Fun Playing With Goodies Bistro-Bakery

It has been a tough twelve months for locally owned eateries on Mayfield Road between South Euclid and Mayfield Heights. We've lost no fewer than four restaurants that I can think of, and though three new ones opened, only two of the three are locally owned and operated (Old Carolina BBQ is a small regional chain, but a chain nonetheless). Those two would be Redhot Cabana to the west (opened February 2013), and Smoked BBQ (in DiCillo's Tavern) to the east. 

Yesterday, a new entry joined their ranks, located at 5416 Mayfield Road, between Richmond and Brainard, in a space previously occupied by our beloved Tastee Bites/La Pita, and the well intentioned Bella Cibo after that. Please welcome Goodies Bistro-Bakery to the neighborhood! Their website isn't quite functional as of this writing, but you will be warmly welcomed if you call them at 440-605-9400.

The modest space, which holds about 15 diners, has gone white-tablecloth, but don't let the ambiance fool you. If my experience was any indication of what's to come, Goodies will provide tasty, mostly made-from-scratch sandwiches and salads for eat-in, delivery and take-out at very wallet friendly price points. 

Though the place is locally owned, the operators today were all staff. They seemed experienced and were most enthusiastic about the food and the service.

The Chef (whose name I forgot to get; apologies!) suggested the house-roasted turkey, and boasted that his panini would be a completely different animal from the usual grilled-to-death lunchmeat sandwich. Taking him up on this, I selected the Turkey & Cheddar Panini, which looked to be a bargain for house-made meat and bread (more on that in a moment) for $4.99.

With "bakery" in the name, one would expect all the bread to be made in house; while that is the plan, the restaurant is presently one oven short of a full deck, and so is making some bread and outsourcing some bread (but you could do worse than Pincus Bakery for rye). Given the choice of house-made baguette or foccacia, I left it to the Chef. 

Turkey Panini on House-made Mini Baguette with Caramelized Onions and House Made Mustard Aioli

Goes to show you how biases work - this sandwich came with a huge pickle, that looked pretty good for a pickle; somehow, despite the real estate it took up on the plate, it didn't make it into my photographs. Hopefully, next time someone who likes pickles will be available for a critique of it. The caramelized onions were an unexpected treat and added great dimension to an already tasty sandwich (really, you can't fault them for the slices of pasty winter tomato). While I generally prefer ketchup and mayo on turkey, the hint of mustard coming through the dressing worked extremely well. The turkey was fresh and moist and a worthy star of the sandwich.

They also talked me into an order of the Fresh Cut Fries, and it was a wise decision at $1.79.

Whereas the dear departed Freddie's up the street could never get any crispiness to their house cut fries, these fries for the most part had both the fresh taste (and lack of chemicals/preservatives) of house made potatoes, and satisfying firmness. Vinegar was available, but I'm a ketchup kinda gal. With a can of pop and tax, my lunch came to about $8 and half came back to the office with me for lunch tomorrow!

Goodies opened yesterday even though a few pieces aren't quite in place yet; that should not deter you from giving them a try if you are in the neighborhood and hungry for some fun playing with lunch. Breakfast and later hours, delivery, and more in-house baked goods will commence shortly, but for now, it's lunch only (eat in or take out). The pastries, which are mostly not yet made in house, looked delicious. The size of the menu is modest, but quality is always more fun than quantity, and if my lunch today is representative of the offerings, you will have fun playing with the food at Goodies. 

Fun Playing With Thanksgiving Food

As the Thanksgiving Weekend draws to a close - a few thoughts. As usual - Bob and I were guests rather than chefs on Turkey Day proper. All of my family is east and south, and for years, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Bob's family. Sadly, since his mom decided to "retire" (as in - not go anyplace - she's going to be 95 years old shortly, and gosh dang, if she doesn't want to go anyplace, I say, "you [don't] go girl!"), his other family members have scattered more and more each year. The last three years, we've  been fortunate to share Thanksgiving dinner with wonderful friends (the photos from this year's feast are here). 

Still, we always roast our own turkey on Black (or in our house, Gobble) Friday. We started this tradition as we became immersed in the local and sustainable food movements, and because we missed having our own leftovers for sandwiches and the like. This year's guest bird came again through the tender auspices of Breychak's Farm. Every year, Kathy Breychak says she is done raising turkeys, and so far, every year she's relented. I hope we get to enjoy another of her pasture-raised birds next year!

Our 14 pound bird prepares for the Symon treatment - a generous Kosher salt rub a day before cooking.



Twenty-four hours later - a double layer of cheesecloth is soaked in warm oil and aromatics, then draped over the bird. Sorry Michael - we love the flavor of our locally raised turkey so - we prefer a neutrally flavored oil to your recommended butter only for that reason.



Michael's "high temp" method is pretty similar to how we've always roasted - and we were rewarded with crispy skin and succulent, moist meat.





Organic cranberries, organic Florida cane sugar, filtered water. Looks, feels and tastes a lot like the canned product - only better! I actually make this more to grace turkey sandwiches than the turkey dinners - but this year, it got a little late on Friday, and Bob decided for forgo the gravy until Saturday. Good thing we had cranberry sauce - and yes Mom, we remembered to put it on the table. (In my house, the term "Cranberry Sauce" means that something that was supposed to be on the table is still in the fridge.)



I improvised this vegetable side dish from a couple of on-line recipes - roasted cubes of local winter squash, local onion, our last Richter's Orchard (LI) apple, Pumpkin Pie Spice/Pepito butter (Ohio City Pasta), toasted pecans and garden parsley.



Here's the stock Bob made several days ago from extra turkey necks and giblets Kathy Breychak bestowed on us. Thick with gelatin - perfect for gravy-making.


