Tryout Tuesday: Le Oui Oui Crepe Cafe

Way back in the day, Foodgoat and I used to eat out a lot more, and we would try a different restaurant every Tuesday.  Ahh, the things you can do when you don't have a baby in tow.

Last February though, Le Oui Oui Crepe Cafe  opened near where I work, and who can resist crepes?  The owner, a former costume designer, street performer, and bona fide Parisienne,  previously ran two other crepes places in Ohio City, neither of which I had been to, but seemed well liked so I was anxious to give it a go.


Le Oui Oui is ... minimal.  It's not so much a restaurant as a takeout stand with a couple of tables.  The menu is brief - a couple of choices for savory crepes, a couple of egg version, and some sweet dessert crepes, though of course one can customize.  But what it lacks in choice it seems to make up for taste - the crepe I had, goat cheese, tomato, and spinach - was really, very good.  The crepe was light and delicious, the ingredients were fresh and bright.  A perfect springtime lunch. 

I was all set to make it a regular lunchtime stop when I found it that it's temporarily closing in a couple of days - on April 16!  According to their Facebook face, they are working to "secure a more intimate location in the Circle" and that they "hope to be at a new space before the CWRU new school year".  That is months and months away!  Oh well!

Tryout Tuesday, on Thursday, Last Week: Roscoe's

Ever since Phil the Fire sputtered out in Cleveland, Foodgoat and I have been chicken and waffle deprived, left only to contemplate one of us picking up a KFC bucket while the other tries to convince IHOP to make waffles to go in order to build some sad semblance of real thing.

So the first stop while I was in LA was lunch at Roscoe's, the venerable chicken & waffle house. The dish originated in a Harlem restaurant, and an employee there took it with him when he moved out west and started Roscoe's. It's Roscoe's that made fried chicken & waffles famous. Now there are Roscoe's all over LA (and outside Los Angeles, even) but we were at the original, Pico Blvd location.

Two pieces of chicken, two waffles, two pats of butter, two tiny of cups of syrup ... surprisingly, it all fits into one Ladygoat.

My brother got the same thing I did, except with gravy and onions. My sister got - what else? - the Carol special with buckwheat waffles while my Dad ordered his own namesake, the Oscar. Mom passed on the Big Mamma special though.

Mmmmmm!

Tryout Tuesday: Dominick's Cafe

Hellllo, folks, to the FOODGOAT Cleveland Burgerweight Championships! (*raucous cheers erupt from the crowd!*)

In this corner, we have our current breakout champ, winning the belt just one month ago, blowing away the no-name competition with their juicy burgers and master of a burger-slinger, the one, the only, Stevenson's Bar & Grille!

And in this corner, his challenger, an upstart burger contender that's been building a quite a rep among those who know, the Wickliffe greasy spoon Dominick's Cafe!

Round one! (*ding!)

Dominick's is coming up, and he's looking good by looking bad: the dingy nieghborhood hole in the wall, with just about every seat at the bar taken up. Uh oh, that hook might have gone too far: the clientele are questionable looking kids drinking beers in t-shirts with the sleeves ripped off.

But don't leave yet, folks, the round's just beginning. And look, it's around 6-ish and it looks like Dominick's is changing his tactic: now it's old people coming in! Old people sitting in the tables! To eat! The contender is back!

And now Dominick's makes his big move: Windy burgers with bacon and cheese and onions! Followed by a quick fries and onion rings on the side! And served up in a red plastic basket. The crowd bites! And again! I can't tell what's going on! A buttery bun hits Stevenson's square on the jaw! He's stunned! He looks like he might fall, but ... but no! He's rallying! The meat and bacon are holding! But the onion rings are frozen and Dominick's looks vulnerable now!

And just like that that, it's all over. Dominick's Cafe came close but in the end the reigning Stevenson's squeaks by to maintain his title of Best Cleveland Burger. (*cheering!)

Tryout Tuesday: Stevenson's

At long last, the Quest has ended, and that which has long been sought has truly been found.

Yes, we have finally discovered the Best Burger in Cleveland.

