More Fun Playing With Burgers and Drinking Lemonade at Michael Symon's B Spot

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:

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 . . . .

Fun Playing With Dosai at Taj India Palace

It started out as one of those days where the realities of our poor economy slapped me in the face. For no good reason, I don't venture north of my office, to the intersection of Richmond Road and Wilson Mills Road, that often. I don't think I've been to Richmond Mall since sometime last summer. But today, that was my destination. A necklace that my husband had gotten for me at Alvin's Jeweler's in Solon needed repair. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I drove up to that store and found it gone. The nearest functional Alvin's store would be at Richmond Mall, so today, off to Richmond Mall I went.

As I drove up Richmond Road, I got myself all in the mood for some Indian food from Saffron, a stand in the Richmond Mall food court. Or, I should say, formerly a stand in the former food court. I was distressed to see that not only was Saffron gone - it had (probably briefly) been a sandwich shop of some kind before the space went empty. There were other vacancies also. How sad! There was not one vendor remaining in that food court that had any food that made me remotely hungry. Even the hot dog pretzels at Auntie Anne's Pretzels looked dried out and stale. And it was not just the food choices - there are so many empty stores and kiosks that it felt like a ghost town!

So - how to satiate my hunger for Indian flavors? I knew that an Indian restaurant had occupied the same front in the Hilltop Plaza across the street for about the last 14 years. It would periodically change owners, and the food would never be very good. The last owners (Madras Cafe?) only offered buffet for lunch, and since I'm not much of a buffet kinda gal, I hadn't been back in a long time.

A really long time - since according to the Ohio Secretary of State's records, the current owner, Mohammed Miah, has had the place since mid-2007. I walked in - Mr. Miah is both the front of the house and the server - I picked up a take out menu, which looked promising, and asked if I could order off the menu. He said yes and I said - I'll take a seat!

The interior of the restaurant is a bit dingy - it hasn't changed much in the 14 or so years that it's been there. Mr. Miah didn't seem like a happy or enthusiastic camper. Truthfully, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. Then, I looked around, and I noticed a number of Asian-Indian customers - always a good sign in an ethnic restaurant. A couple of young Indian women came in and conversed with Mr. Miah and another staff person in their native language (I couldn't tell which language it was) - and I began to get the feeling that I was in good hands.

Service was terribly slow, in part because the same person checking finished customers out was also taking orders and bringing drinks. And there is no fancy POS system here - handwritten tickets are carried back into the kitchen.

This, however, gave me lots of time to peruse the menu. And this menu deserves a little time and attention. While it starts with the Northern Indian cuisine we are accustomed to seeing in Indian restaurants, this menu also has a considerable South Indian menu, including Dosai, Uthappam, Bhath and Uppuma. I haven't had a Dosai since I left Montclair New Jersey almost 14 years ago!

When my iced tea finally arrived - I was surprised to see a lime floating in it instead of a lemon. The tea was nicely flavored, and I really liked the effect of the lime.

I ordered soup and dosai - the soup arrived first.


Tomato Soup



The soup arrived piping hot, studded with bits of garlic and just the right amount of cilantro leaf. While garlic and cilantro could easily overpower a tomato soup - this one was lip-smackingly good.


Special Rava Masala Dosai

The pancake or crepe here is made from rice flour and "cream of wheat", and filled with curried potato and onion. The filling is punctuated delightfully with whole toasted spices and lentils.









The skin of the crepe was delightfully crispy on the ends and outside, but soft and springy inside and not a bit greasy.


Onion/Chili Condiment



This was delicious; not as spicy as I'd like, but with a mild, flavorful heat.


Coconut Condiment

I'm not sure what this is called - I believe it had a yogurt base, with a lot of dessciated coconut in it and spices. It brought a refreshing coolness against the chili in the other condiment, and the spices in the Dosai filling itself. Most lovely.





I suceeded in finishing my soup, but I could only manage half of the Dosai. Lunch tomorrow!

Taj India Palace has a full liquor license and a table card with beer and wine selections; I don't know if they actually serve liquor (the license was on the wall by the check out and I didn't see a bar). The sunny front room could easily accomodate private parties.

I didn't look at the buffet, nor did I ask the price, but those who selected it seemed to be enjoying it.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing with soup and doasi for lunch at Taj India Palace and expect to be back to explore more of the menu.

