There’s a magical time of year in Ohio called “corn season.” At least in my opinion. My all-time favorite food is corn on the cob, but corn is best when it is in season. Sweet corn season in Ohio begins July 1, usually spreading from southern Ohio to the north. It continues until the first frost in late September or early October.
This means I get to enjoy corn on the cob on my birthday every year. I request it with whatever else we are eating for the birthday dinner. It goes with everything – fried chicken, ribs, burgers, kebabs, etc. It’s even good as a meal on its own. People have been doctoring up corn recently to make elote/Mexican sweet corn, but I like it just with butter and salt. Growing up our church would host a corn roast at one of the member’s homes. They would soak the corn in buckets and throw them husk and all on the fire to get the perfect char.
Szalay’s Sweet Corn Farm & Market is open 7 days a week from 9 am-7 pm, but it is an event on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in August. The sweet corn farm has a market where you can buy lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, bread, strudel, etc., but it features weekend food stands that offer sandwiches and hot dogs, corn, homemade lemonade and canned pop, and soft serve ice cream and fruit sundaes with ice cream and fruit. There are swinging picnic tables to eat at, but they turn over quickly. They have a bouncy house and other play stuff for the kids, and later in the season they have a corn maze in the parking lot across the street.
Word of warning: they only take cash or checks. Not just the food stands, but also the market. They have an ATM on site if you need to withdraw cash.
I’ve been coming on my own on the spur of the moment for several years, but decided to organize a lunch on the second Friday the food stands were open. There is usually live music on the weekends. Things were crazy, but not as crazy as it usually is on Saturday and Sunday. I sat at the table while my friends hit the food stands. We feasted on pork loin sandwiches, corn on the cob, lemonade and delicious fruit and soft serve. I chose blueberries with vanilla ice cream that tasted like fresh cream. The corn was absolutely perfect. They roast it and dip it in butter before handing it over wrapped in husk and foil. The pork loin sandwich was okay. The pork loin was pretty thin and the tomato kind of overshadowed it.
After we ate, we hit the market to stock up on corn, nectarines, peaches, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, etc. We then all headed our separate ways to run errands, go back to work, or just go home.
UPDATE: Euro Wafel Bar has moved to Coventry Road in the space next to Bodega. The hours have also changed, from 3 PM until 10 PM during the week and midnight on Friday and Saturday. Sundays they are open from noon until 10 PM.
The Euro Wafel Bar is a late night cafe (5 pm to 1 am) that just recently started serving brunch from 10 am-2 pm on the weekend (as of July 1, 2023). It is closed on Mondays. They also have special hours during Ramadan. Euro Wafel Bar is located on Mayfield Road off Euclid Avenue at the Huntington Bank Building on One Triangle Plaza (parking lot available in front and behind the building). It is close to Case Western Reserve University and caters to the college crowd. The place is usually packed with co-eds.
The Euro Wafel Bar serves sweet and savory Belgian waffles and crepes as well as milkshakes, coffee, tea and handmade Hawaiian lemonade. You can order a Liege, Brussels or bubble waffle or a crepe. You can order them savory or sweet.
Their savory offerings include chicken, brie, Swiss, spinach or tomato – for example, The Parisienne features brie, honey and walnuts, while the Spicy Vegetarian features hummus, spinach, avocado, olive oil and red pepper. They also have a Honey Dijon Chicken with chicken, a dijon mustard dressing, cheddar and tomatoes. Their sweet offerings feature an array of fresh fruits, candy flavors like Ferrero Rocher, chocolate, Oreo, Nutella and cookie butter, and even ice cream.
I ordered the Bananas Foster waffle with ice cream on my first visit. My friend ordered the Bananas Foster without ice cream. The portion was huge and the fillings were generous. The Bananas Foster waffle features banana, caramel, cookie butter and whipped cream. It was super-sweet, and I was not able to finish it, which was a shame. But now you can order a mini-waffle of any of the choices for $5.50.
One of the fruit waffles on a Liege waffle had so much fruit in it you couldn’t see the waffle! This waffle with bananas, strawberries and mango totally hit the spot, and every single bite was delicious.
