A Sign of Things to Come?

Will the big bust signal the end of five-star dining?

Whether diners like it or not, we are going to start seeing more and more restaurants like 56 West and Go! Bistro. Blame it on the economy, or simply a smarter (read less risky) business set, but many of the newest restaurants are shooting not for the stars but merely for the upper-middle of the road.

Both of these new establishments (56 West is in Lakewood; Go! Bistro is in Mayfield Hts.) straddle the fence between fast-casual and full-service. Depending on what time of day you visit, these “hybrid” restaurants can feel like an informal café or a slightly more proper bistro. Each features a single menu regardless the mealtime, with options as diverse as soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches and full-on entrees. They even offer beer and wine.

Go! Bistro is the splashier of the pair. The attractive restaurant, located in a new plaza just north of Eastgate Shopping Center, looks, feels and tastes franchise-ready. The high-ceilinged space boasts the now-familiar modern-industrial ambiance that we’ve come to know and tolerate from places like Chipotle and Panera Bread. Designer-approved complimentary paint colors add visual interest to a box-like space with exposed ceiling joists and HVAC systems.

While Go! looks like a chain, it is not. The business is locally owned and even promises to use local products whenever feasible, though there is little proof of that on the current menu. The prevailing impression I get when visiting this new restaurant is “fresh.” Clean, crisp and bright can be used to describe not only the décor, but also the food. There are nearly a dozen different salads, both cold and hot sandwiches, a number of burgers and/or sliders, and a half-dozen heartier “specialties.”

Prices hover in the $8-$10 range, with the priciest item topping out at $15 for Norwegian salmon. The popular “Go for Two” deal offers a choice of either soup and salad, soup and half sandwich, or salad and half sandwich for $7.49. There is always a soup of the day plus French onion. The baked potato soup ($3.49/cup) is like a fully loaded baker with bacon, cheddar, sour cream and scallions in a chunky potato chowder.

Salads are big, fresh and tasty. I particularly enjoyed the fried chicken salad ($6.99), with freshly-fried fingers of moist, crunchy chicken atop a chopped mixture of lettuces, veggies, cheese and hard-cooked eggs. The salad is pre-dressed and tossed, making it easy to enjoy, and it is served with extra honey mustard for dipping the fried chicken. A nice touch.

Ingredient combinations, whether in salads or on sandwiches, are contemporary and well considered. In the goat cheese salad ($7.49), warmed panko-crusted goat cheese tops a salad with red onion, dried cherries, candied pecans and raspberry cabernet vinaigrette. For the Big Tex steak sandwich ($9.99), sliced grilled skirt steak shares a ciabatta bun with roasted poblano peppers, pepper jack cheese and chipotle mayo. Fans of medium-rare burgers may want to shy away from the ones served at Go! – all are cooked to 155 degrees (around medium-well).

If you come for lunch, proceed to the counter, place your order, pay, and take a seat in the cozy dining room. If you arrive after 4 p.m., simply sit down and enjoy full table service. A small beer and wine list is available, with prices ranging from $4.49 for a Great Lakes to $6.49 for Ferrante riesling.

56 West is located in a Lakewood corner spot most recently occupied by Venezia. Like Go!, this newcomer sticks with a single all-day menu regardless the mealtime. And the parallels keep coming. The menu features a similar roster of homemade soups, creative salads, hot and cold sandwiches, burgers, and larger entrees. But unlike Go!, 56 is always full-service, with guests grabbing a seat and ordering with a server.

The 56 team has earned a reputation as a quality provider through its long-running sister establishment, Café 56. Here, the focus is less on salads and more on burgers. The build-your-own-burger system lets diners craft a masterpiece from a long list of add-ons. Guests start with the patty (beef, chicken or veggie), tack on cheeses, toppings, sauces, and then select a bun. Burgers start at $6, with cheeses costing an extra $1 and toppings like pancetta, bacon or fried egg an extra $1.50. French fries are fresh-cut and delicious.

Entrees follow a similar tack. For just $10, diners pick a meat, sauce, starch and side salad. For example: flat iron steak, with cilantro chimichurri sauce, sided by sweet potato fries and a Caesar salad. (Sounds a bit like the game Clue, doesn’t it? Colonel Mustard, in the library, with the lead pipe.)

All menu items are given cheeky names. An appetizer of cheese-topped fries ($5) with house-made ketchup is called Instant Gratification. In the Opposites Attract ($7), baby arugula is topped with roasted beets, granny smith apples and shaved Romano. Not sure which two are the opposites. The pulled pork sandwich ($7) is more like a barbecue beef sandwich given its soft, almost runny texture and sweet taste. It’s called Picnic in the Park, by the way.

When you enter, feel free to grab your own beer from the cooler before grabbing a seat. 56 West stocks the complete line of Great Lakes brews and is the process of obtaining a wine license.

