Good eats – Page 12 – Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Eats

Fish Fry Friday #3 – El Carnicero

In keeping with my decision to eat at three church fish fries and three restaurant fish fries, this week a restaurant fish fry was on the docket. My original decision was to go to Sachsenheim Hall for their fish fry, but St. Patrick’s Day threw a wrench in my plans. They were not serving fish on Friday, but instead were doing an Irish buffet. One thing most people don’t know about me is that I hate corned beef. I can stomach it in a Reuben, but I also only eat a Reuben once every five years or so. Corned beef and boiled cabbage, carrots and potatoes? Gag me with a pitchfork. An Irish buffet was not going to be my focus.

I had wanted to try the fish fry at El Carnicero from the moment one of the members of All Things Food in Cleveland posted a photo ad for it in the group. It just looked amazing. I have tried three times to get to El Carnicero, but something has always come up to thwart my plans to organize something for my dining out group. The first time it was closed for a staff holiday party, the second time I was sick and the group went without me, and I think I was out of town for the third time my friends went. When Sachsenheim fell through I focused on El Carnicero, which is also on the west side. Apparently El Carcinero sometimes closes on St. Patrick’s Day, but luckily my friend Nancy ran into Chef/Owner Eric Williams, who assured her they would be open and would be serving their fish fry.

You wouldn’t think a Mexican restaurant would be a good choice, but it really was! They serve Dos Equis beer battered lake perch and also spice things up with a chipotle tartar sauce and chimichurri-drizzled French fries. I was very excited about the prospect. I wasn’t going to let a little snow and ice deter me this time.

After wending my way past a car accident on I-90 that closed three lanes of traffic, I showed up about ten minutes after our agreed upon meeting time. I was thrilled to see that the restaurant has a very large parking lot behind it. I got one of the last spots in the lot and trudged through the sloppy, wintry mess. Even though El Carnicero does not take reservations Chef Eric had been more than happy to reserve a table of four for us. It turns out it wasn’t necessary, since there were quite a few tables available. Thanks, St. Patrick’s Day! It isn’t usually the case in this very popular eatery. The bar had some revelers, but it was a really good vibe overall. Our waitress was wearing green lipstick, which I thought was awesome. My friends already had their drinks, since they passed the accident right after it happened, while traffic was practically at a standstill when I got there. I was going to order a blood orange margarita until Edsel’s regular margarita arrived with its bright green color in honor of the holiday. To make things even more difficult Edsel highly recommended the hibiscus flower margarita. What was a girl to do? Why, order the margarita sampler and enjoy all three! They were all delicious, but I loved the blood orange the best, with the hibiscus coming a very close second. El Carnicero definitely serves some delicious margaritas! Slainte!

We ordered a few appetizers to share. I chose the smoked gouda queso dip, IMG_20170317_191533 Edsel ordered the sikil pak (toasted and ground pepita mixed with lime and chile jalapeño – as he explained “kind of like a hummus but made with pepita”), and Nancy (and the rest of us) wanted guacamole. It was a tough decision as to which guac to order, but we went with the tradicional. I would like to go back and order a sampler to try a few of the others as well. Next time. I loved all three appetizers, but I was really pleased with the queso dip. I kept dripping it on myself even though I tried everything to ensure I didn’t, but that’s just how I roll. It’s a gift.

All four of us ordered the fish fry. We can go back and order tamales, taquitos, etc. next time. We were all really glad we ordered the fish. The beer batter casing was perfectly cooked, not too crisp and not too soggy. The fish was light and flaky and almost melted in our mouths. It was the best piece of fish I’ve had in a while. I also loved the chimichurri French fries. The fries were shoestring, which get cold easily. Nancy thought hers were too cold and had a fresh batch delivered from the kitchen. I didn’t come for the fries, so I wasn’t as concerned. I really enjoyed the chimichurri sauce, which was fresh and light. I was craving it again once I left. Luckily I had to ask for a box and had the other half as leftovers.

Edsel ordered the brussel sprouts as a side, which I found to be very lemony but nicely roasted. Being a sucker for creamed corn I ordered the esquite (achiote creamed corn) and polished it off. It had a nice zing to it and had some heft to it that I think might have been potatoes.

After a delicious meal from start to finish, we left El Carnicero very happy and ventured our way back to the highway to head home in the snow. It was a nice way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Contact info:

El Carnicero
16918 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood, OH 44107
(216) 226-3415

Kintaro Sushi & Hot Pot

Kintaro is a full-service, all-you-can-eat sushi and hot pot restaurant just off I-480 off Ridge Road. Everything is made to order. The place has been recently renovated and has two separate dining areas as well as a sushi bar. Both sides are bright and cheerful, with some stone dividers, neon lighting and lots of bamboo and wood decor. Upon entering, you can choose between sushi and hot pot, although you can opt out of the all-you-can-eat deal to order menu items individually or order the all-you-can-eat sushi on the hot pot side if you are dining with friends who want hot pot.

Hot pot is a fun way to eat with friends. The tables have inset hot pot burners, and you choose your menu items, ranging from the broth, vegetables and fish and meat. The fish and meat choices range from pork, fatty beef, chicken, crab, clams, several fish choices, lunch meat and dumplings as well as more adventurous items like beef tripe, pork stomach, quail egg and cuttlefish balls. They also offer 28 vegetarian ingredients. You also choose your noodle to enjoy with the broth at the end of your meal. Choices include instant ramen noodles, potato vermicelli, udon, rice noodles or some fun noodles like a wide, crystal clear noodle that my friend Nancy ordered and enjoyed. There is also a sauce bar where you can choose from various soy sauces, “Kitaro sauce,” oyster sauce, sesame oil, hot chili sauce, cilantro, scallions, etc. to flavor your broth. You have two hours to eat your hot pot, and they encourage you to be discerning in your choices by threatening to charge by the pound for waste.