The Hawaiian lemonades are great. I haven’t been able to order a coffee or tea because I like to be able to sleep at night. They also serve Turkish coffee, which would make me jittery and keep me up all night. I guess if I were still in college that would come in handy. I used to work as a night guard from 11 pm to 7 am and developed a serious Mountain Dew addiction back then. Caffeine was king. Now I have to stop drinking coffee before 4 pm. Getting old sucks.
Mon, Tue, Wed and Thurs
3:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Fri and Sat
3:00 PM – midnight
Sun
12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Contact info:
Euro Wafel Bar 1854 Coventry Road Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 (216) 280-8037 theeurowafelbar@gmail.com (preferred contact method)
For nearly three years, diners eagerly awaited the arrival of Fiyah, the contemporary Korean eatery that opened on E. 55th just north of St. Clair in March 2023. Fiyah offers both Korean BBQ and Asian hot pot experiences in a spacious, attractive setting.
There are more than two dozen booths featuring built-in gas grills, allowing groups to enjoy the interactive art of tabletop grilling. Fiyah is going with two different all-you-can-eat models that offer different selections of meats and seafoods. There’s also a massive wraparound porch and rooftop patio. The big garage-door-like windows will be great in the summer. Drive around the building for plentiful parking and the entrance. The hostess booth is along the wall opposite the bar.
My friends and I met there shortly after it opened. I always try to review a restaurant after visiting twice, but I think I can give it a fair review after our oe visit. The reason being that it is pricey, and I don’t see a second visit in the cards soon enough. Fiyah has several rules. First of all, everyone at the table has to order the same all-you-can-eat tier. This means if one of your friends isn’t that hungry and just wants a soup or something they are out of luck. Also, if one of them insists they want something from the pricier tier like steak you all have to order that. It’s only a $10 difference, but you all have to be on board.
Secondly, there is a two-hour limit and you cannot bring home leftovers. Lastly, groups of 5 or more have an automatic gratuity added. Two of these rules tripped us up, because one of my friends ended up not staying and I still had the automatic gratuity in my head when I calculated what everyone owed and added 2% to the bill. I had to go back the next day and leave our server the missing 18%. Don’t be me. I really hope our server got the money from her coworker.
Anyway, we loved Fiyah. The dining room is industrial but “prettied up” with fake cherry blossom trees. We easily ate our fill of the great items in the AYCE Classic tier, which includes assorted veggies, beef brisket, spicy pork, pork belly and spicy (marinated) pork belly, head-on shrimp, teriyaki chicken and beef bulgogi to grill and rice for $36.99. You also get leaf lettuce to make little Korean leaf cups along with Fiyah sauce and some banchan (pickled veggies and oddly enough a fairly decent potato salad).
Everything was very fresh. I particularly loved the asparagus, shrimp, beef bulgogi and teriyaki chicken. One of our group loved all the pork belly, and the spicy items were not as spicy as you might think. So there was something for every taste. Everyone ate their fill, and we did a good job of finishing everything with minimal waste. If you have a lot of leftover food you will be charged $15.99 per pound, so just order what you can eat and order in small waves.
The AYCE Premium includes everything in the AYCE Classic menu as well as ribeye (1 per customer), salmon, spicy salmon, spicy chicken, Galbi, garlic shrimp and mussels as well as “corn cheese,” which appears to be a creamed corn and cheese dish made with corn, mayo, cheese and seasoning like mustard and doenjang.
They have a wide variety of bubble teas, fruit teas and sodas available, but if you are looking for something really special you should order the Soju Tower. It is a huge tower filled with soju (a clear and colorless distilled alcoholic beverage like vodka), yogurt and fruit. It doesn’t have a super-high alcohol content, because I had probably three or four glasses and wasn’t buzzed in the slightest. But it was super delicious and should be ordered if you are a group.
We really enjoyed our meal at Fiyah despite all the rules. The rules are completely understandable to avoid waste and people cheating the system. Since we were there in April we didn’t get to witness the patio or rooftop bar. We also didn’t notice a ventilation problem (see: Yelp) since it wasn’t that busy when we were there. There is one glaring error that I hope they fixed. I didn’t see any handicap accomodations or entrances, so if you are in a wheelchair or have mobility issues you might want to call to see if they have fixed that.
