Recipe: Kohlrabi Beef Stir Fry

Kohlrabi is a great treat that many may find in their CSA bag or at the local farmers market, but not everyone knows what to do with it. It’s much more familiar in Eastern Europe and Asia than here in the USA, but it can be eaten in a variety of ways and is especially tasty when raw. Here is a quick and easy stir-fry that takes advantage of its crisp texture, delicious flavor and natural absorbency. We paired it with a few ears of grilled corn. We also cooked this on a Thai charcoal outdoor stove, but an indoor stove works just as well. Kohlrabi Beef Stir Fry

 Ingredients:

• 12 ounces lean beef, sliced in thin strips
• 1 onion, thinly sliced, divided
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced, divided
• 2 tablespoons oil, divided
• 1 kohlrabi, peeled & cut into matchsticks
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 green onions, green parts only, sliced

Directions:

Bring a small pan of water to a boil and blanch the kohlrabi for two minutes. Then, place in an ice bath to stop the cooking.

Heat a wok over high heat; add half the oil and stir-fry half of the onions and half of the garlic until fragrant – about one minute. Add the beef and stir-fry for another minute until most of the meat has browned. Move the meat mixture to a bowl.

Bring the wok back up to temperature and add the rest of the oil. Add the kohlrabi with the remaining onions and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant and they begin to soften – about two minutes.

Add the meat mixture back to the wok and add the remaining ingredients. Stir-fry until combined and everything is cooked through – about two minutes. Toss in the green onions and stir to combine. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.

It has a great peppery taste and it's one of our favorite ways to make kohlrabi. Enjoy!

Cleveland Culinary Launch Tasting

It's been a fun foodie journey starting this blog. I have met so many great Cleveland people and of course enjoyed so much Cleveland food. One of the best things to have come from this blog is being a part of the pilot program of the Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen, LLC Food Business Incubator Program. We were lucky enough to get a heads up about the program from Sylvie, who runs the awesomely fun Dishcrawl here in Cleveland. We mentioned our interest in starting a food truck when talking during the Tremont Dishcrawl and she tweeted us a link to info about the program. We submitted our application and a presentation to ECDI and we made it in! Monday was week two of our classes - product development week. All 10 businesses in the program brought in food for testing. The evening started with some great talks. The first one by Tom from Cleveland Whiskey and then Terri of the Kitchen's Bounty. Terri even brought in a little gift bag with a sample of her Amazing Rub.

Here is a glimpse of the 10 awesome businesses in the program and the food being produced in Cleveland.

Mason's Creamery  Mason's handed out samples of their Cleveland Whiskey Ice Cream. While I have been lucky enough to have had it before I was more than excited to try it again. I love getting a taste of that Cleveland Whiskey flavor without the overpowering heat of alcohol. It's pure flavor and it's delicious. If you have a chance to try it in a Coke Float you will not regret it.

HooftyPlates I care greatly about where my food comes from and I know that a lot of other people do too. HooftyPlates has extensively researched to find the best local food sources and has created some amazing and healthy food from the best of the best. They brought in a sample of their Sweet Broccoli Salad. The best broccoli salads I have had are covered in mayonnaise and topped with bacon, but this was far better than any of those without using either!

Clark Pope Catering Clark is like the jack of all trades in the kitchen. He has created a ton of products for Fresh Fork Market so he had a lot for us to sample. He is a master of tomato so he brought in a BBQ Sauce, Tomato Sauce, Blueberry Sauce and a Bloody Mary Mix. I am a big fan of fruit sauces so I was really drawn to the Blueberry Sauce. It was nicely balanced and not overly sweet like you find in a fruit sauce all too often.

Chill Pop Shop I have had a lot of popsicles in my life and I figured a popsicle is a popsicle. That is until I put one of these in my mouth! I was immediately blown away by these Watermelon Lime Pops. There is a very powerful freshness built into these. My husband loves watermelon, but hates artificial watermelon flavors. I have learned to steer clear of giving him watermelon treats, but he LOVED these because it is actual watermelon vs watermelonish flavoring.

Randy's Pickles Pickles are just so much fun to eat! Randy's brought in their Pepper Chips, Hungarian Peppers and Dill Pickles for us to try. Any pickle fan would love these. If you've never had hungarian peppers they are a must try. They are currently working on a mega hot new pickle recipe.

Olivia Rose Confections I take pictures constantly so I always appreciate when my food is also beautiful. Olivia's food is incredibly photogenic. She brought in Cupcakes and one of her beautiful Fat Baby Cakes. The cupcake was so pretty I didn't want to eat it, but I am glad I did because it was incredibly light and moist.

Sweet Bean I love that Sweet Bean is named after their dog, who's nickname is Sweet Bean. They also call their round candy bars bark as a play on words. Too cute! I was so excited that they brought in some dark chocolate items. That is my favorite! These little candies pack a ton of big flavor. The little dark round ones are filled with a peanut butter and jelly mix that is oh so good.

Really Good Bacon From the moment I heard that name I was excited to try this bacon. As soon as my husband and I finished our first bite all we could say was "that is really good bacon." The name really says it all. David also brought in some amazing sliders. They were a mix of ground beef and bacon and I could not stop eating them! Best slider I've ever had.

