Red Rover, Red Rover, Let Dante Come Over

Prepare yourself, gentle reader, for a lengthy blog post today. In trying to give Dante Boccuzzi's new Akron-based D.B.A. restaurant as much chance to impress as possible (or not), I ended up going to the restaurant twice during its opening week and have included both experiences in this one post.

D.B.A. (aka Dante Boccuzzi Akron) is Dante's latest restaurant opening and his first in the Akron area. Located in the old Vegiterranean space situated across the street from Luigi's, it doesn't represent a brand new concept for him, but merely an extension of his current offerings at Restaurant Dante in Tremont and The DC Pasta Company in Strongsville. That being said, there are far fewer restaurants in Akron to compete directly with D.B.A., both in terms of cuisine and price.

D.B.A. was located at 21 Furnace Street, Akron, OH 44308 and can be reached at 330-375-5050 or by fax at 330-375-1670. While there is parking available in a lot across the street from D.B.A., it can be tricky to find a spot as Luigi's shares the same parking space. I was easily able to find a space to park during my first visit on a Tuesday. For my second visit on a Friday night, I gladly paid the $4 valet charge to not have to worry about it.

Once inside, I was impressed at how the interior had been transformed from the rather hard and edgy space of its predecessor to the more broken up and darker look that the restaurant space currently has. One of the problems that Vegiterranean always seemed to have in the past was that when full, the noise levels were extremely high and it was often difficult to have a conversation with dinner companions without having to yell at them. Smartly, the bar area now has a wall between it and the main dining room and the space at the front of the restaurant has been converted into small nooks, each containing three or four tables.

As Dante is also a musician, cleverly, the dinner menu comes presented on an LP album with an actual record inside:

Just as with Dante's other restaurants, many of the dishes are offered at various sizes, from a tasting to an appetizer to an entree sized portion. As a restaurant reviewer, I greatly appreciate this because it can be difficult when going out by yourself to get as many tastes as possible during a single visit. Immediately, my brain began to devise a plan on how to get the maximum number of courses for a minimum amount of cash.

While there was no prix fixe meal available at D.B.A. (at least, my server didn't indicate that there was one available on my first visit), I decided to take matters into my own hands and ordered a five course progression, three from the appetizer section, one from the pasta section, and a final course from the entree section of the menu.

Within just a few seconds of placing my order, standard Restaurant Dante bread service arrived at my table:

The breads are sourced from a variety of locales (one of which is Mediterra in Pittsburgh) and arrived in an old vinyl LP that has been heated, remolded, and shaped into a bread basket. The hummos that accompanied the bread was also identical to what is served at Restaurant Dante. Both were fresh and delicious and a nice way to start the meal.

What came next was the onslaught of food I had originally ordered, each course skillfully arriving at my table only mere moments after my previous course had been removed and new silverware carefully placed in front of me. First up was the half portion of the Mackenzie Goat Cheese appetizer:

I had assumed that the chevre would be inside the fried squash blossom, but it was actually under the dressed salad greens. The squash blossom was exquisitely fried -- crispy, tender, and not greasy -- and seasoned perfectly. All of the elements on the plate worked very well together, but the one standout that made my mouth swoon was the zucchini agrodolce. It was sweet and sour (as the name would imply) with just a touch of heat to it.

The next course was one of the menu's many vegan offerings, the half portion of the Asparagus Salad:

In addition to the shaved asparagus, there were asparagus spears, frisee, pickled Chanterelles, and an eggless bearnaise that served as the dressing. The seasoning of this dish was a bit uneven as the frisee was more heavily salted and the asparagus a little less. But, at the end of the day, when combining a little bit of each element from the plate, everything evened out and I thought it was quite tasty. The eggless bearnaise (I'm assuming the yellow color probably comes from the use of tumeric) worked quite well and gave the salad an acidity and richness that really balanced the other flavors well.