Spudnuts are not just any doughnut. Spudnuts are fresh, delicious donuts made from potato flour. Berea’s Spudnut Donuts became one of the first franchised dealers in the nation in 1949 and is one of the few original Spudnut shops remaining. The parent company no longer exists, but there are only a few independent franchise shops left – with two in Ohio. One in Berea, and one in Mentor.
Bob and Al Pelton were looking for a recipe that would make a better doughnut and started experimenting with potato dough in 1946 at their doughnut shop in Salt Lake City, Utah. They came up with a combination of ingredients that included mashed Idaho potatoes, mountain grown wheat flours and spices from all over the world. The result was a consistently light, fluffy, tender potato doughnut with a unique delicate flavor.
I grew up one town over from Berea, and everyone always raved about Spudnuts. I’m sure I ate my share of spudnuts back in the day. To this day it remains my favorite doughnut. The location moved three times in the past – from Front Street to Riverside Drive and now to Prospect Road.
The Spudnuts in Berea always has a throughly stocked counter. Whenever I have gone to the one in Mentor (no matter what time it is) it is always fairly bare with a serious lack of fun doughnuts. I prefer a yeast doughnut, but even Spudnuts cake doughnuts are moist and delicious – unlike most other cake doughnuts (no coffee for dunking needed here!).
I love a good glazed doughnut, but the custard and jelly filled doughnuts are also a treat. I bought a huge box for my girlfriends in St. Patrick’s Day in March and they were a huge hit. They loved the sprinkles.
We now return to our regularly scheduled (or in the current situation not so regularly scheduled) blog. I have been undergoing some dietary changes since March 10th and have lost 20 pounds and significantly changed my palate and portion sizes. I have been eating at home more often and eating more smaller meals. It also doesn’t help that money is tight, and I have to watch my voluntary spending. Expensive meals just aren’t in the cards at the moment. I will still try to go out, but I can’t promise it will be as regular as it has been in the past. Maybe more like once a month instead of twice a month. I’ll try to write up some of my older backlog of photos/visits to make up for it. I try to visit a restaurant at least twice before blogging about it, but that might not always happen. Anyway…
There’s a new pho place in town. The restaurant takes the spot of Szechuan Café, which recently closed in the back of Asia Plaza in Asiatown (E. 30th between Payne & Superior – in the plaza with Park to Shop) and opened in February 2023. The parking lot there is always bustling but has plenty of free parking. I’ve managed to park close to the entrance twice now. I can’t say how busy it is on the weekend though. The dining area itself is bright, airy and clean.
It serves a wide variety of Vietnamese dishes, from spring and summer rolls to broken rice and cold or stir-fried rice noodles, ramen, phos and soups, and a half dozen choices of banh mi, including a vegetarian version. In fact, there are eight different versions of pho, including two assembled with chicken broth and chicken meat. The restaurant also serves the spicy beef noodle soup known as bun bo hue or various fried rice dishes. You can choose from grilled pork, grilled shrimp and grilled chicken or a combination of them as well as lots of choices for vegetarians. The banh mi can be made of grilled meat, ham or BBQ pork or a combination.
My friends gathered here shortly after it opened, and some of them brought their mothers who had never had Vietnamese food or were at least not very well-versed in it. I recommended the broken rice and pork chop to one of the mothers, so she ordered the House Special Rice Plate (C5 Cơm Đặc Biệt) because she liked the photo, and she loved it. It features a combination of pork chop, shredded pork, pork cake, fried egg, cucumber, tomato, and broken rice. She especially enjoyed the pork cake.
The service at Pho Sunshine was also excellent. Our server was super personable as well as friendly and attentive and made sure that we had everything we needed throughout our meal. We kept him on his toes but made sure he was well-compensated for it.
I started off by ordering honeydew smoothie. It was delicious. I miss the honeydew smoothie at Panera.
I then split the summer rolls with one of the mothers so we could enjoy both and not have to decide. We ordered one order with grilled pork and one order with pork and shrimp. We both agreed that the shrimp one was superior. Probably due to the peanut dipping sauce. Love that dipping sauce!
Summer rolls – Shrimp and pork on the left, grilled pork on the right
I have several things I enjoy at Vietnamese restaurants, and I ordered all of them on the first visit. In addition to the summer rolls, I ordered a grilled pork banh mi, which was absolutely delicious, as well as a pho and a vermicelli bowl.
