This will be the final post I make from Massachusetts for quite some time; from here on out, I will be in the DC area. I could use some restaurant recommendations in Arlington and Washington!
*****
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*****
Day one of a five day road trip with my friend Forrest was, to say the least, long. I worked a 12 hour shift the night before that concluded at 7am, leaving me with less than an hour at home to attempt (unsuccessfully) a nap before Forrest arrived and we took off for Columbus, Ohio. Thus, when we finally arrived in Columbus, late for the baseball game we were going to attend (we went the next day, which was fine), we were both starving and exhausted. Eleven hours on the road will do that to you, I suppose. Thankfully, a little internet searching found us Matt the Miller's Tavern, a small local chain with a lot of good beers, and some damn fine steaks.
Forrest and I both ordered beers, then each went with the 10oz Flatiron steak, a piece of meat that came out looking far larger than its listed weight. Each steak comes with one of three "toppers" (garlic butter, Gorgonzola, or fried onion strings), and one side from a list of about ten. Forrest had the fried onion strings and mixed vegetables, and I went with the Gorgonzola and horseradish mashed potatoes, with mine ordered rare of course.
The steaks came out fairly quickly, so clearly the kitchen is on their game, and our waiter did not dawdle with putting in the order, something we greatly appreciated in our near starvation. Both steaks came liberally topped with our respective choices, with mine having so much Gorgonzola that I actually had to scrape some off, though I used it to mix into the mashed potatoes, which made them better. My steak was cooked perfectly, with a cool, deep red interior and slightly crusty exterior. The beef itself had almost a blackened flavor from the spice mixture that had been rubbed on it, which was unexpected but pleasantly spicy and salty, and the steak clearly of high quality. My mashed potatoes were fine, nothing incredibly special, and the horseradish flavor was non-existent, but the addition of the Gorgonzola was delicious. Both of us powered through our meals and, despite how insanely hungry we had been, were quite full and pleased with the meal when we left.
The draught beer list was not huge, but was well stocked with both local and national level brews, including Ballast Point Grunion Pale Ale. I was looking for a lower alcohol content beer, and was feeling decidedly anti-IPA that day, a rarity for me, so I went with the Grunion, a 5.5% light-in-color-but-not-flavor type. It definitely is what you go for with a pale ale, very lightly malty, very lightly hopped (contrary to what their website says, quite frankly), and just incredibly refreshing. I think Forrest went with a local beer, but I cannot recall.
The beer was not cheap, but the steak was reasonably priced, just $16.99 for a large piece of very good meat, a side and a topping. The setting is nice, and I suspect sitting on their patio is pleasant when the weather is better, but sitting in the bar area was just fine, as they have a few high tops with real chairs in addition to booths and stools at the bar itself. It never got too loud, was well lit, and there were several televisions showing everything from bull riding to the World Poker Tour to the Crossfit Championships, and some more mainstream options as well. I would definitely go back if I find myself in Columbus again, and I immediately recommended it to my friend who moved there the day we left.
Showing posts with label Ohio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ohio. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
Lolita (Cleveland, OH)
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*****
Over a five day road trip to the Midwest, my friend Forrest and I hit four different baseball stadiums, generally eating standard ballpark fare and breakfast at our hotels. We had one very good meal at a restaurant the first night of the trip, in Columbus (OH), but it was dinner on the final night that was really something special.
I watched a lot of Food Network for a couple years, as it was just about the only channel with anything good on during the wee hours of the nights while I was at work with nothing to do, and every time Michael Symon was on, I would drool over the thought of going to one of his restaurants. The man just seemed to appreciate pork in a way that no one else does, and that is my kind of chef. So, when we arrived in Cleveland and were looking for somewhere to eat dinner, I checked out his restaurants. Lolita, the more casual of his two primary restaurants (the other being Lola), is located in Tremont, at the corner of Literary Rd and Professor Ave. Every day, Lolita has a happy hour menu (served only at the bar) for a couple hours, which has a white wine, red wine, two mixed drinks, a beer, and four small dishes available, with the food just $5 per plate and the drinks that or less. This was perfect to try a few different things on the menu, so we sat at the bar, ordered a couple beers ($2 each!), and a few items off the menu. Sadly I did not think to write down what the beer was, since it was actually pretty good, but I do remember the food!
