Having A Nosh At Lolita

While I have eaten at all of the Michael Symon restaurants with the exception of Roast in Detroit, there has been one glaring omission from my reviews: Lolita Bistro. I have always been a big fan of the food at Lolita, but for some reason (and this might not necessarily be a bad thing) I just hadn't gotten around to reviewing the experience at Lolita until now. Lolita is like that friend that you haven't spoken to in six months and suddenly when the suggestion is made, everyone agrees that it is high time to catch up and see what is going on in each others' lives.

Being in Cleveland for an early afternoon movie, I found myself informally getting together with fellow food blogger and friend, Nancy, her husband Bob, and gastronome extraordinaire, Edsel. After finding streetside parking on West 10th in Tremont, I worked my way to the front door of Lolita, located at 900 Literary Road, Cleveland, OH 44113. They can also be reached at 216-771-5652. While valet parking was available, I have personally never used it and always managed to find a spot on the street with no more than a five minute walk.

Here was a photograph of the outside of Lolita:


Once inside, I was escorted to the table where Nancy and Bob had already been sat. I picked up a copy of their current menu and took two photos of the single page, top and bottom:



One thing I have consistently appreciated at all of the Michael Symon restaurants was the commitment to keeping the menu length sane. I'd rather have a small list of well-executed dishes from which to pick rather than a tome of mediocre-at-best entrées. Chef Symon seemed to understand this concept well and tonight's menu reflected that philosophy. When Edsel finally arrived, we decided to make up our meal tonight of shared items from the menu.

While we were deciding which appetizers and pizzas we wanted to share, our server dropped off some fresh French bread and dipping oil:


And the olive oil with some freshly cracked black pepper:


Being the bread lover that I am, I was happy to see Lolita serving absolutely fantastic French bread. It was crusty on the outside and still fresh and chewy on the inside. Paired up with the fruitiness of the olive oil and the spiciness from the pepper, it was an absolutely terrific way to begin the meal.

For our wave of appetizers, we started out the trio with one of my all-time favorites, the Crispy Chicken Livers served over a Creamy Polenta:


Had you told me as a child that one day I would crave chicken livers, I would've thought you completely nuts. The livers were battered and fried just until they were medium rare and while there was the tell-tale taste of liver, it was very controlled and not in the least bit objectionable. Paired with the earthiness of cooked mushrooms and the saltiness and smokiness from the bacon, these little nuggets of organ meat were heavenly. In true Michael Symon brilliance, pairing them with a soft polenta meant that you not only got a range of flavors with each bite, but also a range of textures.

Our second appetizer was the Chickpea Dip (also known as Hummos):


While the chickpea dip was soft and creamy, it didn't have a particularly strong flavor to it. The flatbread, however, more than made up for that fact after it had been sprinkled with cumin and coriander. Long after the chickpea dip was gone, the four of us ate the remaining flatbread plain, right off of the plate. This brought up an additional point: the ratio of flatbread to chickpea dip was WAY off. We probably could've used another cup of the dip to match the amount of bread that came out of the kitchen. That being said, the flatbread truly was delicious all on its own.

To round out of trio of appetizers, we finished up with the La Quercia "Acorn Edition II" Prosciutto board:


In addition to the prosciutto, the board came with a pear mustardo, toasted baguette slices, and some pickled fennel (which was on the opposite side of the board). The prosciutto itself was salty and fatty and a pure pleasure for this admitted carnivore to eat. While someone at the table claimed that they could taste the acorns, having never eaten an acorn myself, I'm not sure I had a reference point with which to compare. That being said, it was delicious; paired with the sweetness from the mustardo and the tartness from the fennel it made a wonderfully balanced bite of food.

Here was a shot of all three of our appetizers on my plate:


A little from columns A, B, and C ... Yum!

Appetizer plates now cleared, we prepared for the first of two pizzas. I have written before about Lolita when I ate at Bar Cento with my old friend Mike. While I certainly love the midwestern pizza sensibility that I grew up with here in northeast Ohio, I can't tell you how much I love a well-executed thin crust Neopolitan style pie. Between Bar Cento and Lolita, I simply cannot pick my favorite; it would be like picking your favorite child. People often think that toppings are the key to a good pizza. No, I say to you, gentle reader, it's the crust! Both Lolita and Bar Cento have managed to perfect a crust that is at the same time slightly charred, crispy on the exterior, and still chewy in the crumb. It is the perfect foil for whatever delicious toppings end up topping it.