The next course to cross my table was the Crispy Calamari and Rock Shrimp appetizer:

Accompanying the fried items was a chile-spiced mayonnaise and sliced pickled Shiitake mushrooms. The spiced mayonnaise had a considerable amount of heat, but nothing that I would consider excessive. The squid and shrimp were very tender and the coating on both was crispy and not greasy. The only real complaint I had regarding this dish was that the rock shrimp were fairly aggressively seasoned and the calamari a tad underseasoned. Eaten together, they balanced each other out, but woe to the diner who decided to eat three or four rock shrimp in a row.

Having finished three appetizer courses, my fourth course came from the middle portion of the menu. Items from here were available as a taste, an appetizer-sized portion, and as a full entree. I decided to go with an appetizer-sized portion of the Arborio Risotto Carbonara:

The portion was HUGE. It might be because I had already eaten three courses already, but I realized as soon as this was sat in front of me that I should've ordered the tasting size. I immediately knew that I would be leaving the restaurant with leftovers.

Nestled in the center of the dish was a soft poached egg with a small dollop of black truffle puree next to it. The trick, of course, is to break open the egg and stir the contents of the bowl together before eating it (much like the Korean bibimbap). After thoroughly mixing, I took my first bite. First, the good points. It was rich. It was earthy. It was creamy. The pancetta has excellent texture. Second, the not-so-good points. It was incredibly salty.  Just to rule out the possibility of the pancetta's salt being the culprit, I made sure I found a forkful that had none in it. I repeated the experiment several more times. I quickly reached for my water. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't inedible. It just wasn't balanced. I ate about one-third of this dish before asking for the remainder to be boxed up.

The final course of this first evening at D.B.A. was the Seared Sea Scallops:

Perched atop three potato cakes, the scallops were dressed with balsamic glazed strawberries and lemon zest strips. In between the scallop mounds was fresh arugula, baby Shiitake mushrooms, and sliced dehydrated strawberries. As opposed to my fourth course tonight, this one was spot on. The scallops were cooked perfectly, seared brown on the outside and beautifully translucent on the inside, the strawberries and balsamic played so well together on my tongue. The salad had a lovely bit of pepperiness to it and the dehyrdrated strawberries really reinforced the fresh strawberry flavor nicely. The only thing I didn't care for was the texture on the lemon zest "strips." While I dig the visual presentation of the strip, I think I might have preferred a more finely grated zest.

My second visit to D.B.A. was during the same week as my first, but this time on a very busy Friday evening. Whereas I had been seated at a small corner table in the main room before, this time we were seated at a small two top right by the front window. One of the trickier aspects of food photography when done in a restaurant setting is the natural light coming in through the windows in the evening. The color temperature of the light can change rapidly as the sun sets and over the course of our two and a half hour meal, I found myself recalibrating the white balance on my camera in between each course and actually having to use light painting on my dessert course because of the lack of good light.

To start off tonight's meal, I went with the half portion of the vegan-friendly Cold Soup:

Made from heirloom tomatoes, it also had a basil cream mousse and was dotted with bits of crisped pita bread. The acidity and sweetness of balsamic vinegar added to the complexity of flavor in this quite delicious and refreshing dish. The seasoning was spot on and the crispy pita added a wonderful textural contrast to the smoothness of the soup and the mousse. Truly, this was an excellent way to start my second visit at D.B.A.

My next course was also from the appetizer portion of the menu and was something I had been eying since I first gazed upon the on-line menu, the Hudson Valley Foie Gras:

Served over a raspberry short cake and topped with duck prosciutto, this dish truly delivered in every way possible. As I took my first bite, I think my eyes must have rolled back in my head just a little bit as I savored the wonderful balance of salty, sweet and tart from the various components of the dish. While this is one pricey appetizer at $19 (indeed it is more expensive than several of the entrees), I decided to consider this my entree for the evening and was very happy that I did. The raspberries, both used as a garnish and baked into the short cake added a very necessary amount of acid to combat the heavy richness of the foie gras. I'd order this again in a heartbeat.

