More Fun Playing With Vacation Food

Because food always is more fun when you partake while on vacation, even if you are still at home!

Breakfast at Garretts Mill Diner, Stow Ohio:

Short Stack of Pancakes with Strawberries

Chef-Owner Brian Krasney does a Steve Schimoler with his air-whip can - house-made Maple Whipped Cream! Bob cleaned his plate.

 House made biscuits with house made sausage gravy and home fries, poached eggs.

Brian says more additions to the traditional menu are in the works! My dish was a special in June, but is now on the regular menu and it is well crafted. The eggs were poached perfectly, and the sausage gravy popped with peppery, porky goodness.

Dinner of Grove Hill Happy Hour Small Plates:

Pulled Pork Sliders with Coleslaw & Coffee BBQ Sauce

BEEF & CHEDDAR CROQUETTES: horseradish crème fraiche

SPICY GREEN BEANS: pancetta, calabrian chile, parmesan, extra virgin olive oil & basil.

This new addition to the menu was spicy, but oh so good! Bacon, cheese and fresh green beans? Hell yeah! Grove Hill Happy Hour runs Monday-Thursday 4:30-6:30 and Friday & Saturday 9:00 pm - close.

Breakfast on the way to Louisville at Flury's Cafe, Akron:

Eggs Florentine: w/spinach & Hollandaise on a muffin w/homefries

We found out via GPS that Flury's recently moved to 2202 Front Street Cuyahoga Falls, so you may need to walk a little from the public parking areas. But you will be well rewarded. Somehow, the new location seems even smaller than the original. Come early to get a table!

Lovely fresh spinach and house-made Hollandaise kicked my breakfast up. The home fries, though, seemed like they came from a food service bag. However, Kim says she made them from scratch and I believe her! We will definitely return to Flury's. 

Bob's:

Pancakes

Chorizo

Dinner upon our return to Cleveland - Nobu Tei, Solon Ohio; so glad they finally have their website up and their full service liquor permit!

Tuna Tartar: Chopped Tuna, Avocado and Spicy Tuna

I want to love the fish at Nobu Tei, but it just isn't fresh enough. I actually liked this pretty dish very much, but wanted the raw fish to be just a bit more pristine.

Red Curry Beef

The intense Thai flavors in the curries make up for the deficiencies in the fish, well sort of. The Thai food is really, really good here. 

Pineapple Fried Rice With Duck

As much as I enjoyed my ducky rice, I kept wanting to drench it in Bob's Red Curry sauce. And, I sort of did. 

My last day off would be spent doing laundry. But first, breakfast - Jim's Open Kitchen, Solon:

Bob's: Waffle with Strawberries

Mine: Cheese Omelet with home fries, English Muffin

Finally, after the laundry was done, a last leisurely meal out together at Crumb and Spigot, Chagrin Falls Ohio:

Cauliflower Hummus

Darned if it didn't have the mouthfeel of hummus! Most enjoyable.

Pizza with Sausage, Escarole, Hot Pepper, Provolone

This was the first pizza we've had at Crumb and Spigot that didn't completely work. The pieces of escarole were just a big too big, tough and sloppy. But you can't beat sausage and provolone on a pizza and the sausage is of excellent quality. We enjoyed this pizza despite its flaws.  

Gotta love that crust, though!

And so, another Fun Playing With Food vacation came to an end. 

Fun Playing With Happy Hour Bacon at Fahrenheit, Tremont, Cleveland OH

Yes, you read that correctly - Happy Hour Bacon. Let me explain.

Last night was a busy one! After a full day at the office, home to pick up the husband, than up to Ohio City to pick up an order of grass fed beef and pastured eggs from Aaron Miller of Miller Livestock Co, Inc. Since Aaron was in town for a meeting at 5:30pm, and since our dinner date in Tremont wasn't until 6:30pm, we found ourselves pulling into Tremont with a bit of time to spare. As we turned from Professor Street onto Jefferson, however, we saw our friends (and soon-to-be dining companions) Jan and John crossing the street for a pre-dinner cocktail at Fahrenheit. What a splendid idea!

As I have said many times in this space, Cleveland is blessed with an abundance of wonderful eats and drinks. It would take retirement and an unlimited expense account to get to them all with any regularity. Tremont more and more reminds me of Greenwich Village NYC with its myriad of fabulous eateries at all price points, and fun shops and people. Rocco Whalen's Fahrenheit is a place that we haven't gotten to often enough, but for no other reason than too many places, too little time and money. 

And so, last night we joined our friends for a little Happy Hour goodness - and OMG does Chef Whalen know how to rock the Happy Hour!

I present - the bar snacks:

That would be bacon. Forget the popcorn, pretzels and peanuts folks - this is the real deal for a bar snack (and still salty enough to accomplish its primary purpose)! Yum.

And, as if that wasn't enough, Chef Rocco was kind enough to send a marvelous taste to us to sample. It isn't on the on-line menu yet, but if you visit Fahrenheit, it is worth asking for:

Salad with Fresh Duck, Marcona Almonds and Citrus Dressing 

More yum. And had we not been heading to dinner, we would certainly have availed ourselves of the Happy Hour Menu, which includes the following:

Fahrenheit Happy Hour - Monday through Friday 5-7pm

FOOD SELECTIONS

Vietnamese Chicken Springrolls, Bibb Lettuce, Cucumber Salad,
Hong Kong Dipping Sauce 4

“Double Cheeseburger”, Lettuce, Tomato, Ketchup and Mustard, Toasted Bun 5

Butternut Squash, Goat Cheese, Garlic Spinach Pizza, Finished with Ohio Maple Syrup 6

“Mini Hotdog Platter”, 2 Beef Dogs, Toasted Brioche, Chopped Bacon, Tomato,
Ketchup and Mustard, Battered Onion Rings 7

Crispy Fried Chicken and Waffles, Truffle Honey, Scallions 8

DRINKS

Great Lakes Dortmunder • Newcastle • Jose Cuervo “Blood Orange” Margarita •
Cantina Tollo Pinot Grigio • Red Tree Pinot Noir 3

The chicken and waffles looked oh-so-tempting, but an authentic Thai feast was awaiting us, so we thanked Chef for treating us to the salad, paid for our drinks, and headed across the street.

But I've just gotta shout that Chef Rocco Whalen is a genious to supply bacon as a bar nosh! We need to get back to Fahrenheit for a meal soon. Fun with bacon at Happy Hour - need I say more?