Brunch at Fire: Food & Drink, Dinner at Lucky's Prime Time, January 25, 2015

While we were in Cleveland over the weekend, we finally ate at Fire: Food & Drink in Shaker Square. I'd started wanting to eat there back when we lived in Cleveland, but we never got there. I am so sorry we didn't, now that I've been. The focus is on local, sustainable foods, done beautifully. We were meeting our friend, Mary, for brunch and arrived a little early, so we sat at the bar and had lattes. The bar is very simple, with important little touches many places forget, like purse hooks. They had a beautiful collection of very good liquor brands and a bartender who made beautiful (and tasty) lattes. I've only gotten pretty foam on a latte a small handful of times & have never seen it actually done, so his creating our foam art right in front of us was an added treat. I liked getting to see how it's done. It kind of looks like magic being performed. They have a collection of Mason jars full of house-made elixirs like limoncello and the smoked vanilla bean syrup that went into my latte. When I have an actual bar in my house again, I hope to have a similar collection. They really seem to care about their drink ingredients.

Based on the taste & appearance of the food, I'd say that's the case with it, as well. I'd've loved to get a tour of the kitchen. We had some drinks while we waited for our food, a mimosa for Mary, bellinis for Jeannene & me. I ordered the traditional peach bellini, while my sweetie-pie opted for the guava, which was great. We all split a sticky bun, which was yummy but not amazing and not terribly sticky, and a plate of seasonal fruit, which was superb! I'm pretty sure raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries aren't actual seasonal, but the specimens on our plate were very flavorful and gorgeous. The pineapple and oranges were fab, too.

For our main courses, Mary ordered an amazing-looking cheeseburger. I didn't actually try it, but Mary said it was great. I did try one of her fries and had fry envy the rest of the meal. They're perfectly browned and sprinkled with garlic and herbs.

My Yukon Gold home fries were pretty stellar, too, all creamy on the inside and crisply browned on the outside. I chose the eggs Benedict, which were cooked just exactly as they should be, placed on a beautiful house-made English muffin. The eggs were very clearly fresh, with a rich flavor, and the hollandaise was sunny and quite lemony. I have often gotten bland hollandaise, but this was bright and wonderful. I think the choice to use their excellent house-made ham rather than Canadian bacon boosted the dish, as well.

Jeannene had 1 egg, over easy, with their sausage and an order of grits & goat cheese. Everything was fabulous. The grits were incredibly flavorful and the sausage, even though it had a bit of sweet to it, was fantastic.

We will definitely go back when we're in the area again.

We rolled back into our own neck of the woods a little late, but found Lucky's Prime Time in Rochester still open and happy to serve us. We've been to a couple other Lucky's locations, but this was our first visit to this one. We were both tired and not hungry for a big dinner. We'd hoped to hit Panera for soup, but they were already closed by the time we arrived. Our server was very friendly and right on top of everything. Jeannene had the soup of the day, a beef vegetable soup that was quite yummy. I opted for French onion soup, which they do quite well. I'd had it at other locations and, while it's not as good as what I get at The Laundry in Fenton, it's very good, with a fairly robust broth.

Our "main course" was salad. I love wedge salad and theirs is usually good, with very crisp, fresh iceberg and plenty of blue cheese crumbles. Their blue cheese dressing is just right. I remembered to ask for no tomatoes, but forgot to ask for the dressing on the side. They tend to be incredibly generous with the dressing and it overwhelms the salad, but it's good, nonetheless. Jeannene had a dinner-sized salad with chicken---I didn't try it before she gave it the French dressing treatment, but she said it was very good.

I was, honestly, a little disappointed with their bread. I usually really love the bread at Lucky's in Imlay City, which is covered in a variety of seeds and is impossible to stop eating. This bread was still good, but had scarcely any seeds and way too much garlic powder. I love garlic as much as anyone, but this was not integrated into the bread, just sitting atop the loaf in a fine dusting. I don't know if this is the standard for this location or we got an end-of-the-night, not-awesome loaf. Still and all, it was a lovely dinner, just what we were in the mood to have.

Stonetown, January 24, 2015

When the event at which I presented in Cleveland this past weekend was over on Saturday, we had the luxury of another night in town. We'd made arrangements to meet with friends, Mike & Donna, who are also interested in good and interesting food. We asked where they might like to eat and they suggested Stonetown Southern Fusion, just across the street from the denominational headquarters where the event was held. It was so much fun to be in the Gateway District again and to see how very lively the streets are at night. People poured down the street Friday night for the Cavs game and Saturday night for the Monsters hockey game. Lots of folks came into Stonetown, too. I'd never heard of it. It opened after we moved away and had somehow never made it onto my radar. Man, am I glad they suggested it!

