My first attempt at Pasta from scratch

As I started to get into doing more of my own cooking, and moving beyond some of the simple things, I thought a lot about making things from scratch.  When you go out to eat it's obvious the places that make their own pasta or their own tomato sauce or tortillas.  The flavor is just different in a good way; with a freshness and taste that just can't be matched by mass produced versions.  So this week, I decided to take on a couple of "made-from-scratch" foods.  The first was bacon, which I wrote about here.  The second was pasta, which was a completely different experience.

I decided to go with the Michael Symon pasta recipe for my first attempt at homemade pasta, primarily because there was a ravioli recipe that I wanted to try.  The recipe itself is easy.  You start with a cup and a half of flour that you build into a well.  Inside the well you add nine egg yolks, and a little bit of olive oil.  Then mix everything together, and let it rest for about 30 minutes.  Then you cut it into 4 pieces, run it through the pasta machine, and it out comes pasta.  Seemed easy, but this is where things started to fall apart, literally.

When I cut the dough to begin to run through the pasta maker, it completely fell apart.  I looked at the recipe and it said it was supposed to be flaky and crumbly, so I tried to run it through the pasta machine.  It didn't work so well, as it just fell apart as it went through.  I went back to the recipe and it said I could add a little water.  I sprinkled some on, and tried again, but it still fell apart.  So I put on some more, and got a little overzealous.  The top was almost soupy, and the bottom dry.  I mixed it together the best I could and started running it through, but now it was too hard.  The whole thing was just a mess.  That piece was totally scrapped, and I pulled out the second.  I again added some water, and ran it through the pasta machine at it's widest setting and it started to work!  I narrowed the setting, and ran it through again, slowly thinning out the dough.  It was still an adventure as I had trouble getting it to do in straight, or I would drop one end and it would tear.  I ended up working that piece of dough through the machine at least a dozen times.  But, I finally wound up with a sheet of pasta that seemed to be the consistency and thickness I was looking for.

Over the next 15-20 minutes, I was able to generate a couple more sheets of pasta.  I then tore them in half and coated them in some rice flour to keep them from sticking together, and turned my attention to the filling.  The thought was that these would be a simple ricotta cheese filled ravioli.  I put the ricotta in the refrigerator over night to let some of the liquid drain out, except when I pulled it out the next day, there was no liquid.  That had me feeling a little nervous.  I took that ricotta, added some fresh parmesan and a little orange zest, and put it in the food processor to try and make a nice creamy mixture.  I pulled out the sheets of pasta and put a few dollops of the mixture on half of the ravioli.  I folded it over, and formed some square raviolis that actually looked like ravioli.  Now all that was left was the sauce.

This recipe called for a brown butter sauce with almonds, orange, and parsley.  Again, something seemingly simple with only a couple steps.  Starting with 3/4 cup of butter, I melted it until it started to get foamy, then added the almonds.  A couple minutes later, I added to orange zest and parsely, then tossed in the ravioli which had been boiling during this time.  Everything was poured into a bowl and served with a roll.

The end result probably isn't what Chef Symon is capable of producing, or would be expecting based on the recipe.  The ricotta filling seemed a little dry and just off tasting.  I haven't quite figured out how to pick out a good ricotta.  And the sauce didn't quite get to a "brown" butter state.  I know there is a fine line between brown and burned, and I definitely erred on the side of not cooking long enough.  It left the whole dish feeling a little overly rich.  But, there was one bright spot; the pasta.  It was actually light and delicious, and I was definitely surprised.  I think the biggest problem was that even though I used "Large" eggs, the yolks were actually pretty small, and I probably should have used a full dozen.  I ended up compensating with water which was ok.  The nice thing is that I now know that I can make pasta, and will probably make a lot more of my own when I do pasta meals like chicken parmesan.  It really doesn't take that long, and with all things, practice makes perfect!  And then I can start adding different flavors to the pasta like spinach or sun-dried tomato or any number of things... :-)

Bringing home the bacon...Literally

When I purchased Michael Symon's cookbook a few weeks ago, I was casually flipping through it when something caught my eye.  I stopped, and checked out the recipe and knew that it was something I just had to make.  It was Bacon!  That's right, a recipe for making bacon at home.  Considering I enjoy eating bacon and cooking with bacon, and I purchase it every time I go to the store, it only seemed logical that some day I go ahead and make it myself.  I started looking through the recipe and realizing just how simple it was until I hit a small problem; bacon is lightly cured and then smoked, and unfortunately I didn't have a smoker.  So, I put the idea of making bacon on the back burner until the day I got a smoker.  