Fun Playing the One-Armed Chef

I've posted before about my exploits as a would-be Chef, feeding up to 175 people at a time at various Regional Gatherings and other parties - here is last December at Cincinnati, and here is last Sept-Oct in Elyria. We'd been planning this Fall's Cleveland RG for months - then my August accident happened, putting a "tear" in my plans. Fortunately, my dear friend Virginia immediately volunteered to be my "right arm," together with her husband Phil (himself nursing a terrible hip). My husband Bob agreed to supplement my still-working left arm - and awaaayy we went! Virginia supplied three wonderful soups, which I did not get to photograph, and which we served with Friday's dinner. Bob made two soups, which we served with Saturday lunch. BLT soup, recipe from Paula Deen:

  Lettuce Cooks Down

Onion & Bacon Already Cooked Down

Garden Heirloom Tomatoes Await the Pot

Yum! But wait - there's more!

Heavy Cream is added just prior to service

 

 I admit, I didn't think it would work (cooked iceberg lettuce!) - but it was delicious! Another item we pre-prepped was Chocolate Covered Bacon with Almonds. We learned this one courtesy of Iron Chef Michael Symon and his new show, Dinner Impossible (though Michael later told me that this was a Cory Barrett invention). Even though my right arm was still in a sling, I was able to help with this dish by chopping the almonds in the food processor, them sprinkling them on the bacon with my left hand!

  Milk Chocolate is Gently Melted 

Almonds are Chopped

Bacon is Crisped in the Oven

Another Yum! 

 As Served

Speaking of service, we ran a little late getting Friday's dinner out. So, all I could get was a lone shot of the service line, before the hordes descended:

   

 Right to left, we had Salad Bar, Whole Wheat Cous-Cous, Peas & Garden Mint Salad, Hummus with Pita Chips, Garden Stuffed Tomatoes (made by Bob and looking kinda like the image that follows), Chinese BBQ Pork Buns from Cleveland's Koko Bakery, and Virginia's 3 Soups (Pumpkin Cheddar, Creamy Chicken, and Garden Miscellany). 

  Test Batch Sample of Stuffed Garden Tomatoes I also neglected to get a shot across the room at the 18 Qt Roaster filled with Potato Perogies made by the grandmas of St. Josephat's Church in Parma, accompanied by sauerkraut, red cabbage, and sauteed onions donated by Mary Ann, who didn't even attend the gathering! We kept the snacks coming after dinner, including a freezer full of ice cream treats and a hotdog cooking machine. I collapsed into bed after 2am - I did NOT photograph breakfast, which Virginia was kind enough to prepare with the help of Al and his 15 loaves of quick breads. Saturday's lunch included the BLT soup shown above, and this irresistible tomato soup featuring more of Bob's heirlooms:

   

Garden Azoychka (Yellow) Tomato Soup

  We also served a "make your own sandwich" bar and some salads.

   

This delightful Ham Mousse was donated by Robert - who was in his 30th year attending Cleveland Regional Gatherings. He had supplied an identical platter for Friday dinner.  

Again, the food line started with a salad bar.

  Here, in addition to some spicy peppers from our garden, and Robert's mousse, you can see a delightfully sweet and sour bean salad, which helped to answer the question - what to do with a #6 can of green beans? I would like to credit EGullet's own CaliPoutine for sharing her recipe with me - I regret I didn't get a close up photo of the finished product, but it was really delicious, as well as cheap and easy. Thankfully, Saturday dinner was catered by the hotel (though I honestly thought our food was better!). That meant that after dinner, all we needed to do was set up more snacks to hold the masses into the evening and on! That and get the homebrew rootbeer floats going - a Cleveland RG tradition I am proud to be responsible for!

   

Salad bar converts into bain marie to keep cheese, dip and crudites cold.

   

 Of course, there is also dessert! Colleen D. made these 4 lovely and tasty cakes for us, and Mary Ann made the brownies. The cookies came courtesy of Virginia and Barbara from the Akron group!

  And yes - there is more Chocolate Covered Bacon at the rear left.

  Last but not least - a lot of people ask me - "What do you do at a Mensa Gathering"? Well, in addition to playing with our food, sometimes, we get a little silly. Saturday afternoon, a lady who had been a great help with prep on Friday returned, and dropped off a bag of vegetables from her farm, and another bag with gorgeous gourds. One gourd, in particular seemed to fascinate people. Unable to resist any longer, Bob decided to play with his non-food food - and created the following:

   

Silly, isn't it? And hard to believe it was over so fast. Well, the pain and swelling in my feet late Sunday confirmed that it was indeed over. And Monday was Rosh Hashonah already! Eeke! What to do? Play with holiday food, of course! Stay tuned!