Dear Cleveland Restaurants,
Why are so many of you not open on Monday evenings? I apparently go out a fair amount on Mondays and the places that are open are few, I’ve now been to (nearly) all of them.
Love,
Evan(eatsclevelandeverydayoftheweek)
I’ve been asked if I review every restaurant. No. If I’m dining with someone I don’t know well I typically don’t subject them to “reviewing Evan”. Also, if the photos don’t turn out well I don’t bother. I find that my opinions on establishments are somewhat similar to those of my students. It’s really easy to rave about the phenomenal ones, muse about the strange ones, or complain about the terrible ones. But… if it is just a normal, B+ one that does everything it is supposed to but doesn’t go above or beyond… I find I just don’t have much to say. I have a decent list of places I went to with every intention to review, but the blogs end up sounding like a college recommendation for a quiet student who does well but doesn’t put in any additional effort.
Eric and I had two different meals on Detriot Avenue (on different days). The first was an early dinner at The Georgetown. I had been to this location years ago when it was under different management/had a different name? (not actually sure what happened…).
Being a Monday, all the other places with a patio were not open. The inside is lovely, but as you can see… this was a gorgeous night so everyone was outside.
There is such a secluded feel to the patio that I really like and is hard to achieve in a place like Lakewood. There are some really big trees and ivy covered walls that make the space feel old/established and comfortable.
Our waitress was quiet but very helpful (she suggested we split the food into two portions since we would get more). As much as I’m drawn to a field green salad with feta and strawberries, that is something I can make at home, very easily. I typically won’t roast two varieties of beets or put couscous on a salad. This was a very tasty and unique start to a meal. It also had goat cheese and was dressed with a tarragon vinaigrette.
The flavors of the goat cheese, beet, and orange mix so well and I can’t say I’ve had them together before. Golden beets are such a vivid color and I’m glad they are occurring more in food. My only critiques would be there was a little too much dressing (with the cheese and couscous it really didn’t need much else). Also, this was a $16 salad. That’s steep… I’m glad we got more by splitting it.
I’ve taken some really bad food photos over the years (this blog recently turned 2 years old!) but I have learned that I prefer 45-degree angles or so and natural light, always. If it is a particularly geometric/artsy plating I will do a straight down/birdseye, but those are harder and it is immediately obvious that I’m “that guy who takes photos of his food”. I think the salad photo works pretty well, as it shows the components and you get some idea of scale. You may have noticed that if something is presented on an obnoxiously small or large plate I try to include a utensil for size reference. Opentable and Resy allow you to make comments when you request a table and I always say I want to be near a window. 
The menu called this “The” Meatloaf. I’m unsure as to why, and so was the waitress. It wasn’t overly tradition or strangely innovative, it was just good meatloaf. Our first course was more exceptional, it wasn’t “The” beet salad. The demi-glaze and mushrooms were very, very rich. The bacon added even more fatty richness. The mashed potatoes were good but I was only given a small amount (The picture is of my half, so overall this was a very generous portion for 12 dollars). It wasn’t as “loafy” as some, more like a good meatball.
We were told that the lobster pizza was the most popular. This was a pretty large pizza with sizable pieces of the crustacean. The manchego, roasted garlic, and onions all melded well together, although somewhat overshadowed lobster. I find that lobster is always doused with other tastes, typically butter. I can imagine people that LOOOOOVE lobster being excited about this dish, as it was executed well, and was a unique menu item. Not really related, I remember as a child really liking pieces of pizza that had the “bubbles” on them, is there a specific culinary term for these?
Overall: We really liked the salad and the ambiance of the serene patio. The prices were a little confusing (the salad was more than the meatloaf?). We had good service the waitress was very attentive. She refilled our waters so frequently.
After we went to The SideQuest (keeping with the Detriot Rd theme) because, well #butterbeer (and Mario Kart).
Before our adventures kayaking the Cuyahoga, we went to brunch at Cleveland Vegan.
Now, if you’ve read a few of these blogs you’ve no doubt noticed that I enjoy veggie/vegan food. However, I have had very mixed experiences at places that dub themselves “vegan places”. I am aware that some vegan ingredients are more pricey/specialty, yet most of the time I am still hungry after the smaller portions I typically get and sometimes the food just tastes like approximations of the well-known, non-vegan version.
The interior was inviting and actually a little fancier than I had expected. They really took the carrot color scheme and ran with it.
With everything being vegan I guess they can label things as soy/gluten or nut free. We opted to do a three course ($21) and an additional entree. We were there early and it was hard to gauge how big the portions would be.
Breakfast sandwich ($12). Lots of tastes and textures. The tempeh bacon was rather fantastic (if you are a vegan and have a gluten issue, I’m sorry because this was a great meat replacement). The bagel was crisp and I love avocado and sprouts on everything. I am not sure what the vegan version of chipotle mayo and omelet were made from but they were good. This was filling and the only real issue was putting it on a big plate with 6 grape was a comical plating choice that made it seem like a less composed dish.
Remember when all vegan ingredients were given funny names? I wish the omelet was called a Nonlet. 😛
The Biscuits and Gravy (also $12). This was a huge portion. This was good, but it did have a “vegan approximation” feel to it. The cashew-based gravy was creamy and heavy. It had a hefty amount of black pepper in it. In my opinion, it could have used a tiny bit of heat, perhaps some cayenne. The biscuits were a little hard/dry. Eaten alone they would have been very unsatisfying corn muffins, but the consistency allowed them to hold up against the gravy. Again, this was a great dish but since it doesn’t have the greasy quality (or a fried egg) it wasn’t as satisfying as the other offerings we ate.
Good thing I’m not trying to buy a house because we got the avocado toast ($6). Blah blah blah millennials. It is hard to mess up when putting so many delicious ingredients together. However, with the tomato and balsamic, I feel like it should have been called an avocado bruschetta. The sourdough bread was good. I have absolutely no complaints about this dish and understand why our waitress said she eats it consistently for lunch.
Half portion of the strawberry and banana Challah French Toast ($6). The coconut whipped creme. THE COCONUT WHIPPED CREME. MM, Okay, it totally tasted like coconut ice cream, which is PERFECTLY fine with me. I love how brunch food allows for desserts to be eaten as a meal. Not sure how they made French toast without eggs but this was gooey and great. It wasn’t a good vegan version, it was just delicious. It was on a small plate, that made it a little hard to eat without a banana falling off…but that is seriously the only thing I can think of to say (also why didn’t I order the larger portion!)
If you’ve met me you know that baking is not a skill I possess. I can mess up even well-known items, and we have years of experience using eggs, milk, and butter (and sugar) to make something delicious. It baffles me how people can defy the chemistry and make pastries without those key ingredients.
Overall: I text Nathan and called my brother (the vegans in my life) afterward. I would totally go back. I feel like it took me awhile to try this place because the hours are a little odd. The atmosphere was nice and I understand why the online lists put this as delicious and unique brunch destination in the city. Unlike other vegan places, we were not still hungry afterward and were ready to kayak through downtown.
Oh Oh Oh… I totally forgot… when I was in Canada a few weeks ago I wandered into an Upscale. Eclair. Boutique. Now, these beauties were about 8 dollars Canadian. Unfortunately, I did not buy any since I had just eaten, and that would have only been 5.25 American. Look how pretty these are….
Let’s zoom in on that!
As the name of the restaurant implies, they also have pie. It was hard trying to just pick one flavor, as they all seemed so enticing.
Evan Eats Cleveland 
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