Another three visits means another blog post about B Spot, located in Woodmere Ohio. This would be the fifth such post. First. Second. Third. Why so many posts, you may ask? It's simple. When I upload my photos to Flickr - nothing gets so many hits or comments as my photos from B Spot. Is it the food? Is it the photos? Is it Michael Symon? Beats me. All I know is that so long as it continues to be good - and so long as there are menu items I haven't written about yet - I'll be posting.
I wrote the above paragraph several B Spot visits ago, and it is still true. Though I don't want to overload a single post (which means I'm saving photos from my most recent visits for later), I do want to share some "breaking" news.
About two weeks ago, B Spot started serving made-from-scratch lemonade. Now, this is not just any made-from-scratch lemonade. This lemonade is sweetened with Ohio Honey instead of sugar. Ohio Honey is pure, raw honey harvested with love by local Slow-Food members Lucy and Charlie Wellhausen. And - it tastes delicious!
Sorry for the fuzzy photo. This one is better:
I wrote the above paragraph several B Spot visits ago, and it is still true. Though I don't want to overload a single post (which means I'm saving photos from my most recent visits for later), I do want to share some "breaking" news.
About two weeks ago, B Spot started serving made-from-scratch lemonade. Now, this is not just any made-from-scratch lemonade. This lemonade is sweetened with Ohio Honey instead of sugar. Ohio Honey is pure, raw honey harvested with love by local Slow-Food members Lucy and Charlie Wellhausen. And - it tastes delicious!
Sorry for the fuzzy photo. This one is better:
My dining companion and I really loved this lemonade. Now, since it is made from scratch from primo ingredients, it costs a little more than a soda ($3.50). And, when I sampled it a week and a half ago, I was told that there are no free refills. Please do not let this deter you from trying it. After all, you expect to pay this much (or more) for a craft beer, and you don't expect free refills there. This is a fabulous, refreshing, unique lemonade (you really can taste the honey). So - enjoy!
Returning to my exploration of the B Spot menu, I had sampled two out of the three types of wings - the sriracha and the lime & cilantro. There was one left to try, and a recent visit with my husband and our friend Tom provided the perfect opportunity.
Roasted Garlic & Parm Wings
While these wings were mighty in size, texture and tenderness, they were our least favorite of the three varieties offered (I am evenly split in loving the other two). While I love garlic, especially when it is all caramelized and creamy as here, we all agreed that it did overwhelm the other flavors and textures a bit. Which isn't to say that we didn't devour them, because we did. The chicken meat is so plump and flavorful; I've never seen so much meat on a wing.
Tom also tried this Symon staple:
Tomato Blue Cheese Soup
He was expecting something a little spicier - but reported the flavors were spot on. Since he had a cold, we didn't share!
My burger was the only one at this lunch that was new - as I predicted when Michael first told me about the weekly one-offs - the Smasher's Specials are making it impossible to complete my self-assigned task of tasting and photographing the entire menu!
Loaded Potato Skin Burger
The burger patty sat atop sour cream and chives, and under half a baked potato stuffed with bits of real bacon, cheese. More sour cream was drizzled on top.
Thought the flavors were good, I felt that the sandwich needed a little more moisture. To the rescue came the Coffee BBQ sauce. Yes mom, you read that correctly. Coffee BBQ sauce. Me, who despises all things coffee, loves the Coffee BBQ sauce at B Spot.
Next visit to B Spot - even though I've shown you this one before, I really liked this photo of my dining companion's burger:
Thin Lizzy - burger with caramelized onions, cheddar, pickles (hold the mayo)
I was again seduced by the Smasher's Special:
Chicago Beef
Jus
As it happened, another dining companion ordered the same, and his was a tad more photogenic:
This fabulous combination of tastes and smells had me totally channeling my favorite Chicago purveyor of this classic: Al's #1 Italian Beef. The perfectly spiced and cooked roast beef was piled on the burger, then topped with house-made giardiniera - a pickle of sweet peppers, hot peppers, and carrot. And provolone cheese, which isn't on a real Italian Beef, but which worked very nicely on the burger, oozed and goozed it's way down the sandwich. After a dip in the jus - it was heaven in my hand!
