettanang hops (aroma)
1/2 oz. Cascade hops (flavor)
1/2 oz. Cascade hops (aroma)
1 vial liquid lager yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar for bottling

Combine black malt with 1.5 gallons water and bring to 150–160 degrees.  Hold for 20 minutes, then strain water into a different pot.  Add malt and boiling hops.  Boil for 30 minutes.  Add half of flavor hops.  Boil 15 more minutes, then add remainder of flavor hops.  During last two minutes, add aroma hops.

Sparge to a fermenter, add yeast, and ferment at lowish temperatures (50–60 degrees) for a week or so.  Transfer to a glass fermenter and lager (age) for a couple weeks at 40–50 degrees (if possible), then bottle using corn sugar.

Note: this is basically an imperial version of Charlie Papazian’s Limp Richard’s Schwarzbier from Joy of Homebrewing with ginger added.

This ended up really complex for a lager with plenty of hoppiness, ginger and roasted malt flavors.

Using ginger in a dark beer results in a complexity reminiscent of wild yeasts.  I had a Gavroche right before my last homebrew, and the followup worked quite well.

The space is large but inviting, with a deep red motif.  The noise level was low, making conversation easy.  Then again, the place was less than half full.

We started with the tater tots, which are served with every meal the way chips and salsa is at most Mexican restaurants.  They were dusted in bacon and served with a sour cream dipping sauce, making for a perfect combination of tot and baked potato.  They went down really easy.

The next course is also complimentary with every meal, a cast iron of corn bread.  It was moist and tasty with some really good bourbon butter on the side.  Matt was not happy with how hot it was, but I didn’t mind so much as it cooled down fairly quickly (3–4 minutes) after being cut.

We were then given the tuna poppers, rice cakes topped with ahi tuna and ponzu, a citrus sauce.  Matt, who doesn’t like “anything from the sea” even enjoyed these because the tuna was so mild and citrusy.

Next came the “Pork and Beans,” a slab of lightly cooked bacon atop pressure-cooked pine nuts in a ketchupy barbecue sauce with cabbage.  All the flavors were excellent, and the pine nuts were far tastier than any variety of bean.  They also still had some bite to them.

After this was the c.a.b. (certified angus beef) hanger steak.  The steak was perfectly cooked and tender with a nice, complex kick from the chimichurri-like salsa verde.  The tomato beans were really good (the tomato flavor was really mild), but I thought the potato shards–deep fried mashed potatoes–could have used a tad more seasoning,  This was an outstanding dish overall, though.

Our second main course was the scallop with “peas and carrots.”  The scallop was nicely seared, but I was not a fan of the dish overall.  The flavors didn’t strike me as nearly as interesting as the other dishes.

For dessert we were all given the “fried apple pie,” which was apparently inspired by Chris’s drinking too much and going to McDonald’s the next morning.  It’s a single large apple slice coated in pastry and then drenched in crunchy cinnamon sugar with a caramel bourbon sauce on the side.  It was really tasty.

The beer menu at Hodge’s is quite good–plenty of local and Belgian options–although the draft list is a bit small.  I had a bottle of Fin Du Monde and Matt had a bottle of Hennepin.

We were also given cocktail samples.  They had something with Creme de Casis which I didn’t like much, but there was another with ginger, lemon and Elderflower that was quite good.  After our beers we tried Beehives ($10), mason jars filled with Bulleit bourbon, lemon juice, honey, elderflower liquor and ginger.  It was very good but also extremely potent. It took us awhile to get through them.  They reminded me of this bee-themed song.

The service was good, and Chef de Cuisine Adam Bostwick (formerly of Melange) came out after our meal to ask for comments and constructive criticism.

We very much look forward to a return visit.

The new location is in a large building on West 25th Street kitty corner from the West Side market.  The space is extremely large and gives the sense of a large European train station or even a Cathedral.  It’s a beautiful space.

When we arrived for our 6:30 Saturday reservation, we were told that a space at the chef’s table had opened up and that, considering the desirability of such a spot, that we would be advised to take it.  We did.

Our meal began with a compimentary amuse buche, a couple sweet and spicy fried spring rolls.  We very much enjoyed them.

I ordered a Lanigan to drink ($9), an excellent mixture of vodka, pear juice and ginger that tasted almost wine-like in its mix of subtle sweetness, fragrance, and sour / bitter elements.  It went very well with everything we ordered.

We split the Baked Chevre ($8) for our appetizer, which was unbelievably good.  The unctuousness of the well-smoked tomato sauce paired perectly with the tangy goat cheese and soaked rosemary crouton underneath.  This is one of the meatiest-tasting vegetarian dishes in Cleveland and could work well as a main course.  The portion is also good for the price.

Half Portion

For our next course we shared the Crop Chop ($7).  The sopressata was a nice touch and elevated the salad above the standard Greek that would be implied by the other ingredients.

Half Portion of Pork Chop and Grits

For our main we had the Fried Pork Chop ($25 + $5 splitting charge).  The coating was thick and crunchy but not greasy.  The pork was perfectly tender, and the chorizo gravy could have made anything taste good.  The generous portion of tasty greens was enjoyable as well, as were the cheese grits.  We (especially Sarah) don’t even usually like grits but really enjoyed these.

Our only real quibble with our visit was the “chef’s table” seating, which was less like the old Crop chef’s table and more like counter seating at Bob Evans.  Our interaction with the kitchen was minimal, and our service seemed a bit slower and less attentive than at a regular table.  We also weren’t really close enough to get too much of a sense of how food was prepared.  This would be a good option if all the tables are filled and you’re still in the mood for an excellent meal, but we’d guess a regular table would generally be preferable.