Whether five-star dining is indeed toast in this (or any) town remains to be seen. Judging by the recent closures and openings, casual value-based establishments are definitely on the upswing. And with economy in the crapper, who can blame diners for being frugal?


Go! Bistro
1261 SOM Center Road
Mayfield Hts., OH 44124
http://www.go-bistro.com/

56 West
16300 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood, OH 44107
http://www.fiftysixwest.com/

Chinese New Year

Those who follow the Chinese Lunar Calendar will celebrate the New Year on January 26th. Events in honor of the Year of the Ox will take place all week long at Asian-owned businesses.

In Cleveland, revelers can join the fun at Bo Loong (3922 St. Clair Ave., 216-391-3113), Li Wah (2999 Payne Ave., 216-696-6556), Tom's Seafood (3048 St. Clair Ave., 216-771-1928), Siam Cafe (3951 St. Clair Ave., 216-361-2323) and others. Most AsiaTown restaurants will celebrate the occasion with food and drink specials, festive menus, and the traditional Lion Dance.

FYI: As I was born in the Year of the Goat, I am wholly incompatible with those born in the Year of the Ox.

First Look: Moon Cleveland

Though release is still a few months away, Moon Cleveland, the guide book I wrote for Avalon Travel, is hitting websites for pre-order. Here is the cover of the book. Very exciting. Look for a release in May or June.

First Bite: L'Albatros

Ask any avid, well-travelled Cleveland diner what this city lacks and more than likely the reply will be French brasserie. In New York, places like Balthazar and Les Halles are perennially packed thanks to exceedingly appealing menus coupled with a spirited scene. With the opening of L’Albatros (11401 Bellflower Rd., 216.791.7880, albatrosbrasserie.com), that culinary gap finally has been plugged.

Set inside a completely reinvented That Place on Bellflower, the bistro seduces diners with a roster of classic brasserie gems like escargot, pork terrine, roasted cod and choucroute garnie. But since this is a Zack Bruell (Parallax, Table 45) restaurant, guests can count on more than a few contemporary twists. Thankfully, there is no monkeying around with a picture-perfect onion soup gratinee ($7). Served in a crock glazed with melted cheese, the hearty onion-studded brew is absolutely superb. Same for the chef’s terrine ($7), two rectangular slices of rich, moist pork and veal pate. Gilded with lard, speckled with pistachios, and topped with good grainy mustard, the starter is textbook. Pork rillettes ($7), slow-cooked and shredded meat that is served with toasts, gets better and better as it loses its chill. Salads include the classic frisee, bacon and egg, plus a refreshing radish and cucumber mix ($6) dressed with a blissful crème fraiche vinaigrette. L’Albatros’ cassoulet ($22) is a glorious medley of duck, lamb, sausages, white beans and crispy bits. But don’t expect an earthenware crock – this version is presented in a 12-inch stainless skillet. Of course, the flourish is trademark Bruell, as is the polished, minimalist décor. L'Albatros has Cleveland's finest cheese service, attended to by an ex-Artisinal staffer.

Completely reworked, the space will be virtually unrecognizable to former That Place diners. Upon arrival, guests practically walk straight into the wide-open kitchen. Next up is a snug but lively little bar and lounge area. Dining rooms feature whitewashed brick, snow-white tables and white plastic chairs. Bruell has assembled a top-flight staff, which includes Andy Dombrowski (Delmonico’s) as chef de cuisine and Rob Rasmussen as GM and wine pro. L’Albatros is open daily for lunch and dinner except Sunday.

Taste Food & Wine

In another time and place, Taste Food & Wine would be hailed as a welcome addition to any street, let alone Lee Road, where upscale joints are outnumbered by pubs 4 to 1. The restaurant possesses considerable talent in the kitchen, service is at a level commensurate with a more seasoned establishment, and the space is sharper than half the bistros in town.

But what diners seem to crave most right now has less to do with skill, sadly, and more to do with perceived value. While far from extravagant, entrées here hover in the 20-dollar range, and those prices accompany portions that likely will leave some diners pining for seconds. Even steeper proportionally are the starters, which barely squeak in under the 10-dollar mark. Personally, I feel the entrées are worth every penny. In the appetizer department, however, the quid pro quo might be slanted in favor of the house.

Taste lives in the renovated home of the Wine Room, a lovely place that limped along for what seemed like forever. An expanded footprint (Taste absorbed the slim spot next door) affords room for a bar and lounge area plus a separate dining room. At the rear of that dining room is an open kitchen with adjoining chef’s table – a nice feature. Whereas the Wine Room was all dark wood and flickering candlelight, Taste is glinting granite and pale butcher block. The space is clean, fresh and contemporary. In fact, it could use some warming up.