Forrest had to step out to take a call right when we arrived, so I ordered us the Mac & Cheese (a half portion of their regular serving) and the Mussels off the happy hour menu, and the Crispy Pig Tails & Ears appetizer from the regular menu. The Mussels arrived first, a large portion for just $5, perfectly cooked (aka not chewy), with a creamy sauce including house-made chorizo, garlic and parsley, along with a couple pieces of bread to soak up the sauce, which the bartender replenished at my request so as not to waste the remnants of the sauce after we were finished with the shellfish itself. The chorizo was delicious, salty and savory, and the sauce was perfectly creamy, with a slight tang. Not quite as good all in all as the mussels at Local 188 in Portland (ME), but probably top three I've ever had.
The Crispy Pig Tails & Ears arrived at about the same time as the Mac & Cheese, so I tried the pasta first. This was the only real disappointment of the evening, as the macaroni (rotini, in this case) was slightly overcooked, the chicken was boring and plain, and the cheese sauce was nothing I could not make myself. In fact, my own version of the dish is better. I am glad I did not order the full portion of this, because I think I would have had a very disappointing meal if this were my entree. It was not even that it was bad; it simply was nothing you could not get at any decent diner or at most peoples' homes.
The Crispy Pig Tails & Ears made up for that disappointment and more. I have been describing the pig tails to my friends as a perfect combination of bacon and chicken wings; they were crisp, succulent, and fatty. The sauce they were tossed in was a fennel-onion agrodolce, which resulted in a very slightly sweet and very vinegary flavor, which actually would be great on wings as well. There was a salad of fried slices of pigs ear, pickled chili peppers, and the onions and fennel from the agrodolce, which was just absolutely amazing; the fried pigs ear pieces were so incredibly good they were only topped by the tails themselves, and the crunch from them was a great counterpoint to the soft vegetables and even the tender meat of the tails. The whole thing was prepared so well I honestly can not find a single flaw, and I can usually nitpick something in every dish. This is probably the single best dish I have ever eaten, and I would drive back to Cleveland just to have it.
We were still hungry after those three, so we ordered the Fried Brussels Sprouts (Forrest does not like eggplant, so the Charred Eggplant Dip was not an option), and they were also incredibly good, even surpassing my previous favorite preparation of these formerly hated greens at Portland's Pai Men Miyake. Deep frying makes everything better, and that holds true for these, with the crispy outer leaves and slightly crunchy center giving it a nice contrast to the softer inner leaves. Served with walnuts, capers and anchovies, there was a vinegar-like tang (likely from the capers) to these as well, just like the pig, and the walnuts added a nice meatiness to the dish. The anchovies were a bit lost, though there was a healthy saltiness that could have been from them. For people who think they do not like Brussels sprouts, they should really try these; I think they would change their minds.
Food is obviously the main thing you go to a restaurant for, but I firmly believe that people go back for service; after all, you can get good food just about anywhere, but really superlative service is honestly kind of rare. While I was a little leery of the bartender at first, as he did not immediately provide the attentiveness that I am used to at higher end restaurants, he eventually turned it around, joking with us, talking about basketball (we were in Cleveland, after all; LeBron was bound to come up, right?) and baseball, and just generally chatting with us in a way that was pleasant and unobtrusive. Top notch service in the end, and a really nice guy in general.
All in all, this was one of the best meals I have had, with just the one dish that was not spectacular, and two that were legitimately incredible in the Crispy Pigs Ears & Tails and the Brussels Sprouts, while the mussels were really delicious as well. I cannot recommend this restaurant highly enough. It is also most assuredly not vegetarian friendly, but if you are looking to break out of that lifestyle, this is the place (and the pigs ears are the dish) to do it. Additionally, though it is not cheap for a real dinner, if you just go for the happy hour, you can get out of there pretty cheap; our meal was under $30 before tax and tip, for four dishes and four beers, a pretty tremendous value.
*****
Over a five day road trip to the Midwest, my friend Forrest and I hit four different baseball stadiums, generally eating standard ballpark fare and breakfast at our hotels. We had one very good meal at a restaurant the first night of the trip, in Columbus (OH), but it was dinner on the final night that was really something special.