The real deal is at lunch. The all-you-can-eat sushi and hot pot will run you about $25-26 at dinner (and you can upgrade some hot pot items for a total of $32), but it is only $11 for hot pot and $15 for sushi at lunch (11 to 2:30 Monday through Saturday). The lunch sushi and hot pot choices aren’t as varied as at dinner, but there are still plenty to choose from.

20220517_184556 The first time I went I chose the all-you-can-eat sushi during lunch. You are given a menu and check off on the menu what you want. For $15 I enjoyed a miso soup, salad, several pieces of nigiri, tempura, an eel hand roll, and a Jeep specialty roll. As you can see from the left, it was a lot of food (and all-you-can-eat is usually a joke for me because I get full quickly on a good day – I’m their ideal customer). Apart from the tempura I enjoyed it. The tempura was very bland in my opinion. Yes, I know you need to dip it in a sauce, but it should have at least some underlying flavor. The sushi was fresh, and the server was very personable. I ordered it in several stages, and barely finished the specialty roll (my last stage). If you want something more filling like hibachi or udon noodle or a rice bowl, you may want to just order a small appetizer, your entree and then see how you feel. I was stuffed from my lunch choices, but I was very happy with what I ordered. For me I need the miso soup and salad for a sushi meal. Others might choose to skip it. My friend who came to join us for hot pot during dinner ordered just sashimi and as few rolls with rice as she could to get the most bang for her buck. I thought that was a little crazy, because with sushi the rice is just as important as the fish in my opinion. But to each their own. And that is the beauty of this place – each person can order just what you want or you can choose to share.

Our hot pot dinner adventure was a lot of fun. Since I was sick, my friends suggested I get my own pot. They then shared two broths. We all ordered the Chicken Broth, and they also ordered the Sha Cha broth, which was delicious (I took a sip from a fresh spoon). I’m definitely getting that next time. If you like spicy, they also have a Sichuan Spicy broth. I over-ordered the raw items, but luckily I only left vegetables and a little bit of fatty beef, so my server didn’t charge me the waste fee. But I would have been completely okay if he had though since it was my mistake thinking they would have small portions for one person. I also over-ordered thinking the broth would just be broth and would need some add-in flavor, but they added some things for flavor right out of the gate. I ordered the fatty beef, dumplings, cilantro fish balls, frozen crab, several kinds of mushrooms, broccoli, cilantro, Chinese cabbage, and bean sprouts. I somehow got turnip on my plate instead of the black mushrooms (47 vs. 57 so write clearly on your paper).

I would definitely skip the frozen crab. Since it was previously frozen it was very difficult to get the meat out of the shell. Go fresh or skip it. The fish balls were really good as well. My friend Nancy ordered the Fuchow fish balls and liked them better than my cilantro fish balls, which I enjoyed (I’m a big fan of cilantro). We tried choices off of each others’ trays, which was nice and added to the variety. I was not a fan of the Chinese sausage, for example. It had a cloyingly sweet taste, but she and her husband enjoyed them. I loved the dumplings the most. I dipped them in sauce after cooking them in the broth and, while they were filling, they had a really enjoyable flavor.

20220517_185059 Even though it is all-you-can-eat, the quality at Kintaro was pretty good. It’s not Pacific East, Ginko or Ushabu, but you pay for that quality there. Nancy is a tough customer (having been to China), and she was impressed. I will definitely be going back at lunch, now that I know what to expect. I can see this going on my regular lunch rotation since it is such a deal. And if you are looking for a fun meal with friends you should definitely give this a shot. I think you’ll enjoy yourselves as much as we did.

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Contact info:

Kintaro Sushi & Hot Pot
7325 Northcliff Avenue
Brooklyn, OH 44144
(216) 459-8862

The Best Bites of 2016

2016 is thankfully a thing of the past. Like in 2015, I decided to look back on the best things I remember eating this year. Money was a little tighter this year, so I had to cut back on my dining out. I cooked at home a lot, discovering the joy of microwaving 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels in a brown paper bag with just 1 tablespoon of oil and a few dashes of salt or butter salt. I made lots of pastas and soups as well as homemade pizza. Nick and Toni’s Penne alla Vecchia Bettola from the Barefoot Contessa was one wonderful discovery, as was my childhood favorite Slumgullion (aka Macaroni Beef). My Pampered Chef bakeware and electric pressure cooker saw regular use.

It was the year I finally tried some iconic Cleveland staples – like Frank’s bratwurst at the West Side Market, the paczki from Michael Angelo’s Bakery, and the perch fish fry at Academy Tavern. I also revisited childhood favorites like the chicken foldover from Uncle Al’s Pizza and the shrimp with lobster sauce at Nam Wah (love their pho – best in town!). I also feasted on cheese for two days at Counter Culture, a two-day cheesemonger workshop sponsored by Culture Magazine. I fell in love with Vermont Creamery and Mackenzie Creamery as well as Losada olives there. I also traveled to Detroit (garlic paste at Lebanese Grill!); Gettysburg (Friendly’s Peanut Butter Cup sundae!), Philadelphia (Friday Night Meatballs with my friend and Serious Eats author Sarah!) and Lancaster (Amish food at Good n Plenty!); New Orleans (beignets!) and San Francisco (dim sum and meals at the Slanted Door and Tadich Grill!), but since this is a Cleveland food blog I will limit my best bites to here. These bites are the bites I will remember for quite some time.