What could really use some warming up are the appetizers; every starter save for the soup is a cold presentation. Chef Anthony Vicente, a recent export from France, is a shrewd practitioner. He understands that cool foods often possess cleaner, more intense flavors than piping-hot ones. And judging by the taste, execution and presentation of the ones I tried, he is more than capable of pulling it off – even in the dead of winter. It just isn’t prudent to do so.

Taste’s Mediterranean-themed menu is admirably concise, a sign that the chef intends to revise it regularly. In addition to six starters, including one soup, there are six entrees. But unlike menus twice this big, there is no shortage of tempting options. In the salmon rillette appetizer ($10), the chef whips up an airy, creamy and seductive fish mousse that is spooned onto crisp toasts. I’d kill for it on a toasted Bialy. For the glazed-chicken spring rolls ($9), coriander-scented crepes are wrapped around moist ground chicken, approximating blintzes. Bearing flavors and textures too seldom experienced, they are delightful to eat. These dishes include dressed salads of frisee and dandelion, respectively.

Even dishes that don’t sound particularly appealing given their temperature prove winners. In the chef’s hands, sautéed squid ($10) tastes remarkably light, tender and delicate. The diminutive rings and tentacles are served cool on a bed of citrus-perfumed Israeli couscous. If only there were more than a few precious bites.

Entrees are at once familiar and original. The chef relies more on technique, ingredients and presentation to wow diners than on unusual compositions. That said, he does usually toss in an unexpected element to keep things interesting. By slicing fat scallops ($18) in half before searing, the chef doubles the amount of the best part: the caramelized bits. Countering the candy-sweet seafood is a bed of creamy leeks that retains just a hit of crispness and tartness. A drizzle of mango puree adds a tropical touch.

In the case of the grilled rack of lamb ($22), the subtle but utterly welcome twist is the accompanying side of cumin mashed carrots. After tasting these, I could easily pass on spuds the rest of my days. Although it took a second try to get the temperature right (and too much time to get there), the lamb was absolutely delicious.

Complicating the whole value thing is the fact that entrees sidestep the traditional veg-and-starch convention for a single “varch,” like those buttery leeks or carrot mashers. Diners can tack on a side of potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes or sautéed beets for $4. And (hate to be the bearer of bad news) if you want a bread basket, prepare to shell out an additional $1.50.

The best deal in the house – if you drink wine and indulge in dessert – is the $45 prix fixe menu. Diners are free to select any appetizer, entrée and dessert, as well as any two glasses of wine. Considering Taste’s gem-studded wine list and chef Vicente’s flair for the pastry arts, the deal is a no-brainer. Anybody who can make red bell pepper cheesecake ($9) taste delightful deserves our attention, especially in bleak times.


Taste Food & Wine
2317 Lee Rd., Cleveland Hts.
216.932.9100
www.tastefoodwine.com
Kitchen Hours: Tues.-Sat. 5 to 10 p.m., Sun. 5 to 9 p.m.

Corned Beef Throwdown

In a town like Cleveland, where corned beef seems to grow on trees, loyalty to a particular sandwich provider can be fierce. Ask a CB fan for a recommendation and the answer invariably will sound something like this: “Trust me, I have eaten corned beef all over the world, and “X” is the very best. End of story.”

In an attempt to separate fact from bluster, I ordered specimens at eight of the most highly regarded vendors. To keep things as fair as possible, all sandwiches were ordered during peak lunch or dinner times, weighed and measured immediately (with bread), and sampled within two minutes of preparation. Sandwiches were ordered plain, with no special requests (eg. lean).

So, what makes a good corned beef sandwich? For starters it should be hot – not boiling, but very warm to the touch. Regardless how it is sliced, the beef should be tender and yielding, making the sandwich easy to eat and enjoy. Fat is flavor, as we know, but too much will ruin a sandwich. As will too much or not enough salt. Most of all, the sandwich should be moist, luscious and taste great.

Six pounds of corned beef later, here are my findings:

Corky & Lenny’s
27091 Chagrin Blvd., Woodmere
216.464.3838

Price: $8.25
Height: 3.25”
Weight: 11 oz.
Price per ounce: $0.75
Warmth: 3 out of 5

Tasting Notes: Corky’s corned beef sandwiches rank near the top of the heap, but they fall short. The texture and temperature of the thin-sliced beef, coupled with soft, fresh rye bread, make the sandwiches a pleasure to eat. The only problem is that the meat lacks flavor. In fact, it is downright bland. And that is surprising considering that the meat also is some of the fattiest encountered.

Bonus: You can snag the best potato knish in town.


Jack’s Deli
14490 Cedar Rd., University Hts.
216.382.5350

Price: $9.25
Height: 3”
Weight: 12 oz.
Price per ounce: $0.77
Warmth: 2 out of 5

Tasting Report: Jack’s delivers a very tasty product. The sandwich is juicy, tender and flavorful. Unfortunately, much of that flavor comes from fat. Sadly, Jack’s delivered the fattiest product in the entire group. Compounding matters is the fact that the meat was barely above room temperature. Nobody likes cold fat. Jack’s also sells the second-most expensive (per ounce) sandwich of the pack, something to consider.