For our first pizza (which the restaurant helpfully cut into four slices), we chose the homemade pork sausage with peppers:


A mixture of crumbled sausage, three colors of peppers, red sauce and cheese, this pizza seemed to cover all of the bases: sweet, tart, salty, and spicy. The sausage had just the right amount of chili kick to make my taste buds stand up and take notice. At the same time, the spice didn't overwhelm the other flavors on the pizza. This pizza would definitely appeal to those less adventurous eaters out there.

In contrast, the Duck Prosciutto Pizza definitely appealed to the adventurous foodie inside me:


Essentially a "white" pizza with thinly sliced duck prosciutto, Parmesan cheese, cracked black pepper, fresh rosemary and two freshly cracked and sunny side-up eggs, this pizza was all about the unctuousness of the fat from the duck and the egg yolks. That being said, the other flavors sang through beautifully and the prosciutto itself had a lovely clove spice to it that complimented the other flavors on the pizza. While having oozing egg yolks on a slice of pizza might seem strange to the uninitiated, I can assure you that it added a wonderful flavor and texture to an already outstanding pie.

To accompany our pizzas, we also decided to add two of Lolita's signature side dishes. First up was a dish I had yet to try, but about which had heard an awful lot of good press, the Fried Brussels Sprouts:


The Brussels sprouts had first been deep fried to give them their caramelized, crunchy exterior before being combined with capers, walnuts, and anchovies. Wait, wait, gentle reader! Before freaking out about the anchovies, know that no where in any of the multitudes of bites I took of this side dish did I detect a single fishy odor. The anchovy was used simply as a flavor enhancer, as a way to add depth to the finished dish. Even with the very strong salty and sour flavor from the dressing, the flavor of the Brussels sprouts never got lost. While I wouldn't say I was in love with this dish, I would definitely have this again given the chance.

My real infatuation would be with the Soft Creamy Polenta:


Made from ground local Ohio corn, this was a full serving of the flavor I had briefly flirted with in the crispy chicken livers earlier in our meal. With an intense combination of corn flavor and the creaminess that came from the loads of Mascarpone cheese used, this was unlike most polentas I've ever had in my life. While perhaps not-so-traditional in an Italian household, Lolita's version sent my eyes rolling back into my head and sent my mind reeling over how delicious it tasted.

We briefly flirted with the dessert menu, but in the end all of us decided that between our appetizers, pizzas, and sides, we were definitely fully sated. While my companions decided to try out a few of the specialty bottled beers that Lolita offered, I simply opted to go with water and as such, when we split the food portion of our check four ways, tonight's meal had only come to an incredibly reasonable $15 (minus tip and tax). Had we managed to each squeeze an entrée in as well tonight, that would've only been an addition $15 - $19. For the level of food we enjoyed tonight, I would definitely go out on a limb and say that Lolita offers excellent value for the dollar.

I began dining at Lolita roughly four years ago and I have always had excellent service; tonight was no exception. The food at its worst was good and at its best was outstanding. If you haven't been to this Tremont gem, I can't recommend them enough. If you haven't been back for a while like myself and my visit tonight, put a visit to this restaurant onto your list of things to do for the spring season; you won't be sorry you did.

Completing The Rounds At White House Chicken

It may have come a little too late to take advantage of the buzz Michael Symon created a few months back when he took on the Barberton Chicken challenge between Belgrade Garden and Whitehouse Chicken, but I finally got around to trying my fourth and final Barberton chicken joint, Whitehouse, recently in an early bird (no pun intended) setting on a Saturday night. I don't normally crave this regional style of chicken, but tonight for some reason it sounded good. So, I hopped in my car, drove to the corner where the original Whitehouse Restaurant was located and proceeded to drive around the block three times before settling on the fact that unlike the other three chicken houses (Belgrade, Hopocan, and Milich's), Whitehouse did not have a dedicated parking lot. Instead I opted to park across the street in the strip mall parking lot and braved the arctic air while crossing the street to reach the front entrance.

The original location of Whitehouse Chicken was at the corner of West Paige and Wooster Road North, or more specifically 180 Wooster Road North, Barberton, OH and can be reached at 330-745-0449. There are also satellite locations in Ellet, Green, Tallmadge, Wadsworth, and Cuyahoga Falls. I've eaten at several of the other locations in the past (a long, long time ago) and I was never particularly impressed. So to be fair to the other reviews I've done on Barberton Chicken joints, I wanted to review the original.

