Goldilocks Rebooted

Come, gentle readers, gather 'round. It's story time and I have one that will be right up your alley. Er, or maybe not.

As a result of my multiple trips up to dine at Cork & Cleaver Social Kitchen and gather intel for my review on them, I noticed a restaurant called Clearview Inn on the corner of Cleveland-Massillon and Everett Roads. Should you go to the almighty Google to locate them on Google Maps, DO NOT believe the results. Google Maps puts the restaurant about a half a mile further south on Cleveland-Massillon Road than they actually are.

Having driven past the restaurant enough times, it finally piqued my curiosity enough to actually look them up online. Interestingly, while they do have a perfectly fine and functioning website, when it comes time to take a gander at their menus online, while there is a landing page for both the lunch and the dinner menu, links and/or PDF files are suitably missing. Sadly, no amount of digging around the Internet would yield anything other than the fact that the Clearview Inn specializes in steaks, chops, and seafood. I decided to remedy the situation with a visit.

My first visit was on a Thursday night, around 6:30, on a night when there wasn't any entertainment (which according to my server is a big thing at Clearview Inn). When I walked in, I discovered more of a bar-like atmosphere than a restaurant, although there were plenty of empty linen-covered tables. The woman tending the bar told me I could sit wherever I'd like. A glass of water and a menu followed shortly thereafter.

Here was the Dinner Menu:

Dinner Menu

Based on how much the print had faded on my menu, I'm guessing the menu didn't change very often. I also noticed that most of the steaks, chops, and seafood were in the $20-$30 price range, a touch on the pricey side for the Akron area. However, with Ken Stewart's two joints just down the road, the Clearview Inn seemed in-line to compete with them. On the last page was a section called, "On The Lighter Side". Reading the items in this section (Southern Fried Chicken?), it occurred to me that "lighter" must refer to the price points rather than the calorie counts.

While I wasn't quite in the mood for a steak, the scallops sounded like a lovely choice. After placing my order, standard bread service arrived a few minutes later:

Dinner Roll and Butter

The roll was fresh and warm and the butter soft. What can I say? It was a good roll.

In addition to my entree, I decided to start my meal out with a cup of the Shrimp and Corn Chowder:

Shrimp and Corn Chowder

While the soup was hot and had a nice flavor, the two items that I noticed right away were the thinness of the soup (almost a broth) and the lack of actual shrimp in the soup. While I wasn't expecting whole pieces of shrimp to be floating in the soup, by the time I reached the bottom of the bowl the only shrimp I found was a few links of the tail-side end of the shrimp ... sans shrimp! I don't doubt that shrimp and shrimp shells were used to flavor the soup, but it'd be nice to see a bit of the actual shellfish given its use in the description.

My entree came with a rather standard garden salad. I asked for mine with the homemade White French Dressing on the side:

Garden Salad with White French Dressing

Containing an assortment of iceberg lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumber slices, and red onion, there was nothing particularly special about this salad. The white french dressing added some necessary zip, flavor and seasoning. Sometimes you eat something because it tastes good; sometimes you eat something because it is (or at least you think it is) good for you. This salad falls into the latter category.

My entree, the Seared Sea Scallops with Asparagus, showed up just as I was finished my salad:

Sea Scallops

Let me break down the plate for you a bit, gentle reader. In addition to what appeared to be half a pound of asparagus, there were five scallops of various sizes arranged around the plate. Some were seared nicely to a golden brown and others, a tad more blonde. A sherry butter sauce lined the plate and a dusting of chopped parsley added a bit of color to the whiteness of the backdrop. At a $27 price point for the scallops, I expected quite a bit more in terms of uniformity of scallops, the inclusion of a starch of some kind, and honestly, just better plating. I'm not sure who decided that a half-pound of asparagus was a wise portion size for the average diner, but I would've preferred half the asparagus and the inclusion of some rice pilauf or maybe some mashed or roasted potatoes.

Regardless of the presentation, what really counted was how well the food was prepared and how it tasted. Sadly, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, because the sizes of the scallops were all over the place, the smaller ones were overcooked and rubbery, the middle one was nearly perfect and the larger ones were undercooked and raw in the middle. The sherry butter sauce was tasty, if a bit on the thin side. I only managed to eat half of the asparagus, although it was tender and had good flavor. Overall, I'd say the dish was average, which is not what I expected for $27.

