Fun Playing with Burgers & Frites

After a lovely Memorial Day weekend with my family in NY, we returned to Cleveland on Monday. We arrived at Hopkins around 7pm, hungry for dinner and aware that most eateries were closed for the holiday. However, thanks to the post on the Cleveland Food & Wine Forum by Chef's Widow, we knew that one of our favorites, Bar Cento, would be open!

We found a parking spot on W25th Street and a couple of comfy seats at the bar a few moments later. The Indians were playing on two televisions, and the pizzas were flying out of the ovens. Bartender Dave told us that due to the holiday, they were on a limited menu. Pizza and Burgers. Well, we'd had our fill of great pizza in NY, but we'd never before tried Bar Cento's burger - so:


Grilled Ohio Beef w/Spring Onions, Cruccolo Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato & Frites





I am usually not a huge fan of cheese on my burgers - but the cruccolo was fantastic, and I'm glad I didn't tell them to leave it off. After the way my dad massacred the burgers at our Sunday cookout (overcooked to shoe leather) - these burgers hit the spot. Bob's was cooked to perfect Medium-Rare and mine to Medium - how often does that happen?





The frites picked up some lovely notes from the rosemary and garlic they were plated with. Simply delicious.



Even the bun was a special treat!



A mouthful made for a fresser (which can be translated as a glutton or an eater with a big mouth)!

Bob enjoyed a strong IPA (India Pale Ale) with his burger, while I really liked the slightly tart notes of Rodenback red/sour cherry ale with mine.

I was actually glad they were on a limited menu - otherwise, we might never have tried this burger, and it was definitely worth experiencing! Bar Cento can be recommended for fun playing with hamburger!

More Fun Playing Slowly with Bar Cento's Appertivo

Last Wednesday, we joined about a dozen members of the Slow Food Northern Ohio Convivium at Bar Cento. The event was billed as a two hour service of appertivo and a glass of Chianti Montespertoli from Castello Sonnino ($20 for the general public, $15 for Slow Food members). Barone De Renzis of Sonnino attended, and seemed to enjoy how much we enjoyed his wines (everyone at our 8 top ordered a very reasonably priced flight of tastes of several other varietals in addition to the Chianti). Our table fully expected to stay for dinner after enjoying the appetizers.

Well, Slow Food has attended a previous event like this at Bar Cento, so we should have known better than to think we wouldn't be completely sated after the appertivo (that one was so crowded, I didn't take any photos, but you can see Stuart's photos of it here). Once again, on Wednesday, Chef Jonathon Sawyer and his wonderful crew fed us a magnificent meal of light (and not so light) bites. I would appreciate if Chef Sawyer, or anyone reading this who knows more about the specific types of olives, salumi, cheese, or anything else, would please jump in with comments identifying the goodies better!

The spread included no less than six varieties of olives. Before I became involved with Slow Food, and the only olives I knew came from cans, I despised them. Now, even though the green ones still don't really float my boat - I appreciate the real thing, and I tasted them all:






Figures - the ones I liked the best photographed out of focus







And there was so much more!


Almonds with Sliced Dates

And of course, a large and varied selection of Salumi. Not all of it was to my taste (but my husband took care of any slices I tasted and didn't care for), but it was all clearly top quality:














This was my favorite - with almost a pastrami-like peppery crust













Whew - that was a lot of pork fat!


Date Bark with Almonds

Sort of an inside-out take on the dish of almonds and slices dates - a lovely sweet foil for the oily salumi.


Pepperoncini

Three varieties of cheese also graced the serving area; I'd love to know what the second two were:



The Amarelo was a little too strong for my taste, but a lovely cheese nonetheless.



This was my favorite cheese (favorites did not fair well with focus this night).





The third cheese, a hard cheese, is in better focus behind this lovely plate of eggplant (was it grilled or sauteed?) and scallion.




This assortment of bread was lightly toasted



I believe that these breads came from Mediterra Bakehouse in PA - the one to the right was lightly toasted, and delicious served as Chef Sawyer suggested, with the prosciutto wrapped around it. I'm not a huge prosciutto fan, but the suggested combination was heavenly!



These crisps had a mild cheese (or was it lardo?) melted on them, together with a bit of ramp. Yum!


Dates


Spring Peas

My first peas of spring - fantastic. And again I ask - sauteed or grilled (both the peas and the eggplant had a smoky aroma and flavor, so I think the latter - but what do I know)?


White Beans Sauteed with Ramps

Another simple, yet extraordinary dish.


Local Beef Tartare with Olive Oil and Basil


Mussels


Tempura'd Broccoli Rabe



Light, crisp and warm - and not a bit greasy! This was a table favorite.


Ramp Pizza

With ramp season nearly over, we marveled that Chef Jonathon had three items on the buffet containing them. This pizza was every bit as amazing as I'd heard - the spiciness from the ramps is so very close to chili pepper! And the creamy garlic - this was a seasonal treat that I am glad I did not miss.




Close up of the Ramp Pizza


Braised Lamb Pizza

Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of a whole pie. Chef Sawyer brought these around to the tables as they came out of the oven - around 6:30pm - just as people were saying that they couldn't eat another bite. Oh yes you can - don't pass this lovely up (a couple of us practically begged Chef to put this on the regular menu). Tender, melt-in-your-mouth morsels of lamb resplendent atop a crunchy crust, accompanied by scallion and gooey cheese - food just doesn't get any better than this.


Prunes aka "Dried Plums"


Chestnut Cake

I was too full to try this Chestnut cake, but it looked wonderful.


Olive Oil Pound Cake

I did taste a bit of this, topped with a few of the liquor-soaked Italian cherries pictured below.





These fabulous appertivo constituted a complete dinner for all eight of the Slow Food folks at our table - the best kind of dinner - the kind where you get to play with delicious slow food, in the company of wonderful friends and a friendly staff, then go home happy until it is time to play with your food again!