The significance cannot be overstated. You would think that something to quench the burgerlust would be a dime a dozen in such an American city, but no. We've come across burgers aplenty, but never found the burger that truly satisfies that deep-seated yearning that occasionally seizes upon Foodgoat. For the burger must not merely be tasty, it must also encapsulate the full essence of burger-ness, which is more than a food. The Burger, for example, cannot cost $10. Any whiff of yuppieness and the burger essence is lost. The menu should be small and centered around burgers. The clientele should be neighborly. And of course, the burger should be delicious.

The archetype of the Burger is Nation's, but Nation's is many miles away, and we had nearly given up hope of finding anything like it here.

And then one of Foodgoat's co-workers (to whom we shall be forever grateful) pointed us to Stevenson's.


Stevenson's Bar and Grille is a tiny, scruffy place (on Lakeshore in Euclid), with a long dark bar along the kitchen, so you can see your burger being made.

The Burger Maker is meticulous, taking extraordinary care in making the burgers, and it shows. The bacon was slow-cooked, the crisp fries were freshly-made, and the bun was toasted. He was also a character, which adds another check mark in the Good Burger Joint evaluation.

Foodgoat was, shall we say, happy about the result. He's got the Big Guy, which has a tartar sauce.

Doesn't it look good?

And indeed, the payoff was dreamy.

Of course, we can't confirm that it's really that good unless we try it again. So in the interest of public service, we'll have to go back. Again and again.

Tryout Tuesday: Hot Sauce Williams

Hot Sauce Williams, the Cleveland barbeque chain, is inaccurately named. It should be called Sweet Sauce Williams.

This is not a bad thing. Maybe barbeque sauce is supposed to be on the sweet side? It was tasty, nonetheless. It doesn't hold up to Foodgoat's recent Tampa discovery, First Choice Southern Bar-B-Que, when people carried out barbeque in 15-lb orders, but that's the South. Here in Cleveland, I am pleased to find any barbeque at all.

Foodgoat, but of course, got a pulled pork sandwich, slathered not only with sauce but also with coleslaw.

Which he had to eat with a fork. Is it still a sandwich if you need utinsils?

I went with ribs. Big, messy, chewy, ribs. But it was the fries - fat, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, potato fries - that hit it off with the barbeque sauce. It reminded me of how as a kid I used to get the chicken McNuggets barbeque sauce for my fries. Such a natural pair. Unlike the Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes thing.

Tryout Tuesday: El Rodeo

When we walked into El Rodeo, looking for a little Mexican food love, kids were running around everywhere. And there were ... so ... many ... colors. Red hand-painted chairs, blue chairs, green chairs. And a very bright yellow sun smiled up at up from our table.

After we recovered from the slight vertigo of unused-to vibrancy, we had what was actually some pretty good Mexican food (it's always a gamble getting ethnic food in the 'burbs). I had the shredded beef quesadillas; Foodgoat had enchiladas. They noted in the menu something like "proper food takes time" - a hint, I suppose, to people who are used to getting their Mexican fix from Taco Bell (which is okay in California but downright atrocious in Cleveland).

The best part of the meal (aside from a character of a waiter) was dessert: a churro. A hot fried dough stick covered with sugar and cinnamon that I usually only find at Disneyland. Yum. Did you catch that? YUM.

Tryout Tuesday: Grovewood Tavern

First, it took about half an hour to get to the Grovewood Tavern & Wine Bar. Not because it's terribly far, but because first, Foodgoat didn't know where he wanted to eat so we drove around in all the wrong directions, and second, he had an only vague idea of where the Grovewood Tavern was, since the one time he'd been the bar he'd arrived already hammered. We managed to find it, but how would the hazy recollection of Guiness on tap and phenomenal potstickers hold up in the sober light of day?

Upon entering, Foodgoat suddenly remembered: here, he was introduced to his favorite beer, Young's Double Chocolate Stout. Looks like Ladygoat's driving home tonight!

