Where’s Jonathon Sawyer? Cooking and grilling at Kindling in Chicago (photos) Jonathon Sawyer’s cooking skills are alive and well, and the chef – who loved the versatility of open-flame cooking in his previous Cleveland haunts – is now at Kindling in the heart of Chicago. Cleveland.com’s Marc Bona spent a Saturday night unwinding over drinks and dinner at Kindling, which is located on the first floor of the 110-story Willis Tower at 202 S. Franklin St. Sawyer – a James Beard Award winner and author - left Cleveland after restaurant closings (The Greenhouse Tavern, Trentina, Sawyer’s). Kindling, which covers a spacious 17,000 square feet, opened early last year. Sawyer is a chef-partner in the Fifty/50 Restaurant Group’s venture. READ MORE New restaurant aims to open in former Bell & Flower/Rick’s Café space The construction site at 86 North Main St. in Chagrin Falls -- formerly known as Bell & Flower for six years and Rick’s Café for decades before that – will open as Café Lola by year’s end. That is, if the name doesn’t confuse diners with celebrity chef Michael Symon’s Lola Bistro which closed in 2020. Owners Rick Doody and Joe Saccone are still reflecting on name choices. They have time because construction in the space is taking longer than expected. READ MORE Foraging 101: Havesting in the wild with Chef Jeremy Umansky Reporter Paris Wolfe recently hit the fields and forests with forager extraordinaire and James Beard Award-nominated chef Jeremy Umansky of Larder Delicatessen and Bakery in Ohio City. For those who want to do the same, he offers two-hour foraging classes ($45). The next two are August 18 and August 29. During the classes he shows participants how to safely identify various wild plants and fungi for home use. Students get to take their finds home to prepare. READ MORE. Too Good To Go app lets restaurants, grocers to sell leftover food Too Good To Go is an international app that helps restaurants cut down on their food waste while providing customers with low-cost meal options. The digital surplus food marketplace was founded in 2016 in Copenhagen and is officially launching in Ohio on August 14, Northeast Ohio restaurants have been giving customers a taste of the service by selling “surprise” bags on the app. Businesses can list bags, typically for a third of their retail value, filled with various products that are left over. Food ends up inside a surprise bag on the app for a variety of reasons, from canceled orders to a restaurant selling less than expected on a particular day. DETAILS |
|
|
Who makes the best breakfast in Greater Cleveland? Your “Best of Cleveland” team is on the hunt for the “Best Breakfast in all of Greater Cleveland.” We know you have opinions and we want to check out your hotspots. Send in your favorite breakfast spot and why you love it. Then we’ll take the ones with the most votes, pit them head-to-head in a readers’ poll and let YOU crown the best of the best. After that? We’ll profile the top three spots, their owners and chefs, and what makes them so sunny. READ MORE Comfort food fave City Chicken evokes childhood memories Ah, City Chicken. It sounds sassy, intriguing, sophisticated. Thing is, it’s not a chicken dish, nor does it live some cosmopolitan cool lifestyle. It does “taste like chicken” (dispensing with dad jokes early, folks!) and growing up, it was served with the sundry sides you’d expect from a chicken dinner: mash, gravy, a veg side, mac and cheese. It’s one of those humble country dishes that Clevelanders know and love, including Cleveland.com’s Peter Chakerian, who was introduced to the delicacy by his mom. It’s a Depression-era classic that at once impresses with its affordability and dazzles with its comfort-food deliciousness. That’s why it remains popular in many households. Chakerian waxes about its many delights in his latest Classic CLE Easts & Drinks column. DETAILS Winemaker launches touring business Lauren Fiala of Baci Winery has started a touring business to guide folks all over the world to various wine regions. Fiala Wine Consulting will take wine lovers across the globe, starting with an intriguing one to Sicily next year. Fiala’s extensive experience in wine ranges from making, marketing and selling it. The fact that she loves to travel adds to her passion. READ MORE Maker’s Mark releases three Ohio-only Private Select bourbons Maker’s Mark’s Private Selection ($74.99) made just for Ohio was released today and is selling out quickly at OHLQ stores around Ohio. The product began as Maker’s Mark Cask Strength Bourbon, made from local grains and water from a spring-fed lake on the brand’s Star Hill Farm and was finished with special aging. READ MORE Ranking 38 varieties of Little Debbie treats from worst to best With “Back to School” at the forefront of every parent’s mind, your “Best of Cleveland” team is at it again. We do our level best to bring you “news you can use” on the food front. This time around, we went headlong into the world of Little Debbie branded snacks. Nostalgia such as it is, we felt compelled (called to duty?) to make sure everything that “America’s Sweetheart” is baking is still on the up-and-up. Nothing feels like a let-down quite like picking a bummer item that your kid(s) don’t love. That’s why we try everything... so you don’t have to. We tackled 38 (count ‘em!) of Debbie’s littles and ranked them with care. Do our rankings agree with yours? Where did your go-to favorite snack cake rank on our list? READ MORE |
|
|
OPENINGS/CLOSINGS Loiter Café overcomes the odds and opens in East Cleveland When violent storms knocked out power to Northeast Ohio on Tuesday, August 6, Ismail Samad’s challenge to open Loiter Café and Marketplace in East Cleveland within a court-ordered 30 days took an ironic plot twist. Fortunately for Samad, power was restored to the area three days later. The café opened quietly the next day. The Cafe and Marketplace offers food and food items for sale. READ MORE |
