Fun Playing With Bella Cibo

Early in May 2012, a newcomer arrived at 5416 Mayfield Road, on the Lyndhurst-Mayfield Heights border, in the spot formerly known as Tastee Bites/La Pita. Allow me to introduce you to Bella Cibo, which translates to "Beautiful Food." Though not exactly "mom & pop" - this "son & pop" business is serving up some fun eats at very easy-to-swallow prices. 

Owner John and his dad Lou offer a modest menu that relies on good ingredients, many of which are house-made (but not all, and at these price points, it's understandable). John's Uncle Al is also in the kitchen, making this a true family affair. My first taste was a take-out order of Cheesesteak, Whiz wit as it were. Thinly sliced ribeye was cooked to order on the grill and topped with nicely caramelized onions, peppers, and Cheese Whiz. All that was missing was the Amoroso roll to evoke the authentic Philly Cheesesteak - this was an Orlando sub roll, which will never be mistaken for the real thing, but was a reasonable substitute. Very tasty, at a tasty price of $6.

Next up was a turkey club. Bella Cibo uses a good quality, name brand turkey breast product that is neither overly processed nor salty (and of course I failed to write the name down). 

My next visit came by surprise, so I didn't have a camera to shoot my gyro sandwich. The photo below, of a dining companion's gyro, is from a later lunch. I really loved my gyro (a steal as a lunch special at $5, as it was piled high with Kronos meat, lots of freshly torn lettuce, onions and tomato). But John needs to sell a lot more of them to keep the spit turning all of the time without drying out the meat (my sandwich was perfection; I noticed that by the second meal, they'd cut the cone in half so as to only use half at a time and keep the other half fresh, and they weren't running the spit until an order was placed, I would expect to keep the meat from temperature abuse and dryness). So - we all need to eat more gyro at Bella Chibo! They serve it two ways - the "traditional" shown below, and Philly Style, which I would expect much resembles my cheesesteak, above, but with gyro meat instead of ribeye.

My sandwich that day was the only thing I've eaten at Bella Cibo so far that I didn't care for. Go down the street to Smoked at DiCillo's Tavern if you want BBQ.

BBQ Pork Sandiwch

The best deal in the house is the Pasta Dinner, regularly priced at $5.50. But on Monday and Tuesday, it is an even better deal, priced at $4.75. The meal includes choice of cooked-to-order pasta (spaghetti or penne), topped with your choice of sauce: marinara, meat sauce (which is essentially the house-made marinara with broken up house-made meatballs in it - delicious!), Alfredo or Aglio e Olio (garlic and olive oil), a small container of grated cheese, a side salad (huzzah for freshly torn lettuce - when I complimented Lou for this, he made it clear that there would never be bagged salad served at Bella Cibo), and garlic bread.

The massive plate of pasta and sauce wound up making for not one, but two very satisfying lunches!

Bella Cibo also offers catering. There is eat-in seating for about 10, and bottled water and soft drinks are available (but no fresh brewed ice tea). In addition to the fixed $4.75 Daily Specials (Pasta Dinner Monday-Tuesday, 1/4 Pound Burger and Fries Wednesday-Thursday, and any Cold Sub with 3 Toppings Friday-Saturday), there are usually two or three additional specials every day. Several sweets are also offered,  including a gooey-looking chocolate brownie, though I haven't sampled any yet.

On the down side, given the many nearby bakeries, I wish that they would use better bread products, but my guess is that they need to go Orlando to make their incredibly reasonable price points. I have not tried the chicken cutlet or sausage yet, but I will! Also on my "to try" list is the all beef Chicago-style hotdog for $4. Bella Cibo also offers burgers cooked to order, hot and cold subs, salads, and appetizer items.

Bella Cibo offers inexpensive, quality eats, from a locally owned and operated perspective, which is where the most fun food comes from! They are open Monday-Saturday 10:30am to 8pm, their phone # is 440-605-9400. 

Fun Playing With Pasta in Solon

Something new has been added to Solon's main drag, with the opening of Dino's of Solon in the old Anthony's/Blue Fig/Lu-Lu's spot at 6372 Som Center Rd, Solon, OH 44139. Dino's is the latest installment of a small, locally owned group of restaurants/caterers based in Willoughby. Dino's relies on a fairly standard Italian-American-Red Sauce type menu. If this is what you crave, you will also find plenty of old-fashioned touches and quality ingredients prepared well and served with a smile. The website for the Solon restaurant isn't fully operational yet, but may be found here.

Bob and I wandered in Thursday evening, which turned out to be only their second day in operation. The space is bright and airy, and the smaller front dining room is ideal for those with mobility issues. The tables were mostly occupied when we arrived a bit before 7pm; a line for tables formed shortly after we were seated. There were a few small service hiccups, but nothing I wouldn't expect from a restaurant in its second service. 