Here was a photograph of the front entrance to Whitehouse from across the street:


Once inside, I was surprised at how much bigger the restaurant was on the inside. From its exterior, the place looked barely large enough to fit a few tables. After being told to seat myself wherever I liked, I tried to find a table near the back where it was unoccupied and I could do my photography without disturbing other patrons. Shortly after taking my seat, my server dropped off a menu for me to peruse:



Unlike all the other chicken houses, the menu at Whitehouse was short and sweet. It was chicken, chicken, chicken, and, okay, for you non-chicken eater out there, one fish dish. While the basic chicken dinner offerings were virtually identical to the other houses, the prices at Whitehouse were considerably more inexpensive. I ended up going with a "Classic White" dinner which included the breast, back, drumstick, and wing along with three sides all for roughly $8.99. A similar dinner at Belgrade would have set me back closer to $11.

After placing my order, the ubiquitous slices of white and rye bread made an appearance on my table:


As with the other chicken houses, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the bread or the butter.

Unlike the other houses, however, my dinner made an appearance within about two minutes of me ordering it. In fact, when the food runner showed up at my table, I was almost certain that she had made a mistake. Apparently, I had arrived just as the kitchen had begun volume production of the fried chicken for tonight's dinner service, in anticipation of the dinner rush.

Because everything came out on one platter, I didn't get a shot of the entire thing. Instead, I decided to take photographs of different portions, with some of the foods overlapping from shot to shot. First up was the hot rice and mashed potatoes with white pepper gravy:


The tomato-based hot rice was hot, both in terms of temperature and spice level. I've never really developed a taste for this side at any of the Barberton restaurants, but other than the somewhat mushy texture of the rice, Whitehouse's version was decent enough. The mashed potatoes were also decent and seasoned well, but didn't really knock my socks off. The white pepper gravy was somewhat of a misnomer. Depending on how you read the description, it could be taken to mean that it was a gravy containing white pepper or a white gravy containing pepper. In this particular case, it was the latter. The gravy added a nice pepperiness to the potatoes and I think I would prefer it over just a plain brown gravy.

On the other side of the platter was the fried chicken and the homemade coleslaw:


Consistent with the rest of the chicken joints, the coleslaw was a simple shredded cabbage that had been dressed in a vinegar, sugar, and salt combination and allowed to sit until soft. Whitehouse's coleslaw had a nice balance to it, being neither too sweet or too acidic. I still think my favorite version was at Belgrade, but this one wasn't bad either.

Finally, the main event, the fried chicken:


The coating on the chicken was crispy and not greasy. While the crust wasn't quite as thick as the version found at Belgrade Gardens, it was still evenly coated and well seasoned. After cutting into the breast meat, I decided to snap one last photograph, to demonstrate how juicy the meat was on the inside:


I was most impressed with how well cooked the chicken actually was. For two dollars less than the same plate of food from my favorite, Belgrade Gardens, Whitehouse was astonishingly good. While I hadn't thought I was hungry enough to eat four pieces of chicken when I walked through the front door, by the time I was finished with my platter tonight, it was nothing but bones, cartilage, and tiny bits of meat that were inaccessible to teeth and fork. I finally realized just how difficult a decision it had been for Michael Symon when he had to choose the winner for his television show. Of course, there are many out there who will draw a hard and non-negotiable line over which chicken house is the best, for me, between Belgrade Garden, Hopocan Garden, and Whitehouse Chicken, the various shades of gray are incredibly close.

To me, Belgrade Garden still edges out everyone else in terms of overall flavor, crispiness of the chicken coating and juiciness of the meat. That being said, if a Barberton chicken dinner is what you are after and you aren't particularly dogmatic about your selection, I don't see how you could go wrong with Whitehouse Chicken. The good news is that you might even spend a little less to experience nearly the same meal. As I stood from the table in preparation of paying my check, I noticed that there were considerably more guests seated at tables than when I arrived. Given that Whitehouse Chicken just doesn't have the physical space to handle the massive crowds that the other houses do, I'd suggest getting there early unless you don't mind waiting.