Then, a couple of weeks ago I was at Williams-Sonoma spending some of our wedding money when I noticed a little metal box.  Upon closer inspection I realized it was a smoker!  This small box is designed to sit on top of a gas grill with wood chips in the bottom.  As the box heats, it slowly heats the wood chips as well, causing them to char and smoke without actually igniting.  It's a fantastic little contraption that sits right on top of the DeLonghi indoor grill that we received as a gift, and it is just big enough to allow me to smoke something like a half rack of ribs, a couple of salmon filets, or bacon!  I bought it that day, fully intending to make bacon as soon as I had a chance.

The bacon making process is quite simple, but takes a bit of time.  It starts with a piece of pork belly.  Following Michael Symon's recipe, you then add some kosher salt, a bit of pink salt, some paprika, red pepper flakes, brown sugar, honey and cumin.  All of this is spread over the pork belly, and then put in a big bag.  Then for the next week the bag gets flipped daily as the salt pulls out some of the moisture, and the flavors are incorporated into the meat.  After a week, the pork belly is removed from the bag, rinsed, and then put on a rack in the refrigerator to continue drying.  A couple days later you simply smoke it for a couple hours until it is cooked through, and that's it.

When I pulled it out of the smoker, I cut off a small piece to try.  The flavor was pretty strong and pretty smokey, and I was a little nervous that it wasn't going to taste that great.  But, I let it rest on the counter, and then put it in the refrigerator to finish cooling down.  I thought I would wait another day and then put it to the ultimate test; BLTs!  So, tonight after work, I came home and got started on a nice, simple dinner of BLTs and Tomato Soup; not just any tomato soup, but the Michael Symon Spicy Tomato soup that I made a couple weeks ago.  

The soup was easy, it was something that I had made before, and knew that it would be good.  However, I was a little nervous about the BLTs.  I pulled out the bacon and cut off for thick slabs.  The good news was that it definitely looked like bacon.  Then I put it in the frying pan and it sizzled and cooked like bacon, throwing off great smells and lots of grease.  Finally I pulled it off the heat and put it on some paper towels before cutting it up and putting it into the BLTs.  The results were great.  It had a nice smokey bacon flavor, and crisped up nicely.  Plus, I still have more than 2 pounds of bacon that I can cut up however I need it!

This was definitely something that was a new and fun experience, and lends itself to a lot of variation.  I don't think I will mess with the salt mixture, at least at first, but I can try and mess with some of the other ingredients.  Adding more brown sugar or maple syrup to make it sweeter, or maybe some chile powders.  And then smoking it with different woods.  For this one I used cherry, but there is the more traditional Applewood or Hickory as well.  So many different mixtures, so many different woods, and never having to buy my own bacon any more!

Braised Short Ribs - Learning another new technique

When I went to Whole Foods the other day to go grocery shopping, I didn't enter with a plan for a change. Instead I simply looked around to see if I could see something that would be interesting to make.  As I was checking out the meat counter, I noticed beef short ribs.  Having never actually made short ribs myself, and never having attempted to braise anything, it seemed like something worth trying (especially since I could experiment on myself).  So, I had them wrap up a pound and a half of spare ribs (basically 4 ribs), and headed home to pull out the cookbooks.

Of the 5 cookbooks that I own, two had recipes for braised short ribs; Bobby Flay and Michael Symon.  Looking at the recipes I quickly realized that I really only had ingredients to try and pull of the Bobby Flay version, so that's the one I decided to do.  I actually got started last night by adding salt and pepper to the meat to allow it to be more receptive to the flavors that I would be trying to incorporate and infuse.