The potstickers, filled with portobello mushrooms and served with a balsamic reduction, were, true to Foodgoat's memory, truly delicious. Succulent and earthy. And artfully presented, which you'll just have to take my word on, because I forgot my camera.

The menu was full of fascinating choices, but Foodgoat ultimately settled on a burger. That may seem an unremarkable choice, considering he could have gone with steak and fried oysters, but when your stomach wants a burger, who are you to argue? And it was a good burger, too.

I, on the other hand, got the chicken pot pie. I should have gotten the duck. I'm sure the duck would have been delicious. I always enjoy the duck when I order it. Now, I love chicken pot pie. I always order chicken pot pie when it's on the menu. But you know what? I'm always disappointed. It's never nearly as good as when I make it at home, which I'd do more often if it didn't involve a bazillion steps. This time, it was too salty and the potatoes were undercooked. Chicken pot pie must now be added to French onion soup as just one of those dishes that never tastes good in any restaurant. Sigh.

A pity, because dinner at Grovewood Tavern was otherwise a splendid experience.

Tryout Tuesday: Town Fryer

After several days of having soup for dinner, the goats were yappin' for something, well, unhealthy. So where else was there to go but to the Town Fryer, a new restaurant of Southern food known mostly for frying just about everything.

The place is small and cozy, the owner has a real Souther draaawl, and there's an Elvis lamp. We felt right at home at once. We began with tall glasses of tart lemonade and a basket of onion rings. Onion rings that were just too, too greasy, sadly enough. Which is not to say that I didn't like them, because I like all onion rings. Foodgoat, however, was nauseated by the sight of me scraping off the crunchy bits on the bottom of the basket.

Then came my fried chicken, which was delish: tender, skinless, boneless white meat nuggets surrounded by much crunchiness, not too greasy at all, and went well with my sweet potato fries. Foodgoat went for a fried chicken po' boy, along with maple bacon mashed potatoes on the side. He didn't go with the deep-fried mac & cheese but I suppose we must save some menu items for next time.

We never get dessert but how could I turn down deep-fried Oreos? (The deep-fried Twinkies, too, will have to wait.) The Oreos, sprinkled with powdered sugar and fresh from a vat of boiling oil, were suprisingly tasty: the chocolate cookie had turned into a soft cake-like texture, the creamy filling had dissipated, and the sweetness went well with the fried crust.

So it was all pretty good, but Foodgoat was left hurting. Perhaps an all-fried meal is not something one should spring on one's stomach without warning.

Tryout Tuesday: Brennan's Colony

Brennan's Colony
2299 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights
216-371-1010

In the middle of our dinner at Brennan's Colony, a family occupied the booth behind us, complete with a couple of kids running around.

Leading Foodgoat to wonder: how come he never got to eat at a bar when he was a kid?

The closest I came to a bar as a kid was losing my parents at the shopping mall and sneaking into the one bar in my town to see if they were there. They weren't.

But back to Tryout Tuesday. Brennan's Colony is an old-fashioned neighborhood tavern: worn wood booths, a long bar perched with a variety of types taking in beer, cable news and sports, a Ms. Pacman video game, and good food.

Foodgoat ordered, of course, from the bar menu: beginning with hot wings. They had that crispy, perfectly-fried texture that wings so often woefully lacks, and powerful enough spice to clear out my sinuses just by breathing in the aroma.
Wings were followed by a grilled chicken sandwich with mushrooms and cheese, and a side of onion rings. I, on the other hand, ordered from the fancy dinner menu, surprisingly sophisticated for such a modest place. See how prettily the food is presented?

That's grilled pork chops with sweet potato mashies and bleu cheese butter. On the recommendation of the waiter, I was brave and for the first time ordered something medium instead of well-done, every so slightly pink in the middle. I was rewarded by the juiciest, most succulent cut of pork I've ever had. And so far, no ill effects.

Tryout Tuesday: Anatolia Cafe, South Euclid

Every time we go to ZaZa, we walk by Anatolia Cafe, Cleveland's first Turkish restaurant, and are nearly lured in by the delicious and mysterious smells of ... something tasty. Why resist? We entered the bright and cheerful restaurant and had our first go at Turkish food.