Bay Branch Farms Bay Branch does urban farming in Lakewood. They have some amazing produce you can pick up at the Lakewood Farmers Market and LEAF. They brought in a beautiful and fresh salad made from their garden veggies and a blueberry fruit leather. We've all had an over-processed fruit rollup, but you'd think of fruit rollup differently after trying one of Bay Branch's fruit leathers. You get all the real fruit flavor in the familiar rollup form. I've had high quality fruit leathers from the grocery store before, but they were far closer to cardboard than fruit rollups. These were the real deal.

Wok 'n' Roll Yes, that's the name of our future food truck! :) We are hoping to launch in Spring 2014. For now we are just a concept, but by the end of program we want to have a solid business plan to get us started building our truck. We brought in a few treats that represent us. BBQ Pork Cookies and Mini Vegan Curry Pies. What was so great about this tasting was hearing peoples descriptions of our food. People are very curious about the Pork Cookies, but as someone said, "they are exactly as they sound." The Pork Cookies are a sweet cookie with an even sweeter pork inside. I enjoy the crumbly cookie dough. The pies were described as similar to a samosa. The cool thing about these are that they are a baked version of a samosa instead of fried.

At the end of the program we will have a graduation type event that will be open to the public. I'll be sure to tweet info when the time comes. Foodies and bacon lovers alike should come out to sample these local goodies and support these Cleveland businesses!

Li Wah - It's all that and Dim Sum

I would choose 1 bite of 10 different things over 10 bites of one thing any day. So needless to say...I love Dim Sum! I am super excited to have recently discovered this Cleveland gem, Li Wah. They serve Dim Sum daily from 10am to 3pm. Steamed Spare Ribs and Pork Dumplings While bone-in spare ribs with chopsticks are a little intimidating, the flavor is incredible. It's got a very comfort food stew taste and a tender meat. Most everyone has tired pork dumplings. I enjoy ordering them to get the sauce so I have some dipping sauce to go with all the dishes. It is also a great sauce to mix up with some of the chill sauce they have at the table to add a little sweet and spicy kick to your dim sum.

Baked BBQ Pork Buns and Sticky Rice BBQ Pork Buns is a dish anyone would love. These sweet baked rolls filled with an even sweeter BBQ pork are not a dish you want to pass on. The sticky rice was excellent. It had an amazingly big flavor that I didn't expect. It's not your typically filler rice, it stands on its own.

Steamed BBQ Pork Buns I you like the baked you'll like the steamed ones too. They have a doughy texture to them which I enjoy. They are a little cloud of BBQ Pork. Both the steamed and baked buns heat up well if you have extras to take home.

Shrimp Rice Noodle Rolls I had never tired these before, but they are a new favorite. They have a great lightly fried texture and fresh shrimp flavor. While they are a little difficult to handle with the chopsticks they are well worth the effort.

More Dumplings These are your dim sum poster children and they are delicious! Pork and shrimp shu mai on top and shrimp dumpling on the bottom.

If you've never experienced Dim Sum it is a great time! It's fun to be adventurous and try new foods. I highly recommend Li Wah.

Check out Li Wah:

Website Dim Sum Menu

Superior Pho is Un-pho-gettable

I’ve heard more than once that Superior Pho has some of the best Vietnamese food in the greater Cleveland area and after trying their banh mi at the Cleveland Asian festival, I’m not sure why it’s taken us so long to get there. I love this type of restaurant. They don’t worry about décor or some type of ‘hook’; they put all their energy into making awesome food quickly and affordably. I heard the diners next to us declare that it is a most fulfilling and cheap way to get ready for a night on the town. We decided to order the combo meals so we could get a little taste of big portion of their menu. The food took less than 5 minutes to reach our table even though it was a bustling Friday night. My dinner companion ordered meal #4. A piping hot fried spring roll and the Vietnamese sandwich. The sandwich was just as good as it was at the Asian Festival maybe even better with the addition of sriracha.

 

I went for meal #3 with a spring roll, chicken cabbage salad and small #3 pho. The pho was great and very large considering it was a ‘small’ size. But the star was the chicken cabbage salad. The cabbage was sliced so thin my dining companion thought it was noodles and it had a very liberal amount of rau ram – which is one of my favorite flavors.

 

I stopped by today for lunch to try meal #6 - grilled marinated pork on broken rice with a summer roll. The summer roll was very fresh and full of herbs. And the sauce was awesome – peanut sauce with a dollop of Sriracha floating in the middle. The pork was juicy and slightly charred and full of flavor. With the cucumbers, pickled veggies and seasoned fish sauce, it was a great combination. My only complaint is that I’m so full it’s hard to keep my eyes open… ;]

 

Follow Superior Pho:

Website - http://www.superiorpho.com/ Instagram - http://instagram.com/superior_pho# Twitter - https://twitter.com/superiorpho Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SuperiorPho

If it looks like a duck...smoke it!

Woks have a 2,000 year history of being a versatile all-in-one pan, but like most Americans, I tend to only use mine for stir frying. Smoking duck breast is a great way to add sensational, complex flavors to the meat and is much easier than you think. It can be done right in your kitchen in under an hour. Last year, my wife and I went on a Chinatown tour in NYC that took us to a traditional Peking duck restaurant. The Peking Chef that prepares the duck must also slice the duck and they do it right at your table. They take the slices of duck and wrap it up in a pancake (more like a tortilla than an American pancake) with green onions, cucumbers and hoisin sauce. It's a simple and tasty dish! I thought that would be a great way to serve up our smoked duck.