Bonus: The East Side deli is clean, modern, and comfortable.


Goodman’s Sandwich Inn
5164 Pearl Rd., Parma
216.398.6885

Price: $8.20
Height: 3.5”
Weight: 14 oz.
Price per ounce: $0.59
Warmth: 5 out of 5

Tasting Notes: To pull off a sandwich comprised of thick, hand-sliced corned beef, as Goodman’s has been doing for decades, you have to start with ultra-tender meat. Goodman’s does. Each sandwich is piled high with succulent, juicy and intensely flavored beef. Thanks to the perfect mix of lean and well-marbled slices, these gut-busters are an absolute joy to eat. In fact, I had to force myself to leave room for the next stop. Best of all, the meat is so steamy-warm that it fogs up the window above the slicing station.

Bonus: A wise-cracking waitress with a sharp tongue.


Mr. Brisket
2156 S. Taylor Rd., Cleveland Hts.
216.932.8620

Price: $7.50
Height: 2.50”
Weight: 10 oz.
Price per ounce: $0.75
Warmth: 5 out of 5

Tasting Notes: Mr. Brisket is nothing if he isn’t unconventional. And so it makes perfect sense that he bucks the trend when it comes to corned beef preparation. While most places boil theirs, Mr. B slow roasts the beef in the oven, which normally results in a lush, tender and savory product. I stress “normally” because the test sample came in a little on the dry side, lowering its placement on the list. And at $0.75 per ounce, the sandwich is in the upper levels of the price index.

Bonus: You can pick up a grill-full of USDA Prime steaks before heading home.

Slyman’s Deli
3106 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland
216.621.3760

Price: $8.50
Height: 3.75”
Weight: 15 oz.
Price per ounce: $0.57
Warmth: 4 out of 5

Tasting Notes: Slyman’s is the acknowledged champion of the brined-beef arts, and the deli proves why busy and good go hand in hand. An unremitting stream of customers means the slicer never sleeps. Regardless how long that lines gets, these folks refuse to pre-slice, ensuring fresh, hot and buttery corned beef. By stacking multiple briskets on the slicer, employees generate sandwiches with the ideal mix of lean and fatty meat. And the numbers verify that the legend’s sandwiches are indeed heavy, tall and fairly priced.

Bonus: Who needs a bonus when your name is Slyman’s?


Sportsman’s Deli
101 St. Claire Ave., Cleveland
216.861.5168

Price: $8
Height: 2.25”
Weight: 8 oz.
Price per ounce: $1
Warmth: 5 out of 5

Tasting Notes: I didn’t have much confidence when I walked into an empty restaurant at noon on a weekday. Things turned out worse than I expected. Sportsman’s is the only deli in the entire group where I did not see the slicer move an inch. Instead, a staffer reached into a bin of pre-sliced meat and retrieved a handful. She then placed it on a plate and unceremoniously tossed it in the microwave to reheat. No surprise then when the meat was delivered tough, grey and dry.

Bonus: The sandwich is only 8 ounces in weight.

Superior Restaurant
3000 Superior Ave., Cleveland

216.621.5899

Price: $8.50
Height: 3.75”
Weight: 15 oz.
Price per ounce: $0.57
Warmth: 2 out of 5

Tasting Notes: Superior was the biggest surprise of the bunch. The corned beef sandwiches here are an ounce shy of a pound and a quarter-inch short of a dislocated jaw. Machine-sliced thin and tender as baby’s bum, the beef ranks up there with the best in town. This sandwich would have claimed a higher place in the standings had it been served hot rather than tepid. Ostensibly in preparation for a lunch rush that never materialized, the deli had a half-dozen half-built sammies sitting in limbo.

Bonus: Unlike nearby Slyman’s, Superior is open on Saturdays.


Tal’s Beverage and Deli
5747 Ridge Rd., Parma
440.885.0905

Price: $8
Height: 3”
Weight: 16 oz.
Price per ounce: $0.50
Warmth: 4 out of 5

Tasting Notes: Based on prior reports about this place, I expected a monster-sized sandwich. And that is precisely what I got. At a full pound, Tal’s beast bests every other contender on the list. It is also happens to be the least expensive (per ounce) – and the second hottest. Too bad it is also lean, dry, stringy and tough. Making matters worse is the fact that sandwiches here are served on thick-sliced crusty rye, which makes them a chore to consume.

Bonus: Tal’s is also a liquor store, so you can grab a bottle of rye to complement the bread.

Results

Best Corned Beef Sandwich: Goodman’s Sandwich Inn
Runner Up: Slyman’s Deli
Honorable Mention: Superior Restaurant