I decided to return for my second meal on the following Friday, this time for lunch. In addition to the dinner menu, a standard lunch menu was also available:

Lunch Menu

Having already experienced the dinner menu, I decided to focus on items from the lunch menu, starting with a cup of the Mushroom Bisque:

Mushroom Bisque

As opposed to the shrimp and corn chowder I had experienced during my previous visit, the mushroom bisque was thick, hearty, and full of not only great mushroom flavor, but also mushroom pieces themselves. A bowl of this and a nice salad and you'd have yourself a very filling lunch. Fortunately, the cup provided a lovely taste while still leaving room for more food.

For my lunch proper, after scanning the menu quite thoroughly, I opted for the Buffalo and Bird Burger:

Buffalo and Bird Burger

I am a big proponent of ordering straight off the menu when evaluating food for the blog. Sometimes the chef just knows better and I don't want to go mucking around with a recipe that was designed to be a specific way. However, when I saw that the egg was cooked over-medium, I asked instead if they would cook it sunny side up. I mean, isn't the runny yolk part of the appeal of putting a fried egg on a burger? Fortunately, my server said that it wouldn't be a problem.

When my burger finally arrived at the table, I used a steak knife to cut the burger in half to examine the middle. Knowing that buffalo meat could be fairly lean, I had ordered the burger cooked medium. Sadly, while the burger had been cooked closer to well done, at least it wasn't dried out. I also noticed that the burger meat was adulterated with bits of red pepper and onions strewn throughout the patty, presumably to add flavor and help keep the meat juicy. I was eating more of a meatloaf-esque buffalo burger than a straight up 100% ground buffalo patty.

As for the taste, it was a decent enough burger. The seasoning was right and the bun was toasted and substantial. It wasn't the best burger I've ever had, but it was far from being the worst. The menu indicates that the burger comes with lettuce, tomato, and onion, but my plate came devoid of any vegetation for the burger. I chose a side of the homemade potato salad which basically consisted of potatoes, celery, scallions, mayonnaise-based dressing and seasoning. It was potato salad, yes, but it was rather plain, to be honest.

Lunch was obviously far more economical than my previous dinner, coming it at around $15 plus the tip. I realized fairly early on in my experience with the Clearview Inn that this is the kind of dining establishment that would've appealed to my late grandfather. When he went out for dinner, he expected the steak to arrive on one plate with a sprig of parsley and the potato to come on a separate plate. Plate presentation was of little importance to him. That he could have ordered a Black Velvet manhattan and probably gotten one at this establishment says more about a previous generation of restaurant goers.

In the end, I was only moderately impressed with the food. However, the service when I went both times was responsive and pleasant. To be fair, I didn't go during a day when they had entertainment; your mileage may vary if you go then. For value, I'd recommend lunch over dinner and quite frankly, dinner only gets an average passing grade for the quality and execution of the food. If I had $27 to blow on scallops, I can think of several other restaurants who would get that business instead.

Arnie's Steak House For An Old-Fashioned Steak

My grandfather was always a traditionalist when it came to the plating of his food. While I took him to many of the newer and swankier restaurants while he was still alive, invariably his biggest complaints never centered around the flavor of the food, but the complexity with which the food was arranged on the plate. He simply failed to comprehend that modern day chefs are concerned as much with the visual presentation of the food as to its taste. I don't know if my grandfather came from a time when presentation wasn't as critical or if that was just how he was hard-wired, but more than once I entertained the question, "Why can't they just put the steak on one plate and the side on another?"

It seems that there are still a few stalwarts out there that cater to this plating whim. Diamond Grille in downtown Akron, Ohio is one of them. Another, much less commonly known steak house is Arnie's on State Route 14 in Ravenna, Ohio. Nestled in amongst the lakes in the West Branch National Park region, Arnie's Steak House represented an era when decor took second fiddle to the food. That's not to say that Arnie's didn't have ambiance. It just didn't represent the sparkly, whiz-bang architecture of modern eateries.

Arnie's was located at 5343 Oh-14, Ravenna, OH 44266 and can be reached at 330-297-1717. There was no website associated directly with the restaurant at the time of this writing. Parking was in a lot just outside of the restaurant. One thing that can always be said about Arnie's was how quickly they fill up for dinner. Tonight I decided to go during the Early Bird hours (4:30-6:00 PM) in order to hopefully avoid the crowds.

Here was a shot of the sign that was visible from State Route 14:


As much as the outside of the building was nothing particularly noteworthy, the inside was equally as barren. In fact, as you'll see in most of the following photographs, it was quite dim inside, as if they were trying to de-emphasize your surroundings. Given the decor that existed inside Arnie's, it looked as if it hasn't been redecorated in decades. That being said, I was here to evaluate the food, not whether the white tablecloth was spotless (which didn't really apply since there weren't any tablecloths on any of the tables ... plain green paper placemats were all that adorned each tabletop).