For the next course, my dining companion and I each ordered a "tasting" portion ($5 each) of one of D.B.A.'s pastas and decided to share them with each other. The Pappardelle alla Bolognese is a popular dish at Restaurant Dante and makes its appearance on D.B.A.'s menu, too:

This dish was rich and hearty, the pasta was cooked perfectly, and the veal, pork, and beef ragu that dressed the noodles was present without being too much. Honestly, if I wasn't attempting to get in as many tastes of the menu as possible, I could be a happy man with a nice big plate of this pasta.

I, on the other hand, ordered the Green Spaghetti:

Topped with garlic braised rock shrimp, spinach, poor man's cheese, and finished with crispy bread crumbs, this pasta also delivered, albeit with a little less intensity than the pappardelle. Once again the pasta was cooked and dressed perfectly, but I felt that the rock shrimp were a bit too salty. I had first noticed this when I tried the Crispy Calamari and Rock Shrimp appetizer on my first visit. I'm not sure whether the shrimp themselves are naturally salty or if the coating used on the shrimp is the culprit.

My final savory course on my second visit was the appetizer-sized portion ($12) of the Hong Kong Style Mussels:

As opposed to the appetizer-sized portion of the Arborio Risotto I had ordered during my first visit, this time, the portion was perfectly in line with what I had room for in my stomach. The mussels were tender and flavorful and all except one of them had steamed open during the cooking process. The broth had been infused with chiles, lime and cilantro and while the broth by itself was a bit aggressive in seasoning, when paired with the sweet mussels, it was a nice complement. One thing that was missing from this dish was a nice piece of grilled bread to soak up some of the broth. Fortunately, I asked my server for some fresh bread and she was happy to oblige.

While I didn't have room for dessert on my first visit, on this second one I purposely made sure not to stuff myself such that I couldn't sample something from the dessert menu:

Continuing in the vein of cleverness, while the regular dinner menu was presented on the album cover of an LP, the dessert menu came on the liner notes of a Compact Disc.

After considering all of my options, I ended up going with the Double Baked Chocolate Brownie:

I had originally thought that perhaps the brownie would be more like a biscotti, the twice-baked Italian pastries that are often dipped into coffee or espresso to soften. Instead, what arrived was a nut-free brownie wrapped in phyllo, brushed with butter and then baked until golden brown. Paired with a stone fruit compote, chocolate sauce, and a scoop of apricot sorbet, this turned out to be an unusual, but delicious dessert. The brownie, even though it had been twice baked, was decadent and moist and the tartness from the apricot sorbet did a great job of cleansing my palate from the rich and sweet brownie. The chocolate sauce didn't do a whole lot for me and something like a raspberry coulis might have better served this dessert.

Over the course of two visits, I was able to try eleven of the twenty-nine dishes on D.B.A.'s current dinner and dessert menus. Of them all, while the seasoning on a few of the dishes was a little uneven, and one of them was way too salty, on the whole, I think the flavors were spot on, and most dishes I tasted had no issue with seasoning.

Service between my two visits was interesting. With only a third full restaurant on my first visit, it took approximately one and a half hours to enjoy a five course meal. During my second visit during a busy Friday night service with a full restaurant, a similar five course meal took two and a half hours. As you can imagine, the first visit felt a bit rushed as the minute my plate was cleared and silverware replaced, the next course appeared, really giving me little time between courses to relax. On my second visit, the pacing at the beginning of the meal was much better, but as the courses progressed, so did the lag time between each course. Between the pasta course and the mussels, my dining companion and I probably waited a good thirty minutes.

While the servers during both visits were knowledgeable about the menu, the server during my second visit forgot to bring a glass of wine requested by my dining companion and decided to drop off the final check to our table before we had actually finished our meal. I realize that this is the first week of D.B.A. being open and I can easily chalk up these glitches to the staff getting its collective feet wet. Given a few weeks, these problems should correct themselves.