The new year started off deliciously with this amazing dessert at Dinner in the Dark. Paris goes Tokyo by Larissa from Coquette Patisserie featured green tea roulade, banana and black sesame mousse with black sesame brittle and honey-ginger macaron. It is not something I would have normally ordered, but I’m so glad it was offered as a course at Dinner in the Dark. I adored this dessert and had it again at Coquette later that week when they made it in the store.

The salted caramel cheesecake at 111 Bistro was as delicious as it looks in the photo. I dined here for my friend Tom’s birthday. The food was once again amazing, but the dessert stole the show. The cheesecake was creamy, and it is impossible to describe the decadent salted caramel topping. The little side of ice cream and the little piece of brittle were a fun and delicious touch.

MoMo’s Kebab opened on Lee Road and focuses on fresh Moroccan and Mediterranean food like kebab and fresh grilled vegetables. Back when I had their beef and vegetable tagine it was only available as a Saturday special. I believe tagine is now regularly available on their menu. Since it is cooked in a clay tower the meat and vegetables are unbelievable tender and succulent. My dining companion, who was married to a Moroccan at one point, had the prune and lamb tagine and also loved it. It was sweeter than my beef and veg tagine but just as tender. Be sure to order the mint tea! It is a wonderful ceremony.

My tea group drives out to Sweet Shalom tea room in Sylvania every month. The menu changes based on the theme for that month. They have the best scones I’ve ever had, and these cherry almond scones are by far my favorite. The scones are huge, yet light and flaky. They are usually accompanied with butter and jam or preserves, but these cherry almond scones are amazing just as they are.

A new tea room opened in 2016 in an old farmhouse from 1890 on the village square in Twinsburg. Greenbridge Tea House is a vegetarian and vegan tea house. They are open Wednesday through Friday from 11 to 3 and Saturday from 9 to 3. This golden mushroom and potato soup smelled divine, and I was so happy that I ordered a bowl of it instead of just a cup. Their crustless quiche and garlic bread were also delicious, but the soup stole the show for me.

Coit Road Farmer’s Market is a farmer’s market in East Cleveland that supports the local community. They are open on Saturday mornings in the winter and Wednesdays and Saturdays in the summer. The market manager Kevin is a great cook, and they offer cooking classes to teach customers how to use and preserve produce, cook with cast iron, and cooking skills like knife skills, etc. This year they taught folks how to make spring rolls, sausage, mole, and traditional Chinese cooking, just to name a few. This weekend Kevin is going to show how to put together a sous vide set-up from parts on eBay for $30-40. Their special fundraising meals are always a good time. For a very affordable donation that goes to the market customers can enjoy the food in a casual setting. They served pizzas and had several corn roast and BBQs this year, but one of my favorite bites was their French toast and bacon in April. I don’t know what they put in the batter, but it was delicious.

Batuqui opened on Larchmere a while ago, and I finally got a chance to eat there in 2016. I don’t know what took me so long. The food is delicious, but their seafood stew really won my heart. Fresh shrimp cooked in coconut milk and curry served over rice. I loved every single bite. Plus, they serve amazing caipirinhas. I really need to get back there more often.

On a whim in the early days of summer I stopped at Strickland’s Custard in Streetsboro and started off a ice cream and butterscotch craving that I still cannot shake to this day. I ordered the Banana Bowl, which features half a banana, vanilla soft serve custard, topping (obviously I chose butterscotch), whipped cream and a cherry. I love the combination of banana and butterscotch, which I would have normally not put together. The photo doesn’t do it justice.

Fat Casual BBQ took over the patio at Graffiti: A Social Kitchen this summer and served their amazing smoked meats and grilled goodness. My friends and I went for the smoked prime rib, which I enjoyed with their polka fries (spiral sliced potatoes fried and smothered in cheese sauce and bacon lardons). But Graffiti’s cereal milk panna cotta with grilled peaches, blueberries and granola stole the show that night. If I could have licked the bowl clean I probably would have. A delicious meal from start to finish. They offer their cereal milk panna cotta on the regular menu, but it isn’t available with grilled peaches.

Lilly Handmade Chocolate always has amazing chocolate flavors, but their Dreamsicle Bark hit my sweet spot. I love the flavors of orange and vanilla together. I’m not normally a fan of white chocolate, but I absolutely adore Lilly’s white chocolates, especially the Maui Wowie. I attended several chocolate and beer tastings at Lilly’s this year and had some amazing bites like the passion fruit panna cotta, but this Dreamsicle Bark was exceptional.

Taj Indian Palace has won my love for two main reasons – one) their peas and mushroom entree and two) their masala dosa. I never understood why people loved dosas until I had theirs. Most dosas were crispy with just a minimum of potato and onion filling. Their dosa is buttery, filled from top to bottom and just amazing. I met some friends for dinner here and ordered the peas and mushrooms because I was craving mushrooms. I loved this dish more than the saag I also ordered. I’ve been back numerous times in 2016. It’s my go-to Indian restaurant now. They also have a lovely lunch buffet.