Turkey with Crisp Skin - 20 or so minutes out of the oven


Garden Purple Viking Mashed Potatoes with Garden Parsley


Turkey Slice with Gravy - Saturday night


Garden Purple Viking Mashed Potatoes with Gravy - Saturday night


Our first leftovers meal:


Bob's Potato Bread





Breychak Turkey Breast, Trader Joe's Organic Mayo, Cranberry Sauce, Skin Crackling, Purple Viking Potato Bread = yum. Another Thanksgiving in the books - we had great fun playing with food and fabulous company at Linda and Fred's place, and lots more fun playing with our own food the rest of the weekend! And I've got about 8 lunches worth of turkey breast sandwich makings already resting in the freezer, for me to play with later! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours - hope you had fun playing with your food this weekend!

Fun Playing With Turkey

When last we left Kathy Breychak's farm, the turkeys were restless and demanding to be fed!





Well, Kathy definitely did something right in the feeding process, because our bird weighed in at 32 pounds, dressed (or undressed, depending on how you look at it).



Turkey pick up day was Saturday, 11/22. Usually, because we go to family or friends for Thanksgiving, we make our own turkey the Friday after. Since we had to get our bird this far in advance, however, it made sense to just cook it right up on Sunday, and that was what we planned to do.

Kathy gave Bob some extra turkey innards and chicken feet, and he used them to make stock. He planned to use the fat that rose out of it for basting the bird, and the stock itself for gravy.

Figuring it might take as long as 7 hours to cook this monster, we set to it early Sunday afternoon. It did not take us long to ascertain that the bird would not fit whole into either of our ovens with any kind of pan under it.







So - we split it in half. Bob used a technique we learned from Alton Brown. This is how he splits winter squash - we used it to split a turkey!



Bob snipped as far as he could with kitchen shears, then brought out the Henkels Cleaver and a rubber mallet.



Tap the mallet onto the back of the cleaver and - presto!





In no time at all, we had two 16 pound turkey halves instead of one behemoth.



After being rinsed and dried, each turkey half was rubbed with the same seasonings my mother always used - sweet paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and kosher salt. Bob's plan was to use the rendered fat from the top of the stock pot to lube the bird - but he'd stirred it at a bad time the day before such that it didn't render purely. So, he reheated the stock and skimmed the fat off hot, to lube our bird.


Bob Thought This Was Fat When He Pulled it From the Fridge


Seasoned Birdie Half Ready for the Pan - But What Pan?

Each turkey half was still too big to fit into any of our roasting pans. What to do? Well - we have a pan for at least half of the job:



Mom's Magnalite Turkey Roaster to the rescue! I used to love the birds she cooked in this thing! However, tall roasters have gone out of favor, especially among those who prize crispy skin. Well, we didn't have much choice - so into the pan went half of our turkey.



With the cover, this pot would completely fill our top oven. So - how to roast the other half of the bird at the same time?



Stroke of genius - the broiler pan that "comes" with the oven - the one we never use for anything - it became "turkey roaster #2".

We cooked each half covered (the second half with aluminum foil) for about 2 hours at 325 degrees. When we checked the half #1 in the top oven (the Magnalite) the thigh meat was over 150 degrees, so Bob basted it and removed the lid, so the skin could crisp. As might be expected, the second half did not cook nearly as quickly, so we waited longer to remove the foil top. Once we did, Bob basted it periodically, even as Roaster #1 finished with the thigh meat at 175 degrees. #2 came out when it also reached 175 degrees in the thigh. Perfect!







We let #1 cool down in anticipation of evisceration and freezing. #2 would provide our dinner, as soon as the gravy was ready!



Dinner!


Bob Prefers the Dark Meat


I'm a White Meat Kinda Girl

The skin and flesh were exquisite - best turkey I've ever tasted in my life. We did take a bite out of #1, to compare - it was a little juicier and more tender - but ever so little more, since #2 was also moist, tender and delicious.

So - we spent the Sunday before Thanksgiving playing with turkey (and watching a turkey of a Cleveland Browns football game). After eating meat that is this fresh, I just can't imagine eating mass produced frozen poultry - but I also realized that if everyone in America wanted this type of turkey, there would be no way to supply that demand. A puzzlement. In the meantime, however, I wish all who read this Blog a Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope that you all play with some food this holiday season - make homemade cranberry sauce instead of opening that can, or maybe try gravy from scratch. Food tastes so much better when you play with it first!

Fun Playing With Fresh Chicken, From Farm to Table

We recently picked up our last chicken shares from the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) of the Blue Egg Farm. I brought my camera to our visit to Kathy Breychak's farm, and I was glad I did.

We were greeted by the resident rooster turkey, who is a grand old fellow.





An Araucana Chicken Struts Her Stuff

We arrived just in time for Kathy to deliver lunch to the turkeys and geese.


These geese know where their next meal is coming from - and they want it now.



I understand that there are still geese available for sale, with pickup in December 2008. Please contact Kathy for more info.



Hungry, aren't they?


Ahh - fed at last!


Kathy tries to introduce one of her little friends - surprise!



The lambs look on and await their turn.


Feed Me!

And of course, the object of this particular trip:


Free Ranging Chickens!

Sadly, I neglected to photograph our birdie before Butcher Bob got to her.


Butterflied Birdie

After a spice rub and a visit to Mr. Weber - our birdie looked like this:






Bob's a Leg and Thigh Man


Breast and Wing for Me!

The textures and tastes of this bird were incomparable - likely due to the combination of the way it was raised and the freshness factor. Thanks to Kathy Breychak, we got to play with our food, literally, from farm to table. And Playing With Food doesn't get any better than that!