As you can imagine by looking at the menu and some of the prices I've quoted along the way, eating at D.B.A. can be reasonable or expensive. I had water with both of my meals and the totals for each of my meals, with tax and a twenty percent gratuity were $80 and $65, respectively. I imagine that were you to throw in a cocktail and a glass of wine, you could easily approach $100 per person. That being said, if you stick to three or four of the $5 options or simply choose one entree, you could get away with a check totaling closer to $25 to $30. While this is certainly comparable to what you would spend at some of Cleveland's more upscale restaurants, D.B.A. finds itself on the pricier end for an Akron-based restaurant.

Noise levels during my Friday night visit were light to moderate and I had absolutely no problem carrying on a conversation with my dining companion. Unlike Restaurant Dante where, at times, it can be nearly impossible to carry on a conversation without yelling at the person across the table, D.B.A. was much more conducive to productive conversations.

Everything said and done, I would recommend that you check out D.B.A. The food and the service have a lot of promise and given a couple of weeks to get everything running like a finely-oiled machine, I imagine an experience will be similar to any of Dante Boccuzzi's other restaurants. While the menu isn't a huge departure from Restaurant Dante, it also offers a nice assortment of vegan, vegetarian, and meat-based options that can be enjoyed by all audiences. I know that I am looking forward to returning soon and giving some of the remaining menu items a try.

The Veggie-Vegan Project: Deagan's Kitchen & Bar

For the fourth installment of The Veggie-Vegan Project, I turned to a friend and fellow food blogger, Jill, who through the Meetup group she managed, Cleveland Eats, taught me about this month's dining hotspot, Deagan's Kitchen & Bar. It turned out that Deagan's offered a daily specials menu and on Wednesdays, not only could you order from their regular menu, but also from a specially prepared list of both vegetarian and vegan based dishes. While I was originally supposed to join the Cleveland Eats group when they originally went back in February, unforeseen personal circumstances kept me from that night.

So, to rectify the situation, this past Wednesday, myself, Eric, Paul, and Edsel descended upon Deagan's around 6:30 PM to sample some of the veggie-vegan treats off the menu. Deagan's was located at 14810 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, OH 44107 and can be reached at 216-767-5775. They have a website as well. There was a street-side entrance and a rear entrance behind the building where additional parking was located. I happened to park in a parking lot across the street from Deagan's and walked the five minutes to discover the front entrance:


Once inside, my eyes quickly adjusted to the dim lighting of the bar area. It turned out that the hostess stand was at the opposite end of the restaurant and as I started walking in that direction, the hostess must have spotted me entering the restaurant from Detroit because she began walking towards me. After requesting a table for four, she sat me at a nice out of the way table by the window in the front of the restaurant.

Here were photographs of Deagan's regular dinner menu:




What impressed me about Deagan's regular menu was that even on a regular non-Vegan night, there were still a handful of options from which to choose. The special dining menu for the evening obviously added a few more choices:


After our group fully assembled and received our round of drinks, we decided to start off the evening with some shared items. First up was the Ponzu Marinated Tofu with Soba Noodle Salad:


The tofu had been coated with a type of starch before deep frying resulting in the tofu having a nice crispy exterior while still maintaining a soft interior. The ponzu marinade, typically comprised of soy sauce and yuzu (a Japanese citrus) added notes of citrus, salt, and umami. The soba noodle salad had been dressed lightly and the flavors worked quite well together. All in all, this was a really tasty appetizer.

Our second appetizer was off of today's specials menu, the Sundried Tomato Hummos:


While red in appearance, that was about as close to tomato as this hummos got. That's not to say it tasted bad, but there was almost no discernible acidic bite from the sundried tomatoes. There was, however, an abundance of cumin, which besides the tahini, were the primary flavors. I'm not personally a fan of cumin in hummos, but I know that enough restaurants offer it that way to know that it is not an unusual ingredient. The pita wedges that came with the hummos went from soft and pliable to stiff and a bit stale. I'll give Deagan's the benefit of the doubt and admit that the stale wedges might have been the ones sitting on top exposed to the air. If you are interested in hummos, I would recommend you order this. If you are interested in sundried tomato hummos, I'd say skip it.

