Monthly Archives: February 2010

The Old Angle

February 27, 2010 | by Ben 1

Cleveland has definitely mastered the art of the gastropub (i.e. an excellent beer selection plus good, innovative food) and the Old Angle on West 25th ranks up there with the best of them.

Jonathan and I arrived early to wait for Sarah to complete her volunteer orientation at the APL, so I had an Arrogant Bastard on draft and perused the menu while Jonathan sketched in his art book. The beer was excellent, mostly quaffed before Sarah arrived.

To start we ordered the specialty pizza of the month:

It was excellent and original with zucchini, beets, feta and marscarpone cheese atop a garlic and oil sauce. There were no herbs or spices notable, but none were necessary: the combination of fresh ingredients made the pizza.

We also ordered the Guinness and Onion Soup and beef sliders. The soup was a decent (but not exemplary) rendition of French onion soup and the sliders, while tasty, were a bit overdone. We weren’t asked about doneness, but my guess is that, as … continue reading

Clyde’s Bistro and Barroom

February 17, 2010 | by Ben 4

Sarah and had lunch at Clyde’s Bistro and Barroom, which recently opened in the renovated dining cars on Lee Rd. in Cleveland Heights. Clyde’s is a cozy, unpretentious establishment with very good, reasonably priced comfort food.

The décor and seating are far better than in previous incarnations of the dining cars. The rich reds create an warm, classy atmosphere. The seats are comfortable, and the aisles are wide enough so that one doesn’t feel cramped (as was the case previously).

We started with the Ceasar salad, which was very generous for a lunch portion and had olives instead of the traditional anchovies. The salad was very tasty, and we might try olives in a homemade Ceaser sometime. We also were served bread, which seemed to be the Pugliese from Stone Oven (no complaints there).

Clyde’s has really good lunch drink specials: house wine for $2.50 and PBR or Budweiser for $1.90. I don’t typically drink with lunch, but as it was a day … continue reading

David Chang’s Fuji Apple Salad

February 13, 2010 | by Ben 0

Based on high praise from Dine-O-Mite and other sources (see the first line of this review), Sarah and I recently purchased Momofuku by chef David Chang and Peter Meehan. The book is intriguing to say the least, full of great-sounding recipes and witty banter.

I could reprint the recipe for the salad above (on p. 162 of the book), but a set of numbered steps and ingredients isn’t really necessary. Just cut up fuji apples into large cubes (or thin wedges), coat them with kimchi purée (I pulsed it in a spice grinder) and lay them on top of a 2:1 combination of greek yogurt and maple syrup. Top with bacon (or smoked jowl, if you can find or make it), and argula dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper. The apples can be left in the kimchi from 1 minute to six hours in advance, depending on how intensely you want the flavors to penetrate. 

This turned out great even with substandard Giant Eagle apples and decent supermarket bacon, … continue reading

Ariyoshi

February 9, 2010 | by Ben 2

For some reason we took far too long to visit Ariyoshi, a Japanese restaurant around a mile from us on Lee Rd. and Tullamore. Perhaps it was the previously cursed location, which cycled through establishments for years. We’re glad we finally got around to eating there, though. The restaurant is large and welcoming, with plenty of colorful decorations on the walls and a sushi bar against one wall. 

Ariyoish had a weeknight beer special the night we visited–a 22 oz. Japanese Beer for $5–so I had a Kirin. Sarah had a hot tea, and Jonathan had a Japanese soda called Ramune, which was offered to him at no charge. The bottle–which is “corked” with a glass marble– and flavor (melon) intrigued all three of us. Our waiter told us that they’re available at the CAM Asia Market on Miles Road.

We had spring rolls for our appetizers, which were very good and had a nice herbal (lemongrass?) and mushroom flavor. 

Sarah and I split a Bento box for our entrée. The sushi (California roll) was quite good, as was … continue reading