I watched a lot of Food Network for a couple years, as it was just about the only channel with anything good on during the wee hours of the nights while I was at work with nothing to do, and every time Michael Symon was on, I would drool over the thought of going to one of his restaurants. The man just seemed to appreciate pork in a way that no one else does, and that is my kind of chef. So, when we arrived in Cleveland and were looking for somewhere to eat dinner, I checked out his restaurants. Lolita, the more casual of his two primary restaurants (the other being Lola), is located in Tremont, at the corner of Literary Rd and Professor Ave. Every day, Lolita has a happy hour menu (served only at the bar) for a couple hours, which has a white wine, red wine, two mixed drinks, a beer, and four small dishes available, with the food just $5 per plate and the drinks that or less. This was perfect to try a few different things on the menu, so we sat at the bar, ordered a couple beers ($2 each!), and a few items off the menu. Sadly I did not think to write down what the beer was, since it was actually pretty good, but I do remember the food!
Forrest had to step out to take a call right when we arrived, so I ordered us the Mac & Cheese (a half portion of their regular serving) and the Mussels off the happy hour menu, and the Crispy Pig Tails & Ears appetizer from the regular menu. The Mussels arrived first, a large portion for just $5, perfectly cooked (aka not chewy), with a creamy sauce including house-made chorizo, garlic and parsley, along with a couple pieces of bread to soak up the sauce, which the bartender replenished at my request so as not to waste the remnants of the sauce after we were finished with the shellfish itself. The chorizo was delicious, salty and savory, and the sauce was perfectly creamy, with a slight tang. Not quite as good all in all as the mussels at Local 188 in Portland (ME), but probably top three I've ever had.
The Crispy Pig Tails & Ears arrived at about the same time as the Mac & Cheese, so I tried the pasta first. This was the only real disappointment of the evening, as the macaroni (rotini, in this case) was slightly overcooked, the chicken was boring and plain, and the cheese sauce was nothing I could not make myself. In fact, my own version of the dish is better. I am glad I did not order the full portion of this, because I think I would have had a very disappointing meal if this were my entree. It was not even that it was bad; it simply was nothing you could not get at any decent diner or at most peoples' homes.
The Crispy Pig Tails & Ears made up for that disappointment and more. I have been describing the pig tails to my friends as a perfect combination of bacon and chicken wings; they were crisp, succulent, and fatty. The sauce they were tossed in was a fennel-onion agrodolce, which resulted in a very slightly sweet and very vinegary flavor, which actually would be great on wings as well. There was a salad of fried slices of pigs ear, pickled chili peppers, and the onions and fennel from the agrodolce, which was just absolutely amazing; the fried pigs ear pieces were so incredibly good they were only topped by the tails themselves, and the crunch from them was a great counterpoint to the soft vegetables and even the tender meat of the tails. The whole thing was prepared so well I honestly can not find a single flaw, and I can usually nitpick something in every dish. This is probably the single best dish I have ever eaten, and I would drive back to Cleveland just to have it.
We were still hungry after those three, so we ordered the Fried Brussels Sprouts (Forrest does not like eggplant, so the Charred Eggplant Dip was not an option), and they were also incredibly good, even surpassing my previous favorite preparation of these formerly hated greens at Portland's Pai Men Miyake. Deep frying makes everything better, and that holds true for these, with the crispy outer leaves and slightly crunchy center giving it a nice contrast to the softer inner leaves. Served with walnuts, capers and anchovies, there was a vinegar-like tang (likely from the capers) to these as well, just like the pig, and the walnuts added a nice meatiness to the dish. The anchovies were a bit lost, though there was a healthy saltiness that could have been from them. For people who think they do not like Brussels sprouts, they should really try these; I think they would change their minds.
Food is obviously the main thing you go to a restaurant for, but I firmly believe that people go back for service; after all, you can get good food just about anywhere, but really superlative service is honestly kind of rare. While I was a little leery of the bartender at first, as he did not immediately provide the attentiveness that I am used to at higher end restaurants, he eventually turned it around, joking with us, talking about basketball (we were in Cleveland, after all; LeBron was bound to come up, right?) and baseball, and just generally chatting with us in a way that was pleasant and unobtrusive. Top notch service in the end, and a really nice guy in general.
All in all, this was one of the best meals I have had, with just the one dish that was not spectacular, and two that were legitimately incredible in the Crispy Pigs Ears & Tails and the Brussels Sprouts, while the mussels were really delicious as well. I cannot recommend this restaurant highly enough. It is also most assuredly not vegetarian friendly, but if you are looking to break out of that lifestyle, this is the place (and the pigs ears are the dish) to do it. Additionally, though it is not cheap for a real dinner, if you just go for the happy hour, you can get out of there pretty cheap; our meal was under $30 before tax and tip, for four dishes and four beers, a pretty tremendous value.
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