Our final appetizer, the House Roasted Nuts, was an immediate hit at our table:


Finished in fresh rosemary and just a touch of spice (from cayenne pepper, I'm guessing), these were tasty, herbaceous, and spicy, all at the same time. Additionally, at the cost of only $4, this would make a killer bar snack. The dish contained cashews, marcona almonds, walnuts, and pecans which had been toasted to bring out all of the nut oils which made them even more tasty. Unless you have nut sensitivities, this is one appetizer sure to please your palate AND your wallet.

Our starters out of the way, we next moved on to our entree portion of the meal. As with many other modern restaurants, Deagan's offered various sized food options. There were appetizers, small plates, large plates, and sides. Since I had already eaten quite a bit during our appetizers, I decided to go with a small plate and a side for my dinner tonight. For my small plate, I choose the Crisp Eggplant with Ricotta, Arugula, and Stewed Tomatoes:


This was as tasty to eat as it was to look at. The eggplant had been rolled around the ricotta filling, almost involtini-style. The breading on the eggplant was crispy and not greasy, the filling was cheesy and delicious and the acidity from the stewed tomatoes worked well against the fatty components of the dish. The only item on the plate that didn't really bring its party hat was the arugula. Usually nice and peppery, tonight's version was sort of bland and lifeless. It wasn't a question of freshness, just that this particular batch didn't add anything to the dish.

For my side, I decided on going with the Truffled Cream Corn:


Even before this dish was placed on the table, I could pick up the heady aroma of truffle oil. While truffle oil usually makes everything better, in tonight's case, it really couldn't do much for the cream corn itself. While definitely containing cream, the sauce was too thin and instead of coating the corn, in reality it was closer to swimming in it. The corn itself, while I understand that this is March and not August, didn't offer the level of sweetness I've come to expect even in frozen corn kernels. It was also lacking just a tiny bit in the salt department as well. I think, in the end, what hurt this dish the most was that the corn itself, just like the arugula had been, was too flat in flavor.

My dining companion, Edsel, ordered the Potato Gnocchi from the daily specials menu:


He graciously let me have a bite of his dish and while the gnocchi were tender, they had almost no resistance to them, making them too soft. The flavor of the sauce, however, was quite good, although the peas were a bit on the starchy side. In fact, both Paul and Eric had ordered the Griddled Polenta which came with mushrooms and peas and each of them also noted how starchy the peas were, too. Surely a sign that they were used before being ripe enough.

On the whole, Deagan's had some hits and some misses. All of us agreed that we would come back for another meal, but I don't think this initial impression lived up to the hype that the restaurant had been given by others. The one item that impressed all of us tonight was the variety of vegetarian and vegan options available at a restaurant which definitely serves its fair share of meat-based dishes. The bill was also equally as impressive. The dinner for the four of us with six cocktails/beers and tax came to a very reasonable $90.

Would I recommend Deagan's Kitchen & Bar? Yes, I would. Although some of the ingredients tonight weren't at their peak, the only major food execution error that I saw tonight was the overly creamy cream corn. With the availability of better produce available just around the corner, I'm hoping that the flat tasting and starchy vegetable problem will correct itself soon enough. One thing is for certain, if you are looking for vegetarian and vegan options, you won't be disappointed in your choice selection.

The Veggie-Vegan Project: Happy Dog

After the first two meals of The Veggie-Vegan Project at Schezwan Garden and Flaming Ice Cube, I was beginning to come to the understanding that while restaurants specializing in this type of cuisine were not universal, the level of cuisine had been greatly elevated since I first had it many years ago. I guess that's not a totally accurate statement. Having eaten at The Vegiterranean in Akron, I knew that truly tasty vegan cuisine was possible, but I assumed that in order to get food at that level, one must empty the wallet of a significant amount of cash.