After a long day at the office, I headed home to begin cooking.  It was at this point that I wondered to myself why I thought it would be a good idea to try braising short ribs knowing that the earliest I would be getting home is 6, and at a minimum it would take 3 hours to get the ribs to a nice and tender state (unless I had a pressure cooker of course...).  But, since I had already proceeded to apply the salt and pepper, I needed to make sure I cooked them.  So, I just dove in and decided that I would simply find myself a snack at some point in the evening.  Besides, after eating out for the past few nights, I needed a change and a home-cooked meal, even if my Urbanspoon ranking might suffer a little.

I started by putting together a simple spice rub while the oil heated.  It called for chile powder, cinnamon and black pepper.  Then I applied the rub to the ribs prior to putting it in the oil to brown.  At this point, I ended up making a couple mistakes.  The first was that I didn't shake the excess rub off so it fell into the oil.  This leads to burning, and a flavor that is not that desirable.  The second was that I had not pre-chopped my veggies that I would need, so I was trying to do that, and ended up cooking the ribs a bit past golden brown.  But, I pulled them out, and forged on ahead, where actually the rest is quite simple.  I added some onion, garlic, carrot and celery to a little bit of oil remaining in the pot.  I also decided to throw in a jalepeno for a little flavor (kinda cooked this a little long too).  Then I added the red wine and went to add the chicken stock when much to my shock, I realized I had none in the house.  This is quite the rare occurrence lately, but it happened just when I needed about 4 cups.  So, I improvised.  I added an additional two cups of wine and two cups of water.  I brought this to a simmer, added the ribs and put it in the oven at 275 (the Michael Symon recipe called for 225, and Bobby Flay's was 325, so I compromised).

At this point, I just went about my evening; going for a run, getting some work done, picking up the house.  All told, I left the ribs in the braising liquid for almost 3 hours.  Finally, I had to pull them out and eat.  I decided to opt out of the part of the recipe that called for a sauce to be made out of the braising liquid, put them on my plate, and dug in.  The first thing I noticed was that they were incredibly tender, even though they probably could have used another half hour or so.  I didn't need a knife to get to some bite-sized pieces.  The flavor though was a little weak.  Part of that owes to the spice rub not really being applied liberally and worked into the meat, and part of it was just weak ingredients.  The chile powder was just the kind you get with a spice rack and the cinnamon was not freshly ground.  But, the meat was very tender, and very moist, so I was quite pleased with that.

In the end, I had a good dinner, albeit awful late at night.  And, I learned a few things, mistakes I can correct for the next time such as working the rub into the meat, and removing the excess to prevent burning.  I also came up with a few other things to try like using Coca-Cola as the primary braising liquid, or doing the whole thing is a sweeter red wine.  Maybe mixing up the rub to have some different, more defined flavors.  Or I could be really crazy and make sure that I have the ingredients that the recipe calls for and actually make it the way the chef intended.  All I know is that now that I have a general understanding of braising, I'm going to be experimenting with that cooking style more often; just maybe not during the week.

Learning the proper (and legal) way to poach salmon

I would say that at this point in my cooking adventures, my "cooking" techniques (the actual act of heating the food) are a little limited. I can grill, sautee, and roast.  I've also learned a little bit about searing and locking in some of the flavors.  All of this is a definite marked improvement; chicken and pork are light years better than before.  But, there are a lot of different things that I still want to learn.  So, I decided that I was going to tackle poaching, and that I would do it with some fresh Copper River Sockeye Salmon.

Salmon is without a doubt one of our favorite foods, and I've spent some time learning a couple of different ways to cook it.  It's also one of those foods where my experimentation is a little more restricted, especially given that my wife grew up in the Salmon capital of the world, Juneau, AK (it really doesn't get any fresher).  Right now the two winners in our household so far are steamed salmon with just a little butter, salt and pepper; or grilled salmon, with a simple brown sugar and soy glaze.  So, I knew that when I wanted to try a new cooking technique, I was taking a bit of a risk.  Fortunately, I had the recipe stylings of Michael Symon on my side, so I jumped in.

In his cookbook, he shows three different poaching methods, two of which called specifically for salmon.  The first was a court bullion poaching liquid, while the other was a butter poaching method.  I was really interested in butter poaching and fusing the butter flavor into the fish.  But, I don't currently have a good thermometer and with butter it is incredibly important to keep it at the right temperature to prevent it from breaking down.  So, I decided I would wait until I got the tools I need, and instead opted for the bullion method.