Lola Bistro For The Win

When I found out that my very good college friend Chris would be coming into town for the weekend of the Cleveland Indian's home opener, I began to think about places to eat that might be of interest to him. I asked him if he had any requests and the only one he made was that we should eat at least a meal at one of Michael Symon's restaurants. Clearly the lure of the Iron Chef America's celebrity had reached all over the country, including Scranton, Pennsylvania where Chris currently resides. On a previous visit to town, Chris had the opportunity to eat with us at Lolita, but sadly, he wasn't feeling well that evening and decided to hang out at his hotel.

This time around, however, there were more Michael Symon choices than the last time he visited. Wanting to give him a sort of well-rounded viewpoint of the Iron Chef's cooking, I decided to set up a dinner at his flagship restaurant Lola Bistro and a casual lunch at his newest venture, B Spot. Since I knew that I wouldn't be covering any new culinary ground on the B Spot side of things (having written about them three times already), I determined that Lola would be the focus of this review.

Lola was located on the East 4th area of downtown Cleveland between Prospect and Euclid Avenue. Most of the road was inaccessible to car traffic, but luckily there was a valet service just as one turns onto East 4th from Prospect. Sadly, as there was a major sporting event today, parking was a pretty stiff $15. Less sadly, $15 wasn't the most expensive rate I had seen and given the amount of traffic downtown, I simply sucked it up and paid the fee. Lola was located at 2058 East 4th Street, Cleveland, OH 44115 and can be reached at 216-621-5652.

The sign for Lola was visible as soon as I rounded the corner from the valet parking service:


Once inside, I remembered how dimly lit the interior of the restaurant made picture taking an almost improbability without the use of some type of flash. Fortunately one of the other party members tonight, Edsel, had brought along his digital camera and even though it had a flash, he and I used a combination method of using the light emitted from the "Flashlight" application on my Android phone to light the food and his camera to actually take the pictures. Edsel posted his pictures on his Flickr page and has graciously allowed me to use his photographs in this post. Check out all of the originals (and more) that he posted about tonight's dinner and post-dinner drinks at the Velvet Tango Room.

Once seated, we began with a round of pre-dinner drinks. I had a Stolichnaya martini up with blue cheese stuffed olives:


As has become the trend nowadays to bring everyone's drink pre-mixed in individual cocktail shakers, our server returned to the table and proceeded to pour all three of our drinks on the spot. My first sip was exactly as expected: smooth, cold, and just a bit of a bite from the vodka. The blue cheese olives added a lovely briny and sharp bite that contrasted well to the nearly flavorless vodka. It was both refreshing and a wonderful way to stimulate my appetite for what was to come.

Unfortunately, because of the very dim light, I didn't even bother to try taking any pictures of the menu; they simply wouldn't have come out well. That being said, most of the menu that we enjoyed tonight at Lola is also available on-line. I started out with an appetizer of crispy veal sweetbreads served with bacon, scallions and a wonderful veal demi-glace reduction:


For those that don't know, sweetbreads are not a sweet dessert bread, but are instead the thymus gland of a young animal, in this case a calf. If not prepared correctly, they can have a very spongy texture to them that is most unappealing. In tonight's preparation, however, they were perfectly cooked. The meat itself was firm and a last minute sear has given the exterior a wonderful taste and texture. Of course, Symon doesn't stop there and pairs one of his favorite ingredients, bacon, to great effect with the sweetbreads. The scallions added a nice bit of sharpness and the underlying sauce was heady and rich. The portion size was perfect for one person for an appetizer.

My dining companion Edsel got a more recent addition to the menu, the fried bone marrow with toasted bread and various accoutrement:


I've included his dish as well because we traded bites of our appetizers for the other's. The accoutrement were pickled shallots, parsley, lemon wedges, sea salt, salsa verde and still warmed caramelized onions. The bone marrow had been lightly dusted in flour before being quickly fried. To eat, you placed on of the marrow strips (on the right side of the board above) on a toast point and topped with whichever condiment struck your fancy. I choose some of the pickled shallot and course sea salt and was rewarded with a mouthful of crispy, fatty, smoky, salt, and just a touch of brightness from the pickled shallots. While clearly this isn't something your cardiologist would recommend you eating on even a sparse basis, I can see why people are drawn towards the fatty unctuousness of bone marrow; it's quite addictive.