Tonight's third entry into the project at Happy Dog would prove wholly otherwise. Happy Dog is owned by Eric Williams, the owner and chef at Momocho Mod Mex. As such, I knew that the food would be good. I just didn't realize HOW good. The concept of Happy Dog was simple: offer lots of great bottled and on-tap beers, a choice between a 1/4 pound all-beef hot dog or vegetarian Italian sausage on a poppy seed bun with an impressive list of toppings. Additionally, to accompany your dog, you could get either fries or tots, again with an impressive list of toppings and dippers. While I've had and enjoyed the Morningstar vegan corn dogs in the past, I have to think my enjoyment was due as much to the cornbread exterior as it was to the liberal use of ketchup and yellow mustard. As with so many vegetarian and vegan substitutes, had the dogs been plain, I don't know that I would've loved them. Having heard others rave about the vegetarian dog at Happy Dog, I was curious to see what I'd find here.

Happy Dog was located at the corners of West 58th and Detroit, or more specifically at 5801 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44102 and can be reached at 216-651-9474. Parking was either in a small lot on West 58th just south of Detroit or along the street. I easily found a curbside parking spot on West 58th Street just south of the bar and proceeded to walk the two minutes until I got to the front door:


Once inside, the first thing that struck me was the decor: it was a bar. To the right of the front entrance was a dais where musical groups or DJ's could spin the tunes, directly across was a large, impressive looking bar with many taps, and everywhere else were pretty basic tables and chairs. And as with most bars, it was also quite uniformly dark inside. The thought occurred to me that Chef Williams kept Momocho very dimly lit and apparently the theme continued with Happy Dog. Then again, it was a bar, and very few bars are well lit. I knew the lack of illumination would give me a chance to break out the low light photography skills on which I've been working for the last couple of months.

Seeing as I arrived an entire hour before the scheduled start of dinner, I sauntered up to the largely unpopulated bar, sat down, and proceeded to order a pint of Left Hand Milk Stout:


A handcrafted beer from the Left Hand Brewing Company out of Longmont, Colorado, this glass of wonderment combined the sharp bite of your typical stout with a creaminess that did much to sooth out the bitter notes. This was an easy to drink beer and while I did have water with dinner, it was a wonderfully tasty pre-dinner beverage to consume while waiting for the rest of the diners to show up tonight.

According to my fellow Veggie-Vegan Project co-founders, Paul and Eric, Wednesday nights were usually pretty slow. Tonight, however, with a single party of thirty occupying the entire east side of the restaurant, the other available tables began to fill quickly. We soon found ourselves staking out two tables right by the front door in anticipation of the rest of our party. Additionally, while Wednesday's were usually pretty quiet in terms of noise level, tonight Happy Dog had booked a DJ and our table happened to be located right in front of one of the speakers. Suffice it to say, easy conversation was a bit difficult.

After sitting down at our table, I noticed that at the center of each was a long, slender pad of paper. It turned out to be the menu. On one side was a list of hot dog choices and a whole lot of toppings:


On the flip side was a list of sides, which consisted of French fries or tater tots, a list of toppings for said side, and a list of dipping sauces:


In addition to the menu, there was a laminated piece of card stock that offered up helpful suggestions of combinations for both the beef dog as well as the vegetarian Italian sausage:


While all fifty condiments were available as toppers for your dog at no additional cost, toppers for the fries and tots were a reasonable $1 each. While I could've made up my own list of toppings for my dog, I decided to go with one of the recommended combinations for my first visit. Each person filled out their own order request (much the way you used to do at sushi restaurants) and handed it to our server.

Even with the packed crowd tonight at Happy Dog, it wasn't very long at all before our dogs arrived at the table. Here was a shot of mine:


This was a Fieldroast Vegetarian Italian Sausage on a poppyseed bun topped with my choice of caramelized onions, sriracha hot sauce, pineapple-ginger chutney, cucumbers, and French Brie cheese. While I started eating the sandwich with my hands, halfway through I realized that I would need to finish with knife and fork. I did manage to take a bite of the Italian sausage first and discovered to my delight that the flavor and texture of this meat substitute was pretty darn close to the real deal. It wasn't quite as fatty as the meat-based version, but had I gotten the sausage plain, I would've enjoyed it the way I do with most Italian sausage sandwiches, a nice layer of peppers and onions or sauerkraut and a squirt of yellow mustard.