Making the poaching liquid is actually quite easy.  You simply start with some aromatics; onion, carrot, celery and garlic.  I've definitely used a lot of onion and garlic before, but the combination of the carrot and celery is new, and thusfar something I like (though my understanding of how to appropriately use it is still evolving).  From there I added a little bit of lemon juice and some black peppercorns.  Then, to give it a little more flavor, I ground some cinnamon stick, orange zest, corriander and cumin together.  Everything was combined in a pot with a quart of water, and brought to a simmer.  I let it cook for a little over half an hour, and then strained all of the solids out, leaving myself with a very nice, aromatic liquid.

After that, it was pretty easy.  I simply heated the liquid until it was steaming, almost simmering, but not quite.  If I had a good thermometer, I would have just brought it up to about 175.  Then I added the salmon, which I had added a little salt and pepper to, and basically let it soak for about ten minutes.  About half way through, I wanted to flip the salmon over just to make sure that it was covered completely.  As I went to flip it with the tongs, it simply flaked apart, it was so tender.  Once it was done, I pulled it out, and served it with a variation of my risotto (bacon, roasted red and yellow peppers, no purees) as well as a caprese salad* (see note at end).

At first bite, I was a little nervous.  Not only had I tried a new cooking technique for the salmon, but I had finished it a little too early.  Usually I try to time it so that I'm just setting the plate down when she gets home.  Tonight I was off by about 15 minutes.  But, in the end it worked.  By poaching the salmon, I was able to really lock in the moisture as well as infuse it with the flavors from the bullion.  Even though it had cooled, it still flaked off, and wasn't dry.  Overall, we were both very pleased with the meal, and this will definitely be a technique that I use again.  I want to try a lot of variations such as butter poaching, as well as different spice mixtures.  I also want to try different meats and fish (I'm already thinking about butter poached shrimp, or even trying bullion poached pork loin).  This definitely expands my repetoire and will allow me to experiment even further with different flavors in my food.

*Cook's Note on Caprese - The Caprese that we had with the salmon turned out deliciously.  I couldn't have been more pleased.  But, a successful caprese has very little to do with the cook's technique (at least in my opinion).  The biggest indicator of success is the quality of the ingredients.  I simply purchased fresh, organic heirloom tomatoes, a very flavorful olive oil, a nice balsamic vinegar, and fresh mozzarella.  I then added fresh basil from our garden, and some ground sea salt and black pepper.  These ingredients are a magical combination together, and this dish truly shows why purchasing quality ingredients can make or break the meal before you even begin.

Not the Typical Soup and Sandwiches for Dinner

When I started this blog, I intended for it to be a combination restaurant review and cooking experience.  But lately, it has definitely skewed heavily toward the restaurant review side as I've been traveling quite a bit.  And it's headed back in that direction later this week, so I wanted to be sure that I took the opportunity to make a couple meals at home.

Last night was the first of those opportunities.  The thing was, I spent all day at the beach playing in a volleyball tournament and didn't really feel like cranking out a big full meal.  Fortunately, I had Michael Symon's cookbook in hand and his philosophy of "if it takes more than two pans, I'm not making it", which was exactly what I needed.  I had flipped through the book when I bought it and remembered a recipe for a spicy tomato soup.  What could be better after a long day (which happened to be overcast and a little rainy) than soup and sandwiches?  I made a quick stop at Whole Foods and picked up the ingredients that I needed; tomatoes, sriracha sauce, blue cheese (specifically buttermilk blue cheese), heavy cream, bread, an heirloom tomato, and some bacon for BLTs.  I already had the red onion, garlic and chicken stock at home as these have pretty much become staples in our house.

To say that this soup was simple is an understatement.  I started by chopping some red onion and sweating in down.  Added in a little garlic and kept going for a couple more minutes.  Then add the stock, tomatoes, a bit of fresh oregano and sriracha.  Let that simmer for about 45 minutes.  Then it is into the blender with the blue cheese (I probably could have used the hand blender at this point, but didn't).  Blend until smooth, strain back into a pan on the stove to keep warm, and it's done.  It's almost as easy as making the stuff from the can but far more flavorful.  The soup was full of tomato flavor, with a hint of spice from the sriracha and the creaminess from the blue cheese and cream.  It definitely wasn't too heavy at all.  To garnish it, I took some parmesan cheese, put it in on a Slipat mat, and cooked it for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  I also learned to make my layers of cheese a little thinner if I wanted to have a crispy parmesan "cracker" (they were a little soft in the middle).