One of my favorite festivals is the Night Market. From May to September one Friday a month features Asian cuisine and culture in a lovely open-air market setting. Since I love Asian cuisine I thoroughly enjoy wandering through the tents and nibbling a bit from here and a bit from there. Established restaurants like Li Wah and Emperor’s Palace as well as start-up vendors like Snow Brothers and anyone who wants to offer Asian cuisine can sign up for a tent and sell their wares. I learned about vendor Ice and Rice through a friend. Andy Ng is a civil engineer who moonlights as Night Market vendor Ice or Rice with his wife, Jessie, a graphic designer born in Guangzhou. Their food is great, and their tuna onigiri is definitely one of my favorite bites of the year. The creamy tuna salad combined with the Asian sauce and tender rice to make one delicious bite.

Jill Vedaa opened Salt+ in Lakewood, which features small plates as well as great cocktails and unique wines. I met some friends there in August and we enjoyed a variety of small plates. The smoked trout and grilled octopus were nice, but my favorite plate was the white bean puree with mashed olives and lightly grilled bread. It shines probably due to its simplicity. Just clean flavors that shine.

Bonchon recently opened in Seven Hills and serves the most amazing Korean style fried chicken and wings as well as Korean and Asian fusion cuisine. Choices like Japchae and Bibimbap as well as udon, shrimp shumai and fried rice are just some of the choices. But the fried chicken and wings are king. We were there during their soft opening, and I’ve been meaning to get back there. The wings are double-fried and served with either a spicy or garlic soy sauce. A friend and I split the medium size wings and went with the half and half, which features both sauces. The spicy sauce was amazing and not so overly spicy that I couldn’t eat it. My lips had a nice burn, but it was so addictive I kept wanting more. The wings are served with a side of pickled radish to somewhat mitigate the heat.

Last but not least, Boiling Seafood Crawfish on Lee Road offers boiled seafood like crawfish, shrimp, lobster and crab in your choice of sauce. The corn fritter appetizers and po’ boys are good, but the boiled seafood is clearly the star here. I made my own, choosing lobster and crab legs along with the requisite potato and corn. I chose their Juicy sauce, which is a mixture of all the sauces they offer (Cajun, lemon pepper, and garlic and herb). It was messy deliciousness that I crave constantly.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my favorite bites of 2016 and are inspired to go out and try some of the places I’ve talked about. It seems like dessert played a big part of 2016 for me. I made a sweet tea vodka and fresh peach tiramisu for my tea group’s summer picnic this year. I riffed off the Barefoot Contessa’s rum raisin tiramisu and used sweet tea vodka since tea was supposed to be an ingredient and I was overrun with peaches from the Georgia Peach Truck. While making it, it looked like a huge disaster, with the sweet tea-soaked ladyfingers floating in the cream sauce, but it was probably the most delicious tiramisu I’ve ever had. Everyone enjoyed every boozy, creamy bite. Here’s hoping 2017 brings lots of delicious bites as well!

Ribsticks

in-memoriam-graphic

I like to keep aware of what is going on around me on the local restaurant scene, so I noticed one of the storefronts across from Cedar Center on Cedar Road had paper up on its windows a few months ago and then a sign announcing a new barbecue place called Ribsticks. After what seemed like forever they have finally opened – quietly. I was curious and did a Google search one night and stumbled on a Scene article about it. The article reports that Dr. Lee cooks his ribs in a sous vide bath, then smokes and grills them, resulting in less shrinkage and more meat. I can attest to that. The portions are great with reasonable prices as an added bonus.

I initially ordered a Burnt Ends sandwich ($7.50 but $1 off at lunch). It comes with one side at lunch, and I opted for the corn casserole. The corn casserole was absolutely amazing. It was a nice consistency with some chunks of corn. It was the side of the day, so if you see it be sure to order it. The Burnt Ends sandwich was not as burnt as I would have liked it. My idea of burnt ends is the burnt ends at Oak & Ember; they were so tender they were practically falling apart. The burnt ends here are chewier, because they aren’t cooked as long as the ones I have had in the past are. The bun is housemade, and the sandwich is topped with housemade pickled veggies and caramelized onions. It was a bit sloppy to eat, and I wasn’t thrilled to find a small bone in among the meat.

That said, I was still looking forward to trying other things on the menu. I organized a dinner there a few days later. I focused on the ribs. The pork spare ribs with two sides, to be exact, for $14.00. I ordered a third side just for good measure for $2. My meal was really good. The ribs were actually a combination of fall-off-the-bone and stick to the bone. The meat was plentiful and chewy, and I enjoyed the barbecue sauce.

You can order samplers with two and three meats, featuring the pork spare ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken wings and beef short ribs. They also recently added kielbasa and the burnt ends to the options. They are tweaking the menu as they go along and adding things like Beer Bites and BBQ pulled pork nachos.

The stars here are the sides; they are absolutely amazing. You can choose herbed quinoa (gluten-free), couscous, baked beans, mac n cheese, bread pudding, bourbon peaches, heirloom coleslaw, red beans and rice, mashed potatoes and a daily side. I ordered the mashed potatoes, bourbon peaches and heirloom coleslaw, which were all delicious. I bought more mashed potatoes and peaches to go with my leftover rib to enjoy the next day. The mashed potatoes are creamy, I could taste the sour cream. The bourbon peaches are to die for. I could have kept eating them forever. The heirloom cole slaw was also refreshing. I also hear the cheese grits are amazing as well. Sadly the side portions are small, but you can always order more on the side.