The toppings worked quite well together and provided a nice balance of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. The cucumber effectively cooled some of the sriracha's heat and the subtle flavor of the Brie cheese added a creamy texture to each bite without overwhelming anything else. I should also note that the poppyseed bun was immaculately fresh and honestly, the only thing I think could've been improved upon was if the bun had been toasted.

After dropping off our dogs, the food runner soon made her way back to our table with fives dishes of tater tots and a multitude of dipping sauces:


I decided to get my tots topped with Smoked Gouda, thinking the slightly smoky flavor would go well with my dipping sauce, the Oaxacan red chile and chocolate mole. I was right. Texturally, the tots were perfectly fried, crispy on the outside without being greasy and light and fluffy on the inside. The soft Gouda added a creamy contrast and the slight smokiness added an additional layer of flavor. The mole was everything a good Mexican mole should be: spicy, sweet, floral, and complex. It very much reminded me of my last visit to Momocho. Needless to say, the pairing with the tots was a marvelous choice.

Our meal now at its conclusion, we asked our server for the check. With my pint of beer, sandwich, tots, and the addition of the Gouda as a topper for the tots, my bill came to $13 before tip and tax. And $4.50 of that was for the beer. For $8.50, I had just eaten an incredibly tasty and inexpensive vegetarian meal. As one of the other diners pointed out, you just can't beat that kind of value. I would have to agree with that sentiment.

Those who do not enjoy a sometimes loud and noisy bar environment might find that this would be enough to keep them away from trying the food at Happy Dog. While I do enjoy being able to hold a conversation with someone next to me without having to raise my voice or cup my ears, the great beer selection and more importantly, the stellar vegetarian options make returning to this bar a real no-brainer for me. Whether you avail yourself of the vegetarian options or not, with so much from which to choose, you simply cannot go wrong. Highly recommended.

The Veggie-Vegan Project: Flaming Ice Cube

For the second installment of The Veggie-Vegan Project, my previous compatriots, Paul and Eric, suggested we convene for dinner at a recent addition to the Cleveland scene, Flaming Ice Cube restaurant. This location opened up only midway through 2010, with the original being located in Boardman, Ohio. As Paul works in downtown Cleveland, this has been a lunch go-to spot for him ever since it opened and as far as he knew, it was one of the only 100% vegan restaurants that was in the area. In a rather odd twist, Akron actually has two vegan restaurants that I can think of off the top of my head: the obviously much more famous Vegiterranean, but also a newer addition, Mrs. Julie's Kitchen. Clearly both will be fodder for future stops on this project.

Flaming Ice Cube was located at 140 Public Square, Cleveland, OH 44114 and can be reached at 216-263-1111. Parking was wherever you could find it. My dining companion Edsel and I ended up parking in the lot next to the Marriott and walking to Public Square. What I would advise you against doing, gentle reader, is not using Google Maps to help you find the restaurant. We tried this last night and it had us simply circumnavigating the block where the Key Bank building stood. The restaurant was actually directly south of the large monument on the square and just east of Tower City.

Here was a photograph of the front of the store:


Once inside, Edsel and I joined Paul and Eric at a four top near the front door. While it was busy, it wasn't crazy, even for a Friday night at 7:00 PM. As I would surmise that most of their traffic probably arrives during the business day, it didn't surprise me that the restaurant wasn't packed. After seating ourselves, I began the process of photographing the menu:









In addition to the menu, there was also a daily specials board which listed the sides and soups for the day. I was so intrigued by one of the soups listed, a Stuffed Pepper soup, that I had to order a bowl in order to satisfy my curiosity:


Here was a closer look at the soup:


I had assumed that the soup would be similar to the meat-laden version sans ground meat. When I went to taste it, I was happy to discover that not only were the flavors pretty much spot on compared to the version with which I am familiar, but there was a texture in the soup that very much resembled ground meat. Had I not known that this was a vegan version, I would've simply assumed that it had ground meat in it. The seasonings were expertly done and there was a subtle, yet welcome, kick from the addition of cayenne chili. The soup was definitely hearty and filling and the only real criticism I had was that some of the rice grains weren't fully cooked and as such were just a tiny bit crunchy.