But as great as the soup was, it needed a sandwich to go with it.  For Jennifer, I went for an extra cheesy grilled cheese sandwich.  I did a layer of of mozzarella, then a little dill, some cheddar, a bit of bacon (not too much), and then another layer of cheddar.  This was all on some fresh Italian bread.  I buttered the outside and toasted it in the pan to a perfect golden brown.  For myself, I did a simple BLT, but with heirloom tomatoes and baby arugula on the same Italian bread.   For this one, I purchased the thick cut bacon, but at some point I am going to try and make my own based on the recipe and guidance in the cookbook.

All in all, I think this came together as an excellent meal, and really illustrated the transition in my cooking.  One year ago, this same meal probably consists of Campbell's tomato soup (or maybe one of those soups from the box at Whole Foods) and a couple slices of cheese between two slices of bread from a loaf, thrown in a toaster oven.  The response would have been positive, but not the same as I got with the delicious sandwich and soup.  I probably would have poured out the leftovers.  This is what has made learning to cook so fun.  I doubt that I come up with this recipe on my own, but at least I'm willing to tackle anything in the book, learn the basics, and hopefully some day adapt it to suit some different flavors.  The quality of the food is so much higher which makes it so much rewarding to put in the effort.  I'm not saying that I'm not going to do some of the boring meals anymore, we all get a little lazy every once in awhile, but that I'm getting more curious and more interested (and frankly better) when it comes to new foods.

All of this from tomato soup and grilled cheese...

Quick Bites from Cleveland

From a food perspective, I will say that this trip to Cleveland was unlike any other that I’d taken. As an interesting side note, it was unlike any other from a work/positive energy/excitement perspective as well. All-in-all, my best trip to Cleveland. Anyway, I posted about Lola and Lolita over the past week, but those obviously were not the only places that I ate at. So, I offer a quick bites recap of my non-hotel, non-cafeteria dining around Cleveland.

Steak ‘N Shake

You might be asking why I went to a Steak ‘N Shake, especially given my affinity for non-chain restaurants and trying the local cuisine. Two reasons. First, there really isn’t a lot open in Cleveland after 11 p.m. Second, Marc Summers said on The Best Thing I Ever Ate that his favorite hamburger of all time was from Steak ‘N Shake. Now, I’m sure Marc Summers knows good food, but I can now definitively say we don’t share the same hamburger tastes. I ordered the Double Steakburger with the Works and fries. This means it had ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, mustard, onion, and mustard for good measure. I like yellow mustard as much as the next guy, but this was ridiculous. Once I finally made my way through a lot of the mustard and tasted the burger, I was turned off completely. It just tasted of greasy and almost metallic, painfully obvious that it had been cooked on a flat top that wasn’t absorbing flavors of burgers past. And the fries were just not good. No salt, soggy, luke warm. I know my expectations shouldn’t be super high for after midnight dining, but this was my first and last visit to Steak ‘N Shake. Next time I’m just finding an all night, local diner.

Final Verdict – 1.5 Stars (Sorry Marc Summers)

Jacobs (er…Progressive) Field

There is just something about a baseball game that makes the simplest foods taste exponentially better. Unfortunately, I didn’t really take advantage of it. At the game I stopped and grabbed a sausage that was ok, some onion rings that were palatable, and some nachos that had been sitting under a heat lamp for too long. But, I also had a few Great Lakes brews on board, so I didn’t really pay attention.