In my opinion, every Cleveland cooking adventure should start in the same place…The West Side Market. After a brief detour for lunch at Nano Brew, we headed to City Roast Coffee & Tea for some loose-leaf green tea. Then, on our search for duck breast, we ended up at Kaufmann Poultry just around the corner.

Ingredients:

1 duck breast, split - Kaufmann Poultry

½ tsp black pepper

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 star anise

½ cup green tea - City Roast Coffee & Tea

½ cup uncooked rice

½ cup sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

Mandarin pancakes, store bought or homemade - This isn't what you picture as your standard pancake. It is closer to a tortilla wrapper.

2 green onions, cut into matchsticks

½ cucumber, cut into matchsticks

3 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tsp hot water

1 tsp sesame oil

 Directions:

Trim any excess fat from the duck breast and cut slits in the skin. This will help extra fat to be released during the cooking process. In a bowl, mix the pepper, soy sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil. Add the duck and rub the marinade into the skin and meat. Set aside to marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat your wok over medium heat and add the oil. Sear the duck skin side down to crisp the skin and give a caramel color, about 3 minutes. Move the duck to a plate and clean out the wok.

Cover the bottom of the wok with foil and add the star anise, tea, rice, sugar and cinnamon. Note: Experiment with different teas and herbs. Woodchips, citrus peels, ginger, coriander seeds are all great things to try. Place a metal rack or steamer basket in the wok and cover with the wok lid. Note: Wok lids are not usually made to be tight fitting to the wok. Wrap the edge of the lid in foil, so when you press it down on the wok the foil will help seal it. Note: If you can, avoid using a rack that will touch the bottom of the wok – it will make clean up much easier. When the heated sugar cools, everything is like concrete.

Turn the heat to high until the wok begins to smoke. Now add the duck breasts skin-up and reduce the heat to medium. Cover to allow it to smoke for 10 minutes. Note: Take out the battery of your smoke – BUT don’t forget to put it back. Turn off heat (don’t remove the lid) and allow the duck to rest in the wok for another 10 minutes.

In the meantime, mix together the hoisin sauce, water, and sesame oil. Thinly slice the breasts. Serve the duck with the pancakes, green onions, cucumber and hoisin mixture. Wrap up and enjoy!

Tremont Dishcrawl

When we vacation we love to go on food tours and bar crawls. It's a great way to get a feel for a neighborhood and try a lot of different dishes. I'd always rather have one bite of many things than many bites of one thing. Cleveland is the perfect place to have food tours and the massive crowd at the Tremont Dishcrawl proves it. Stop 1

The Tremont Dishcrawl started at the South Side. It was a beautiful space to start off the evening. The executive chef even came out to discus the dishes that were served and thank us for coming.

The South Side served us an incredible three dish tasting starting with the mussels. They had a slight spice to them and a rich sausage. Then they brought out the flatbreads, which had a nice creaminess to them and a fresh pop from the green. If that wasn't enough they bought out the very inventive almond fried brie, which was almost like a dessert. The wild berry jam was absolutely perfect with it. I was really impressed with the food and presentation. They had a great wine list as well.

Stop 2

Press Wine Bar and Restaurant is new to Tremont. They had a great patio and party space as well as a beautiful main room with a large bar. They brought out hors d'oeuvre style dishes. Deviled eggs with shrimp, smoked salmon on rye toast with a cucumber spread and pineapple with blue cheese. Each item was beautifully presented and well balanced, which is extremely impressive when it comes to pineapple and blue cheese. I thought it was very creative and couldn't believe how well it worked. I am a big wine geek and enjoyed browsing their wine menu. They have a lot of reasonably priced bottles and things I am not seeing on other wine lists. I am a big fan of the Michael & David "6th Sense" Syrah 2010 (my tasting notes).

Stop 3

The Treehouse was next. I can't believe I've never been here. I loved the food and atmosphere. At this point in the evening we had been 3 for 3 on great patios!

Treehouse brought us a little sampling of their hummus, wonton and peanut noodles. It packed some BIG flavors. Their food is extremely well done. I wanted more of everything!

Stop 4

Dessert time took us to Dervish Grill. Ethnic food is my thing so I was so excited to come here. They are open despite the construction. I got to browse their food menu and can't wait to go back, but I also loved this dessert so much that I have cravings for it daily. They gave us a generous dessert sampler with baklava, the best I can ever remember having, Kunefe, which is filled with cheese, and my favorite, the Kazandibi, which is a milk custard. It tasted like marshmallows. They also had great cocktails and Turkish wines.

