Monthly Archives: November 2009

B-Spot

November 30, 2009 | by Ben 6

B-spot at Eton Place is the newest local Michael Symon endeavor, specializing in burgers and beer at very reasonable prices. Sarah and I had been eagerly awaiting its opening for months. Not only were we excited about the concept, but it’s the closest Michael Symon restaurant to our house.

Hoping to take advantage of smaller crowds for their soft opening (which we learned about from Nancy at Fun Playing With Food), we arrived at 5:55pm on Saturday. The wait was a little over an hour for a table for three, but the time went by quickly between a long visit to Barnes and Noble and a quick trip to Trader Joe’s.

The décor gives off a very good casual bar vibe, dimly lit and friendly. Despite the crowd, our drink order was taken within a minute or two of our being seated. I started with a Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye. I love rye beers, and this is one of my favorites. The B-spot’s beer selection (especially on draft) is outstanding with … continue reading

Thanksgiving and Leftovers

November 28, 2009 | by Ben 2

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year, and it went really well. This was what I made:

Smoked Turkey (brined) from Tea Hills Farm
Cornbread and Chorizo Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Turkey and Cider Gravy
Cranberry-Apple Relish
Emeril’s Oh Baby! Carrots
No Knead Seed Bread
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (Jeni Britton’s Recipe)

and guests brought:

Green Beans Seven-layer salad Homemade Pumpkin, Apple and Pecan Pies (all very yummy!)

Pretty much everything turned out really well, especially the turkey and the ice cream. The meat was moist and bursting with smoke flavor, and the ice cream was perfectly textured and intensely infused with vanilla bean. The one iffy item was the gravy, especially in terms of texture. I could really use a fat separator if I want to try that one again, as the chicken fat had broth dissolved in it and the drippings were loaded with fat. Fortunately, everything was moist and flavorful so I don’t think it was missed too much.

With only nine … continue reading

Crop Redux

November 18, 2009 | by Ben 2

Crop Bistro is one of our favorite restaurants, and we hadn’t been there for a while. So we decided to go and bring Jonathan along with us.

I started with the hibiscus margarita ($10). While we’re big fans of Momocho, Crop’s hibiscus margarita might even be better than theirs. It’s not very sweet, but very floral.

Our bread plate had corn-shaped cornbread with herb butter. The cornbread was moist and sweet, and this was one of Jonathan’s favorite parts of the meal.

For an appetizer we ordered the Cherry Bomb ($8), a Roma tomato stuffed with chorizo and jack cheese, deep fried in a wonton wrapper, and placed on a bed of creamed corn. While the concept is excellent, the slightly mealy November tomato tarnished the dish slightly. The bed of creamed corn (and I’m not typically a fan) was the highlight flavor-wise.

Next we had the beet salad ($9) with McKenzie Creamery goat cheese … continue reading

The Brew Kettle

November 10, 2009 | by Ben 5

My friends Amy and Sunita offered to take me to a birthday lunch, and I picked the Brew Kettle. I work in Parma, and I hadn’t realized how nearby it was.

I started with the pumpkin ale, and the Brew Kettle definitely makes one of my favorites. New Holland’s Ichabod is a little bitter for me, and Blue Moon’s is a bit thin. While Dogfish’s Punkin is a great beer, it’s very rich tasting. The Brew Kettle’s is lighter and very drinkable. There’s a subtle and medium bodied flavor of pumpkin at the start with a clean, mildly bitter finish.

We decided on the buffalo chicken dip for our appetizer:

It was extremely good, packed with cheddar cheese, buffalo sauce, cream cheese and shredded chicken. It can be almost dangerously addictive, though. We probably shouldn’t have finished it between the three of us, but we did.

Sunita was waffling between the fish burrito and fish sandwich and chose the latter:

The fish was crisp and flaky, not greasy. The tartar … continue reading