Final Verdict – Incomplete

Sushi Rock

The best way to describe Sushi Rock is Cleveland does sushi. After doing the appropriate amount of whining about a Seattlite going to sushi in the middle of the country, I finally decided that building rapport with my boss was better for my career and sucked it up and went to Sushi Rock. Walking in, it was exactly what I expected; Cleveland does sushi. There was loud, but trendy music, a bunch of people, and a slightly snobby hostess. When we sat down and I looked at the menu, two things jumped out. First, this was a place that had sushi on one side of the menu and truffle mac & cheese on the other. Second, there was a sushi item called “crabstick”. I am no expert, but I contest that crabstick is not the type of crab I’m used to at home, and there was a debate whether or not it was really crab. This was one of the things on the menu that didn’t have the Japanese word next to it (oh, it should be noted that the sushi was in English, throwing me off completely until I noticed the Japanese in fine print). In the end, we ordered a few pieces of sashimi, and a bunch of rolls, nearly all featuring cooked rather than raw preparations. The sashimi was ok, with the Maguro being pretty good and the Hamachi not as much. For the rolls, they were good, no real standouts and one that I thought was just not good (I can’t remember which it was, but it was bad). As the night came to a close, I realized that I’d had a pretty good time, and it was not the worst meal I’d eaten in my life, or even this trip.

Final Verdict – 2.5 Stars

Seti’s Polish Boys

I figured it was only appropriate that I finish my trip to Cleveland by getting a very “Cleveland” food, and one endorsed by Iron Chef Michael Symon. Learning of the Polish Boy by watching The Best Thing I Ever Ate, I was determined to give it a try. So, on the way to the airport, I made a small detour and got myself a couple of Polish Boys from Seti’s Truck in the parking lot of the restaurant supply depot. The Polish Boy can basically be described as a complete meal in one hand. It is a hot dog smeared with cole slaw, and topped with French fries and a sweet barbeque/honey sauce. I wasn’t quite sure exactly what they would be like, so decided to eat in the car. Unwrapping the first one, I looked down and it and sighed, knowing without a doubt that it was going to wind up on me (I’m a messy eater to begin with…). The other thing I didn’t know was how hot they were. Biting into the first one, the very delicious sauce and hot dog hit the top of my mouth and burned it pretty good. I definitely didn’t let that stop me, and polished off the first one. I waited until I was a little more stuck in traffic, and moving slower to break into the second one. First degree burns on the roof of my mouth aside, I was definitely pleased. Did I get as excited as Michael Symon did? No, but I will definitely go back.

Final Verdict – 3.75 Stars

So that’s it. This trip to Cleveland is officially in the books. Next week will include a trip to Dallas, a trip to Denver and a couple of home-cooked meals, including one in my hometown of Cheyenne, WY. And it won’t be long until Michael Symon recipes and experiences start appearing in Deck On Food!

Deck on Lolita: Cleveland Restaurant Review

What’s better than one trip to a Michael Symon restaurant in a week? How about a trip to each Michael Symon restaurant in Cleveland!? After a little bit of discussion (ok a little bit of whining until I got what I wanted), I convinced a couple of my colleagues that it would be worthwhile to drive the 25 minutes from the suburbs into town to dine at Lolita.

Located in what I’m told is the up-and-coming Tremont neighborhood, Lolita could best be described as the yang to Lola’s yin. Where Lola is slacks and a button up shirt, Lolita is jeans and a t-shirt. It was a little bit bright, a little bit louder, and a little bit less intimate; none of which is a bad thing by any means. We’d called ahead on the drive in to see if there were any tables, and were informed that there were not until later, but that there was some bar seating. On arrival, we found four seats next to each other, at the corner of the bar. Saddling up to the bar, we were ready to eat.

Taking a look at the menu, we were overwhelmed by the amount of delicious looking food. So we decided to start by focusing simply on starters. The first thing we selected was the lamb keftedes. Then, after a little bit of debating over the cured meats, we settled on the roasted bone marrow, figuring it is not something you can get everywhere. We put in our appetizer order and returned out attention to the entrée menu. This ended up being a little of an ordeal. All four of us finally selected an option off the menu, and then asked the bartender his recommendation. After basically five minutes of talking us through the menu, describing with enthusiasm the delicious options, we once again selected our entrees. That’s when he reminded us of the specials… In the end, after 15 good minutes, and changing our collective minds a half dozen times, we settled on our final items and quickly placed our orders to prevent changing our mind again.