The Dishcrawl was a super good time! I highly recommend giving one a try. It's a great place to hang with other foodies and you get an incredible amount of food for the cost. Get info on upcoming Dishcrawls: Website Facebook Twitter

The Chomp | The Pour

I love food trucks! I especially love when multiple food trucks are gathered so I can try things from multiple trucks and/or grab something to take home for later. Obviously, I am not alone, if you've been to Walnut Wednesday you've seen the crowds lining up to grab lunch at our awesome Cleveland food trucks. Now we also have the Chomp and the Pour at East 46th and Euclid! The Chomp is there every Tuesday and the Pour is the last Thursday of each month. Since these are new events they don't have the long lines of Walnut Wednesday yet, so get while the gettin is good! There were tons of tables and places to chill while eating. They had an awesome portable jukebox at the Pour, plus a little potty/handwash station. And the food of course, was AWESOME!

The Chomp The line up for the Chomp on 5/28/2013: - The Orange Trük - The Nosh Box - Pigaliscious - Mobile Sushi Bar- Sushi on the Roll - Mason's Creamery - Cleveland Baking Company

Mobile Sushi is the first mobile sushi bar in the Midwest! They have lots of different sushi rolls as well as wheat tortilla wraps. I love sushi so I was all over this. I ordered the spider roll they had on special. Excellent sushi! You'd never imagine this quality of sushi from a food truck. They also had some creative desserts I am excited to try. I'm a fan!

The Orange Trük has a great pulled pork sandwich topped with a nice fresh slaw. The trük balls are an awesome little side with a nice kickin' sauce.

There is nothing better on a hot Cleveland day than some ice cream. We had the pleasure of trying some Mason's Creamery ice cream at the Asian Festival and loved it! No way were we passing up a chance to have it again. They have great unique flavors and offer vegan choices as well. The Vietnamese coffee ice cream (top) is out of this world! Sweetened condensed milk is a beautiful thing. Early Grey ice cream (bottom) is not something I have ever encountered before. It was lovely! It had a subtle berry flavor to it which I loved.

We also grabbed some Pigaliscious cubans to take home for dinner. Amazing cubans! Can't wait to pick up some of those again.

The Pour The line up for the Pour on 5/30/2013: - Cleveland BBQ Company - Mobile Sushi Bar- Sushi on the Roll - The Nosh Box - StrEat Mobile Bistro - The Rolling Stove (If you've got a link for them please let me know) - Wholly Frijoles Mexican Street Foods - Sweet! Mobile Cupcakery - Mason's Creamery - Portside Distillery

Cleveland BBQ Company is a must try truck! Look at the smoke rings on that brisket!! Don't worry, it's hard to miss since it is a giant green military vehicle that stands so high you need to stand on a big metal box to order. It looked so cool I couldn't resist and the food was amazing. Brisket, corned beef and sriracha potato salad. You had me a sriracha! They also make their own sauces which are all tasty. The Cleveland Gold on the smoked corned beef was an excellent combo. Love this truck!

The best thing about the Pour is drinking outside! I love to get my drink on outdoors. Portside Distillery had two beers on hand for the event.  The "216" Dry Hopped Session Ale (left) and Maelstrom Scotch Ale (right). You couldn't go wrong with either one, but the Maelstrom rocked my world! It was incredibly sweet and went down easy. I must have more!

Our love of great ice cream sent us back to Mason's Creamery again! They truly have wonderful ice cream. Seek them out for sure. This time we went for the olive oil ice cream, which is vegan, and had these great little candied oranges.

We topped off this food truck feast with a strawberry lemonade cupcake from Sweet! Mobile Cupcakery, which tasted every bit as good as it looked! You can have your cupcake and eat it too at the Chomp and the Pour! I hope to see more people join in for the upcoming Chomp and Pour. I know I will be there!

Do you have a favorite Cleveland Food Truck? What is it?

Flour Power

I walked into Flour with no expectations. I knew nothing about it except that they had pizza and there were lots of people buzzing about the place. As soon as you set foot inside this beautiful modern restaurant you'll know it isn't going to be your average pizza place. Then the food blows you away! They have a nice wine and cocktail menu. I always love places that have bubbly by the glass and Flour offers three different kinds at a variety of price points. The Rockefeller has a nice balance of heat from the Bulleit 10 Bourbon and sweet from the cherry juice.

I really love to let my date order for me. I like to be surprised! He decided to start our meal with the Beef Carpaccio. I had no idea until later that beef carpaccio meant raw beef, so I got to try it without the stigma of "I'm about to eat raw beef". (Not that I am a stranger to raw meat as my family was feeding me steak tartare at an age where most children only eat hotdogs and chicken fingers.) It was very acidic with a saltiness brought on from the cheese and capers. It was a fresh and refreshing dish! I'm really glad I got to try it and my date adored it.

I really wanted to try a pizza so I ordered a Bianca (ricotta + cauliflower + fennel pollen) with the egg/arugula/basil addition. It was a perfectly crispy and chewy crust. The fennel pollen gave it a hint of sweet licorice. The egg was a great addition. It gave a rich smooth texture that complimented the soft roasted cauliflower. The basil and arugula added a nice freshness as well.

My date ordered the Porchetta Alla Romana and this dish absolutely blew me away! As he was snagging bites of my pizza I jokingly asked if he wanted to trade, but I was dead serious. The polenta was lightly spiced with a creamy texture. I could have eaten a plateful of just the polenta and been perfectly happy. The herbed pork was very juicy and it was topped with delicious grilled cauliflower. I could eat this dish every day. That was the most exquisite polenta I have ever had.