As for beverages, they offer sweet tea and soft drinks (Pepsi products) as well as alcoholic libations. They have Great Lakes beer and Coors on tap and IPA, and you can add a shot of bourbon to your sweet tea. I thoroughly enjoyed my Dortmunder with my ribs. You can help yourself to sauces near the register and water in a corner by the window.

They also have several desserts, most intriguingly a candied pork ends and chocolate chip cookie. I have heard the cookie is great but haven’t had the pleasure yet.

The service was great. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. The manager and owner were both present and very hospitable. We will definitely be back. In fact, several of my dining companions have already been back. Welcome to the neighborhood, Ribsticks!

Contact info:

Ribsticks
13892 Cedar Road
University Heights, OH 44118
(216) 202-4105

Batuqui

Batuqui on Larchmere Boulevard does a good job filling the void left by Sergio’s Sarava. It moved into the charming restored Victorian house that used to house the Vine and Bean. The building is small yet cozy with lots of dark wood molding. I easily found parking on the cross-street and simply crossed the street to meet my dining companions. We were greeted warmly and seated in the back room, but they happily moved us to the front room once another larger table left (two of my dining companions needed chairs with backs due to various health issues, so the bench seating wasn’t a good choice – it’s worth mentioning if you have an issue). Once comfortably situated the service, food and atmosphere all exceeded our expectations.

When in Brazil order a caipirinha. Caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail, made with cachaça, sugar and lime. Cachaça, also known as pinga, caninha, or any one of a multitude of traditional names, is Brazil’s most common distilled alcoholic beverage. It is one of my favorite alcoholic beverages, and it is executed here perfectly.

It is worth noting that a lot of the entrees are dairy-free and gluten-free. I am definitely keeping this place in mind for dining out with my DF/GF mother. Dietary choices are well-marked in the menu, which I love.

I ordered the Bolinho de Bacalhau (cod fish croquettes) with the table. They were perfectly fried, not too greasy, and the filling with light and fluffy. I loved that they served lime wedges with it. The lime was a very nice complement that brightened the croquette. I very much enjoyed this appetizer and can recommend it. My vegetarian dining companion also ordered some fried yucca without the linguica sausage. It too was really delicious, very creamy and flavorful. The photo isn’t very appealing so I’m not posting it, but the taste was great.

I had a tough time deciding on my entree. While I love a good Fejoida I was very curious to try the Moqueca Baiana. It is a seafood stew with either shrimp or fish or both and cooked with tomato, green pepper, coconut milk and dende oil and served over white rice. I chose the version with shrimp, and I am so glad I did! I loved every bite of this. The creaminess of the coconut milk worked really well with the shrimp, and the seasoning was perfect. The portion size was also ideal. I didn’t need to take home any leftovers, but I also wasn’t too full.

My vegetarian friend ordered the Prato Misto, a savory vegetarian dish of pinto beans, Brazilian rice, red onion rings, seasonable vegetables, farofa and fried spinach. It is dairy-free, vegetarian and can be vegan. She loved her meal except for the strange flash-fried spinach, which she found a bit off-putting.

One of my pickier dining companions ordered Carolina’s Pasta, which features fettuccine pasta mixed with seafood, tomatoes, onions in a cream sauce. Her version had calamari, which were perfectly cooked and not at all rubbery, but the current version features shrimp and smoked salmon. She enjoyed the flavor, and I liked the bite I had.

They have several delicious-sounding desserts, but we were too full. The caramel flan and the passion fruit mousse both sound amazing. They also serve fresh fruit with passion fruit glaze for those who like fruit for dessert.

Since I love a good Brazilian steakhouse I can’t wait to go back and order either the Linguica sausage or the Picanha steak. I might even order the Churrasco Misto, which features top sirloin, chicken and sausage, if I can’t decide which I am in the mood for. The sausage is juicy and flavorful – similar to a good kielbasa. The chicken and steak were good, but not as good as the sausage.

Left: Linguica sausage, Rigiht: Churrasco Misto

The patio in the summer is a really comfortable place. They have a large tented area as well as individual tables scattered in the backyard. The tent is ringed with lush hanging ferns. The patio makes it as lovely a spot ambiance-wise in the summer as the cozy house is in the fall and winter.

Since the place is tiny it is highly recommended to make a reservation. An 18% gratuity is automatically added for groups of 6 or larger, but since we usually tip 20% and up (lots of former servers and restaurant workers in the group) that isn’t a problem for us. I wanted to mention it in case it is an issue.

Desserts
Left: Brigadeiros (Brazilian Chocolate Bonbons, Right: passion fruit mousse

Contact info:

Batuqui
12706 Larchmere Boulevard
Cleveland, OH 44120
(216) 801-0227

Chagrin Falls location
17 E Orange Street
Chagrin Falls, OH 44022
(440) 600-2122

Shabu-shabu at Ushabu

I love any and all forms of Asian cuisine, so I was excited to hear that Cleveland was getting a shabu-shabu restaurant. Shabu-shabu is a Japanese hotpot dish of thinly sliced meat and vegetables boiled in water or broth. The meats are cooked piece by piece by the diner at the table, by submerging it in the broth and stirring it. The cooked meat and vegetables are then usually dipped in sauce before eating and served with a bowl of steamed white rice. Once the meat and vegetables have been eaten, leftover broth from the pot is combined with the remaining rice (and in this case the udon noodles, which are at the bottom of the vegetable bowl), and the resulting soup is eaten last.