At this time we were finally able to settle into conversation, made easier by sitting at the corner of the bar. We enjoyed drinks and conversation for about 10 minutes prior to the appetizers arriving. Once they did, we quickly quieted down and dove in. The Lamb Keftedes can best be described as delicious lamb meatballs, served with lemon, mint, yogurt and cucumber. The meat was very tender and juicy. This was followed up by the Roasted Bone Marrow which was served with a salsa verde and a little bit of scallion. For the first bite, I simply scraped the marrow out of the bone, put it on a crostini and enjoyed the delicious flavor, what could easily be described as a meat butter. For the second bite I added one of the pickled onions which had a sweet taste and really balanced out the whole meal.

This was definitely the way to kick-start a meal, and had us all excited about the entrees which arrived not too long after we finished the appetizers. For the main courses, Charles had finally decided on the fish special, a Wild Caught Canadian Walleye. Georgy had decided on the house-made Pappdelle with beef cheeks, crème fraische, and killbuck valley mushrooms. Rene had selected the Gnocchi with Pork Ragu (all homemade), tomato and parmesan. And I had selected the Duck Prociutto Pizza with egg, parmesan and rosemary. It was at this point that I realized the biggest advantage to dining with others; the opportunity to try multiple dishes. After the pictures, we passed the plates around so each person could get a few bites off each of the plates.

The pappardelle was the first thing I tried. Honestly, there is nothing like homemade pasta. It just has a fresh, light flavor that can’t be matched. Add to it amazingly tender and wonderfully cooked beef cheeks and you have a delicious dinner. Next, I tried the walleye. At first, Charles wondered if I would be ok with fish, being that I’m from Seattle. I assured him that as long as it was a local wild caught, I would be up for it, and it absolutely would. The fish was perfectly cooked ,nice and flaky and tender while still full of flavor. It had some greens with it which I thought actually took away from the taste of the delicious fish. That left the gnocchi. The first thing that hit me was the lightness of the gnocchi; far lighter than any I’ve ever cooked or tried. The pork ragu was definitely good and very flavorful. Had I not ordered the pizza, this would have been my choice, and I absolutely would not have been disappointed.

Finally, after eating everyone else’s food I dove into mine. My first thought was, I won the food lottery. The flavors of the pizza were like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. The egg added a great flavor to the pizza, but it was the cracker crust and the salty prosciutto that really set it apart. I don’t really know how to describe duck prosciutto other than to say if you take your regular pork prosciutto and multiply the deliciousness by 10, then you get duck prosciutto. It was one of those meals where I thought “I’m stuffed, but if another appeared in front of me, I would finish it”. Then the next day I thought I wish I had that pizza for breakfast. Just an incredible combination of flavors.

After the meal that left everyone completely satisfied, we decided to take a look at the dessert menu. This ended up being a mistake in that as soon as you look at the menu, you can’t help but order something. I decided I would give the warm toffee pudding a try, while Rene went for the Lemon Pound Cake (made with Olive Oil instead of butter) and Charles did the vanilla gelato. The toffee pudding could best be described as dangerous; meaning as long as it was in front of you, it was impossible to stop eating. Just delicious and flavorful. The lemon pound cake was good, but you definitely missed the butter. And the gelato was flavorful, but it was no Fainting Goat. In fact, it had a little more of an ice cream flavor than a gelato flavor.

At the end of the meal, we were all completely satisfied. The meal was absolutely delicious, and it was without a doubt worth the trip into Cleveland. When the bill came we were all shocked to see that the grand total was a paltry $150 for all four of us! Up to this point I didn’t think it was possible to get food of that quality for that price. In the end, my colleagues were actually glad that I talked them into making the trip to Lolita. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere perfectly lent itself to the type of evening that we were looking for. From my perspective, the appetizers absolutely blew away the previous evening at Lola, but the entrée and the dessert were a little less, leading to an overall balanced score. And , we learned two important lessons when eating at Lolita; go there often because the menu is ever evolving, and if you go on a Tuesday, get there before 6 to enjoy the suckling pig roast.

Final Verdict - 4.5 stars

Deck on Lola - Cleveland Restaurant Review

Of all my work destinations, Cleveland had been one of my least favorites.  My dining experiences haven't been that great, and lately I had resorted to staying in my hotel room and just ordering room service.  That was until about a month ago.  While watching The Best Thing I Ever Ate on the Food Network, I was shocked to find out that Iron Chef Michael Symon is not only from Cleveland, but has two restaurants there.  Not to mention that some of his favorite places to eat are in Cleveland.  I jotted down some notes, telling myself that the next time I was in town, I would seek out one of the places and see if my trips to Cleveland could be salvaged.