Stonetown is all clean lines and words from various quotes, strung together and painted onto the walls as a sort of manifesto for good living. The combining of the messages (and the mis-spelling of one of the names) is a little confusing, but the overall message is really positive. The colors are vibrant and the fireplace cozy. It looks like they have a nice sidewalk patio in summer and the big windows are great for people-watching as the crowds flow by in the street. Our waiter was incredibly patient with our slowness to decide. The staff and patrons remained relaxed in the face of a quick, enthusiastic outburst of commentary on recent racial tensions by a couple of young men on their way out the door after a birthday celebration, who yelled "Black lives matter!" a couple of times before exiting. Nobody became alarmed, although I imagine it sparked some good conversation at some of the tables, in this city that so recently experienced the shooting death of a 12-year-old boy by police who mistakenly thought he had a real gun. The whole place felt much more like a comfortable neighborhood gathering spot than a fancy, fine-dining establishment.

The food wasn't fancy, either, but it was delicious! We started with the soul rolls and an order of fried green tomatoes. I know you all have probably ordered fried green tomatoes that arrived sodden and floppy and falling out of their batter. I know I have. They can be a dicey thing to order. At Stonetown, they are small and crisp and perfectly firm. Not greasy at all, they are a bit tart, as they should be, and just superbly executed. The spicy remoulade that comes alongside is more spicy than I'd expected, and less creamy, but a great foil for the dish. The same sauce is yummy with the soul rolls. I was a little skeptical about ordering them, thinking they'd be the same old thing as the Southwestern Eggrolls at Chili's. However, they were worlds apart from that. I'm so glad Mike ordered them. They're filled with chicken, greens, black beans, roasted corn, and cheese. They were not at all blah, as I'd feared they might be, but were velvety smooth and full of flavor. I found myself sorry we didn't have more.

However, it's a good thing I didn't overstuff myself on the appetizers, because dinner was very generous. I ordered the buttermilk fried yardbird, white meat, which came with beautifully creamy, tasty grits and another side. I chose mac & cheese, which turned out to be a disappointment. I am picky about mac & cheese and love mine, with extra-sharp cheddar that clings to the noodles without being overly saucy, the best. This version didn't have enough zing to it, with hunks of mild cheese adhering to, but not coating, the noodles, kind of like cheese tossed in with noodles and stirred. I imagine it would be fabulous to most people, though. The chicken, on the other hand, was terrific, with a crunchy, delicious coating and beautifully juicy meat. I had way more than I could eat, so half of it went home with Mike & Donna. If I'd had a refrigerator in my hotel room, I'd never have surrendered it, though. Jeannene couldn't eat more than half of hers, either. She opted for the version that came with mini red velvet waffles and those were stellar! Mike and Donna said their blackened chicken and blackened catfish were excellent, as well.

We shared the peach cobbler for dessert, but did not finish, not only from restraint imposed by all the other good foods that went before, but because it just wasn't that great. It was more like a slice of peach pie that had fallen apart between the pie plate and the dessert plate than like any cobbler I've had. It was fine, but not worth the calories to finish and I wouldn't bother ordering it again. However, I would definitely bother going back. There were a bunch of things on the menu that I really wanted to try. Next time, the catfish, I believe.

Winking Lizard Tavern, January 23, 2015

I presented at a youth leaders' event in downtown Cleveland over the weekend. It's an annual event, a wonderful one, and the tradition for Friday night after the closing of official programming is that we go to the Winking Lizard Tavern, just a few doors down from the hotel. When we lived in Cleveland, we really liked to go to the Avon location (which, sadly, has since moved to a different location---we always loved the layout there), so Jeannene was especially excited to get to eat there. They have terrific wings, so she had those, 5 traditional with garlic sauce and 5 boneless with a spicy mustard sauce called Goldfinger (if I'm remembering correctly). She oohed and aaahed all the way through her dinner and lamented not living in the area any longer.

I have a hard time going to the Winking Lizard without trying their seasonal offerings. Friday night, they had a New Orleans-inspired menu, including a variety of po'boys. I wrestled with whether I should get their truly yummy Buffalo chicken sandwich or a po'boy. In the end, I had a roast beef po'boy with an order of hand-cut Cajun chips. The sandwich was good, if a little cool around the edges. The gravy was nothing as good as the great version I had at Remoulade in the French Quarter, but it was flavorful and the beef was nice and tender. I was disappointed in the chips, which could have used a heavier hand with the Cajun seasoning, but I made up for them yesterday by sharing a bag of Zapp's Voodoo chips with Jeannene on our drive home. If you can get your hands on a bag of those, your tastebuds will thank you.

Another thing I really like about the Winking Lizard is their wonderfully extensive bar menu. They have just about any beer you could imagine and some creative and tasty cocktails, as well. Jeannene likes to get their featured beers that come with a take-home glass, this month, North Coast Wintertime Ale, to which she awarded a big thumbs up. I tend toward their cocktail of the month, if it sounds good. This month, it sounded great---the Svoboda, a mix of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey, Amaretto, orange juice, and sour mix---so I ordered it. It was delicious! We also had a glass of the only beer I will drink, Lindeman's Framboise lambic ale, which tastes like raspberry soda from heaven.