"Where's Waldo?" And Other News

So, gentle reader, you've probably been wondering where I've been for the last couple of weeks. While I could sit here and hatch some sinister plot about being abducted by aliens, the truth of the matter is far more pedestrian than the fiction. For a long time, I have been able to maintain a queue of finished reviews that were ready for publication at a moment's notice. Thus, if life sent me a whole lot of lemons to process all at once, I could tap this eternal well of ready-to-go prose. Unfortunately, that well ran dry roughly around the end of May.

Simply put, it's been a perfect storm of me splitting my time between work, doing both food and non-food photography (did you know that I created a Flickr account to post my photographs?), and honestly, being outside enjoying the warm (and sometimes too warm) weather with friends and family. It isn't that I've stopped going out to eat, it's just that by the end of the day, I am just too mentally exhausted to write about it. Suffice it to say, however, this is only a temporary condition and there are some exciting things on the horizon in terms of restaurant reviews, farmers market demonstrations, and upcoming charity events.

Speaking of which, I would also like to draw your attention to three upcoming events that you might find of interest.

The first event is the annual Taste of Akron and Arts Expo on Thursday, July 21st from 6 pm until 10 pm at Hardesty Park on West Market Street. I wrote about my adventures there last year and am looking forward to returning once again to sample foods from more than twenty-five different Akron caterers and restaurants. Admission is free and tickets can be purchased with cash or credit card for $2 each outside of the tent. Each vendor will be "selling" their food for one, two, or three tickets ($2, $4, or $6 respectively). While free parking is available in the park, I've always had much better success parking on one of the many side streets within easy walking distance. As in years past, West Point Market will be hosting their annual Finest Cut Steak Cook-Off, in which eight finalists will compete live.

The second event is a special charity dinner for Autism Speaks on Monday, July 25th at 7 pm. This "Fork to Fork" dinner is being hosted by the Covered Bridge Garden farm in Jefferson, OH with food provided by the extremely talented Brian Doyle of SOW Food Catering. Brian will be creating a five course wine-paired dinner from produce both grown on the farm as well as other local vendors. A tour of the farm and dinner with a view of the fields where their dinner was grown will all be part of the experience. Seating for this first of hopefully many events will be limited to only twenty guests and tickets are $95 per person. To get more information or to purchase tickets, call 440-862-1682.

The third and final event I wanted to mention today is a charity event being hosted by the Dinner In The Dark crew on Saturday, August 27th at 6:30 pm at the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, OH. CVI will serve both as the host and its charitable off-shoot, Veggie U, an organization dedicated to educating children about farm-grown vegetables, will be the charity to which funds are donated. I haven't written about the last couple of DITD dinners I attended (and in fact, sadly had to miss the most recent one due to illness), but I am looking forward to an evening of fantastic food prepared by a legion of Cleveland's most accomplished chefs. For those not familiar with the concept, the "dark" in their title refers to the fact that the chefs as well as the menu is completely unknown until the moment it is served. Past events have been a smashing success and I suspect that tickets to this event will sell out quickly. Tickets, purchased through the organization's EventBrite site, are $81.57 and include both tax and gratuity.

While you may not be able to attend all three wonderful events, hopefully you will be able to schedule at least one onto your calendar.

As for my lazy behind, regular blog posting should resume soon, although I may not be able to return to the three (or more) posts per week of blogging past. I hope you've had a great summer so far and I wish you all the best in finding great events, lots of locally grown, tasty seasonal fruits and vegetables, and most importantly, fun in the sun!

This Just In ... News You Can Use

I don't often put up posts talking about current events or linking to other items I find on the web. However, today I have some happy and some very sad news. Let's start with the sad news first.

I learned just yesterday that a favorite local gourmet market and sandwich shop, Market Gourmet @ Montrose, will be shuttering its doors for the last time today at 3:00 PM. I received a message from Jeff Winer, owner and chef, stating that while he made a valiant effort to stay profitable over the last ten months of existence, with the lack of customers and the skyrocketing food costs, it just didn't make sense to continue losing money. While I have no financial stake in Market Gourmet, this has been my go-to lunch spot for the last six months at least twice a week. I personally will miss his sandwiches, especially the homemade roast beef and the roast turkey.

