Westside Monte Cristo
My love affair with Melt continues. My brunch group met there on a Saturday morning in September. We got there a half hour before it opened because the organizer got the times mixed up, so we were the first folks in the restaurant and the first table to be seated. The place quickly filled up, and every seat was soon full.
Porky Cheese (honey ham, crisp bacon and Swiss cheese)
I wish I had thought to take a photo of the menus. They are cleverly printed on the backs of old album covers. The Muppet Christmas Album and Kenny Rogers menus were particularly comical. The album covers span many different genres from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Since we were a large group (and the kitchen is probably fairly small) our sandwiches came out in batches. It didn’t matter. We were enjoying each other’s company.
Chorizo & Potato
Being a large group, we were able to order a lot of different sandwiches. Knowing how filling the sandwiches were, I planned on eating half of my sandwich and taking the other half home. The woman to my left commented that she thought I was a wimp when I told her my plan, but then she ended up doing the same thing with her very filling chorizo and potato grilled cheese.
Soul Vegetarian
Several of our members are vegetarians, so they were looking forward to the sandwich of the month, the Soul Vegetarian, which featured fried green tomatoes, collard greens, black-eyed pea puree, and pepper jack cheese jalapeno cornbread. I was able to taste it, and it truly was a taste sensation. The collard greens were simmered in garlic, and that took it to the next level!
The Kindergarten
I had been looking forward to trying the Mushroom Melt, but it seemed too early in the morning to be eating caramelized onions. So I ended up ordering The Kindergarten and added spinach, tomatoes and bacon. It was absolutely delicious.
Breakfast Burger
With the focus on the grilled cheese the fact that Melt also serves grilled cheese burgers sometimes gets overlooked. Since it was brunch, the lone burger at the table was the Breakfast Burger, which features two Amish farmed fried eggs, crisp bacon, and American cheese. It is my friend’s favorite thing on their menu, and he loves it medium rare. It is cut in half here in the photo, because he cut it to make sure it was medium rare. The burger came out just to his specifications, and he loved it.
As has become our custom, we also ordered several desserts and passed them around the table. I had looked forward to the fried Twinkies, which are served with mixed berry preserves, but was most taken with the pumpkin cheesecake. It was creamy and delicious. I leave you with photos of the mouthwatering desserts.
Fried Twinkies
Bread Pudding
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) 
The 
ere recently, and we enjoyed a lovely meal together. There were lots of different sized tables, ranging from dinner for one to a large family gathering that took up two whole tables, which seat 6-7 each.
salad and fresh baked rolls, breaded chicken, roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, seasonal vegetables (we enjoyed corn), and dessert (which can be anything Jo Ann chooses, but this night we had the date & nut pudding). The dinner includes coffee and iced tea. No alcoholic beverages were served, but honestly we didn’t miss them.
The food is served family style, which means the food is served in bowls at the table which you then pass around the table. The meal was absolutely delicious. The baked chicken was moist, the roast beef was tender, the rolls were soft and fresh, and the mashed potatoes were smooth, creamy and delicious. But the big hit at our table was the stuffing. Fresh stuffing studded with chunks of celery, so you could tell it was homemade. We couldn’t get enough of it!
After dinner we were served coffee (both decaf and regular) and the aforementioned date & nut pudding. As you can see, the pudding was the consistency of a British pudding rather than the creamy pudding we usually associate with the word ‘pudding.’ The vanilla sauce was almost too sweet and I found myself working around it and just eating the pudding and the whipped cream. But it was delicious, just like everything we were served that night. Simple, yet delicious.
Clam bakes (or as we in Cleveland spell it – “clambakes”) originated in New England, but Cleveland has taken the clambake and embraced it as its own fall tradition. Many restaurants advertise their clambakes in the Plain Dealer and online, but if you ask me the best clambakes are the ones thrown in someone’s backyard. A clambake is a traditional method of cooking seafood over an open fire pit on the beach. The seafood is often supplemented by sausages, chicken, potatoes, onions, carrots, corn on the cob, etc. The food is layered, with lots of vegetables like celery, parsnips, onions, peppers, corn husks, etc. and herbs as flavoring.
My best friend and her family have a clambake every year, and my parents and I really look forward to it. Invitations go out in early September, and payment is due about a week ahead of the clambake (so that they can order the right amount from one of the many Cleveland catering companies that sell clambakes). The company they use is 
They also offer a “chicken bake” alternative, because several people don’t like the taste of clams and two of the attendees are extremely allergic to shellfish. Since everything is boiled together in a pot, that means everything might be potentially life-threatening. As a result, they grill chicken breasts and make separate corn and sweet potatoes for the “chicken bakes.” It’s a lot more work, but it does work out in the end. They also try hard to keep the chicken bakes and clambakes separate.
Once it was determined that the pot contents were ready, the pot was removed from the burner and deconstructed. First, the seasoning vegetables were removed and set aside. Then the chickens were removed and browned in a large skillet over the same burner. In the meantime, the sweet potatoes and corn were transferred to serving platters and the clams were kept in the pot to stay warm. Everyone was encouraged to line up and help themselves.