It isn't the end of the meal to me until I've had some chocolate so bring on the Snicker Cake! A fluffy, airy cake topped with a chewy peanut caramel layer and a rich chocolate fudge topping with salty, buttery popcorn sauce. It was a perfect balance of salty and sweet. Flour certainty lives up to the hype and made me rethink the idea of a pizza place.

Follow Flour: Wesbite Facebook Twitter

Choco-Cherry Firepie

I love making food over the fire! There are so many great things you can make with a pie iron. Everything from sweet to savory can be stuffed between some bread. This is a great combo of flavors we came across. The marshmallows are truly the key. They bring it together and create great texture. Ingredients:

2 pieces Cinnamon bread or white sandwich bread

2 tablespoons cherry pie filling

1- 2 inch square milk chocolate

6-8 mini marshmallows

butter, to taste

Pie Iron

Fire

1. Butter one side on each piece of bread.

2. Put one piece of bread butter side down in a pie iron.

3. Place the chocolate, pie filling, and marshmallows on the bread keeping them away from the edges.

4. Place the other piece of bread on top with the butter facing out. Carefully close and lock the pie iron.

5. Cook in a fire, turning often until the bread is nicely toasted. (Using the coals is quicker and bakes more evenly)

6. Enjoy

Tips: If you use soft, white bread, like Nickel’s or Wonder, the pie iron will seal the edges together.

Mad Good Peppers

Last Friday was the perfect weather for dining outdoors. We headed over to Stone Mad Pub to check out their beautiful stone patio. The booths are actually made of stone and covered with nice little cushions to keep it comfy.

We grabbed a few cocktails as we waited to get a spot outside. My date ordered his favorite cocktail, an Old Fashioned. He has been trying them all over town. This was a fun one with mashed oranges and cherries at the bottom. I picked out the Charles Dickens. It was the perfect patio drink. It was refreshing and sweet with a great ginger flavor.

We wanted to try a lot of different things so we went with ordering appetizers and sides.

We started with the BBQ Shrimp appetizer. The grill and pancetta gave it a smoky flavor and I loved the sweet Guinness BBQ sauce.

I adore brussel sprouts and this is most certainly my favorite way to eat them...with bacon. The side of Curried Cream Corn was my favorite dish! I have never had anything like it. It had all the buttery and creamy aspects of cream corn with a mild curry taste. I just wanted to drink it!

I highly recommend the stuffed peppers. They used a nice spicy pepper. It is stuffed with a lovely rice and sausage mixture and there was a nice crispy texture to the rice. It all worked very well with the sauce, which was excellent.

Since we just loved hanging out on the patio we finished up with a few beer cocktails and enjoyed the atmosphere. This place is beautiful inside and out.

Check out Stone Mad Pub: They don't have a website, but you can see inside on Google Maps! Facebook Twitter

Cooked Tofu Perfection

Johnny Mango posted a photo of a cherry margarita the other day that made my mouth water! I have yet to go there so I went in for a lovely and refreshing lunch yesterday.  I've been eating poorly this week after missing a trip to the grocery last weekend to go out of town. Eating some fresh food felt like a spoonful of medicine. They have the funnest drink menu. I tried the Pomegranate Sparkler. Pretty, fun and refreshing!

They have a very diverse menu. Lots of vegan and gluten-free options.

My lunch date went with the Shrimp Fried Rice. The rice had a great crispiness to it, but was still light and fluffy. I love rice with a little bit of a crispiness to it. It's one of my favorite things about the Korean dishes served in the lava hot bowls. I let the rice crisp up on the side. This fried rice dish was certainly cooked to perfection. It also didn't skimp on the fresh veggies!

I ordered the Shrimp Pad Thai. I don't always like how restaurants interpret Pad Thai, but I like peanuts on my food so I order it a lot. This was an excellent Pad Thai! It had an explosive fresh lime flavor. Not something I've ever experienced with a Pad Thai, but I loved it. While I loved the lime, the tofu stole the show. I have never had such perfectly cooked tofu! It was like a light fluffy marshmallow. I couldn't even believe it was tofu.

Damn, I am jealous of people who live close enough to walk to Johnny Mango. I would be there all the time. I can't wait to try more tofu dishes and I need to go in for some drinks! Do you live in walking distance to some cool restaurants? Where do you go?

Check out Johnny Mango: Website Facebook Twitter

Birthday Bar Crawl

For my nerdy better half I planned a night out barhopping in Ohio City as his Birthday treat! Last year I took him to NYC and we had a crazy night of drinking in the West Village. We started at Marie's Crisis, an awesomely fun gay piano bar (I wish we had one just like it in CLE), the White Horse Tavern, where Dylan Thomas supposedly drank himself to death, and the Slaughtered Lamb, where our waitress, who had on a barely-there top, bent over us again and again to light the flaming drinks we couldn't stop ordering. We topped off the night a Gray's Papaya for a 2 a.m. legendarily drunk food fix. This year I took him up to Westfield, NY for the weekend, where we got to taste a lot of wines, but we made it home just in time for a little CLE bar crawl! We made four stops along this Bar Crawl. All places we've been wanting to go, but hadn't had the chance to yet.