Here was a shot of the Early Bird menu:


While I am always a fan of getting to try out a restaurant's food at either a reduced portion size or price, tonight I was here for Arnie's signature item, a steak, and the Early Bird menu just didn't seem to deliver in that department. Instead, I decided to focus my attention on their regular dinner menu:





Interestingly enough, specific items listed on the menu are demarcated with a small leaf to indicate that they are signature items. What surprised me was that while the Ribeye steak had this symbol next to it, none of the other cuts of steak did. When I asked my server about it, she seemed confused and had no idea why one steak would have it and none of the others. She assured me that all of the steaks were Arnie's specialties. Appetizers were available, but I decided that I wasn't super hungry tonight, so I didn't order one (even though the onion rings were also marked as a specialty). I decided to go with a Petit Filet tonight. The menu didn't list how big most of the steaks actually were, so I'm guessing that based on what I was served, it was more than likely between five and six ounces, which would be in-line with other steak houses. This also led to me to conclude that the regular Filet would likely come in between ten and twelve ounces.

After placing my order, bread and butter arrived at my table:


The bread was fresh and warm and the crust had just a slight bit of chew to it. It appeared to be an Italian loaf, sans seeds. While certainly not an artisan loaf of bread (which would seem oddly out of place in a restaurant like Arnie's), it did an excellent job of whetting my appetite for the meal to come.

Every steak dinner also came with a garden salad:


While I certainly didn't expect anything more creative than your basic mixture of Iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, green peppers red onion slices and salty croutons, I was a touch surprised when both the plate and the salad arrived at my table ice cold. Clearly these had been plated earlier in the day and stored in a reach-in or walk-in until needed for service. When I had asked about available dressings, the list turned into a Who's Who of prepared food service staples. Until, that was, she said, "Honey Lemon." Now, I don't know if "honey" and "lemon" were the end of one flavor and the beginning of the next, but the way she said it, it not only sounded like it was its own flavor, but also an unusual enough flavor that it would likely be homemade. When I asked for "honey lemon on the side, please," she nodded and repeated "honey lemon" as she wrote it down on her order pad.

I'm not exactly sure where the disconnect was, but what accompanied my salad was not Honey Lemon dressing, but your standard Honey MUSTARD dressing. I didn't ask her about it again when she returned to check on me because a) I figured that what was really being offered was not Honey Lemon, but Honey Mustard and b) I like Honey Mustard dressing. I like it even more when it is homemade, but this version wasn't terrible either.

I finished my salad just a few minutes before my steak and side arrived:


My grandfather definitely would've approved and probably uttered a, "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about." I understand that some of the bigger cuts of steak would've occupied more of the platter, but I have to say that my Petit Filet looked even tinier on such a large plate. While I was only expecting a single sprig of parsley as a garnish, tonight's adornment was a lettuce leaf with an orange segment perched atop. The steak, sitting in a pool of its own jus, had the characteristic quadrillage, or criss-cross hashmarks, on both the top and the bottom. This told me that the steak had been cooked on top of a grill as opposed to broiled under the salamander.

I easily cut into the steak to reveal a perfect medium-rare temperature:


I placed that first bite into my mouth and was rewarded with a tender, juicy steak that had been seasoned on both the top and bottom. While it was definitely a step up from places that don't season the meat at all, it still needed a bit more. Perhaps I have become used to popular modern restaurants where seasoning can be aggressive. Instead of adding more salt, however, I discovered that the jus that had come out of the steak was already properly seasoned, so instead as I cut each bite, I simply dragged it through the liquidy sauce on my plate before eating it. Problem solved. By the time I got to the end of my steak, I was glad I had only ordered the Petit Filet. The full-size Filet, while only about $6 more, would've been way too much meat for me.

For my included side, I decided to go with the Sliced Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Butter:


While I've had variations of this dish countless times at other restaurants, something about it both appealed to me and yet felt unfinished. I get that the idea was to pair a lightly flavored cooked sweet potato with something sweet and spicy (as in cinnamon spicy), but the flavors never felt like they properly locked in. Arnie's version was exactly in that camp. The sweet potato was soft and cut easily and the brown sugar and cinnamon butter added the usual sweet, spicy, and creamy elements to the dish, but it lacked a certain "something." As I sat there trying to figure it out, it occurred to me that perhaps what the dish needed was just the tiniest bit of salt. Salt is commonly used in sweet dishes, if only in very small amounts, to help elevate the sweet flavors.