We were started with a basket of warm rolls. Though the menu says they are made in house, they struck us as the pre-fab brown and serve variety - but still nice. 

We both opted for pasta; each entree would be preceded by salad.

House-made Vinaigrette

We loved this dressing - redolent with fresh herbiness and perfect balance among the components.



Two elements raised this salad above what I'd normally expect in a place like Dino's - first, it wasn't chilled to Mister Freeze temperature and second, the lettuce was actual head lettuce that had been washed and torn to make salad, not poured out of a food service bag. You can see it and taste it, and my question to the FOH person who stopped by to check on us confirmed it (she said her mother, one of the owners, is on a mission to eliminate bagged salad from the face of the earth, to which I say, bravo!).

The menu describes two types of house-made pasta - spaghetti (which I do not believe is the default for side orders; spaghetti is also listed twice as an entree, with the house-made at a slightly higher price-point than the dried) and cavatelli. I asked our server - which do I want? She recommended the cavatelli.


Lasagna

This was Bob's entree.  The menu does not tell you that the pasta sheets in the lasagna are fresh pasta and not dried - but fresh pasta it is! This is a straight-ahead version of the classic, topped with just the right amount of house-made sauce. The only criticism we had of this dish (and mine as well) was a bit of blandness to it - it wanted some salt and pepper, or other seasoning, to wake it up a bit. Dino's does offer an optional garlic-marinara sauce; we need to try that next time. The default tomato sauce is a family recipe that is made in-house.


Cavatelli with One Meatball



My dinner likewise lacked seasoning, but the freshness of the components jumped right off of the plate. The house-made pasta was cooked to the perfect level of doneness, and the flavors of pork, veal and beef shone clearly through the meatball, without fillers to block their way. As you can see, Dino's does not over-sauce their pasta dishes as so many other places do. Overall, Bob and I enjoyed playing with Dino's food and we will return to play some more (I need to try the pizza). Dino's is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, at very modest prices. The space is very casual and friendly, with a full bar and outside dining also available. Welcome to Solon, Dino's!

Fun Playing with Happy Hour Food at Chinato

Last Friday evening, we had a date to attend the 7:30pm show at Hilarities Comedy Club on East Fourth Street in downtown Cleveland. Given the timing and location, we determined that we would finally get to sample Chef Zack Bruell's youngest restaurant, Chinato. There, Chef Andy Dombrowski heads a kitchen turning out beautiful Italian food. And at Happy Hour prices, we were prepared to sample as many tastes as we had capacity for! Happy Hour at Chinato runs from 4:30 to 6:30pm, and $5 plates, $3-5 beer, and $5 wine and selected cocktails are offered.

Chinato's Happy Hour menu is available both at the bar and at the booths in the bar area. But be forewarned - reservations may be necessary for those booths, though they were not on this Friday night, which turned out to be the coldest night of the year here in Cleveland. After snuggling into our booth (Bob never did remove his coat - it was cold), we ordered Great Lakes Christmas Ale drafts from the Happy Hour menu, only to learn that they were out (not a surprise this far into January). Since Elliot Ness Amber Lager and Dortmunder Gold Lager  were both on tap, we were fine. Do be aware that the Elliot was priced as a "seasonal" at $5 a pour (the Christmas Ale was listed as the seasonal); whereas Dortmunder can be had for a mere $3 during the hour of happy. No worries for us.

Our wonderful server Matt dropped off some lovely On the Rise bread and Olive Oil (no photo) for dipping:

We ordered five items off of the Happy Hour menu ($5 per plate), and Matt decided to course them for us. Two first, then a final three. 

Artichoke and Supplì (Risotto and Cheese Stuffed Balls with Tomato Sauce)

As Matt explained, the baby artichoke was so tender that everything on the plate was edible. We loved the contrast of the creamy rice filled balls and tomato sauce against the crispy veggie with olive oil and grated cheese.

Crudo Sampler

From left to right: Scallop with tobiko, scallions and lemon zest, Tuna with lardo,Yellowtail with pesto and tomatoes, and Salmon with orange, fennel, and red onion. This was the only one of the five dishes that didn't completely wow us. Perhaps the memory of the exquisite crudo served up at The Chowder House Cafe  the previous Tuesday was still in our heads (see it here), but we both noticed very slight "off" flavors in the scallop and yellowtail. Still, we enjoyed the plate.

Matt whisked away our first two empty plates, and shortly after, the last three items hit the table:

Tonnarelli with Black Pepper, Pecorino and Lemon

Chinato makes most of its pastas from scratch, but the tonnarelli textured like an extruded pasta cooked from dried. I didn't think I'd love citrus with cheese, but it all worked extremely well.

