Fun Playing in Sanctuary

Cleveland food truck pioneer Chris Hodgson and his Driftwood Restaurant Group partner Scott Kuhn have teamed up with Twin Tier Hospitality at the Doubletree Hotel in Beachwood Ohio in the newly minted Sanctuary Restaurants, to, as their website says, "reinvent the in-hotel dining experience with an expertly crafted menu, expansive wine list, and farm fresh ingredients." Driftwood Group, under Hodgson's supervision, not only has taken over restaurant and room service in the hotel, but also all of the event catering. This is an exciting hotel trend, first seen in Cleveland at the Airport Marriott's AMP 150, of bringing in true food professionals and offering creative and locally sourced menus at value price points. A second Sanctuary project is on tap for the West Side of Cleveland in 2015, as the former Holiday Inn Westlake is also transformed into a Doubletree. Bob and I were recently invited to a complimentary soft open-preview of the menu. My opinions, as always, are my own. And my conclusion was - this menu is fun!

Hanky Pankies

Chorizo, Tillamook Cheddar, Fig Jam, Crostini, was served as a passed hors d'oeuvres together with the restaurant's "signature cocktail," the Beehive, composed of Old Forester Bourbon, St. Germain, lemon, ginger-honey and soda. Since I'm not a big bourbon fan, I decided to try the Sparkling Pear on my own dime. This libation mixed Absolut Pear, Honey Syrup, Amaretto and Lemon Juice, and I liked it much better than the bourbon. These crafted cocktails generally range from $9-11 each.

The Hanky Panky packed a substantial flavor and texture punch for a little crostini.

Bread Service

Warm and fluffy.

"Sanctuary Pesto" and Whipped Butter

No one told us what the signature aspect of the pesto was, but it was fresh and pleasantly garlicky without being overwhelmingly so. The butter spread easily on the soft bread.

Blue Crab Hushpuppies

One of Chef Hodgson's signatures is the fried . . . anything. Here, this skill produces a succulent crispy ball of crabby goodness, with just enough breading to hold it together, and a refreshing "Old Bay'onnaise" topping to round it out (you may also find the bits of cucumber refreshing, I however preferred them on the plate).

French Wedge

This plate featured Tomato, Hard Egg, Pickled Red Onion, Bacon, Blue Cheese Crumbles, White French Dressing. I loved the choice of a very approachable bleu cheese that wasn't too strong, and the White French Dressing, which was also muted enough to allow the great flavors of the pickled onion and bacon to shine through, making the whole dish much more than the sum of its parts.

Seared U-10 Sea Scallops

Everyone at the table marveled at the perfectly cooked Risotto underneath the scallops and I agreed that it was delicious. Fried Golden Beets, Caramelized Apples, Butternut Squash, Fried Sage, and Apple Gastrique also accompanied the scallops, which were expertly seared while tender in the middle. A dish I would happily eat again and again.

Certified Angus Beef Hanger Steak With Frites

Served rare, our table of food forward diners thought highly of the steak preparation. We also loved the garlicky Salsa Verde atop the meat. The shoestring frites were crispy and not too assertively seasoned, and were accompanied by a thick Malt Vinegar Aioli.

Chocolate Mousse

The dessert was the only course that didn't hit a home run, though it was by no means a strikeout. The salted caramel was understated, though the whipped cream happily tasted of a fresh beating. The packaged pretzel rod seemed a bit stale and didn't really contribute the salty kick the kitchen was probably shooting for. The mousse itself, however, delivered on its airy chocolaty promise, so no harm done.

Sanctuary serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and each menu has a combination of hotel menu standards and Chef Hodgson's more creative and locally sourced items, all at very fair price points that should make Sanctuary a destination for outside diners in addition to hotel guests. The facility also touts a wine bar, and several flexible types of seating areas. We had fun playing with our tastes of Sanctuary and look forward to trying more. 

More Fun Playing with Green Food

I realize that today is Friday and I am writing about Monday's dinner - it has been that kind of a week! Still - the fabulous meal we shared on Monday at Jonathon Sawyer's sparkling new Greenhouse Tavern is well worth waiting for! I urge you to visit this new Cleveland gem and taste for yourself.

When last I wrote about the Greenhouse, we had just attended a "friends and family preview" dinner. We greatly enjoyed this dinner. However, as a "tune up" for opening to the public, (complete with comment cards at the end for constructive criticism) I did not consider it fair to post any criticisms (and any I had were minor). Our dinner Monday was fantastic, with just one minor flaw that I will get to - but do keep in mind that they had been open only about a week when we dined there, so the fact that there was only one flaw is pretty impressive. Another note for those of you who play with your food by taking photos - the light is much better on the mezzanine for that purpose.

Dinner at The Greenhouse begins with lovely On the Rise bread and a dish of Duck Rillettes.







Monday's rillettes was even better than the sample we'd enjoyed at the first dinner. Creamy, ducky, fatty - yum! Our wonderful and attentive server almost took the last bit away - oh no you don't! She brought us more bread, instead.

We started with a selction of "Firsts" and "Seconds" - smaller plates that were easily shared.