Grilled pork bahn mi – Visit 1 on the left, visit 2 on the right
The bahn mi I chose (A10 Bánh Mì Thịt Nướng) was chock full of grilled pork, pickled veggies and a deliciously light sauce. The French bread has a nice crust, and they use a good amount of meat and veg fillings. I picked off the two jalapenos, but didn’t tell them to hold them because I like the subtle juice that is left on the bread, but not the crunchy pepper itself. I honestly couldn’t wait to go back and order it again and went to lunch a week or so later.
Rare beef pho – Visit 1 on the left, visit 2 on the right
I ordered the pho with rare beef (Pho Dac Biet). I wasn’t in the mood for fatty brisket and don’t like the texture of pho meatballs. The pho came out piping hot with a little cap of raw beef peeking out. I added the mung beans and basil leaves and gave it a deft squeeze of lime. The beef was tender and juicy, the noodles were perfectly cooked, and it had a deliciously savory broth. The broth was so good that I didn’t need to add any sriracha or hoisin to it, like I usually do. I enjoyed as much as I could and packed the rest up to go. One of my fellow diners taught me the trick of packing up the noodles separate from the broth so the noodles don’t disintegrate.
I also ordered a vermicelli bowl with grilled pork and spring rolls (B7 Bún Thịt Nướng Chả Giò) as well on my first visit. I poured the delicious fish sauce dressing over a small portion of the veggies and really enjoyed the freshness and lightness of the dish. I added the rest when I ate it for lunch the next day so it didn’t get soggy.
I got lots of to go boxes and enjoyed my meals for the next few days. When I returned at lunch a few weeks later I ordered the exact same things, except this time I ordered an iced Vietnamese coffee and didn’t get a vermicelli bowl. The visit was just as good, and the server was attentive since I was sitting by myself and only a few tables were occupied.
I look forward to my next visit. I’m intrigued by the Bún Riêu Crab Vermicelli Noodle Soup (B15), which is a combination of pork, shrimp, crab meatballs, and vermicelli noodles in tomato soup. And I’m craving a grilled pork bahn mi – although maybe I’ll try it with grilled shrimp or grilled chicken this time. And has anyone tried Bánh Mì Xíu Mại – the Shumai Sandwich (2 meatballs)? I’m curious what shumai meatballs served in tomato sauce with French bread on the side is like. Lots of good choices to choose from – and vegetarians have a full page of choices.
Did I save the best fish fry for last? I enjoyed an outstanding fish fry at St. Barnabas in Northfield tonight. It was one of the few churches offering a fish fry on Good Friday. Most pull back to focus on the Good Friday services, but this fish fry is put on by the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and hosted by the church. They serve from 4:30 to 7 PM every Friday. The new priest arrived at the same time I did and was asked by the guy holding the door open for guests how the service went.
Finding it was pretty easy. My GPS brought me straight to the parking lot and the signs pointed me where to go. The fish fry was being held in the gymnasium. It was easy enough to find, and there wasn’t a line at all. They had two cash registers taking the orders, and I was able to pay with my debit card, which was nice because I had just spent my cash earlier today at State Meats getting the fresh kielbasa and lamb butter for our Easter dinner. I ordered a little bit of this and a little bit of that, so it added up.
The gymnasium/cafeteria was a good choice for it. The food was being served out of the kitchen at the back wall, and the drinks and cake were along the right wall. The Boy Scouts were conscientiously roaming the room with rolling carts, collecting trays, empty dirty plates and running to grab condiments as needed.
Let’s talk about the meal. They advertise the fish fry by talking about serving “pub style” Icelandic cod and fresh squeezed lemonade. They should also emphasize that they have a different special every week. This week they were serving Baja fish tacos. I decided to get a fish dinner with two pieces of fish and a crab cake and pierogi as sides. The Icelandic cod was flaky and moist. I ate one piece and saved the second one for tomorrow. The crab cake was great – served with a special mustard and more crab than breading. The pierogi were probably Mrs. T’s but they were cooked perfectly and had a nice amount of carmelized onions. Even the cole slaw was tasty – fresh veggies with a creamy sauce. But let’s talk about the real star in my eyes – the French fries. The fries were amazing! They are billed as “premium long cut french fries”and were crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside. There was no additional flavoring – just pure potato goodness. They were honestly the best fries I have eaten in a while. I also really enjoyed the fresh squeezed lemonade. It was totally worth the cost.