Stop #1 - Nano Brew Our journey started at Nano Brew. They have an extensive local beer list, including a few of their own. We thoroughly enjoyed the hoppy Nano Namber Ale and the fruity Market Garden Citramax.

They have a super cool menu. I can't wait to go back and try the PB&J, peanut butter, bacon, jam and arugula. We decided to start off the evening with the Stoner Fries, waffle fries with chorizo chili, cheese sauce & scallions. They were truly a stoner's wet dream! The chorizo chili had the greatest spiciness to it.

Follow Nano Brew: Website Facebook Twitter

Stop #2 - The Black Pig We were crazy impressed by the food and cocktails at the Black Pig. It's the kind of place I want to take my mom to so she can see why we are so in love with the Ohio City neighborhood and she would leave getting it.

I am a sucker for an inventive cocktail menu! We started with a Blood and Sand (left), it had a fantastically interesting smell that I just couldn't place, and the Millionaire (right).

We couldn't choose between the Braised Pork Belly and the Smoked Salmon so went with both. The smoked salmon was outrageously delicious! The combination of the salmon with the pickled onions was so smokey and sweet. The Salmon really stole the show, but Braised Pork Belly is always awesome. The Vietnamese make something similar to this dish, but with a hard boiled egg. It reminded me of a comforting chicken pot pie on a cold day. Bad day? Come get this ultimate comfort food dish along with a cocktail. I paired it with the Centennial, which tasted like a chocolate/coffee grasshopper. It worked.

Follow the Black Pig: Website Facebook Twitter

Stop #3 - ABC Tavern We made a quick stop at ABC Tavern to get our drink on. I picked an Ace Apple Honey Cider off the board on the wall. It was like drinking a sour apple jolly rancher and I absolutely loved it! It seemed really crowded for a Sunday night in Ohio City, which gave us a fun kick in the ass to liven it up. What a a great Sunday Funday spot. I'd like to go back and try some of the fun food. I spotted Hush Puppies on the menu.

Follow ABC Tavern: Website Facebook Twitter

Stop #4 - Market Garden Brewery

The Market Garden Brewery was last, but certainly not least. I rarely turn down the chance to have a Beer Cocktail and I there was no way I was going to turn down a Beer Cocktail called the Joan Harris. It was as good as you would imagine drinking a Joan to be. I would for sure get it again.

The Sriracha BBQ Chicken Wings were unbelievably good. I am a true Sriracha lover and know that just a few drops of a fresh bottle of Sriracha can scorch, but these were very mild. They had all the awesome Sriracha flavor without the burn. Anyone who can tolerate a little heat could go for these. The Smokey BBQ Popcorn was a great bar food that pairs well with spicy Kennett Ale.

Since I don't bake it was probably best to get cake out. The Lemon Pound Cake with Raspberry Sorbet and Banana Bread with Brown Butter Ice Cream with Carmel Sauce were far better than any cake I could have pulled off. They were also the icing on the cake of our Birthday Bar Crawl.

Follow the Market Garden Brewery: Website Facebook Twitter

The Spice of Life

I've been wanting to try Spice for a while. Now that I have been there I am kicking myself that I didn't go sooner! So impressed with every aspect of this place. The food was incredible of course, but the atmosphere was so incredibly comfortable that I didn't want to leave. The staff was lovely and the food blew me away. I really can't wait to go back. Ramps are all the rage at the moment so I went with the Ramp and Potato Ravioli. It melted in my mouth. Perfection!

Specials are hard to resist. My dinner companion chose the Duck Two ways and I am sure glad he did. The crispy wing was to die for!

If you go to Spice DO NOT SKIP DESSERT! As lovely as that food was the dessert was a jaw dropper. Peach and Cardamom Semifreddo...I love just saying it. It was topped with a sweet and brittle honeycomb. The waffle was light as air. This is one of the most amazing desserts I've ever had.

Since I had no interest in leaving this cozy seat in the corner of a beautiful restaurant filled with beautiful people I ordered a cocktail, the Spring, Sprang, Sprung. It was a lovely, refreshing, girlie girl kinda cocktail and I loved every sip of it.

I am sad that it took me so long to discover such a treasure! If you've been please leave a comment on what you had. I hear the menu changes a lot. If you've never been, this is a must go! Bring a date!

Check out Spice: Website Facebook Twitter

Scotchy Scotch Scotch

I was so impressed with the food and atmosphere at Light Bistro when I stopped for lunch (check it out here) that couldn’t wait to go back. So I jumped at the chance for a three course meal each paired with a 10 year old, barrel finished Glenmorangie single malt scotch.

Everything was fantastic, but the icing on the cake? Joseph Deluca and his endless knowledge of not only scotch, but all alcohol, their histories and even fascinating stories of local production. We loved his motto, “Be willing to try something new, but always drink something you like.”

The first course was smoked salmon served with crispy potatoes and a blue cheese foam. I had never had smoked salmon before so I was very excited to try it. It had a wonderful smoky flavor and a very delicate texture; it nearly melted in your mouth. The scotch paired with this course was Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or which is aged is a Sauternes barrel. It had a underlying sweetness that made the spirit smooth and easy to drink.

