Food & Travel

There are few places that can satisfy the vegetarian as well as meat-lover tastes than Aladdin’s Eatery. Fady and Sally Chamoun’s first Lebanese-American restaurant opened in Lakewood in 1994 has blossomed into more than two dozen locations in five states and, fortunately for us on the west shore, there’s one right at Crocker Park.

The lightly stained wood tables and chairs gives an inviting feeling along with ceiling-hung oval light sheers that nicely mute the track lighting. The mirrored wall above the cushioned bench seating gives a larger feel to this quaint establishment.

The historic landmark building that sits on Dover Center Road in Westlake right before you head over the railroad tracks to Bay Village houses a restaurant that can boast an inviting atmosphere inside as well as out.

As you enter the front door, the warm, rustic moose lodge finish makes you feel right at home. Booths and tables dress the left side of the restaurant while a long straight bar runs down the opposite side.

A beautiful mural draws your eyes to the back wall giving you a vision of what the building might have looked like in the early part of the past century.

Once you sit down, just look to the table stand to grab a menu. The core menu, along with seasonal and “other stuff' menus, requires you to take your time looking everything over.

When you get the urge for a steak dinner there are plenty of choices in Cleveland, but there is really no need to look any further than the Cabin Club.

From the moment you arrive, the timber-framed log cabin entices you with a quaint and cozy atmosphere and it’s exactly that when you walk inside.

Raised booths separate the dining area from the stunning mirrored bar in this one-room restaurant. Even with the rustic cabin architecture you feel a sense of elegance as you are seated at your cream-linened table.

If you ever want to stop by a storybook twelfth-century stone castle nestled in the side of a mountain in Northern Italy for a quick bite to eat, I’ve got just the place.

As my family and I wound down through the wild-flowered meadows of the Swiss Alps into an area of Italy not far from Austria known as the Sud Tyrol, my lifelong dream of sleeping in an ancient castle began to unfold before me. We passed through a village so tiny our car seemed to squeeze between the pastel stuccoed shops and trattorias. 

The road twisted out of town, then up and down hills like a gentle roller coaster, passing through acres of neatly planted grape vines, miniature farm houses, brilliant gardens and occasional cows. Add to this view majestic mile-and-a-half high mountains known as The Dolomites and a castle called Schloss Korb, and there you have it – the stuff that dreams are made of.

The location of the recently-closed Saucy Bistro restaurant at 24481 Detroit Rd. in Westlake has been home to great restaurants through the years. Now native Westlaker Paul Schell returns to his hometown to open SB eighty-one on Oct. 7 and 8.

Paul was born and raised here, a graduate of Westlake High School. He left 25 years ago in a move to Hollywood in pursuit of his dream to become an actor. He did some acting and modeling but also needed to supplement his income, as most people do in the industry, which led him to the and restaurant and nightclub community.

Paul’s last venture in California was owner of the Blue Ultra Lounge and Restaurant in Agoura Hills, just outside of Los Angeles.

Close to 1,000 foodies from all over Cleveland converged on Quicken Loans Arena on Sept. 10 for the 2011 St. John Medical Center Top Chef Competition.

This was the third year of this event, and it brought four more of Cleveland’s leading chefs to duel it out for the title of Top Chef. Competing were Chef Michael Nowak of Bar Cento in Ohio City, Chef Rob Records of Johnny’s Downtown, Chef Sarah Sherapita of Luxe in Cleveland's Gordon Square District and Chef Jonathan Guest of Little Italy's Washington Place Bistro. All of the proceeds from the fundraiser went to the St. John Medical Center’s Women and Children Services.

As guests arrived, cocktails and light appetizers were served. Guests could also peruse and bid on the dozens of silent auction items, including electronics, spa packages and $200 gift certificates for each chef’s restaurant.