Ushabu opened recently in Tremont, and several of my friends and I went there to check it out. It is located on Professor in a storefront that I could swear used to be an art gallery next to the old Cookie and a Cupcake store. So the place is very small, and reservations are a must. There are about four or five booths and counter seating. The tiny restaurant seats 25 people, and they were turning folks without reservations away on a Sunday night. Edsel made a reservation for 4 at 6 PM, which was perfect because we finished at 8 when they closed. If there are two of you, you might be seated with some strangers in one of the larger booths, which is okay with me since that’s a fun way to meet people. Dante was seated two booths over from us. His restaurant has been serving shabu-shabu to diners for a while now, so if he was here eating on a Sunday I can’t think of higher praise. As it was, we had a cozy little booth up against the window. The windows steamed up from the steaming broth once things started cooking.

We started out ordering appetizers. I gave in to the peer pressure and ordered the scallop appetizer. It had a gorgeous presentation, but I honestly wasn’t too jazzed about the taste of the scallop. I normally love scallops, but didn’t love this. The scallop was cut in half and topped with a quail egg and tobiko and garnished with a couple bites of pork belly. I liked the pork belly part the best. I might try the chawanmushi next time, because it looked delicious. Kind of a savory custard with a shrimp in it. My other dining companions enjoyed their clam appetizer, although the edible sand took a little adjusting to.

After poring over the menu and Yelp photos beforehand, I started getting excited about the ginger chicken soup base and tried to figure out what to order first. I ended up going with the seafood combo, since ginger and seafood is just about the perfect combination for this sushi and ginger addict.

Since I was new to shabu-shabu it took some adjusting to figure out how things work and how long to cook everything. I think my next time will be more successful. In addition to three different dipping sauces (a ponzu, a sesame and a soy), they bring out the soup base, a separate bowl of vegetables to cook in and flavor the broth, and a bowl of white rice sprinkled with black sesame seeds. Each diner gets their own, although our dining companions split one and were given an extra bowl of rice and their own dipping sauces. That was a nice touch. With their appetizer and splitting a beef and pork combo with a fish add-on, they found it was just enough food for them.

Onto how things work! Once the soup base gets up to a boil in the induction burner cubbyholes built into the table, it’s time to get cooking. They suggest you put in the more sturdy vegetables like the carrot, corn, cabbage, bok choy, onion and radish first, then move on to the more delicate mushrooms, tomato and tofu. After a few minutes of cooking the meats are then swirled in the broth and dipped in a sauce and eaten with rice. I enjoyed the sesame dip the best, but all three were very good.

The seafood combo came with 3 clams, 1 scallop (cut into several thin slices), 3 tiger shrimp and what I think was salmon and flounder. I was told to start with the clams first and then branch out to the other seafood on my plate. It took a while to figure out how long to cook my seafood. It took longer than what they said. For instance, it took a little while for the clams to finally open, and my first tiger shrimp was raw and cold in the middle. I put it back in to cook up a little more. It wasn’t a big problem for me since, like I’ve said, I’m a big sushi fan and don’t mind raw seafood or a raw sear. Once I got the hang of it I very much enjoyed it. I will say that I won’t boil my broth as much next time, because the end broth was too salty to eat. I ended up taking it home and cutting it with water the next day.

I finished the meal with a nice scoop of Sesame ice cream made by Mason’s Creamery. It was a nice creamy finish to the meal.

In short, I enjoyed myself and look forward to going back. I can’t wait to try the wagyu beef. The restaurant is also vegetarian friendly, as they offer a vegetarian option with the veggies and broth. Two of the three soup bases – the spicy miso and kombu dashi – are vegetarian-friendly.

Contact info:

Ushabu
2173 Professor Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44113

Citizen Pie – Waterloo

copy_imag0533 Sorry for the lack of posts here. I have not been going out very much lately, and when I have I have been going to places I have already posted about. Money has been somewhat tight with some travel and a very expensive vet bill. I’ll try to be better, but I can’t promise anything.

I have been a fan of Vytauras Sasnaukas’ pizza for a while. I had been hearing about his pizzas back when my friends would gather on the patio at Americano for pizza night. When Americano closed and before Citizen Pie was born, he did some pop-up pizza nights in a gas-fired pizza oven at The Velvet Tango Room, where he started conceiving plans with Claudia Young and Paulius Nasvytis. He got his start making pizzas when he was growing up in Lithuania (his story is really interesting and worth a read) and has been experimenting with various fermented doughs for a while now. His dough really makes his pizzas stand out from the crowd! He bought a wood-fired brick oven and opened Citizen Pie in the Waterloo District across from the Beachland Ballroom. Citizen Pie makes napolitano pizzas and is definitely one of the best pizza places in Cleveland. The pizzas come out fast and hot. They aren’t laden with toppings. There is just the perfect balance for a taste explosion.

I recently met some folks at Citizen Pie to try their Summer pizza special, which featured sweet Ohio corn and poblano cream, Andouille sausage, cherry tomatoes, and green onion finished with a spicy honey drizzle. This pizza was absolutely out of this world. The thing I like most about the pie was the corn cream balanced with the honey drizzle. It was just a great pizza.

My second favorite was the Cacio e Pepe pizza, which is topped with mozzarella, pecorino and straciatella cheese, garlic, black pepper and basil. It is a very simple pizza, but it explodes with flavor. I can’t wait to have it again.

I had been wanting to try the Americano pizza for a while as well. Named after V’s Bratenahl restaurant Americano, the Americano features mozzarella, pistachio cream, Italian sausage, red and green onion and Calabrian chiles. It has a bit of a kick to it, but I love the idea of pistachio cream and it goes really well with the sausage.