Next up was the chipotle BBQ pork served over broccoli and red onion slaw. The pork was perfectly cooked and the chipotle BBQ sauce had a nice, mild heat. The slaw was delicious and the vinegary based cut through the sauce. This was paired with Glenmorangie Lasanta which is aged in a sherry barrel. I thought this one had more of a peppery note to it. While it wasn’t my favorite scotch of the evening, the bolder flavor was needed to stand up to the food and it did so very well.

We finished with dessert, though the scotch was a treat... Warm chocolate cake filled with chocolate sauce and served with crushed walnuts and grape syrup. This was paired with Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban which is aged in a port barrel. This was my favorite! It had the underlying sweetness that make it smooth, but it had the rich flavor you find in port.

Light Bistro has lots of similar events posted on their website. Make sure you check one out: Website Facebook Twitter

You Phở Shizzle Need to Get to the Asian Mall

I’ve never been a fan of malls filled with over priced junk and mall walkers sashaying around the perimeter threatening to run you over. So who would have guessed that one of my favorite places is Asia Town Center!  Restaurants and shops under one roof with plenty of parking and they even have a supermarket. My lovely dining companion and I stopped first at Pho 99 for lunch. They serve up the familiar classics of Vietnamese restaurants. I tried Phở Tái better known as P2 or Fresh noodle w/Eye round steak. Piping hot clear broth, fresh noodles and filled with herbs. And of course served with a mound of bean sprouts. In my opinion, phở is some of the best comfort food around.

My lunch date tried Cơm Bì Sườn Nướng much easily ordered as C1 or Chargrilled pork chops & Julienne pork on jasmine rice. It was a tender juicy pork chop with an awesome smoky flavor served with a mound of rice and a fried egg. Neither of us had tried “julienne pork” before but it was chewy in a good way that contrasted the other textures on the plate.

After gorging ourselves, we wandered next door to the Asia Food Company. I always find new things to try and everything is so cheap. 3 bags of groceries for $16.52! I love their meat department with some unusual cuts of meat and things you won’t find at a regular supermarket.  Best of all, I had a wonderful lunch date and did some grocery shopping and I still made it back to work within an hour.

Learn more: Pho 99 Website Pho 99 Facebook Pho 99 Twitter Asian Town Center Asia Food Company

Wine Taste Off

There seems to be no better way to learn about wine, develop your pallet, and find what you like than tasting multiple wines in one sitting (or so I like tell myself). I picked up 3 bottles of wine to do a little tasty taste! (I am a huge fan of Gary Vaynerchuk and Wine Library TV.)

Wines

I opened all three bottles a few hours before tasting to let them breath. They were all tasted at room temperature.

Wine #1

2010 Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia

Picked this up at

World Liquors & Wines in North Olmsted

88 points from Wine Spectator

Tasting Notes

Smell: Dirt, Mushrooms, Worms, Chocolate. Taste: Fruit bomb, cherry slushy, peppermint. High acidity. I agree with Wine Spectator and give this an 88. It isn't overly sweet, but packs lots of fruit. Nicely balanced. The mushroom smell and cherry slushy taste was fun to experience.

Wine #2

2009 Concannon Vineyard Conservancy Petite Sirah, Livermore Valley, USA

Picked this up at the Trader Joes at Crocker Park No known score

Tasting Notes

Smell: Oak, Spicy Men's Cologne. Taste: Oak, Pepper. Didn't love this one. It was too dry and over oaked for me. I give it an 85. Better used as a cologne maybe.

Wine #3

2010 Michael-David Winery 6th Sense Syrah, Lodi, USA

Picked this up at

World Liquors & Wines in North Olmsted

88 points from Wine Enthusiast

Tasting Notes

Smell: Black Raspberry, Cinnamon, Vanilla. Taste: (Same) Black Raspberry, Cinnamon, Vanilla. This wine came off very well rounded and polished. I give this a 90+ and declare it the winner of this taste off! I like it so much I bought some more and took it to BYOB at Barroco. I am going to pick up some of the other Michael-David wines to try soon. This wine also had a fun little poem on the back label:

I smell with one nose, an ancient black rose, a memory lingering, briefly exposed. I see with two eyes, through shadows and lies, a secret revealing, wrapped in disguise. I hear with my ears, three fallen tears, echoing softly, heightening my fears. I taste with my tongue, my panics begun, four sides enclosed, melding as one. I touch with my hands, a sinister plan, five fingers discerning where I do stand. I sense with my mind, a thought so unkind, I'm trapped six feet under in a bottle of wine.

New Brunch in Town Packs Some Heat

I love weekend brunch! There are so many great choices in Cleveland, but one quick look at Jezebel's Bayou new brunch menu and I was sold. You can't hate on a place that has desserts on the brunch menu. Dessert sounded like a great place to start my Saturday so I ordered the beignets with coffee. The beignets were amazing yes, but the coffee and cream alone were worth the trip out. They make a special coffee creamer that was so sweet and delicious that I skipped the sweeteners all together.

My dining companion ordered the Eggs Jezebel, which came with poached eggs and creole sauce over the house jambalaya. It packed some serious heat! Each kind of meat had its own flare of flavors making every bite I stole of the jambalaya different. While it was hot and spicy, it wasn't just hot to be hot. It had real spice to it and enough heat to excite me, but not burn my taste buds. To me, the sign of a good spicy dish is that balance of heat and flavor.