Don’t quote me on this, but from what I understand, for a dining establishment to claim “World’s Best” anything, they are required to go through the following process: World’s Best entry forms are mailed to the entire population of the world. Even Liechtenstein. The completed forms wind up in a holding office somewhere near Battle Creek, Mich., and are soon tabulated by two guys in tuxes from Price Waterhouse. The results are then mailed to the proud owners of the restaurants, and for some odd reason, winners are often paint-starved luncheonettes or dusty truckstops on back roads where trucks aren’t permitted.

As an Ohioan, therefore, you should be elated to know that in your state alone, one can find World’s Best Chili, World’s Best Pie, World’s Best Wings, World’s Best Coffee, World’s Best Meatloaf and apparently a three-way tie for World’s Best Burger. I know. I’ve seen the signs with my own eyes. (Imagine how Juan Valdez must have sobbed into his saddle when he discovered World’s Best Coffee was just west of Cleveland.)

As we walked up to Bay Diner to have lunch recently, my wife took notice of a bunch of bicycles parked out front. We stepped inside to see a couple booths filled with kids and several others sitting at the bar-height counter.

The scene reminded my wife of her childhood in Bay Village, riding her bike down to Grebe’s. It was a diner just like Bay Diner and at the time one of the only restaurants in town.

Bay Diner opened for business a little over a year ago by the Petrillo family. The son, Mike Jr., is head cook and manager.

As if Crocker Park didn’t already have plenty of dining choices, let's throw in one of Cleveland’s most recognizable restaurateurs in Chef Michael Symon‘s B Spot.

The company culture is run with a no-nonsense attitude. There are no reservations, they don’t care who you know, and there is absolutely no whining allowed.

Personally, I was very excited at the prospect of a Michael Symon restaurant coming to Westlake. So when the opportunity arose to be at the Friends and Family Night before their July 13 Grand Opening, this long time veteran of the restaurant industry and now Food Reviewer was honored to be included.

It may not have been one of the original restaurants at Crocker Park, but Vieng’s Asian Bistro has established itself as a definite stop in Westlake’s entertainment mecca.

A giant statue of Buddha, with falling waters behind him, greets you as you enter this contemporary style décor restaurant. Las Vegas-style booths surround two sides of the U-shaped bar, also with a falling-water backdrop, which centers the Bistro. The rest of the dining areas are a mix of booths and tables. There is also a very spacious outside patio with a large gas fireplace and very quaint outdoor lighting strung from end to end.

The description “Asian Bistro” in the eatery’s name should be your first hint that they serve a variety of Eastern cuisine. Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Indian offerings make the menu quite large.

You may not realize it, but the title of this article is actually funny, because if someone were to write a cookbook about Belizean cuisine, it would run all of four pages and go something like this: Stew Chicken with Rice and Beans; Stew Pork with Rice and Beans; Fisherman’s Catch with Rice and Beans; and of course, Rice and Beans with Rice and Beans. 

This Central American country (formally British Honduras) sits south of Mexico with Guatemala as a neighbor – and is more known for its jungles, Maya ruins and having the second largest barrier reef in the Western hemisphere. Which goes well with Rice and Beans.

Steve Novak is a Westlake resident and 30-year veteran in the restaurant industry, working at all levels from dishwasher to manager to chef/owner. For the past ten years, he has been working as a personal chef and raising his two young children as a stay-at-home dad. Once a month, Steve will visit a Westlake/Bay Village restaurant and use his years of expertise and knowledge to provide honest, unbiased reviews. He makes two anonymous visits per restaurant and does not except complimentary meals.

If you live in Westlake or Bay Village and haven't been to the Stonehouse Grill, you're missing a wonderful casual dining experience. From the moment you enter, you're treated with a warm greeting and smiling faces that really start things off on a positive note.

It's a quaint, one-room restaurant with a partition wall that separates the dining area from the bar. Booths and tables adorn the dining area, while tables and high top cocktail table surround the U-shaped bar. They also have a patio for when the weather warms up.