|
|
EVENTS/TASTINGS Little Italy Feast of the Assumption Cleveland’s biggest Italian-Catholic celebration of the summer is fast approaching with the upcoming Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy. Commonly known as “The Feast,” Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood becomes a four-day party in the streets with plenty of food, entertainment and celebration for locals and visitors alike. The 125th Feast of the Assumption is set for August 15-18. READ MORE Rare vintage handbags for sale at Tartine Bistro special event Pierce Morgan, founder of Chicologie, has been collecting and restoring luxury vintage handbags and accessories since his fashion school years at Kent State University. He will share a curated capsule of his collection from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Friday, August 16, at Tartine Bistro in Rocky River. Guests can peruse handbags, accessories and more while enjoying charcuterie and summer wines selected from the Tartine cellar. READ MORE Cleveland Garlic Festival to feature garlic ice cream, cotton candy, more The annual Cleveland Garlic Festival is set for August 24-25 at Shaker Square. Garlic fries, garlic cotton candy and garlic ice cream from Mitchell’s Homemade are just a few of the many delicious bites that will be available at the food-centric festival. Other vendors this year include Chutni Punch, The Pierogi Lady, FrankieLynn Hot Dogs, Marchant Manor Cheese and many more. The event benefits the North Union Farmers’ Market. READ MORE ‘Le Diner en Blanc’ returns to Cleveland for elegant evening in secret location Le Diner en Blanc – the dinner in white – is back in Cleveland for a third summer on Saturday, August 24. Up to 800 participants can register for a space at the Parisian picnic-themed special event and party from 6:30 to 11 p.m. at a secret location. For the elegant, social-media-worthy dinner everything will be white – clothing, tablescapes, dinnerware and chairs, according to organizers Aseelah Shareef and Michelle Felder of Aficionado Productions. The women have been working with the international organization for three years to host dinners in Cleveland. READ MORE Ferrante sets 4-course dinner Ferrante Winery in Geneva has scheduled a four-course lamb-inspired meal Thursday, Aug. 29. The dishes – which will be paired with wines – include Mediterranean cous cous with lamb meatballs, fresh ricotta cavatelli alla lamb sausage and others. READ MORE Corks on the Concourse is set The International Women’s Air & Space Museum’s popular Corks on the Concourse is back at Burke Lakefront Airport. The event - Friday, Aug. 30 – features Ohio wineries and benefits the non-profit organization. It will include trivia, auction and the announcement of a lifetime achievement recipient. READ MORE |
|
|
PICKS OF THE WEEK The Vue Anthony Scolaro has had success with 111 Bistro in Medina, and his latest venture, The Vue, is doing brisk business in an energetic spot in Wadsworth. The chef-owner is rotating the menu with creative dishes. Wash down a nosh of fried Castelvetrano olives with a glass of wine from a fantastic list, then move on to an entree. And yes, it has a great view. The Vue is at 102 High St., Wadsworth. READ MORE Steak Steak in Tremont got a ton of buzz when it opened its doors officially this month. The trendy steakhouse is over-the-top in both decor and cuisine. The pre-fixe steak menu makes it easy to customize your main meal to your liking. Other notable menu items include carnival crab cakes, the PB&J Smash burger, Mouse Trap Mac and Cheese and beyond. Don't forget to check out Steak's killer cocktail menu or celebration-worthy desserts. Steak is at 2179 W. 11th Street in Cleveland. DETAILS Savvy Sliders What’s happening in that old Burger King on Snow Road in Brook Park? A Great Lakes-based microchain (Michigan) is slowly making its way into Ohio with delicious sliders (burgers, chicken, fish, ribeye steak, falafel) as well as chicken fingers and custard shakes. The price points are good, the quality is great, service is excellent and the adaptive reuse of space explains why this chain won’t be micro for long. We love their french fries and recommend the Savvy Sauce for dipping… no lie, we were enjoying our first sit in a 90s-era fast-food atrium since we can remember. We’ll bring you the 411 on them soon. READ MORE. Blue Agave Blue Agave is one of the less heralded restaurants on East 4th Street in downtown Cleveland. It’s worthy of a visit. Early guests can get a coveted street side table to people watch the busy entertainment district. Street tacos – three to an order -- are a quicky and easy decision, but why not venture deeper into the menu. The Seafood Relleno is a delightful upgrade from the standard chiles rellenos. The cheese-stuffed poblano pepper overflows with grilled shrimp, scallops and crabmeat. The menu offers several margarita variations including blood orange, pineapple habanero and hibiscus Jamaica. DETAILS |
SPOTLIGHT Wine, wine, more wine We tried 10 different wines this month, ranging from $10 to $25 each. The bottles we tried come from six countries - Argentina, Chile, France, Italy, Spain and the United States. READ MORE Beer, beer, more beer This month, our beer review column covers a six-pack of brews from Ohio and adjacent states Pennsylvania and Michigan. Among this month’s offerings are a trio of beers from Victory Brewing Co. Plus we offer some news and notes from breweries near and far. READ MORE |
|
|
To ensure receipt of our emails, please add [email protected] to your address book or safe sender list. You received this email because you opted-in to the newsletter. Was it forwarded to you? Sign up now! 4800 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn OH 44144 |
|
|
|