Pomme Frites w/ poached egg & chervil

This dish actually comes from the "Halfs" portion of the menu - Tom really wanted to try it. Perfectly cooked frites are plated with raw garlic and rosemary, then topped with poached egg. I'd never considered the combination of poached egg and fries before - but this really worked!


Hand Ground Beef Tartare w/ cold poached egg & wild ramps

I've only ever had beef this way in the Korean style, long before e. coli was a big worry, so I had a little trepidation about it.





By itself, the meat tasted like, well, raw meat. However, once all of the components came together - the ramps, the seasoning in the beef, the beef, crouton, egg, and that incredibly fresh, spicy mustard - it was simply delicious. Now I get it!


French Breakfast Radishes with Butter and Salt

Radish is one of those foods that I can take or leave - and usually leave. Though not as offensive to my palate as cucumber, it is not a favorite. I did sample a piece of this - and if you like radishes, you will love it. I ate about 2/3 of my piece, and gave the rest to Bob - who loved it. The dish is interesting, even to the non-radish lover, because of the lovely salad of greens under the radishes, dressed to impress.

Our next dish was an off menu "special" - all I can say is that it was the star up to this point of the meal and darn well ought to find a regular place on the menu!


Fried Chicken Livers over Savory Bread Pudding with Ramps



As a rule I'm not a huge chicken liver fan - but I'd eat a plateful of these every day of the week if I could get them! The liver was perfectly cooked and not a bit "livery" - and the bread pudding was fabulous - savory yet nutmeggy - a perfect foil for liver!



The liver is to the right.



Our next plate came from the "halfs" again - I'd heard great things about it, which turned out to be true!


Cabbage Gratin w/ raclette cheese & caramelized onions





This dish was like Onion Soup without the soup or crouton (and who needs those when you have cheese???). Several different types of cabbage and onions are caramelized, then covered with gooey cheese and baked down. I kid you not when I say this was plate licking (ok, plate scraping) good.

We moved on to the entrees, or "Thirds".


Steak Frites w/ ohio beef, romaine, aioli & pomme frites

Bob, who'd loved his burger and frites at the preview dinner, loved this - and there was a lot to love!



Beautiful meat, perfectly cooked. The sides of grilled lettuce and frites were also lovely, as was the aoli for dipping.


Tom Cod In Papier w/ fresh black truffle, potato & chardonnay

All four of us were dying to try this, after a bit of a bruhaha about this dish on the Cleveland Food & Wine Forum.



Our conclusion - this dish is delicious! Fresh, sustainably sourced fish, perfectly cooked potato, chardonnay, butter and truffles - and for less than $20!! Edsel indeed chose very wisely.


Ohio Beef Burger w/ raclette cheese, pomme frites & house beer vinegar

This plate was every bit as declious as the one Bob had enjoyed on preview night. And you have to love the creative recycling evident in the frite wrappers!

I wound up repeating my choice from my prior dinner, and I was very glad I did.


Buckwheat Pasta w/mahogany clams, pancetta & chili

The first time I had this dish, I enjoyed it even though the chili wasn't very prominent. This version kicked the chili factor up (but not too far for those of you timid about such things), which made the dish even better. My only complaint would have been that two of the clams had some grit and I have no doubt that had I told the server, the dish would have been remade for me. However, by this point in the evening, we were getting so full that little miscues didn't matter.

Having worked our way through such a nice variety and quantity of Rillettes, Firsts, Seconds, Thirds and Halfs - Bob and I were too stuffed for dessert. Our dining companions had saved some room, though, and each ordered a dessert, which of course we all shared.

Dessert had been the only weak spot of our preview dinner, so I was delighted to sample these desserts, and find that they are now at the same high level of quality as the rest of the food.


Apple Calvados Tart w/ apple cider gastrique, bitter orange caramel & ice cream

We had tasted a version of this at the preview, and found the pastry a little wanting. This version, however, topped with the inimitable Jeni's Ice Cream, was everything a dessert should be - flaky soft, yet firm pastry, fresh tasty apples, and satisfying topping. Tom - please note that Edsel and I were shooting this dessert at the same time and we also crossed the streams!


Pot de Creme w/ bitter chocolate, star anise & fluer de sel florentine

I'm not a big dessert eater - but this dessert could turn me into one! Rich, creamy chocolate playing perfectly off of the salt and anise flavors, with chewy, chocolately cookies for additional contrast.



We learned upon recieving our bill that Chef Jonathon had comped our desserts - thank you!

Two other notes - the Skatewing has come off of the menu, because it cannot be sustainably sourced. I'm sure Chef will come up with a worthy replacement for it! Also - even though we ate early, they had run out of oysters - and based on our taste at the preview dinner, for good reason - they are fabulous, and happy hour priced at $1 each.

So here we are - our second meal at Greenhouse Tavern was even better than our first - and I have a feeling they will only get better as they are open longer. You may first visit Greenhouse because it is "certified green," or because you heard about the cool light fixtures made from recycled bicycle tires. You may pause to admire the chairs and tables (all made from recycled, materials) and the bar, gleaming with recycled glass. But what will make you want to keep coming back is the beautiful, delicious food at very approachable prices. I am looking forward to playing with Greenhouse Tavern food again soon!

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!