Caesar salad is something I never, ever, ever get tired of – I make it all year long at home, I order it often when we go out, and I’ve even had leftovers for breakfast. 

And it’s all because of a restaurant owner in Tijuana, Mexico, by the name of Caesar Cardini. One hot July day in 1924, a customer asked for a salad. Caesar had run out of his usual ingredients, so he whipped up the now famous Caesar salad (without anchovies, by the way). 

It was a smash hit, to the point of the Hollywood crowd flocking to Caesar’s just to say they’d had it. Even Julia Child paid a visit once. And in the 1930s, a group of prominent French chefs declared the Caesar salad the finest food that had come out of the Americas in years.

Birthday cakes and I go way back and most hold memories of joyous occasions. Then there was the time I nearly knocked off my grandmother with one.

As a young girl, my interest in cooking prompted my mother to often put me in charge of the family birthday cakes.  These weren’t anything tres gourmet, of course – mostly boxed cake mixes and packages of powdered frosting made spreadable with a little water and an electric mixer.

But I had a special touch when it came to decorations. Like picking out all the green M&Ms and carpeting the whole cake with it. Or hiding smashed-up Kit Kat bars in-between the layers. Or making a garden of daisies on the top using almond slices with Goober flower centers.

You’ve tried them all: the South Beach diet, the Cambridge diet, the Pritikin diet, the Slim-Fast diet, the Bran diet, the Rice diet, the Popcorn diet, the Cabbage Soup diet – and if you’re like me, you’ve lost three pounds in five years.    

Consider the Diamond Jim Brady diet. All you have to do before each meal is read the following details about his daily indulgences and you’ll feel so mentally bloated that a light, healthy meal will seem sinful.

Diamond Jim was a legendary glutton from the Gay 90s, a gargantuan man whose post mortem revealed a stomach six times the size of a normal person’s. The millionaire with the diamond rings hung out at New York’s poshest restaurants, especially the lavish Delmonico’s. One restaurant called him “the best twenty-five customers I ever had.” He downed five meals each day.

The following story is true. The names have been changed to, well, to avoid embarrassment of my old boss, Mike.

Once, about 20 years ago, I had accompanied my old boss, Sid (not his real name) on a business trip to Los Angeles. I joined him for dinner one evening at an appropriately-lighted, plant-infused southern California restaurant. Always mindful of what he ate, I never saw Sid order anything other than either the “diet plate” (which in those days was a grilled sirloin patty, an ice cream scoop of cottage cheese and a littering of mealy pink tomato wedges; or a big, green salad.

Sally, the waitress, (could be her real name) approached, a pleasant enough gal with purple eyeshadow probably aspiring to be an actress. (But shouldn't.)

Back in the good old days when my husband was a normal American male, feta cheese was pretty much something we’d find sprinkled on salads in trendy restaurants along with a few black olive slices. It was a nice enough experience, but we really didn't give it much thought.

Now, Eric has what I’d call a severe feta fetish and eats it with everything from gumbo to sauerkraut. He once tried crumbling it on top of tapioca pudding, until, of course, I threatened to leave him. He’s hopelessly addicted and I am currently lobbying to have all feta farmers post a warning on their product: “Life without feta may cause severe irritability, feelings of inadequacy and even death by withdrawal.” 

It all started a few years back when Eric met Gus, the Greek guy who owns Mediterranean Foods at the West Side Market on West 25th Street.

To feel the true heart of Ireland, I believe one must go to a country pub in a village you’ve never heard of and have a conversation and a Guinness with an old guy in a tweed cap. Fortunately for me, every country pub I visited in Ireland automatically came with an average of three tweedy guys sitting at the bar, like part of the décor. I spoke to many, but selected three to write about. Not because they were extraordinary in any way, they were just, well, really Irish.