I love crab and I don't get to eat it enough of it living in Ohio and all so I went for the Eggs Bayou. Lump crab meat and a crawfish cream sauce! Yes, please! This was over the top excellent. Another dish with a perfect blend of spice and heat. The crab had a real smokiness to it that I enjoyed.  I was really impressed with the flavors on every dish and can't wait to go back and try dinner.

What a great location for having brunch. Enjoy some fantastic food and then browse the shops on the street. Loganberry Books is an incredible book shop you could easily loose yourself in for hours. I picked up a few great finds. Smoke & Pickles, southern cooking with an Asian twist, and a signed copy of the Book of Bourbon, which includes some cool recipes as well.

Have you tried Jezebel's? Let me know what you ordered.

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Addiction Worthy Barroco Grill

You know when you are so into eating your meal that you completely forget to interact with your dining companions? That is addiction worthy food and Barroco Grill has that kind of food. Before I ever had a bite of Barroco's food, I fell hard for the atmosphere. Strings of lights, including lightup spiders and skeletons, glittery painted mural on the wall, unique touches are everywhere.

The place (Lakewood Location) was packed last night for the BYOB + Live Painting session with local artist, Anthony Martino. I picked up a few of his paintings that he gave me a 2 for deal on.

I still have a lot to try on the Barroco grill, but I already have some dishes I love so much that I can't not get them!

If I am up for an appetizer, it's got to be the cheesy corn. Dip arepa fries (fried polenta triangles) into cheesy corn. The chicken inside is just a bonus and the bacon is the the cherry on top. I have to admit that a ate a few bitefulls straight from the spork.

You can't go wrong ordering an arepa, but there are other gems on the menu as well. I adore the Sandwich Cubano and I am not the only one. Momocho chef, Eric Williams, loves them and always orders two.

What makes this place such a dream to me though is the sauces. They always bring out this carrier with five different sauces on it. Not only is it fun to try each sauce each time, it makes each bite of food more interesting. I love mixing the hot sauce with the big mac style sauce to dip french fries. I really dig the pineapple sauce on the Cubano. I am a sauce junkie!

My dinner companion ordered the Bistec a Caballo! Sexy, right? It was. A 12 oz. strip in a tomato and onion sauce with a poached egg on top. When I finally looked over to ask how it was it was almost gone, but it went something like this - "How is it?" "The only thing that could make this steak better is you being topless." There was just enough left over to take home and use for Sunday morning breakfast in bed omelet fillings.

I haven't had the pleasure of visiting the downtown location yet. If you've checked it out let me know what you tried.

Check out Barroco Grill: Website Facebook

Best Tuesday Deal: Hodge's 2 for $40

If you like to eat out a lot it's good to know where the bargains are. Hodge's 2 for $40 Tuesdays is a fantastic deal! 1 starter, 2 entrées + bottle of wine = 40 bucks Let's not forget that you also get tater tots and the greatest fucking cornbread in the world for that $40.

wild mushroom and ohio city pasta gnocchi

Loved, loved, loved the wild mushroom and ohio city pasta gnocchi. It tasted as good as it looks. The mushrooms and grapes are a great combination with the always fresh ohio city pasta.

hanger steak

I spent about 5 years of my life as a vegetarian and still don't eat much steak or red meat, but this hanger steak is a must order! Having a steak this good reaffirms my decision to eat meat. Everything about it was beautiful. It went so well with the tomato-ginger beans. The potato shards blew my mind! They had that 'just fried fair fries' taste that I go to the fair every year just to experience.

grilled half chicken

What a manly dish! (Just an FYI if you go to dinner with me I will be eating some of your food.) This chicken was so moist and fall off the bone perfect. You can't go wrong pairing juicy chicken with a creamy mac and cheese. This dish went really well with the cornbread! The cornbread alone is worth a trip to Hodge's. It is like a cornbread cookie/cake with a bourbon butter that makes it even more out of this world. I've had some decently satisfying dreams about Hodge's cornbread.

When people come from out of town to visit this is on the top of my list for a good "this is Cleveland" dinner option. Chris Hodgson is all over the Food Network making Cleveland so proud! Viva la Rust Belt Revival!

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Happy Record Store Day

Say hello to the Beachland’s famous Southern buttermilk fried chicken & biscuit sandwich! (Featured in Cleveland Magazine) And yes, it does taste as good as it looks. The local honey was an especially wonderful addition.

I stopped by the Beachland Ballroom for lunch yesterday as part of Record Store Day. There are a ton of great record stores in the neighborhood.

If you haven't had a meal at the Beachland Ballroom you are missing out on something very special. They were just voted Best Brunch in Scene Magazine, which I happily voted for them. There are a lot of great brunches in Cleveland, but the record spinning, pitchers of booze and unassuming atmosphere set Beachland apart.  The first time I stopped in for brunch I was blown away by their food and have continued to enjoy every meal I've had there since.

The drink list is so fun! I always have a blast splitting a pitcher of booze for brunch. It's near impossible not too.

There are tons of other things to do in the area while you are there. Visit the vintage/record store in the basement, This Way Out and the neat shops down the street; Blue Arrow, Music Saves, Star Pop for some vintage toys.

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