Having finished our appetizers, the entrées appeared next. I had chosen the lamb chops for my next course:


Topped with a Meyer lemon and chopped garlic "gremolata," these beautifully seared lamb chops rested above a combination of cannelini beans, rapini and florina peppers. My server suggested that I order the lamb medium rare, and while I normally order my beef cuts this way, medium rare lamb to me has too much of a "chewy" quality to it, so I ordered it medium instead. As I cut into my first chop, I was happy to see that the meat was cooked exactly to my specification. The one aspect of Michael Symon's cooking that never fails to surprise me was how he could combine such bold flavors on one plate and yet still retain softer, more subtle flavors that complement and enhance the more primal ones. Clearly this was a lamb dish; however, the aromatic lemon and garlic on top really brought the "lamb-i-ness" to the forefront of my mouth. The cannelini beans were completely cooked, yet still retained just a bit of toothiness so as to provide a nice textural contrast. The rapini and florina peppers added a bit of sharpness that contrasted well with the umami flavor from the lamb. If there was one item to criticize, it was that this dish was on the edge of being oversalted. To my taste it wasn't oversalted, but fairly aggressively seasoned.

By the time the dessert menus arrived at the table, I was feeling fairly full, but decided that if I was in for a penny, I might as well be in for a pound. While the current dessert menu listed on-line was reflected on our menus tonight, Edsel decided to take a photograph of the striking front of the dessert menu:


Inside the front cover lay six different desserts and a multi-cheese tasting plate that appealed to my friend Chris. Having never had pastry chef Cory Barrett's mind-blowing "6 A.M. Special," I decided that this was the dessert for me tonight. According to our server, the current version being offered was slightly revised from the original. Originally using brioche as the basis for the French toast portion of the dessert, Cory had decided to use pound cake that had been coated in panko bread crumbs before being fried.

After a few minutes, our desserts arrived:


My dessert was comprised of two triangular pieces of pound cake that had been coated in panko before being fried, topped with maple-bacon ice cream, served over caramelized apples and a maple syrup sauce drizzled around the plate. First, let me start off by just saying, "Wow!" This was an amazingly complex and delicious dessert. While I think $9 might be a bit steep for what you receive, the complex combination of salty and sweet were definitely worth the price tag. The pound cake definitely benefited from the panko coating and gave each cake a nice crispy exterior. Honestly, the flavor was almost like a fried piece of cornmeal mush. The maple-bacon ice cream was actually subtle and when I finally managed to get a bit of each of the elements on one fork, the layers of flavors and textures was quite nice.

Edsel decided to order the sour cream and apple panna cotta with green apple sorbet, caramelized pie dough, raisin, fennel, and celery:


He encouraged me to try a bite of his dessert and I have to admit, I think I may have liked it even more than my "6 A.M. Special." This dessert was all about subtlety. The sour cream in the panna cotta was perfectly balanced with the tartness from the apple. Combined with the crunchy pie dough and slices of apple and fennel, this was a delicious and refreshing dessert. While my dessert was good, had I already sampled it in a prior visit, I certainly would've gotten the panna cotta instead.

Our desserts (and cheese plate) out of the way, we requested our check and our server not only brought the item requested, but also a plate of mignardises, in this case, small cookies that to me tasted like snickerdoodles that had raisins and nuts in them:


These were a wonderful way to end the meal and at least one of us came up with the pithy Monty Python line, "Just a wafer thin mint, sir."

Lola was definitely not cheap. My portion of the check for one martini, an appetizer, entrée, and dessert with tip and tax came close to $77. Clearly Lola is not the kind of place where I know that I can go on even a fairly regular basis. However, for a once in a while treat (and in this case I was celebrating my friend Chris being in town and me getting a new job), I definitely think it is worth a trip.

B Spot For Yet Another Burger

When my friend and fellow food blogger Nancy contacted me about joining her for lunch at B Spot in Woodmere following her hair appointment, I jumped at the chance to return for another fantastic meal. I've written about previous visits on the blog before, but am always looking forward to trying something new. Of course, one might think that all B Spot offers is the same old burger, but there are in fact about sixteen different burgers from which to pick. Something new that Chef Symon has added to the burger menu is the concept of a daily "chef's whim" burger, so now it is literally impossible to try every burger that this hip cool place offers.

Today I arrived shortly after 11:30 AM to find a half-full restaurant and Nancy's husband Bob sitting at the bar. Once Nancy arrived, we made our way over to a table and began contemplating our choices. My favorite burger thus far has been the Red Hot (B Spot's online menu is available here). Between the juiciness of the burger, the juiciness of the pulled pork and the slight spiciness from the peppers, I have had few burger experiences that rivaled it. However, I have always been haunted by another menu selection, the Lola burger. Originating at Chef Symon's other restaurant Lola, this version was topped with a fried egg, bacon, cheddar cheese, pickled onions and mayonnaise. As much as I wanted another Red Hot, I felt obligated to pick something else off the menu so that I could write about it (no sense writing more than one review about the same food).