A ha! Caught on film! That's Foodgoat eating liver. And liking it. Which goes to show you how good the Sautéed Liver Cubes (Arnavut Ci?eri) were, because Foodgoat, unlike me, hates liver. Veal liver was breaded, fried, served with lemon and red onions, and lacked the grainy texture that Foodgoat so dreads. He actually finished off his share.

My dish: Adana, which is chopped lamb flavored with peppers, and slightly seasoned with paprika and grilled on skewers. I've never had lamb before, but based on this, I like it. It was incredibly juicy, tender, and quite flavorful. Foodgoat had his share of lamb in the famous (at least that's how our waiter described it) iskender, which was slices of marinated lamb with a yogurt sauce. Quite good too. He didn't finish it, but I imagine it would make an excellent sandwich tomorrow.

Everything at Anatolia was good and fun, except for the yogurt drink which was just straight-up liquid yogurt with ice. Not my cup of tea. Now if there was mango in it, that's another story. But anyway, fun place, good food, which is all the more surprising considering that it's in a beat-up, run-down strip mall.

Tryout Tuesday: a recipe edition

On the Tuesdays that we don't go scope out new restaurants, I've resolved to try new recipes. (A creature of habit, I seem to respond well to regularly scheduled programming.) The pile of old cooking magazines tagged with Post-It notes and a burgeoning cookbook collection (though it can't touch my mom's 300+ hoard) are crying out to be stained, splattered, and generally used.

The first dish of the series may or may not exactly count, because I've made the recipe once before. But it was a long time ago and this time I made it rather differently.

Here's the original recipe, swiped from the evah-so-handy epicurious (whose redesign is leaps and bounds better than the old one):

PUMPKIN DUMPLINGS

1/2 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon (generous) baking powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Whisk pumpkin, egg, salt, nutmeg and baking powder in large bowl to blend. Mix in flour (dough will be soft). Dip a spoon into boiling water to moisten & scoop up dough to drop in water. Boil dumpling until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to colander and drain. Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add dumplings. Sauté until beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer dumplings to bowl. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

It was good this way, but I liked my revised way better. First off, I used fresh pumpkin. Believe it or not, I happened to have some in the fridge: last week, I baked a whole sugar pumpkin, mostly to see what happened, since I couldn't cut through the skin without fearing for my life. It cooked, I scooped, and that's all there was to it.

I used whole-wheat flour and didn't measure it once. I'm sure I used much more than the recipe called for. I just kept adding big spoonfuls at a time, and mixed until it looked dumpling-worthy, i.e. when the dough pulls away from the sides (this was the first time that description actually made sense to me ... I must be learning something from all those times I've watched Foodgoat make dumplings). No nutmeg, as Foodgoat dislikes it, but did use pepper, paprika, and parsley, which means I have half of a cutesy girl band. I used olive oil instead of butter, and forgot all about the cheese. Otherwise, the technique was the same.

The pumpkin dumplings actually turned out quite well. The whole-wheat flour gave it a nuttier sort of taste, and the pumpkin and savory spices went well with the fried kielbasa sausage. We had a fine photo but the camera didn't think so, since it corrupted it and refused to give it up.

Tryout Tuesday: ZaZa

On the eve of my last day on the diet ... screw it. Time for some real food.

Enter ZaZa. Tucked unobstrusively into a somewhat faded strip mall, ZaZa had a lovely ambiance: dark velvet curtains, violet-hued walls, low lighting, and smooth jazz in the background. The cuisine was Nawlins'-style, my favorite kind. It was all very promising.

I declined dipping into the extensive martini menu, but Foodgoat did take adventage of Tuesday happy hour deals to indulge in a Guinness (on tap, too, Foodgoat's signal for his type of bar) to go along with a plate of calamari. It was a fabulous start: the battered and fried squid rings, piled high on a spicy, lemony pepper sauce was spectacular. The squid was light and crunchy; the sauce smooth and flavorful. It was probably the best calamari I've had; Foodgoat went so far as to say it was the best dish he'd ever had at a restaurant.