Tonight, after my meetings wrapped up, I headed down town to start my "Michael Symon Restaurant Tour of Cleveland".  I didn't take the most direct route so it took awhile and I was getting a little frustrated, but I was trying to remain optimistic.  My plan was to go to the Greenhouse Tavern, and the menu looked fantastic, so I definitely had something to look forward to.  As I was getting closer, I realized that it was in a part of area I hadn't been to, and that it seemed like an area that could be fun.  I eventually arrived on 4th St, and parked across from the House of Blues (another new finding for me).  I got out and headed toward the Greenhouse Tavern.  That's when I noticed the sign for Lola, Michael Symon's flagship restaurant.  I figured that since I was right there, it would be silly to not eat at an Iron Chef's restaurant (I mean, I'd like to eat a meal from at least one restaurant by each of them).  I walked the extra half block to Lola and headed in.

As I approached the bar, I was greeted warmly by the bartender, and offered a dinner and drink menu.  I scanned the menu, looking at all of the delicious sounding meals.  So, I did what I've come to do lately, ask for advice.  For an appetizer she recommended the lobster or the Hawaiian crudo.  For an entree, she suggested the pasta if I wanted something vegetarian, the scallops for fish, and that they were known for their pork dishes; the shank was a little lighter, the chop a little more "robust".  So, quickly evaluating her recommendations, I selected the Hawaiian Crudo "Teriyaki" and the Smoked Berkshire Pork Chop. 

After what couldn't have been more than 5-10 minutes, the crudo arrived.  Normally I don't order fish when I come to the middle of the country (especially since I'm from Seattle), especially when it is a raw preparation, but I figured if I was going to make an exception, I would do it at Lola.  The crudo was yellowfin tuna seasoned with soy, pineapple, habanero, and cilantro.  The flavors were very nice, though surprisingly not spicy considering that it included the habanero pepper.  The best flavors were when the soy and pineapple were eaten together.  Finishing it off, I was pleased, though not overwhelmed.  I've had very good yellowfin in Seattle.  But, things were looking up compared to most of my previous Cleveland dining experiences.

Next up was the smoked pork chop, which arrived again fairly quickly.  The pork chop was served with peppers, chessy polenta and barbequed onions, and was prepared medium per the chef's recommendation.  I cut into a piece, scooped a little bit of polenta, took a bite, and was blown away.  The pork was just deliciously seasoned; not overpowering, but very nicely balanced.  But it was the smokiness that really took it to another level and provided that extra depth of flavor.  Then there was the polenta.  When I make a cheesy polenta, it could be described as a polenta with cheese.  When Michael Symon makes polenta, it could be described as cheese with polenta, and fantastic.  And that was just the first bite.  As I worked my way through I got to the peppers which were just delicious, and the barbeque onion were like nothing I'd ever tasted.  I devoured the meal, coming up for air every now and then, savoring every bite.  When I got down to the end, I didn't hesitate to pick up the bone with my fingers and get every last piece of pork.

At the end of the meal, I just sat back in my chair very happy and very content and sipped on what was left of my wine.  I was planning on simply finishing my wine and heading back to the hotel, but decided to at least take a look at the dessert menu.  As I was scanning it, four magic words jumped out at me; "Maple Bacon Ice Cream".  I couldn't help myself.  It could have said maple bacon ice cream on shoe leather, I was ordering it.  Fortunately came not on shoe leather, but with poundcake french toast and carmelized apples; known simply as the 6 a.m. Special.  Sounds delicious, right?  It tasted even better than it sounds.  The ice cream was incredible as expected, and just worked very nicely with everything else.

Needless to say, when I finally finished, and paid the bill (a respectable $70 with tip) I was very pleased.  I feel like I'd been a little overly harsh on Cleveland.  Michael Symon has single handidly renewed my interest in the food scene of Cleveland.  And even though I still think that Bobby Flay has an edge on him when it comes to overall flavors, I did walk out with a signed copy of Michael Symon's cookbook and can't wait to try some of the delicious looking and sounding dishes.

Final Verdict - 4.5 Stars