Using the salt shaker provided on the table, I sprinkled about an 1/8 teaspoon into my right palm and then used the thumb and forefinger on my left hand to sprinkle the remaining sweet potatoes with a very light coating of salt. I then loaded up my fork with all of the elements and took a bite. Eureka! That's what was missing. All of the sweet flavors seemed to intensify and instead of it tasting salty, it just tasted more like itself, but only brighter. I definitely know how I'll be preparing this dish (or doctoring it up if it's being served in a restaurant) from this point forward.

When the check finally came, with tax it came out to just slightly over $20 (including water to drink). While this could still be pricey for some, for the quality of the steak and given that it was cooked perfectly, was a pretty good deal considering that at some of the bigger steak house chains, it would have been considerably more. While the rest of the food was rather pedestrian and not particularly inventive, I have to say that I did enjoy my meal tonight at Arnie's and wouldn't hesitate to return again for another meal knowing that I won't be breaking the bank to do so. It's safe to say that Arnie's isn't exactly accessible to those from any of the major cities in northeast Ohio, but if you are looking for some of that old school steak house charm from yesteryear, they are definitely worth seeking out.

The Gruesome Grotto

Until recently, The Grotto called Merriman Road in The Valley (Akron, not Cleveland) home. I've had numerous people ask me about it, but I never got around to eating there, so I never knew what to say. Then, a few months ago, an announcement was made in the Akron Beacon Journal that The Grotto had now moved into a larger, more modern facility on the southeast side of Tallmadge Circle in Tallmadge, OH. The new facility could accommodate more diners and had banquet rooms capable of seating hundreds more. The address listed on the website linked to earlier lists the OLD address. The correct address is 360 West Ave, Tallmadge, OH 44278 and their phone number is (330) 633-5656.

The crowds were horrendous on opening week and continued that way for about a month. I noticed about a week ago as I was driving home from a friend's house on a weeknight that the parking lot seemed much more manageable now. Thus, it was without a reservation that I showed up on a Thursday night at 6:30 PM and asked for a table for 1. I needn't have worried I wouldn't get a seat. While I didn't check the bar side, the dining room had perhaps 20-25 diners in the midst of eating dinner. Thinking that this must be because of the downturn in the economy, I proceeded to start looking through the menu.

I asked my server, Brandye (nope, not a spelling mistake), to make some recommendations as I was a first time visitor. She quickly confessed that she was a vegetarian and really hadn't tried a lot of the dishes, but based on what people ordered, she suggested a few items. Most of the meat dishes didn't list sides and the sides that were listed were under the "A la carte" section of the menu. Noticing that "risotto" was listed as one of the sides and that Brandye may have in fact tried it since it probably didn't contain meat, I asked her about it. Sadly, she hadn't tried it, but suggested that she could bring me a small sample and I could decide for myself.

Not realizing that all the entrees come with a salad, your choice of side and the garlic mashers, I went ahead and ordered a soup and an appetizer. That way, when the risotto came out, I could decide if I liked it and would then order my entree and side. She also mentioned that fresh bread was about five minutes from coming out and I said that I had no problem waiting for fresh bread.

I went to the restroom to freshen up and when I returned, this was waiting for me:


This was not listed as any particular kind of risotto, but it had small pieces of what I originally thought were crab, but in fact turned out to be roasted red peppers. It was okay, a little too cheesy for my taste. It didn't really have a distinct flavor of its own. Is it the worst risotto I've ever had? No, but it was less than average, too.

It was at this point that the bread and butter were brought to the table. It looked decent enough sitting in the basket. I went ahead and placed my entree and side order and decided to dive into the hot bread.


Unforuntately, when I pulled off a quarter (it was pre-cut), I discovered that this loaf was undercooked and completely gummy in the middle:


This just wasn't very good at all. This wasn't even the case of cutting into hot bread after baking the loaf. This would've been undercooked and gummy hot or cold. After having to take out most of the center, you were left with little else.

For my soup, I ordered a cup of the French Onion soup, which is a standard on the menu (i.e. not the soup du jour). It had a nice caramelized cheesy crust on top:


Oddly enough, my server didn't bring me a soup spoon to eat this with. Ah well, I just used my dinner spoon. There wasn't a single crouton on top of the soup, but smaller croutons both on top (under the cheese) and distributed through the soup. The soup was intense, but I think it needed a bit of acid to liven it up a bit. Maybe some sherry vinegar. This was also the first place I noticed the minced garlic. Turns out that The Grotto tends to use a lot of minced garlic in their dishes. Unfortunately, even though I don't object to the garlic in the soup, shouldn't the soup have been cooked long enough to basically break down the little chunks?