Foodgoat went onto a Bourbon Burger with sweet potato fries. The fries were good and crispy (I know because I kept stealing some from his plate). But the burger was a kicker: a massive one pound of meat, topped with mushrooms and red onions in a Dijon, bourbon whiskey sauce, on sourdough. Poor Foodgoat could barely manage to take half of it down. It scared him a little.

As for me, of course I couldn't turn down the Louisiana crabcakes with mashed sweet potatoes. The crabcakes came with a horseradish sauce, a cocktail sauce, and a hot pepper sauce, and a spicy corn salsa. This is a restaurant that doesn't shy away from the spices, for which we're quite grateful. The crabcakes were just delicious (even better the next day as a sandwich for lunch): crunchy on the outside, moist and sweet on the inside.

I think I have a new favorite restaurant in Cleveland.

Tryout Tuesday: Day and Night

Last Tuesday morning, before going to vote, Foodgoat and I had an impromptu Tryout Tuesday breakfast at Eat at Joe's. It's a tiny neighborhood greasy spoon tucked away in a strip mall down the street. The waitresses seem to know all the customers by name and walk around with a pencil behind their ears and a coffee pot in one hand. That's my big pile o' blueberry pancakes and side of hash browns, and that's a patty melt that Foodgoat's digging into at 9 in the morning. Definitely one of the most filling breakfasts we've had in a long time (usually we just settle for coffee), though it hardly prepared us for the heartbreak which was to come later that night. Clearly, these were more hopeful and optimistic times.

It's a nice place. The food is plain but comforting, and the atmosphere is as down-home and right-neighborly as it gets.

In contrast, yesterday's Tryout Tuesday meal was a dinner affair. Foodgoat agonized over the decision, but after driving around in circles for a while, we ended up at Arrabiata's, a Mayfield Heights Italian place favored by Foodgoat's relatives. Just in the nick of time too: we managed to catch their Early Bird menu. In this case, the early bird gets great, big, fat worm: you get soup, salad, side of linguini marinara, beverage, an endless basket of warm bread, AND your choice of a wide variety of tasty Italian entrees, all on a white tablecloth and with attentive, excellent service, for a mere $10 a person. All just for showing up before 6:30. No wonder the place was packed!

Here's Foodgoat in the mood lighting (why disturb it with flash photography?) with his Chicken Marsala (which he give a thumbs up!).
And this is my cheese ravioli, which was hot, cheesy and delicious, just the way I like it. The portions were almost just the right size, maybe just a little bit too big, though I won't complain: we managed to eat every last bit (plus two extra bread refills ... I never turn down free bread).

Definitely worth a repeat visit :)

Tryout Tuesday (on Thursday)

One day, driving in the car, Foodgoat and I tried to come up with a list of the best, the most recommended, the not-to-missed Cleveland restaurants.

After 10 minutes of struggling, we only had one place on the list.

What kind of food-lovin' gourmets are we? The kind that don't go out to eat very often, and when they do, the kind that always go to the same, familiar places for the same, familiar dishes.

Well, I'm fixin' to change that. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Hence begins Tryout Tuesdays. Every other Tuesday, we will venture into a new restaurant. We'll take turns choosing the experimental location, no questions asked.


The inaugural dinner (put off for two days) was my pick, and it was John Christie's Tavern down on East 185th. Why? Because Cleveland Scene said it had the best pierogi dinner, that's why.

The Tavern has dark wood booths, gnomes in one of the windows, and a cozy, neighborhood-y atmosphere. Foodgoat ordered the pierogi dinner: 3 big, heavy, but delicious potato and cheese pierogies. It's status at Cleveland Scene is much deserved.



I went out on a limb and tried the Cincinnati Chili, which is just chili on top of spaghetti, with cheddar cheese and sour cream. It was good, but not as good as the pierogies. I enjoyed the basket of onion rings much more, which had a yummy batter around real onion.

Mmmmmm ... onion rings.