The mushroom pizza is also a crowd-pleaser. It is topped with mozzarella, brie, porcini duxelles, bacon, red onion and truffle oil. I love mushrooms and brie, and the truffle oil was not as off-putting as I usually find it. Again, it is just a well-balanced pie. I took a piece of this one home to enjoy later that night.

One of the group ordered a Tartufo, which I was familiar with from the Italian restaurants in Germany. It is a ball of frozen dark chocolate with rum and amarena cherry. As you can imagine, it is delicious. We passed it around the table, and everyone swooned. Claudia is also known for her Migliaccio, which is a ricotta cheesecake with lemon, orange and vanilla. She worked hard to come up with the perfect cheesecake, which Michael Ruhlman has raved about.

I was also extremely excited to see that they serve Stiegl beer here. Stiegl is brewed in Salzburg, Austria and the monks have been brewing it there since 1492. It is a nice smooth lager and goes very nicely with the pizza. I was also pleased to see San Pellegrino, Illy espresso drinks and cane sugar Coca Cola. It’s the little touches like that that just impress me.

Chef V is constantly coming up with new and exciting pizza ideas, like a recent eggs benedict pizza. So if you like good pizza be sure to make a trip to Citizen Pie. They will be opening a second location in Ohio City in the near future – bringing Pizza to the People.

Contact info:

Citizen Pie
15710 Waterloo Road
Cleveland, OH 44110

Taj India Palace

This little unassuming restaurant in a strip mall by Richmond Square Center blew us away the other night. I chose to eat there because it had ample parking close to the restaurant (I’m currently on crutches). I’m so glad I did, because the food was absolutely delicious. They serve both south and north Indian dishes, and there are lots of choices (both veg and non-veg) to choose from.

We started out ordering some appetizers. My friends ordered the Vegetarian Platter, which features samosa and potato, cauliflower and eggplant pakoras. I jokingly referred to it as the big plate of fried stuff. Well, they certainly fry things well. My friends raved about the vegetable samosa, so I ended up ordering a serving and eating one and taking one home. They also let me try a pakora, and it was lightly fried and not at all greasy. It had a crisp exterior and a light and fluffy interior.

I ordered the Garlic Naan, and my friend’s husband ordered the Peshwari Naan. He enjoyed it, but I can’t say anything about it since I didn’t try it. I was all about my Garlic Naan. The bread was fried light and thin and was very garlicky. I went home reeking of garlic and had plenty left over for the next day.

While looking at the menu online I noticed they had my favorite, Chicken Saag, on the menu, so I knew what I would be ordering. I liked the saag, which is chicken cooked with spinach. It was billed as medium hot, but there was no spice to it at all. I think I will ask for them to bring it up one notch next time. It was kind of bland and boring without any spice.

However, I was also in the mood for a mushroom dish and was dining with some friends who are vegetarians, so I decided to also order the Peas and Mushrooms, which are fresh peas and mushrooms in a “mildly spiced creamy sauce.” I am so glad I did, because this particular dish was mouthwateringly good even without the spice. My friend kept sneaking spoonfuls of it because she liked it as well. In return, I was able to get a bite of her Bombay Potatoes and try the sauce from her husband’s Malai Kotta (which was slightly sweet and very creamy).

We were hell bent on leftovers, so my friend also ordered the Masala Dosa. Honestly I have never been a fan of dosa. I have several friends who are crazy for them so I’ve had them before at several places. I have found the crepe to be somewhat dry and the filling quite meager in the Indian restaurants that serve them here. I now understand the love for Masala Dosa, because this dosa was so delicious. The potato and onion filling was plentiful and extended almost all the way through the dosa. The filling was also extremely buttery in flavor, with the onion almost carmelized and sweet. The bite I had was moist and delicious, and I was thrilled to learn they serve them along with the lunch buffet.

I don’t know what spices they use, but everything was extremely delicious. My friends, who love Indian food, were extremely impressed with the place, and so was I. I was so excited about the leftovers that I ended up eating them for breakfast the next day and enjoyed every single bite.

They also offer a lunch buffet for $8.99, which I went back for several days later. The lunch buffet on the day I went there included tandoori chicken, butter chicken, a peas and saag dish, chana masala, utthapam (the pancake-looking bread), a cabbage dish (hidden under the utthapam and naan) that I very much enjoyed, naan, rice, some yogurt-based salads, a delicious rice pudding (kheer) and several other options. They also have a Grand Buffet for $10.99 on the weekend.

So if you are on the east side and are looking for some good Indian food, definitely be sure to check this place out!

Contact info:

Taj India Palace
5156 Wilson Mills Road
Cleveland, OH 44143
(440) 461-3737

Bialy’s Bagels

Bialy’s Bagels is a little circle of NYC heaven right here in Cleveland. Located in an unassuming strip mall on the corner of Silsby and Warrensville Heights Roads in University Heights, Bialy’s has been pumping out bagels and bialys for over 30 years. It is a grab and go place. Go in, buy a half dozen or dozen bagels, and head home to stuff your face with carby goodness. There are no tables. There are no cutesy bagel sandwiches. There are no schmears. Just bagels. If you need cream cheese or smoked salmon they have it in coolers, but bring your own knife to assemble it in your car.