If you choose to get your meal as a carryout meal, you can phone in your order starting at 2:00 p.m. each Friday at 330-800-6804 (Note new phone number) or order online at http://www.mkt.com/575fishfry. I asked for a to-go box (biodegradeable!) as soon as I sat down and took half of my meal home for tomorrow. This fish fry is going on the rotation next year for sure. I enjoyed every single item on my tray.
Contact info:
St. Barnabas Catholic Church 9451 Brandywine Road (fish fry is at 9200 Olde 8 Road) Northfield, OH 4406 (330) 800-6804
I have always been a big fan of Fresh Fork Market, a weekly subscription farm buying club. I was a subscriber for several years until I realized I was throwing out too much produce (even with a small share), so I quit and started shopping at their store in Ohio City – Ohio City Provisions. I get the same products, but I can pick and choose what I need. From meat and cheese to produce and baked goods, the quality of Fresh Fork and Ohio City Provisions is amazing – and so are their special meals. Their sit-down Thanksgiving dinners for subscribers pre-COVID were amazing. I have also ordered special meals from them such as fried chicken or other carryout meals. So I knew a fish fry from OCP would be something special. They serve their fish fry all Lent, from February 24 to April 7. Pre-order required. I ordered it on March 24th for the 31st. Order as soon as you can, because they do sell out. OCP is located on Lorain Road just past St. Ignatius High School (same side of the street). You can park in front of the building or on the side of the building on a side street.
The dinner did not disappoint. The fish dinner was $18. It featured beer-battered Atlantic cod, housemade coleslaw (cabbage, carrots, apples, beets), handcut-russet potato fries topped with a generous sprig of rosemary, and housemade tartar sauce made with mayo, candied jalapenos, fresh dill and chives. I chose the earliest pick-up time so that I could still attend a fish fry in the evening. I had to wait a few minutes while they fried up my dinner. It doesn’t get any fresher than that.
I couldn’t resist and tucked into one of the pieces of fish in the car. It was probably the best battered and fried piece of fish I’ve eaten in a long time. The batter contained a hint of lemon and it puffed around a generous piece of moist and flaky cod. I also had a few fries, which were perfectly cooked as well. I reheated it on Saturday for a nice lunch. It reheated perfectly in the air fryer. You still have one more Friday if you want to try it. Order here.
I had been here before COVID and loved it. Any place that serves Dick’s Bakery is Aces in my book. Dick’s Bakery has amazing baked goods, but their Date Nut cake is the thing of legends. My high school graduation cake was a Date Nut sheet cake from Dick’s Bakery. That was way back in 1987, and I still love it. Well, things have changed post-COVID, and now, instead of including a dessert with the fish fry, the youth have a baked goods sales (free with donation) to support the group’s summer retreat to Steubenville. I can totally respect and support that.
Fish fry entrance is on the left; carry out on the right past the overhang.
Even without a dessert you still get a lot of bang for your buck here at St. Adalbert’s fish fry. It costs $13 and is all you can eat. It’s $11 for Seniors 60+ and $7 for kids 3-12. Cash or check only. The dinner includes baked breaded cod, cole slaw, mac n cheese, cabbage and noodles, three kinds of pierogi (kraut, potato and cheese – you can get up to four on your first go-around, then they limit you to two at a time), fresh cut french fries and coffee, water, lemonade or iced tea. I skipped the french fries and got one each of the pierogi. They ask that you limit what you choose, since the money goes to charity. I knew I wouldn’t be partaking in the all-you-can-eat feature, so I wanted to make sure I finished everything I chose. If you do choose to get more you just need to go to the right of the serving tables and they’ll take care of you.
Lines, lines, everywhere there’s lines…
The fish fry starts at 4:30. I got there shortly before 4, and the parking lot was almost full. I got into line at 4:15, and the line spanned down the hall and into the church foyer. And the line never subsided the whole time I was there. They have some bench seating along the sides, but if you have problems standing that long you may want to skip it or get carry out. One woman almost collapsed from low blood sugar and had to be carried to a bench. She was stubborn and got back into line after a few minutes. Her husband ended up seating her at a table as soon as they entered the hall and continued in the line to get dinners for them both. Because the line wrapped around the back and side of the hall as well.