And from the last visit to B Spot for this post - yet another Smasher's Special, which did not have a catchy name, but damn did it taste good:
Burger atop cole slaw, topped with BBQ Beef, Cheeze Whiz and Onion Ring
Let me start by saying that I am an absolute sucker for the B Spot cole slaw - I really wish they'd offer it as a free-standing side. So even though whiz isn't real food, I decided that I had to try this combo. I was not disappointed.
Though the BBQ beef could have easily overwhelmed the burger - it didn't - it merely complimented and moistened it from the top.
This one was finger-licking good.
Those darn specials! How will I ever get through the rest of the menu? Jamie - to the rescue!
Cheeseburger with Swiss
Though I think that by the end of this meal, Jamie was wishing he'd followed my lead! Not that he didn't love his burger (he did) - he just saw how amazing mine was!
And so, another round of playing with B Spot Burgers comes to an end. Though, my hairdresser is located two doors down from B Spot, and I seem to have another haircut coming up in my near future . . . .
Roasted Garlic & Parm Wings
While these wings were mighty in size, texture and tenderness, they were our least favorite of the three varieties offered (I am evenly split in loving the other two). While I love garlic, especially when it is all caramelized and creamy as here, we all agreed that it did overwhelm the other flavors and textures a bit. Which isn't to say that we didn't devour them, because we did. The chicken meat is so plump and flavorful; I've never seen so much meat on a wing.
Tom also tried this Symon staple:
Tomato Blue Cheese Soup
He was expecting something a little spicier - but reported the flavors were spot on. Since he had a cold, we didn't share!
My burger was the only one at this lunch that was new - as I predicted when Michael first told me about the weekly one-offs - the Smasher's Specials are making it impossible to complete my self-assigned task of tasting and photographing the entire menu!
Loaded Potato Skin Burger
The burger patty sat atop sour cream and chives, and under half a baked potato stuffed with bits of real bacon, cheese. More sour cream was drizzled on top.
Thought the flavors were good, I felt that the sandwich needed a little more moisture. To the rescue came the Coffee BBQ sauce. Yes mom, you read that correctly. Coffee BBQ sauce. Me, who despises all things coffee, loves the Coffee BBQ sauce at B Spot.
Next visit to B Spot - even though I've shown you this one before, I really liked this photo of my dining companion's burger:
Thin Lizzy - burger with caramelized onions, cheddar, pickles (hold the mayo)
I was again seduced by the Smasher's Special:
Chicago Beef
Jus
As it happened, another dining companion ordered the same, and his was a tad more photogenic:
This fabulous combination of tastes and smells had me totally channeling my favorite Chicago purveyor of this classic: Al's #1 Italian Beef. The perfectly spiced and cooked roast beef was piled on the burger, then topped with house-made giardiniera - a pickle of sweet peppers, hot peppers, and carrot. And provolone cheese, which isn't on a real Italian Beef, but which worked very nicely on the burger, oozed and goozed it's way down the sandwich. After a dip in the jus - it was heaven in my hand!
And from the last visit to B Spot for this post - yet another Smasher's Special, which did not have a catchy name, but damn did it taste good:
Burger atop cole slaw, topped with BBQ Beef, Cheeze Whiz and Onion Ring
Let me start by saying that I am an absolute sucker for the B Spot cole slaw - I really wish they'd offer it as a free-standing side. So even though whiz isn't real food, I decided that I had to try this combo. I was not disappointed.
Though the BBQ beef could have easily overwhelmed the burger - it didn't - it merely complimented and moistened it from the top.
This one was finger-licking good.
Those darn specials! How will I ever get through the rest of the menu? Jamie - to the rescue!
Cheeseburger with Swiss
Though I think that by the end of this meal, Jamie was wishing he'd followed my lead! Not that he didn't love his burger (he did) - he just saw how amazing mine was!
And so, another round of playing with B Spot Burgers comes to an end. Though, my hairdresser is located two doors down from B Spot, and I seem to have another haircut coming up in my near future . . . .
I really need to get my butt over to the east side to try out B-spot. Thanks for the motivation!
ReplyDelete@ Bite Buff - say when and I'd be happy to meet you for lunch!
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