Slightly Off The Mark At Black River Cafe

Recently, I had the good fortune to attend the dedication of a new building space in Oberlin, Ohio with friend and Oberlin College alumnus Edsel. The project had been completed by a trio of Oberlin alumnae, one of whom was a mutual Facebook friend to Edsel and I. Since it has been literally twenty years since I stepped foot onto the Oberlin campus, I asked Edsel to recommend a place to eat after the ceremony was completed. While many college campus type options were available, only a couple of upscale options existed. The one Edsel suggested was Black River Cafe.

I had actually heard of Black River Cafe before and excited to finally get a chance to try this eatery, I quickly agreed. After the ceremony had come to an end, we made our way to 15 South Main Street, Oberlin, OH 44074. They can also be reached at 440-775-3663. At the time of this writing, Black River Cafe does not have their own website; however, they do have a Facebook fan page. While there was no specific parking lot available for the restaurant, metered parking was available on the street. Fortunately, since it was a Saturday night when we went, the parking was free.

The restaurant was located in a long line of storefront properties just off the main intersection by the college. Here was a shot of the front of the restaurant:


Sitting on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant was a chalkboard sign announcing some of the items on the menu for tonight's visit:


While I don't recommend showing up on a Saturday night without a reservation at 7:00 PM, fortunately because it was just Edsel and I, they were able to seat us within a very short ten minutes. While the menu was only one page (which I greatly liked), because it was fairly large, I took two photographs in order to capture the entire thing:



As you can see, gentle reader, the menu was broken up into small plates, salads, large plates, and sides; several dishes making an appearance in each category. It was clear that the goal of the restaurant and chef was cooking seasonally as many of the ingredients reflected this time of year. While we pondered what to order tonight, our server started us out with bread and olive oil.

Here was a shot of the bread:


And the plate of extra virgin olive oil she poured for us:


The bread was actually quite tasty, having a crumb with just a slight amount of resistance and a crust that was chewy without being crusty. The olive oil made a nice foil for the bread, adding in just a bit of pepperiness to each bite.

Looking over the menu, Edsel and I decided to split two of the small plates and then each order our own entrée. First up was the Cornmeal Crusted Fried Calamari with Sweet and Hot Peppers:


The peppers had been pickled and added a wonderful acidity that helped to cut through the fried calamari, which itself was done very well. Those who have tried to cook calamari before know that you either cook it a very short time or a very long time. Any place in the middle and you end up with chewy rubber bands. While not the ultimate in tenderness, Black River Cafe's version was still pretty darn tender. The peppers added just a touch of heat, enough to make the dish interesting without being overpowering.

The other small plate that we ordered was the Soft Polenta with Sautéed Mushrooms, Porcini Cream Sauce, Parmesan and topped with a hint of Truffle Oil:


As soon as this plate was set in front of us, the gorgeous earthy smell from the truffle oil made me salivate even more. The polenta (cooked cornmeal) was indeed soft and creamy, but by itself, lacked salt. The sautéed mushrooms, however, made up for this deficiency by being properly seasoned. When eaten together, the corn flavor from the polenta was even more pronounced. Of the two starters, Edsel and I both agreed that the fried calamari dish was definitely better.

For my entree, I settled on the Half-Roasted Chicken with Acorn Squash Puree, Maple Jus and Fresh Green Beans:


Here was a shot of my plate from the opposite side:


The maple jus was drizzled around the plate. By itself, it was far too salty, even though the sweetness from the maple syrup did help to cut it slightly. When I combined it with the acorn squash puree, however, it's assertiveness was mitigated slightly and worked much better. The fresh green beans were cooked nicely and had both a tender and crunchy aspect to them. When I finally got around to the chicken, I noticed that the skin wasn't uniformly crispy, which would've added another textural element to the dish.