Since there were three of us dining at B Spot today, we decided to split an order of the garlic and Parmesan chicken wings:


These large and meaty wings were perfectly fried. The skin was crispy and the juicy meat inside was hot and delicious. The garlic came in the form of a roasted garlic paste that coated the wings. If you like garlic ... wait, scratch that ... if you LOVE garlic, then this is the chicken wing for you. Hours after I had eaten these beauties, I was still tasting and smelling of garlic. The only real complaint I had was that with all of the forward garlic flavor, the savory Parmesan cheese flavor was a little lost.

I was feeling a bit under the weather today, so I thought I would order a bowl of another Michael Symon classic, the tomato soup with blue cheese:


Just like the Lola burger, this soup has been around for several years. Done with a more rustic feel, the soup wasn't finely pureed, but was served with some texture. Adorning the top of the soup was some freshly cracked black pepper and a few small chunks of blue cheese. The acidity from the tomatoes worked well to tame the sharpness of the cheese. The one thing I felt was missing from the soup was some heat. Symon has posted the recipe for this soup before and I could've sworn that sriracha was one of the ingredients. Not a lot, mind you, but just enough to give the soup a slightly spicy edge. Whether or not the original recipe called for sriracha or not, in my mind I think it would've given the soup that certain je ne sais quoi.

Having finished my chicken wings and soup, I turned my attention to my Lola burger:


As with all burgers served at B Spot, a steak knife was provided in order to cut this gigantic burger down to a more manageable size:


As mentioned earlier, the Lola burger consisted of the Pat Freida hamburger patty, crispy bacon, a fried egg, cheddar cheese, pickled red onions, and a slathering of mayonnaise. All of this was placed between their now quite successful egg-based hamburger bun. One of the perks I've enjoyed when eating at B Spot was the ability to feel safe when ordering my burger cooked to something less than medium well. Today, as in previous visits, I ordered my burger medium and sure enough, it came out medium. While my burger was juicy, it didn't have the extreme juiciness of the Red Hot. Additionally, the combination of the ground beef with the egg, bacon, and cheese kind of put me in a "breakfasty" kind of mindset. The burger was good, don't get me wrong, but I felt like I should be enjoying it with a glass of orange juice or a cup of coffee.

Overall, I really enjoyed my lunch today at B Spot. While a few items were just a smidgen off for me, there were plenty of good things happening to keep me returning time and time again. I realize that there are sixteen burgers on the menu for a reason: Everyone has their own favorite. For me, nothing has yet to beat the Red Hot and honestly, I don't know if anything else on the menu will. But I will continue to try and find out.

Brunch At Bar Symon

It's official. I have now eaten at all of Michael Symon's full-sized restaurants in the Cleveland area. While there are still two eateries left bearing his name, I don't see myself getting to either downtown Cleveland and Progressive Field or Detroit anytime soon. I started the journey at Lolita, moved on to Lola, have had several stints at B Spot, and finally over the weekend had a chance to enjoy brunch at Bar Symon out in Avon Lake. Of course, this was a journey of a thousand days, so don't think I did something insane like try and hit all four in one weekend. Even if I could afford to do so, my taste buds would be on sensory overload by the third spot.

Bar Symon was located at 32858 Walker Road, Avon Lake, OH 44012 and can be reached at 440-933-5652. Because Bar Symon was located at the end of a retail outlet center, parking was ample and in front of the restaurant. Also note that the strip mall was located back away from the street, so it was difficult to spot hiding behind the stores lining the actual street.

My best piece of advice for finding the storefront? Look for the flying pig:


Upon closer inspection of the front door, the hours of operation were clearly listed:


What isn't listed on the door were the brunch hours, or 10 AM to 2 PM on Sundays. I'm not sure if Bar Symon added brunch after opening or if the current brunch offering was only temporary, but I've been hearing good reviews about their brunch for a while now. Once inside, I was actually surprised at how dim the restaurant was, even in the middle of the day. Granted, it wasn't pleasant and sunny outside, but it was dark enough that most of my flash-less photos needed some serious doctoring before posting.