The menu was broken down into salads, sandwiches, panini, wraps and burgers, and while I would normally order a "plain" burger to test out the mettle of the kitchen crew, tonight I decided to order one of the veggie burgers, the Pizza Burger. Each burger came with one of Flaming Ice Cube's homemade sides; I choose the Sweet and White Potato Salad:


The homemade veggie burger patty had been griddled and topped with dairy and soy-free cheese, faux pepperoni and each bun half had been toasted and coated with the from-scratch marinara. Here was a side shot of the assembled burger:


Eaten as a whole, this was a fairly tasty and definitely filling burger. Unlike the soup, I could tell that I was eating a veggie patty and not a meat patty because the texture was a bit looser. Not that the patty crumbled (as has happened with other veggie patties I've had in the past), but had I been blindfolded and someone put this in front of me, I could've picked out that it wasn't a beef patty. The marinara sauce added a nice sweetness and acidity. The faux pepperoni had just a bit of spiciness to them, but it lacked the chewiness that I've come to appreciate from the real deal. The only disappointing part of this sandwich was the bun, as it just wasn't sturdy enough and kind of fell apart as I progressed through the sandwich.

After tasting my sandwich, I turned my attention to the small black cup of potato salad:


For the second time during tonight's dinner, I was again stymied at how delicious and non-stereotypically vegan this tasted. The potatoes were cooked to the perfect texture, being both creamy and tender and the mustard-vegan mayonnaise dressing made for a nicely dressed side. As I rolled the flavors around in my mouth, I also began picking up hints of clove, and Edsel suggested that the chopped pickles that had been incorporated into the potato salad might have been brined using cloves. In all, this was a very tasty side that I would have no qualms ordering again.

Because my sandwich only came with one side dish, I decided to order an extra cup of the other homemade side for tonight, a Black Bean and Corn Salsa:


In addition to the usual suspects of tomatoes, garlic, cilantro and lime juice, the black beans and sweet corn were joined by a bit of earthy cumin. The salsa hit all the right notes on my palate, but conceptually as a dish, it felt a little weird eating this with a fork; freshly fried corn chips would have made this a real winner.

With the main portion of dinner now complete, we now turned our attention to the dessert offerings. While Paul and Eric opted to split one of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars, Edsel and I decided to split a slice of their walnut encrusted Carrot Cake:


First, what I liked. The sweetness was controlled. The flavor was decent. The faux cream cheese frosting complimented the cake well. Second, what I didn't like. The cake itself was very dense. While there was some hint of traditional carrot cake spices, it wasn't strong enough (i.e. cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.). By examining the cake, it was obvious that there was carrot in it, but no real carrot flavor came through in the finished product. Of all the problems, the biggest was probably the density issue. Solve that and the others would simply be minor quibbles.

In the spirit of sharing, Paul cut off a small piece of his Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bar for me to taste:


In addition to the chocolate and peanut butter, vegan marshmallows and a crunchy cereal were used to create this homage to a dressed up Rice Krispies treat. It was chewy without hurting my teeth and the prominent flavors of the main ingredients worked well together. I am particularly glad that chocolate is not verboten to vegans as that might very well just be a deal breaker for me.

Since I decided to put the piece of carrot cake on my check, with tax and tip my grand total came to slightly over $20. My sandwich with one side, however, was a very affordable $7. Having dined at the Flaming Ice Cube tonight, I can definitely see why Paul goes here quite often to pick up lunch and return to his office. For vegans looking for another dining option and for non-vegans who just like to shake things up a little, the Flaming Ice Cube restaurant offers a tasty and diverse assortment of menu options that will please your taste buds and your wallet. I definitely recommend that you give them a try.