I started with the dark meat, the thigh and leg. While the dark meat wasn't overcooked, I could tell that it was a tad bit drier than it should have been. Edsel immediately made the comment that if the dark meat had been cooked this far, there was surprisingly little hope for moist breast meat. As someone who knows never to contradict an experienced foodie, it came as no shock that Edsel was right on the money. Here was a shot of the interior of the breast meat:


While I did enjoy the flavor of the chicken and the chicken skin, it had definitely been overcooked and that detracted from my overall enjoyment of the dish. Even with the aggressive maple jus and the overcooked meat and undercooked skin, I did actually enjoy eating the dish as a whole and would hope that were I to order it again that it would come out of the kitchen prepared perfectly the next time.

Edsel and I did ponder getting dessert for just a second, but both of us were too full to consider it longer than that. With tip and tax, my meal tonight at the Black River Cafe came to $30, which given the quality of the food was a good value. There were a few small errors along the way, but no real show stoppers. Knowing that a trip to Oberlin is an hour drive each way, I don't know that I personally would be seeking out regular trips to the restaurant, but if I happened to already be at the college, I can certainly see myself returning for another meal.

A Visit To Light Bistro in Ohio City

In a recent conversation with some of my Cleveland foodie friends, we were trying to decide where to have dinner on a cold, rainy Friday night. Several spots were suggested, and while they all sounded okay, none of them really made me go "YES!" in my head. I looked through my contact list on my phone for inspiration and when I finally scrolled to the L's, I stopped. Having not been there in quite some time, Light Bistro suddenly sounded like the perfect spot. I suggested it to my friends who also agreed that it had been a long time since they visited as well. I pulled up the OpenTable for Android application on my phone and sure enough, there was an opening at 7 PM at Light Bistro for the four of us.

Light Bistro was located at 2801 Bridge Avenue, Cleveland, OH, 44113 and can be reached at 216-771-7130. Their website was quite informative and before leaving for Cleveland, I was able to check out much of their current menu. What surprised me about their current offerings were the number of small plates, or tapas, available. I don't remember this being on the menu before, but then again, it has been quite some time since I had last eaten there. Also new on the menu were pizzas.

Three out of our four-top arrived slightly early for our reservation. We sat at the bar and ordered a few drinks to get us started. Sadly the only less than stellar service issue we had tonight was with the bartender. He seemed preoccupied with people other than us. While two of us were served without issue, the third nearly had to flag him down in order to place his drink order. He was also unhelpful in determining what, exactly, was available for Happy Hour pricing. Both my beer and my friend's beer were actually $3 each during Happy Hour instead of the regular price. We didn't find that out until we were presented with our checks at the end of the meal.

When our fourth party member arrived, we moved from the bar to our table. Our server left us with a list of today's specials and the menus to look over. Here was a shot of the first page from the menu:


And a shot of the second page:


Just as in previous visits, after water was poured for each guest, a small brown sack containing bread, hot and fresh, arrived at the table along with nicely softened butter from Lake Erie Creamery. I smeared a little bit of butter on my bread before taking a bite.


I won't go into my usual diatribe about the complexities of the bread. Let's just say that this was a very nice way to start the meal. I'm very glad that Light's tradition of serving bread this way hasn't changed over the years.

When going out with a group of foodies, it is important to understand how the ordering process works. It is not enough just to order a single item off of the menu. To truly "get" what the chef is trying to do, you want to try and order as many different items as your group can handle. By employing this cross-sectional ordering technique, you can begin to understand if there are consistency issues in the food as well as get a handle on chef's vision. While two people ordering the same entree isn't necessarily frowned upon, the spirit of sharing with other diners at the table encourages everyone to order something different. That is why going out with a group is far more interesting than going alone. By myself, I might only get to try two or three flavors. With a group of four? I got to try seven.

We decided to start our meal out with some tapas and a pizza. Here was a shot of the thin and crispy Albondigas pizza:


Albondigas, the Mexican word for meatball, was comprised of ground lamb and was spiced with an earthy seasoning mixture that included cumin. Topped with a tomato sauce and both mozzarella and provolone cheeses, this was an excellent pizza. The crust was crispy and still chewy and the amount of sauce and cheese were perfectly balanced. The pizza was sliced into eight pieces, making it the perfect amount to serve four hungry diners.