There is always a bonfire roaring in the backyard, and folks congregate around the fire. There are also rousing games of corn hole and baseball in the backyard – and some years they blow off a cannon.
I love Brazilian steakhouses. Brazilian steakhouses feature skewered cuts of meat grilled over a wood burning fire and sliced into thin, succulent pieces (churrasco) and served to you continuously at your table from skewers. They also feature an all-you-can-eat salad bar. When you want some meat, you flip the table-side card to green and when you need a break you flip the card to red. My first experience was in Cincinnati at Boi Nai Brasa. As a beginner I had no idea what to expect and filled up on its truly outstanding salad bar and barely had any room for the delicious grilled meats.
you can eat your fill of prime rib, filet, chicken and lamb? Dinner starts off with a selection of appetizers and a trip to the salad bar. The salad bar features 40 different salads, vegetables, seafood and pastas.
they are offering. When you would like a piece, they slice off a generous portion and you use your tongs to transfer it to your plate.
When I told my father I ate at the Tremont Tap House he exclaimed, “That used to be Pukach’s. Your Uncle Barney lived in the house behind it.” You see, my father grew up in the Tremont area and tells me all kinds of interesting stories about when he was a kid. GIs home from World War II used to rent rooms in homes and would hang out at the corner bars because they missed the company. They would also congregate at the Lincoln Park Bath House, because their rooms did not have modern bathing facilities. 
They would sit outside and used to give him a dime to run next door for a pack of smokes and a bucket of beer when he was 8 or so. This kind of stuff fascinates me, so I am really tempted to take him to the Tremont Tap House with me the next time I go, which will hopefully be soon.
The food was divine. I had a tough time deciding what to order. I ended up ordering the Salmon BLT on marble rye. It was delicious. The fries that accompanied it were thick and perfectly seasoned (you can see them peeking out from behind the sandwich).
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals. From the macaroni and cheese with dried figs, rosemary and brie (for our vegetarian, but it was so good I will probably order it next time!) to the seared sea scallops with white truffle oil and mushroom risotto or smoked ham and turkey sandwich with brie and cranberry relish served on raisin walnut bread (Thanksgiving in a 
sandwich) and small plates like blackened scallops with red onion jam, blue cheese and walnuts to beer cheese soup and side salads, there was something for everyone. The fried egg burger with Swiss cheese and carmelized onions was a particular hit. The group had a discussion about how to best order the burger to bring out the flavors, with the quote “It is very important to me that it be medium rare.”
The service was a little slow, but they had another large party upstairs, which I think overwhelmed them. The mac and cheese, which was ordered after we had all ordered by one of our late-comers, was comped without her asking because she had such a long wait for it. One of the dining out members, who wasn’t able to join us and tried it separately, now claims it is one of his favorite restaurants in Cleveland to bring guests or just relax and watch a game.
When the weather is nice I love dining outside and especially on the water, so I thought it would be an interesting place for my Dining Out group to meet. Unfortunately seating on the water is first come, first served and because we were a big group we were seated inside the restaurant. The service was pretty attentive, all things considered, and despite putting everything on one check they were willing to break it down and allow us to pay for our meals separately. We just had to tell them how much our share was.
My friend Lenore and I could not decide what to order, so we ordered two entrees and split them. We chose the chopped salad (crisp greens, vine-ripe tomatoes, diced turkey breast, chopped egg, cucumbers, red onion, applewood smoked bacon, shredded provolone cheese and choice of dressing on the side) and the Philly Steak and Cheese 
(shaved prime rib, caramelized onions and mushrooms, stuffed in a toasted hoagie roll with melted mozzarella and a side of au jus). We both really enjoyed the salad, but Lenore was not impressed with the sandwich. She found it too dry. I figure you can’t expect too much from a Philly cheese steak in Cleveland. Plus, she’s from New York and is used to good bread, which this hoagie bun was not. One of our other friends ordered the Philly Steak sandwich with onion rings, which were quite delicious. Next time I’m going to order some seafood though.
over quantity. I love that they serve their coffee in cafe au lait mugs (what one of my friends lovingly calls a “bowl of coffee”). I miss my cafe au lait and love when I find a place that offers a good one!
They are best known for their waffles and something called a Shipwreck. It was a tough choice, but I decided to opt for the vanilla bean waffles with roasted peaches and honey whipped cream. They were absolutely divine!
looks amazing. Lucky’s also serves a vegetarian version of the Shipwreck called the Canoewreck. The Canoewreck features curried tofu, hash browns, seasonal veggies, and brewers yeast, served with Como toast and fresh fruit. I got to try my friend’s, and it was delicious.
Probably the thing I was most looking forward to when I moved back to Cleveland after living in Germany for six years was spending the evening at Blossom Music Center listening to the world famous Cleveland Orchestra or the Blossom Festival Orchestra.