MEET JOE MULLIGAN

As it was, we were sitting in a pub in the highest village in Ireland (Roundwood, County Wicklow) having a pint when we met Joe Mulligan. He had neat white hair under a worn tweed cap, a weathered face made younger by sky blue eyes and rough, square hands. He was dressed in a shrunken wool suit with forearms exposed, and sported an ancient faded tie. I’m pretty sure it was the same suit his mother made him buy in case of funerals when he was young.

Company’s coming! Company’s coming! And you know what that means, don’t you? It means that out-of-town visitors will descend upon your home like crows, and stay for several days. Or, in some cases, several millennia.

It also means that: A.) you can no longer walk around the house in your underwear; B.) you can no longer beat the kids; and C.) you can no longer have Oreos and coffee for breakfast. You need to serve a half-way decent breakfast at least once before they leave.

There are three kinds of overnight guests: 1.) The kind that remind you a lot of Nurse Ratched and make you think about tying chum around your waist and jumping into the Great Barrier Reef; 2.) The kind that track tar in the moment they arrive, take 45-minute showers, wouldn’t know a dishwasher if they were sitting on one, and have the personality of a tumbleweed; and 3.) The kind that are so much fun to have around that, for a fleeting moment, you actually think about asking them to stay one more night (but quickly regain sanity).

I’ve been trying to be a real good girl: taking the skin off my chicken and the fat off my meat. Eating lentils and legumes, grains and grapefruit. Using skim-milk, fat-free mayonnaise and only the whites of my eggs. Avoiding at all costs Alfredo sauce, French fries and most of all, Fiddle Faddle. 

I’ve learned that pasta is poison, ribs are a sin, butter is pretty much illegal and bacon causes instant death. Dessert of any kind is out of the question except on your birthday. Coffee’s bad. Popcorn’s bad. Pizza’s bad. And if you’re caught with a Fry Baby, it’s ten-to-life.

In fact, I’ve been so good that the last big treat I afforded myself was back in ‘06. I remember I had three of Pop’s Old Fashioned Fat-Free Cholesterol-Free Sugar-Free Sodium-Free Carbohydrate-Free Calorie-Free MSG-Free Artificially-Flavored Extra-Fancy Nacho Chips El Supremo Grande, enriched with Riboflavin. They were delicious.

And I’ve been thinking...I NEED CHOLESTEROL!

If you are planning any get-togethers for the upcoming holidays, you might want to try a new appetizer recipe. I have some that I have used for years, gathered from neighbors. Here are two I have used often, because they are always enjoyed:

ZUCCHINI APPETIZERS
       
    •    3 C zucchini, thinly sliced horizontally (4 small)
    •    1 C Bisquick
    •    1/2 C chopped onion
    •    1/2 C Parmesan cheese

Last year I made many items for a Thanksgiving dinner a week early and froze them. Then, the day before Thanksgiving, we packed up a cooler and drove down to visit our daughter in Tennessee. The meal was almost complete, just a few things to make and heat up the next day. It was such a wonderful meal and so stress-free. On Thursday, we were able to go out and do some sightseeing before coming home to a wonderful meal of turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce and salad!

The turkey, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce were made ahead, turkey sliced and frozen separately.  Before the meal, we made the mashed potatoes, vegetables and salad. Every thing tasted like it was made that day. It was such an easy and delicious way to enjoy Thanksgiving with family. With a store-bought pie, we were not missing anything!

Here are two recipes to make your day a little easier:

There’s still plenty to see – and taste – at the North Union Farmers Market at Crocker Park on Saturdays! Since April, the market has been a destination for local, sustainable food, but the 2010 market season is still going strong! 

Are you planning a Thanksgiving meal? The farmers market is the perfect place to start. A local, pasture-raised turkey from one of our farms will make your meal wholesome and delicious. Tea Hill Farm and Covered Bridge Farm are taking turkey orders at the market each week. 