The bagels are available in a variety of flavors, from plain, egg, poppy seed to Mish Mosh (everything) and everything in between. I think I remember seeing cinnamon and blueberry as well. Obviously the fresher the better, but they just keep making bagels all day so they are fresh no matter what. If you are lucky you’ll catch a batch right as they come out. When that happens they have a warm outer crust with a chewy inside. You won’t be able to not eat one in the car. Even when they are warm the bagels are nice and chewy – just as a bagel should be. There is some debate as to whether a bagel should be toasted. New Yorkers say only bad bagels should be toasted. These bagels are great untoasted.

If you are wondering what the difference between a bialy and a bagel is, bialys are round with a depressed middle filled with cooked onions and sometimes poppy seeds and then baked. The outside of a bialy is therefore matte, not shiny. Bagels are boiled, then baked. The bialys are only available in onion, garlic, and mish mosh flavors. They also sell longer salt sticks, but I usually stick with my mish mosh and sesame seed bagels.

Also, please note that they don’t take credit cards, so be sure to bring cash with you. That said, your order won’t break the bank. Plan on about $1 a bagel.

Contact info:

Bialy’s Bagels
2267 Warrensville Center Road
University Heights, OH 44118
(216) 371-1088

Boiling Seafood Crawfish on Lee Road

Boiling Seafood Crawfish opened on Lee Road last fall to little fanfare. One of my friends drove past and noticed it, which is how it got on my radar. I’ve been trying to get there since I heard about it. It is located on the east side of Lee next to Two Brothers (straight across from Dewey’s Pizza). Due to the road improvements, on-street parking is not available, so plan to park behind the strip in the Cedar-Lee parking lot/garage. Bring lots of quarters. We were there for an hour and a half, and my meter had just run out a few minutes before I got to my car. Luckily I didn’t get a parking ticket, which is a miracle in Cleveland Heights. One of my friends had to run out and feed the meter while in the middle of eating, so be sure to be generous with your time estimate. Better to spend an extra quarter than pay a $10 or $15 parking ticket.

Unless you can pound down several pounds of seafood in one go this is definitely a place for a group. The seafood is boiled in a flavorful broth, tossed in a seasoned spice mixture of your choosing and heat level, and delivered to the table in clear plastic bags. The seasoning options are Juicy Cajun, Garlic Butter, Lemon Pepper or Homemade Juicy (which is a combination of all four seasoning) and four spice levels ranging from Baby Spice (which has almost no heat) to Spicy (five chili peppers).

Note: this is not a “first date” kind of place. You get messy and it’s hard to look dainty when you are tearing off shells and pulling off heads or cracking crab legs. This is a place to dress down and be prepared to get covered head to toe in seasoning and juice – especially from your neighbor. They do give you plastic bibs and plastic gloves though. I was happy for the bib since I tend to wear my food even at the most gentile places, but found the glove only got in the way. I ended up going Michael Jackson-style and wearing only one glove, leaving my right hand more control of the cracking and picking out of meat. Guests can pour the contents out onto the white-paper table toppers or eat straight out of the sack. We chose to eat ours out of the bags, but I accidentally let one side down and a river of red seasoning suddenly ran down the table towards my friend and her white pants. We were able to avert disaster with lots of paper towels, which are conveniently available on the table.

I ordered the corn fritters as an appetizer for the table and an order of Hawaiian sweet rolls to mop up the sauce. The corn fritters were creamy and perfectly fried with a nice dipping sauce. I had to force myself to stop eating them to save room for the seafood. As for the sweet rolls, they added a nice sweetness to the sauce and I’m glad I ordered them. They came three to an order, so we shared them as well.

The Handful ($31) features a pound of shrimp, a pound of crawfish, a half pound of clams, a handful of andouille sausage slices, two ears of corn and two new potatoes, so it’s perfect to share between two people. My friends who can stand some heat ordered this between them and ordered it Medium. They really enjoyed it. I tried one of the shrimp, which wasn’t as spicy since they are boiled in the shell and the seasoning doesn’t penetrate. It’s best to peel or unearth the seafood and dip it in the sauce.

Diners can also build their own experience by ordering seafood by the pound and add-ons like corn and potatoes. I chose to go with that option since I wasn’t sharing. I ordered a whole lobster and snow crab legs with Baby Spice and Homemade Juicy. It had a really nice flavor to it, but no heat at all. I would probably get the Mild option next time. I had ordered a half pound of shrimp as well, but that hadn’t printed out in the kitchen. I was glad it didn’t because I was comfortably full when I finished. The shrimp probably would have taken me to the side of “too stuffed to move.” The lobster ended up to be a little over a pound, but one of the claws was deformed, so I ended up paying $7 for one claw on top of the $25 for the lobster tail. I’d probably opt for the tail by itself next time.

One of my friends ordered a shrimp Po’Boy, and it definitely looked delicious. She said it was very flavorful with a nice remoulade sauce and chopped green peppers, onion, tomato, and lettuce. I will definitely be trying that next time as perhaps a carry out order with some etouffee. The Po’Boys feature shrimp, crawfish, catfish, cajun chicken, soft shell crab, fried oysters and lobster. They come with or without fries.

Since we met for lunch on Sunday we ordered no alcohol, but they do have a small list of alcoholic beverages to quench your thirst. I was happy with my lemonade, which came in a large styrofoam cup and was happily refilled. The server was friendly and attentive. He removed the shrimp from my order in the computer without complaint when it was pointed out to him that the order hadn’t come with any. He had offered to have them make some, but at that point I had realized that I had just the perfect amount.

But look at the size of that crawfish!

And in case you are unsure or don’t know how to eat the crawfish:

Contact info:

Boiling Seafood Crawfish
2201 Lee Road
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
(216) 459-7777