Roast Turkey Sandwich on Pretzel Bun

Homemade Chicken Enchilada Soup

Because he needs to get rid of as much inventory as he can, all wine has been marked down by 15% and the other gourmet items have been marked down a WHOPPING 50%! Market Gourmet carried high-end chocolates, oils, vinegars, spices, cheeses, charcuterie, and many middle eastern items. While I am sad to see Jeff's hard work end this way, it just goes to remind me that making it in the food service industry is incredibly difficult. Jeff had great products, but many times, having a great product just isn't enough to succeed.

Jeff's next move will be to join the crew of the StrEat Mobile Bistro food truck in Cleveland. Which serves as a very convenient segue to my next, happier topic for this morning.

This coming Sunday, March 27th from 11 AM until 3 PM, there will be a conflagration of food trucks happening at Lincoln Park in Tremont, Ohio. While Dim and Den Sum sort of started the mobile food truck craze in Cleveland, there has been an explosion in available options for diners willing to track these trucks down. Represented on Sunday will be:

- Seti's Polish Boys
- Dim & Den Sum
- Cakes Plus
- Traveling Treats
- Umami Moto
- StrEat Mobile Bistro
- Jibaro
- Pranzo Forno Wood Fired Pizza
- Oh! Babycakes

From what I've been told, there will also be live entertainment, although exactly what, I'm not entirely sure. The weather forecast this morning indicated dry, cold weather for Sunday, but hopefully a nice warm front will move in and make this a sunny and warm outing for lots of hungry customers. It appears that this may be a fairly regular gathering if enough interest is generated, so I plan to be there to grab some snapshots, lots of food, and will write it up on the blog for all of you to see for yourself.

And, finally, my happy news.

When I did the inaugural Lenten Project last year, honestly, it was a time in my life when I had a lot of time on my hands and was looking for something exciting to do on a Friday night. At the time, I don't know that my blog was popular enough for me to get more than a smattering of interest from curious readers. When I contacted Lisa Abraham at the Beacon Journal and told her of my plans, I'm sure her first thought was probably, "Whatever, crazy person!"

But, by mid-summer, I noticed that quite a few people had read part or all of the original Lenten Project series, and by the time I was contacted by Lisa to do an actual newspaper article on local food bloggers (Mike Vrobel, author of the fantastic blog DadCooksDinner being the other blogger she interviewed), she made a point of mentioning the fact in her article about my Herculean fried fish and pierogi journey.

After announcing the schedule for this year's Lenten Project, I was surprised to see many more people engaging me through email, Facebook and Twitter making suggestions, asking questions, and generally being interested. While the list of churches, clubs, and organizations from which I drew was the one published in the Akron Beacon Journal, fellow food blogger Alicia and her husband Hans from Poise in Parma have embarked on their own version of the Lenten Project, looking for good fish fries in their neck of the woods. In fact, as an extra treat next Friday, April 1st, we will (hopefully) be teaming up forces to review a fish fry somewhere between Akron and Parma.

Not to be left behind, Lisa Abraham ran a piece in the food section of the Akron Beacon this week doing her part to contribute to the fish fry love that is happening during Lent. Instead of evaluating church fish fries, she went out to the local fast food restaurants (which included Swenson's, too) to see who had the best fish sandwich. While I don't know that I'd want to eat five fish sandwiches in a day (much less a single sitting), I admire her willingness to go that extra mile for her readers.

Well, that's it for now, folks. I'll be having my final sandwich, the roast beef on pretzel bun at Market Gourmet for lunch today, and then it's off for two fish fries for dinner. Feel free to join me at either dinner if you'd like, I'm always up for some company. In case you are curious, my fish fry schedule is on the Community Calendar on the right hand side of the blog.