 

The day starts with a walk along the beach, pallid sun reflecting off of pools filled with scuttling crustaceans and fish caught in the changing tides. As morning progresses, a trek through a national park reveals chirruping frogs with clear skin and monkeys scouring branches for fruit. An hour of zip-lining through the treetops presents a sunlit vista of forested country and rolling grasslands. In the afternoon, kayaking along mangrove shores yields sights of painted crabs and glimmering snakes. When darkness falls, a nighttime hike exposes thousands of salamanders, amphibians, and yellow-eyed caimans sulking in the shadows of the river.

These scenes are all examples of what student volunteers, called Naturalist Assistants or NAs, at Lake Erie Nature and Science Center experienced on a journey through Costa Rica earlier this summer. Nine days of hiking, kayaking, and exploring the landscape from the Pacific to the Caribbean yielded hundreds of extraordinary wildlife encounters, in a country where holding a toucan or viewing nine-foot crocodiles in the wild are extraordinarily typical experiences.

I tried the following recipe for the first time last weekend. Everybody loved it, very creamy and full of flavor. It went together quickly and easily. I used white potatoes, white wine vinegar, Grey Poupon mustard and left out the pickle juice and chopped pickles. I plan on making this again, so maybe I'll try them next time.

ALL-AMERICAN POTATO SALAD
Adapted From: Cooking.com

RECIPE INGREDIENTS
4 1/2 pounds red-skinned or white-skinned  potatoes

1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup vinegar (cider, white wine or rice vinegars would work nicely)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

A small mountain village in Ecuador. There were a dozen young boys in the dirt street, playing baseball with a stick and a rock. I opened my backpack and started tossing out Cleveland Indians baseballs. The shock, the grins, the gratitude, were priceless. 

A fancy restaurant in Paris (Le Coupe-Chou). It was close to Halloween, now being celebrated in France. Our waiter was exceptional, not only for his service, but for his charm and dry sense of humor. I gave him a cleverly embroidered Halloween dish towel with English words. It was as though we handed him a gold brick. We saw him the next day on the street and he took us to a small café and bought us a brandy. 

To me, the most important thing you can take on an international trip is gifts for good people you meet along the way. Here are some other suggestions:

When you travel in Ireland today, it is truly difficult to imagine the horrific potato famine that occurred in the 1800’s. The Irish people were poor and looked to the potato for their main source of vitamins, minerals, proteins and carbohydrates. They ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner; sometimes with a little cabbage or fish on the side. 

In 1845, a fungus started killing off the plants, and the wind spread the blight countrywide. Everyone thought it would go away soon and things would return to normal. But the blight lasted six years, killing more than a million people, and forcing another million to flee to the United States to begin a new life. 

Fast forward to my Ireland trip with family; roaming the countryside, scouring ancient castle ruins and staying in remote bed and breakfasts. The breakfast part always consisted of the traditional fried eggs, fried sausage, fried bacon and fried potatoes.

When things have hit an all-time low – like when you were forced to fire one of your gardeners; when you found out your husband was cheating (on his diet); when the artist that was going to do your screening room in trompe l’oeil broke her hand; when your best friend bought an outfit just like yours except for the color and pattern; when your power went out for nearly ten full minutes right when you were watching "The Real Housewives of Orange County"; when you found out they discontinued your favorite nail polish color; when you suddenly ran out of Bounce just as the laundress arrived – there’s nothing like a steaming bowl of the most comforting and well-loved soup in the world. Okay, I’ve changed it just a little. But I think you’ll like it. 

Vento La Trattoria’s cozy atmosphere has invited customers in to dine since the restaurant’s opening in July. Tiramisu and cheesecake greet customers from the case at the front. The smell of fresh herbs from the kitchen entices patrons to stay for an entrée before trying one of the tempting desserts.

The restaurant mixes a small town appeal with a fresh twist on Old World flavor. The menu offers a wide variety of favorites from Italian bruschetta and pasta to American gourmet soft pretzels. The food is reasonably priced; appetizers are less than 10 dollars and most entrées are below 20 dollars.

