Heights Eats

Although Sarah and I have been blogging for close to three years, we’ve somehow never eaten at a Zach Bruell restaurant. Sarah loves Italian, so Chinato seemed like a good choice for dinner. We got a sitter for Jonathan, although there were a number of people who brought kids along.

We walked in the door at 6:30pm to a mostly empty house. The maître d’ greeted us and the hostess offered to sit us at table 308. The maître d’ told her “Seat them at 311.” The hostess suggested 308 again, and the maître d’ replied in a low, annoyed voice, “SEAT THEM AT 311–it’s a nicer table.”

We proceeded to 311, which was against a wall between two four tops. The table had no view and was uncomfortably close to other tables, so we can only infer that 308 was the nicer table and that they were trying to avoid outside customers seeing us. Our visit only got better from here on out, though.

Our waiter was … continue reading

One of our favorite places to let our dogs take a swim is at Wendy Park. I don’t think anyone would call “wet dog” a pleasant smell — but this is one of the rare places in Cleveland where your dog can swim and not come out smelling like sewage.

In late August we made a trip out to Wendy Park around lunch time and decided to give Sunset Grill a try after the dogs had their fun. I liked that we were able to enjoy lunch on their patio with the dogs.

We ordered the poppers and a hotdog. We love jalepeno poppers, and these did not disappoint. They were served steaming hot, with awesome melty cheese inside.

The hot dog was huge, and along with it were what appeared to be home made potato chips.

Sunset Grill has a great lake-side location, with decent food.

This year we went fishing for the first time as a family. It has been more than 15 years since either Ben or I fished. This endeavor was suggest by our son who must have gotten the notion that fishing was fun from TV. As predicted on the first trip Jonathan was bored within 20 minutes. He also reeled his hook in about every two minutes because he wanted to check.

Our first trip was to the fishing peir at edgewater park in the middle of the afternoon. One of our fellow anglers managed to catch 2–3 medium sized fish that afternoon, but we were empty handed.

Our second trip was to the same location, but this time we went at sunset hoping to catch the fish coming to the surface after hiding in the depths all day. There were more families at the pier this time and a couple of people caught baby bass, however we again went home empty handed. Although … continue reading

Our square foot garden was not quite as successful as we had hoped. One of our boxes is about 80% dead. But we are not going to give up — we’ve already decided on a few changes for next year.

One of the biggest problems we faced was lack of sun light, so we’re going to move the whole operation to our front yard — against the advice of our neighbor. Our front yard gets significantly more sunlight than the back yard, but we will have problems getting the hose to the garden. We only have one water outlet on the exterior of our home, and it is towards the back yard. Lesson learned: full sun, really does mean full sun.

Another big problem was the construction of our trellises. We opted to use bamboo stuck in the ground instead of the pvc pipe and rebar construction method suggested in the book. About midway through July our tomato plants got … continue reading

Chez Peres claims to be “Northern Michigan’s only authentic French Bistro.” It was only two blocks from where I was staying in Traverse City, and we were happy to eat there more than once. It’s right by the Boardman River.

The space is small but tastefully put together, and the blue walls have a rustic feel while echoing the hue of the river. For my first meal, a lunch, I ordered the lentil crêpe:

It was filled with spiced lentils, bacon and potatoes and topped with a little hollandaise sauce. It was extremely tasty, hearty and filling. My dad said that he had never had any dish with lentils that tasted as good as this. I was barely hungry for dinner that night.

For my breakfast visit I ordered the salmon on bagel halves.

The salmon was perfectly smoked and not in the least fishy. The bagels were also toasted and buttered before being spread with cream cheese, making the sandwich even better. Once again, … continue reading

Mine and Jonathan’s recent visit to Traverse City included a stop at Trattoria Stella with my mom. It’s in the old state hospital building, which was slated for demolition years ago but, with some agitation from my dad, become a haven for a number of excellent businesses.

The brick walls provide a good rustic feel, and the dim lighting and white tablecloth clearly indicate a somewhat upscale establishment.

We started our dinner with the bruscetta which included basil pesto, tomato and cheese.

The pairing of sharp roasted tomato, creamy cheese, and butter toasted bread made these go down very easily.

For my entrée (or, technically, “primi”) I had the squash blossom pasta. The squash blossoms (which I’d never had before) were wonderful with a distinct squash flavor with none of the typically unappealing texture or starchiness of squash. They were filled with ricotta amidst a mild garlic butter / olive oil sauce. Whil this was generally balanced and very tasty, it was perhaps a bit on … continue reading

This will be the first of three reviews for restaurants in Traverse City, Michigan. Cleveland readers may ask, “Why should I read this?” First, the beaches on the shore of Lake Michigan are beautiful and clean. The pictures below are from a few years ago (Sarah the photographer didn’t come along this time) but not much has changed:

The state of Lake Erie is a bit sad in comparison. Sleeping Bear dunes, about 35 minutes away, are great as well, where you can climb to the top or just look down at a stop along the scenic drive. I grew up in Traverse City and visit both of these sites regularly when I go back. The winters are brutal, though, which might be part of the reason everyone is so happy (with gratitude) in the summer.

But anyway, the food scene is excellent there as well. I visited Jolly Pumpkin Brewery twice, once with my family and once with friends. Jolly Pumpkin… continue reading

Monthly Archives: September 2010

Chinato

Sunset Grill

Fishing

The Garden Project — Lessons Learned

Chez Pères

Trattoria Stella

Jolly Pumpkin