After the soup came my unexpected salad. I had asked for the house dressing which is a homemade red wine vinaigrette. The salad? Plain and boring. The dressing? Interesting, but lacked appropriate seasoning and any kind of punch to make it effective.


This course was forgettable.

I have to tell you that I stared at the Appetizer list for a good while trying to find something that sounded good. I'm sorry, but when did a place supposedly known for its seafood and steaks put Buffalo wings on their appetizer menu? Honestly. I wound up selecting the mussels cooked in a white wine and garlic broth.


The mussels were cooked well and texturally they were fine. Unfortunately I noticed some of the mussels hadn't been cleaned properly as a bit of their beard were still on the outside of the shell. There was a ton of that same minced garlic through the mussels as well as a surprising amount of shredded cheese. Yes, you heard me, cheese. And beyond just the problem of pairing cheese with mussels was that some of the cheese had melted and some had not. The broth did nothing for this dish. Normally the broth is the best part. Unfortunately, the kitchen had coated the grilled bread with a, you guessed it, garlic butter, so they were completely ineffective at soaking up any of the broth. Not that I really wanted all that much of the broth.

By the way, the appetizer portion was enough for an entire meal. I don't know why restaurant put these enormous appetizers on the menu and then charge twice the price of what it should have been. I'm glad I didn't go with my first instinct and order two appetizers instead of a soup and an appetizer.

Finally, my entree arrived. Pork medallions with a mushroom and Marsala wine sauce and asparagus with hollandaise.


My server, the self-avowed vegetarian, actually said, "Wow, this really looks good!" Foreshadowing at its best.

I assure you, that plate is untouched. This is how I received it from the kitchen. This cost $26. Clearly whomever was running the pass in the kitchen tonight skipped the day in culinary school where they talk about good presentation. On the left side of the plate are the pork medallions. In the middle of the plate was another representation of garlic, the garlic mashers (as they call them). And of course, on the middle/right is the asparagus.

But wait, I hear you saying ... wasn't the side supposed to be asparagus with hollandaise? Why, yes, yes it is. A closer inspection of the asparagus ...


As soon as my server set down the plate I mentioned the missing hollandaise and she assured me that yes, it was definitely on there. I said, "Ummm ... are you sure?" She offered to get me a side of hollandaise from the kitchen and I agreed. If you also look closely below the asparagus, you can see the not-so-wonderfully broken Marsala wine sauce. Clearly they mounted the butter into the sauce and then boiled it. Harumph.

While waiting for my side of hollandaise I started tasting various things on the plate. Marsala wine sauce? Broken, but otherwise okay. The garlic mashers? Nice pepper flavor, but underseasoned and honestly they were the consistency of glue. Almost no integrity. The pork? Ah, the pork. Once again covered in the minced garlic, the seasoning was fine but they were beyond well done. I had ordered the dish with the pork cooked to medium. Medium this was not. Again, clearly they had presliced the medallions and cooked them individually in the saute pan instead of cooking a nice piece of tenderloin and then slicing the medallions.

By this point I had come to the conclusion that this was just one culinary disaster after another. Had the rest of the meal been up to snuff, I might have sent it back to the kitchen and had them re-fire the dish, but I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that this was how the pork came out however one ordered it.

Finally, my server returned with a small ramekin of hollandaise. It looked okay, but then I took my spoon and began to play with it a bit.



The consistency was very thin. The taste was mostly egg yolk. Not nearly enough butter. And it lacked seasoning and brightness that a squeeze of lemon could've brought out. And it was room temperature. This surprised me more than anything else. I spooned some over the asparagus. Initially you could see it, but sure enough, within about 10 seconds, it all but disappeared into the nether regions of the plate. Strangely enough, the asparagus were pretty decent, even though the hollandaise was literally non-existent.

Finally, I had to try and get a shot of the well done pork. This thing was dry as a bone. No amount of sauce could help this.


With that, I said enough is enough and asked for the check. With one glass of red wine, my bill with tax came to $50. Now, I know that when I go out to eat and post on my blog, I am being hypercritical. I have to be, that's how I discern myself from the average eater out there. But I have to say that for $50 (and only $6 of that was for a glass of wine), people deserve a LOT more.

To revisit an earlier thought in this posting - I originally thought the restaurant was dead because of the economy. Now I realize it's because of the food.

My server, however, was professional and helpful. Well, as helpful as she could be having not tasted 3/4 of the menu.