Gnocchi with Tomato, Basil, Toasted Garlic, Butter and Parmesan

This exquisite dish had us sighing with pleasure. Is there any food so sexy as perfectly prepared gnocchi served with tomato, butter and parmesan cheese?


Fennel Sausage, Tomato Sauce and Mozzarella Pizza



At first glance, the thought that barreled through my head was "Shmura Matzo" pizza - a description given to extremely thin crust pizza by an observant Jewish attorney I worked with in New Jersey years ago. But this specimen wasn't merely thin - it had amazing elasticity and chew, and combined with the tasty toppings (including house made sausage to die for), really satisfied this fussy pizza eater. The pizza is small, but made with top quality ingredients and cooked to perfection.

We were so full that we didn't empty all of the plates completely. Our check, including four glasses of Elliot Ness, was a gentle $45. Chinato offers a food bargain not to be missed if you are anywhere near downtown Cleveland between 4:30 and 6:30pm Monday through Saturday. Or if you are around after 9pm, when it starts all over again! In between those times, all of these items are available on the regular menu. Based on our Happy Hour experience, there is much more on the regular menu that we need to try! Fun playing with beautiful food, quality drink and and fabulous service awaits you at Chinato.

More Fun Playing with Ohio City Pasta and Cleveland's West Side Market

Among the many treasures at Cleveland's storied West Side Market is Stand E-3: Ohio City Pasta. In April 2010, I won a random-draw contest OCP ran on its Facebook page, and became entitled to one pound of pasta and one sauce, butter or oil, each month for a year. More than being a tasty prize - the opportunity got us back into the habit of visiting the West Side Market and it was a habit we'd forgotten.

As I documented in the first two blog installments about my luscious prize (here and here), some things at  the WSM change, and others stay the same year after year - it is worth a bit of your time to venture there and play with the food and related offerings. Following are photos from the four months that followed those first two posts, together with some of the meals to which the OCP pastas and toppings contributed.  The narrative resumes with June 2010, and another peek into the OCP case at the Market:

Our sauce/oil/butter pick for June:

Orange Basil Spaghetti

Garlic Chive Linguine

Whole Hawaiian Snapper (Kate's Fish)

 Stuffed with Herbs and Grilled

OCP Orange-Basil Pasta and Garden Green Beans with Roasted Shallot Red Wine Butter, Grilled Hawaiian Snapper

We basically rinsed and repeated for the next dinner, using the linguine pictured above.

July 2010:

OCP Wheat Somen

Cooked

Whole wheat somen under Duck Curry made with Roasted Makinajian Farms duck (LI/NY), garden corn and tomatoes

I believe that we froze the second package of OCP from our July prize because we were going out of town. That pasta (and my apologies that I don't have the variety), appeared in a melange of garden vegetables and cheese a few weeks later:





We didn't get back to OCP until the very last weekend in August. We had just returned from visiting family in NY, and had brought back some lovely ingredients to complement the fresh pasta and our burgeoning garden.

Chicken-Apple Sausage (CZUCHRAJ meats, WSM)

Ohio City Pasta, Garden Tomato, CZUCHRAJ meats chicken sausage, Richter's Orchard (LI) peaches (latter 2 on the grill)

Freshly made mozzarella (AS Pork Stores, 530A Larkfield Road, E. Northport 11731, 631-266-1540)

OCP, Garden Tomato, Garden Italian Beans, Fresh Mozzarella, Garden Basil, EVOO

September is the last month to be covered in this post (I'll try to take the second six months of the prize in two three-month intervals; we'll see how that goes). 

Pumpkin-Saffron Pasta

Pumpkin-Saffron Pasta with Lobster Cream Sauce, Garden Red Onion, Hot Pepper and Italian Green Beans

Whole Wheat-Fennel Pasta

Cooked

Whole Wheat Fennel Pasta with Lobster Cream Sauce

As of this point in the timeline, we had obtained but not yet sampled a roasted tomato-basil oil, and a Cajun Cream Sauce, which lived in our freezer until a couple of weeks ago. More on those items later. The lobster cream sauce and shallot butter were both lovely. Don't expect a lot of lobster pieces (and at the modest price point it sells for, quite reasonable), but the sauce sings with delicate lobster flavor.

We had fun playing with every variety of OCP pasta that we've tasted, as well as the toppings. Hope you've enjoyed reading about them - you can get them at the WSM and at most Heinen's Supermarkets in the Cleveland Area, as well as at the  Shaker Square and Crocker Park outlets of the North Union Farmer's Markets, as well as at Buehlers Grocery Stores (Store Locations) and Whole Foods (Store Locations).

In the next installment - something new for OCP and for us - freshly made extruded pastas - can you say awesome Mac N Cheese? I can!