They opened the hall doors at 4:30, and it took 45 minutes to work our way to the serving tables. It was fun looking at all the old photographs from the history of the church. One photo featured the first baptised baby from the 1830s!
Carry out is open from 4:30 to 6:30 and is in a completely separate area on the right side of the building. The choices include the fish dinner, a pierogi dinner, a fish sandwich and a kids’ meal. You can dine in from 4:30 to 7:30, but I was told they will lock the doors sometimes at 6:30 or 6:45 if they think they are going to run out of food. So the long lines were not just because it was their last fish fry of the year. It’s because the food is EXCELLENT and a total bargain!
Let’s start with the fish. It was delicious. They only serve baked breaded cod, so if you are looking for gluten-free options you are out of luck. But folks, this was one of the tastiest pieces of fish I’ve enjoyed all year – and I really loved St. Joseph’s. I don’t know what made it so tasty, but paired with the tartar sauce each bite was an absolute delight. I ALMOST went back for a second piece, but decided my diet and body wouldn’t appreciate that. I have been taking a semiglutide for the last 3 weeks, which is changing my tastes and what my body can handle. My digestion is slowing, and I will soon be unable to handle fatty, fried foods and sugar. But hey, I’m already down ten pounds.
OK, moving on to the sides. The mac n cheese was really good – not too goopy and not too sweet. The cheese clung to the pasta very well. The cabbage and noodles were great. The cabbage was cut up into small pieces, and the noodles and cabbage were easy to eat with a fork (which is not always the case). I chose one of each of the pierogo choices. The kraut and potato were great – very savory, nicely flavored without too much filling. I saved the cheese pierogi as my dessert, because it was filled with a sweet farmer’s cheese. I can’t say anything about the fries, but the guy sitting next to me enjoyed them a lot. I paired my meal with an Arnold Palmer (half lemonade, half iced tea). I can highly recommend St. Adalbert’s fish fry! Put them on the list for next year.
This is a story of two churches. St. Sava Cathedral and St. Sava Church are both Serbian Orthodox churches that are located south of Cleveland. One (the Cathedral) is located at the border of Seven Hills and Parma on Broadview Road, while the other one (St. Sava Church/Hall) is located on Wallings Road in Broadview Heights. You can see where the confusion is almost guaranteed. According to a parishioner we spoke with today, there was a falling out in the church that cleaved them into two churches years ago. Things are better now, but they are still two distinct churches with a similar name.
Last year I went to St. Sava Cathedral’s fish fry on Broadview Road. It was very Orthodox. I didn’t love it and heard the St. Sava Church’s fish fry was very different and better. I wanted to compare the two, so I planned on eating at St. Sava Church this time around. I learned from my mistakes last year and brought butter with me. Because they are very Orthodox and it is Lent, so no dairy is allowed. Although they served sour cream with the pierogi today, so color me confused.
First of all, the church is located on W. Wallings Road about 1 mile past the intersection of Broadview Road and W. Wallings Road. You can’t miss the signs. I got there right at 4:30 and met a friend there. Two other friends planned to meet us a little later on and had no trouble finding us. There were already lots of people coming out carrying take-out containers at 4:30. The fish fry is held in the Main Hall behind the church. Enter through the doors on the right and get in line. I just followed a group from the parking lot. There was already quite a line at 4:30. We chit-chatted a bit until we got to the front of the line. They have it running like a well-oiled machine. Tables are positioned two together so there is a lot of space between you and the person sitting across from you. Long tables with serving chafing dishes line the back wall.
There were signs advertising three different dinners – $12 for 1 piece of fried fish, 6 fried shrimp and 2 sides or 6 pierogi, $14 for 1 piece of fish and 3 shrimp and 2 sides or $15 for baked salmon and 2 sides. All dinners come with coleslaw and a dinner roll. They don’t advertise the sides, because they vary every week. This week we could choose from something called O’Brien potatoes, steamed mixed veggies or pierogi. I chose the potatoes and the pierogi, then opted to get the bean soup ($3) and a Lenten stuffed cabbage roll ($2). The bean soup was really good. I brought it home to eat later.