NANCY'S BRUNCH EGGS

[Editor's note: This makes a great Christmas morning (or any weekend morning) breakfast. The dish can be assembled and refrigerated the night before and baked in the morning.]

1 (1 lb.) bag Simply Potatoes, shredded (dairy case)

1 lb. bacon, diced, fried and drained

1 large onion, chopped and lightly fried in bacon grease (may choose to drain)

3 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

8 slightly beaten eggs

1/2 tsp. pepper

Butter a 9"x13" glass pan. Mix eggs, pepper, cheese and potatoes in a large bowl. Add bacon and onions. Mix thoroughly. Pour in greased pan. Bake uncovered at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes (longer if dish was refrigerated overnight), until eggs are set and top is brown. Serve with fresh fruit, coffee cake, etc. 

– Carol Hill

What I find rather amusing about the history of eggnog is that in Renaissance Europe, it was a popular holiday tradition and was used to toast to one’s health… at nearly 400 calories per cup, gobs of saturated fat and cholesterol galore. Earlier versions from the 1700’s in upper-class England were laced with sherry, ale and Madeira.

American colonists introduced rum and brandy to the mix. The father of our country, George Washington, was an enthusiastic fan: he laced his with rye whiskey, rum and sherry. All at once. I’ll bet his house was a joyous place to be at Christmastime.

My father loved the tradition – the real thing, laced with bourbon and topped with grated nutmeg (once, my mother came home with some low-fat stuff and he poured it down the drain). The tradition continues in my home, although I’ve played with variations over the years.

PUMPKIN BUTTER CHEESECAKE 

3 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

4 eggs

1/4 c. sour cream

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 jar pecan pumpkin butter or regular pumpkin butter

pecans (for garnish)

 

The Thanksgiving stage is nearly set. People are gathering. My uncles are already arguing politics (my side is winning), my aunts are discussing everyone they know who has had a medical procedure in the last ten years (in full-color detail), my cousins are deep into Scrabble (no, repunt isn’t a word), my nieces and nephews are all offering to walk the dog (and sneak a beer, I’m sure of it), my husband just told his brother to stuff it (he asked if he could help with the bird), the sounds of football are in the background (that’s the sport with the pointy ball), and I’m in the kitchen, with the Macy’s Day Parade on for atmosphere -  thankful for the potatoes which I am about to receive.

EXTRA CREAMY ROSEMARY MASHED POTATOES        

6 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks       

3 tablespoons sweet butter, softened 

BACON, LETTUCE AND TOMATO APPETIZER

1 lb. bacon, fried crisp

1/2 c. mayonnaise

1/2 c. sour cream

1 large tomato, seeded and chopped

Lettuce

French bread

Mix all ingredients together. Serve on rounds of French bread with lettuce leaf on each round.

– D.L. Tadych 

Once, in a restaurant, I watched a group of friends one by one excitedly order slices of warm, homemade apple pie a la mode from the smiling waitress. When she got to me, I said, “I’ll just have the mode.” 

Lord knows, I am not un-American or anti-motherhood, but if I am going to invest precious calories on something sweet, it certainly isn’t going to be apple pie. Unlike Mark Twain, who, in 1878, lamented how much he missed apple pie while traveling in Europe; or 19th century English novelist Jane Austen, who said, "Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness," I find the stuff terribly dull.

As far back as 14th century England, someone came up with the idea to take a beautiful autumn object d’art, crisp and healthy and delicious on its own, and cook it to death with sugar in a flimsy crust.

Nope, I’ll pass on the pie and choose instead a sliver of chocolate mousse-whipped cream torte cake. Or a creamy crème brulee. Or, heck, a handful of Poppycock. But I am not altogether blind to this American obsession, so for you, Mark Twain, and for the one out of four Americans who prefer apple over any other flavor of pie, I give you two of my pie recipes that I hate the least.