The first tapas dish we ordered was the Chinese Street Chicken, which was cleverly served to us in a Chinese take-out container:


The only real culinary miss of the evening was this dish. While the chicken breast used for this dish was exquisitely fried and very juicy and the coating was crispy without being greasy, none of us got the miso or sesame flavors that were listed on the menu. I have to assume that they were in the breading on the chicken as there was no sauce at the bottom of the container. This dish was delicious as a fried chicken finger, but failed to transport any of us to the crowded, noisy streets of Beijing.

Our second tapas was the Chicken Liver Pate with crostini and Ohio apples:


Comprised of as nearly as much butter as chicken livers, the pate literally spread like butter onto the crispy wafers of bread. The brunoise of Ohio apple added a lovely tart flavor that helped to cut through the fattiness of the pate. To say that this dish was delicious was an understatement. As we neared the end of this dish, someone nervously joked about using their finger to get into the ramekin and seriously clean up the rest of the remnants. Nobody did, of course, but all four of us were thinking how much it would be nice to be the one who got to "lick the bowl," so to speak.

Here was a shot of my appetizer plate with a slice of pizza and the two tapas on it:


As it turned out, there was quite a bit of wait between when we finished our appetizers and when our entrees came out. Normally one of us would've asked the server what was taking so long, but after our sizable appetizers, we were all glad to get a little breather between the two halves of our meal. After our meal the chef stopped by our table to say hello. It turned out that the kitchen was being run by only a two man team tonight. Normally handled by the chef and three cooks, one cook was on vacation and the other showed up to work sick only to be sent home. That an entire restaurant full of patrons could be handled by only two people and the quality of the food was as good as it was speaks volumes for Chef Matt Mathlage. Slight detour there, now back to the food.

We decided on four different entrees for our dinner: pork, scallops, ostrich, and truffle ravioli. Here was a shot of my pork dish from the front:


And here was a shot from the back:


The Berkshire pork chop had been seared perfectly and then thinly sliced and fanned out on top of a champagne mustard sauce. This was then topped with pickled onions and served with creamy polenta. All of us were impressed with the dramatic presentation of the pork chop, a nod to the chef's creativity and playfulness. After exchanging bites of each dish with the others, I finally had a chance to tuck into my own. The pork was seasoned well and was tender and juicy. The champagne mustard sauce had just a touch of sweetness to it that helped to tame the bite of the mustard. The pickled onions added a nice contrast to both the meat and the mustard.

Everything on the plate was quite delicious, but the polenta really stood out. It was both smooth and silky and yet retained just a tiny little bit of mouth feel from the ground corn. While I can only imagine how much butter and cream had been used to finish this decadent accompaniment to the pork, it never lost the flavor of the corn. I found myself eating forkful after forkful as if I was in some uncontrollable state of mind where I could only focus on the flavor of the polenta.

After our server managed to clear the table our of dinner plates, he offered us dessert. Knowing that we had an appointment with a couch at the Velvet Tango Room after our dinner at Light Bistro, we politely declined and joked that we would be drinking our dessert soon enough. We settled the bill and then waited a few minutes to chat with the chef, who had no doubt until this point pretty much been in the weeds all night. In addition to telling us about the staffing shortage that had plagued the kitchen tonight, he also mentioned an upcoming wine dinner with a very special vintner flying all the way in from Italy. Fortunately, information is normally posted on their Facebook page about upcoming events.

Other than the strange quirk with our bartender, our meal tonight at Light Bistro was outstanding and I cannot recommend them enough. While prices for the entrees are a tad pricier, you could certainly make a meal out of the pizzas and the tapas for far less. The atmosphere, while not quiet, was not overly boisterous either, even with the restaurant full on a Friday night. I encourage you to check them out if you have a chance.