I didn’t think about the fact that the Lenten stuffed cabbage roll contained no meat. It was essentially rice, tomato sauce and carrot stuffed in a cabbage leaf. It was different, but I don’t think it was worth an extra $2. It would have been a fun and different side. Unless you really love rice and cabbage, save your cabbage.
The salmon looked amazing, but I decided to try the fish and shrimp. They were both moist and tasty. The potatoes were weird. I guess they roast them with red and green bell peppers and onion until they break down to mush and mix them with some kind of Serbian vegetable paste (?). They were okay, but the baby food consistency turned me off. There is nothing wrong with roasted chunks of potatoes.
The pierogi were decent, but they didn’t strike me as homemade. They were too uniform. I also ordered a cherry strudel, because I remember the strudel last year was magical. It was definitely flaky, but I think it might have been flash-fried. I definitely tasted fried oil. I preferred the Cathedral’s strudel and rolls. I also shelled out another $2 for two cans of pop (you can also buy bottled water). The coffee is free, but I don’t drink coffee this late in the day.
The place was packed from the moment we got there at 4:30 until we left at 6:30. They serve from 4:30 to 7:00 every Friday in Lent from February 24th to April 7th – dine in and carry out. They were also really pushing their Bake Sale on April 8th. It’s supposed to be amazing. I have to say that I am tempted to go to Bingo Night there one Tuesday or Thursday. Just because they take it so seriously. They have a huge light-up board and professional machines to mix the balls. It puts my little metal Bingo spinner and wooden balls from my grandparents to shame.
The Pancake Breakfast at Kenston High School on Bainbridge Road in Chagrin Falls is hosted by the Bainbridge Civic Club and co-hosted by the Bainbridge Women’s Club during the first three Sundays in March. This year was the 71st Annual Pancake Breakfast. It’s closer to Cleveland than any Geauga county pancake breakfast, and they also serve killer pancakes and real maple syrup (they have a big box in the corner that they used to refill the syrup dispensers). Unlike Geauga county breakfasts, they don’t serve every single weekend. This year the breakfasts were held on March 5, 12 and 19 from 8-1. I love that they serve until 1 PM. That allowed me to slowly wake up and still head over there in plenty of time for pancakes.
I know I joke about the lack of signs sometimes, but I certainly can’t say it about Kenston High’s Pancake Breakfast. There are signs leading you to the breakfast from the I-422 highway exit, down Bainbridge Road and to the entrance of the high school and then all the way to the entrance doors. A++++ for the signage!
Once you enter the gymnasium, there are two tables to the right and left selling raffle tickets and Kenston gear. The table straight ahead is where you pay. They accepted credit cards for the first time this year, but it was quicker and easier to pay in cash. The funds they raise are used to support the Bainbridge Area Food for Friends Food Pantry, provide scholarships, and fund the club’s local community driven, philanthropic endeavors.
$11 for an adult breakfast will get you sausage, coffee, milk, syrup, butter & applesauce, orange juice and unlimited pancakes (plain, blueberry, and buckwheat) and/or French toast. They direct you down the hallway to be seated when a seat becomes available. They definitely keep things moving. Community volunteers seat you, take your order, and bring your freshly prepared, hot food to your table. I was immediately asked for my beverage order (orange juice and coffee), and then I ordered a Combo and sausage with applesauce. The Combo comes with two pancakes (buttermilk and blueberry) and one French toast, but I was given all three pancakes along with a French toast (probably because it was getting close to the end and they had a surplus of buckwheat). The sausage patties were also generous and perfectly cooked. The sausage is an exclusive recipe, ground and made fresh each week by Mazzulo’s Market. Best of all, the meal is served on china plates, with china mugs, and metal silverware!
The tables had little two-sided paddles if you needed more coffee or pancakes. If I needed anything else (like more sugar, more syrup, or my applesauce that wasn’t delivered) I asked someone and was immediately given it. It was a lot of food for $11, and I savored it. It was a special morning sitting in the gym watching the snow fall outside. What more could one want? Generous signage directing me where to go, real plates and silverware, and all I could eat? Add some eggs (protein) and this would be the absolutely perfect pancake breakfast. Once I got back to my car I decided to pop over to my parents’ house to say hi since I was so close. All in all, a great Sunday.
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Eats 