The brunch menu came on a single piece of heavy-duty paper. The front side was the brunch menu and the rear side contained the wine and beer selections. Instead of trying to get the entire brunch menu into one shot, I broke it up into the top, middle, and bottom:




Soon after arriving and being seated, complimentary fried donut holes appeared at our table:


These are complimentary for every guest attending brunch at Bar Symon. I think they serve as a sort of amuse bouche to whet the appetite for the impending meal. While the dough itself was only slightly sweet, the cinnamon and sugar coating that encased the fried dough added a lovely sweetness and a tiny textural crunch when eaten. Underneath each donut hole was a pool of lovely chocolate sauce.

While everything looked really good on the menu, the one item that I had been very eager to try was the biscuits and sausage gravy. Having read about them originally on my friend Nancy's blog, her pictures along with the descriptions I've heard on the Cleveland Food and Wine Forum made this brunch item the raison d'etre for me today. Ordering my eggs "sunnyside up" (my favorite), after only a few minutes, our meals arrived at the table:


First up, the eggs:


While the eggs were nicely seasoned (a nice change for once), the barest bit of white around each of the yolks was still a bit undercooked. Other than that, the eggs were tender and delicious. Had I ordered or received a bit of toast with my meal, I probably would've eaten the egg yolks with the toast points. That not being the case today, my fellow dining companion Diane squealed with glee as she watched me eat all of the white around each egg yolk before popping the entire yolk, unbroken, into my mouth. She wondered if I always ate my eggs that way and other than when I have something to smother the yolks over, I agreed that it was. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Here was a shot of the cheddar cheese, bacon, and scallion biscuits:


I tried these on their own and they were quite delicious. Michael Symon seems to find a way to sneak pork into everything he does and in this case, I certainly won't object. By themselves, they had a lovely balance of flavors and were tender and flaky. I imagine that smeared with just a little freshly softened butter, these would be heaven on a plate.

While the biscuits were good on their own, they belonged to the third element on the plate, the sausage gravy:


While certainly a homemade version of sausage gravy, Bar Symon's lost some of the sweetness that a milk gravy should have. To my palate, it didn't have a traditional balance of sweet and spice from the milk sugars and the spice from the sausage. Don't get me wrong, the gravy wasn't bad. It was just different from what I was expecting. Combining a bite of biscuit and a generous lathering of gravy on my fork, I took a bite of the combination and discovered that sometimes there can be too many flavors going on. In my mind, the sum of the whole was less than the combination of the parts. Technically I think this dish was executed well, but I began losing flavors when eating the biscuits with the gravy.

My friend Diane decided to order the Eggs Benedict and gave me a small bite of hers for me to try:


Between the crispy English muffin, the slice of moderately salted ham and the nicely poached egg on top, this was a nice bite. The next time I return for brunch at Bar Symon, I may just have to go with this dish instead it was so nice. My other dining companion gave me a bite of his entree, the stuffed French Toast, too. It was tasty, but what surprised both him and myself was the very reserved level of sweetness in his dish. It could be due to the use of reduced balsamic vinegar drizzled over the plate; either way, both of us missed a certain level of sweetness that most French Toast normally has.

Because we arrived later in the brunch service, we actually managed to close out the service by the time we were done. Chef Matt Harlan came out to say hello to our small party and started talking about some of the upcoming specials. The topic quickly turned to seafood and he admitted that he had been surprised that the fresh oysters that he had acquired recently hadn't been selling very well on the dinner menu. After describing their preparation to us, he went back to the kitchen and returned with a complimentary oyster for each of us.

Here was a shot of my oyster:


Fresh and cold, each oyster was dotted with just a bit of wasabi and a drop of sriracha. Having never had this combination before, I was surprised at how well all of the flavors worked together. You could actually taste the flavor of the oyster, the sharpness of the wasabi and then the lingering of the chili and garlic from the sriracha. Had I not already eaten a full meal and the fact that the restaurant was now closed for brunch, I might have ordered a full dozen just based on that flavor combination alone.

I'm glad I finally had a chance to complete the Michael Symon "set" of Cleveland-based restaurants today. While some aspects of today's brunch seemed to fall in the "miss" category, others were squarely dead on. Perhaps my experience today speaks more to the blow-you-away flavors I've experienced at Symon's other eateries than to a sub-par meal at Bar Symon. Either way, I recommend the restaurant and I know that I intend to return again for brunch and for a proper dinner meal as well.