Reddstone Summer Menu Preview

Having been a food blogger for a year and a half now, I have come to expect several different reactions from chefs, restaurants, and the more entrenched food industry. Some are completely indifferent and consider the rantings of an amateur food critic to be unworthy of any response. Some are highly critical, pointing to the obsessive picture takers who value getting that one prized shot rather than following accepted restaurant behavior and trying not to disturb other patrons. Finally, there is the much more rare example of a chef or restaurant that understands the power of social media and attempts to harness all of that energy to help out his or her establishment.

When I am out by myself doing restaurant reviews, I try and be as discrete as possible. One of my main directives in writing this blog is to tell you about my experience just as if you were there instead of me. Alerting the wait staff by engaging in obvious food blogger behavior would defeat that goal. However, when the restaurant knows ahead of time, such as the case tonight at a complimentary tasting of the new summer menu at Reddstone, I generally loosen up a bit and take my time to make sure I can photo document as much as I can.

About a week ago, I received an email invitation from Becca Meyers, Marketing and Events Manager for Reddstone (warning: semi-gratuitous use of Flash and music). The email explained the what, where and when and suggested if I was interested in attending that I should RSVP. I had heard the name "Reddstone" bantered about before, but having never been there, I went on-line and checked out their menu. The vibe that I got from the menu was upscale bar food. But having never actually visited, I wasn't entirely sure. Curiosity sufficiently piqued, I emailed her back to reserve my spot.

I arrived in Battery Park (which is visible from Route 2) around 5 PM to find the area mostly dead. After parking my car on a nearby curb, I walked past the still gated patio to the front door located at the corner of West 76th Street and Goodwalt Avenue. Technically they are located at 1261 W. 76th Street, Cleveland, OH 44102 and can be reached at 216-651-6969.

Here was a shot of the still locked front door:


Walking through this door would put you squarely in the bar area. Since it was still locked, I tried the door on the side of the building. This was unlocked, but when I walked inside to see if they were open yet, I was told "ten more minutes." Fair enough. I walked back out into the mid-70's afternoon and made a few phone calls. The next time I turned around, the neon sign in the front door was now actively displaying "Open."

As I walked into the bar and sat down, I began to look around. There was a lot of dark wood and the room itself felt very isolated from the bright sunny day that lay on the outside of the walls. The owners were clearly trying to play off the "Redd" in the name as most of the bar was illuminated with red lights of varying intensities. When I arrived, the bartender was lighting many small votive candles and interspersing them throughout the bar, I suppose to give it a more intimate feel.

Looking skyward, I noticed two things: a disco ball spinning on its axis throwing angular shafts of red light onto surrounding surfaces and this rather odd wooden carving:


Having seen this image on tractor trailer mudflaps, I have to admit that it seemed out of place. I began to wonder who the clientèle of the establishment might actually be.

Soon enough, the bartender came over and introduced himself and asked if I wanted a beverage. After listening to my on-tap choices, I went with a pint of the Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold:


I've always loved the balance of this beer and tonight's freshly-tapped pour from the keg really hit the spot. The bartender asked if I wanted to look at the menu and that's when I told him I was here for the summer menu tasting. He continued to prep the bar for opening and around ten minutes until six, he informed me that since it was such a nice day, the tasting was going to be held on the patio out back. Grabbing my almost finished beer, I walked out the side door and into the now open patio area. Continuing around to the back right, a secondary bar came into view. I picked an open seat and proceeded to finish off my Dortmunder while waiting for the other food bloggers to show up.

Oddly enough, no one showed up until just about six o'clock, when suddenly it seemed like everyone suddenly just appeared. Within moments, I had joined the rest of the group and we retired up to the top of the patio where we occupied three different tables. Becca left us with a printed letter of introduction which contained tonight's menu.

Here was a shot of the letter:


And a close-up of tonight's proposed meal:


She also left us with a copy of the current menu, which you can see on-line at their website, but as the whole point of a seasonal summer menu is to change, don't be surprised if some items on the on-line version are no longer available by the time this review publishes.

My original Dortmunder now drained, for my second beer I decided to go with another on-tap selection, the Pyramid Haywire hefeweizen:


Served with an orange wedge, this was a nicely done wheat beer. It wasn't particularly assertive and had I been in the mood to drink a beer particularly suited to summer, this definitely would be the one.

Everyone now in place, the meal began. Co-owner and executive chef Josh Kabat came out to introduce himself to the group and explained a little bit about the changes and new additions to the menu. It turned out that the five courses we would be sampling tonight were just some of the changes planned for the summer.

First up were Salmon Lettuce Rolls:


The lettuce wrap contained salmon carpaccio, radish sprouts, and a bit of sweet soy. They were topped with a garnish of red bell peppers and scallions. Served alongside the lettuce wraps was a chili and miso dipping sauce:


Resembling tamaki, or handroll sushi, I was tempted to pick this up with my fingers and dip it into the sauce. However, there was a lot of water at the bottom of the plate and I didn't want to get my hands dirty this early in the meal. It seemed that others had the same concern because knife and fork were pretty much used by everyone at my table to eat this. The flavors were very crisp and clean and the salmon had a nice fresh flavor to it. The dipping sauce definitely added a Vietnamese/Japanese spin to the dish, although I think it might have been a bit too strong as I lost the delicate flavor of the fish.

It turned out that the wetness at the bottom of the plate was due to the fact that the kitchen had wrapped these rolls ahead of time and the salt from the soy sauce had leached out some of the water. I assume when you order these off the menu that they will be making them to order, so a sogged out lettuce leaf won't be a problem.

Next up was the BBQ'd Duck Confit Slider:


And here was a shot of the slider with the crown of the bun removed:


It became clear to me by this second course that we would be getting mini-tastes of what would eventually be put on the menu. I surmise that you won't be ordering single sliders, but an order will come with two or three. The slider itself had been topped with a daikon slaw and poblano creme fraiche (which is apparent if you look at the crown in the second photograph.

I tried each component on the slider by itself. The daikon slaw was crunchy and had a nice rice wine vinegar acidity to it. The poblano creme fraiche was creamy with just a little bit of heat. The duck meat was tender and because of the abundance of sauce, it was very moist. I was a little concerned about the overuse of BBQ sauce, however, as the flavor of the sauce seemed to overpower the flavor of the confit duck meat. Reassembling my slider, I took a bite. While definitely a tasty little sandwich, I confirmed my suspicion about the BBQ sauce. It masked the flavor of the meat too much. This could've easily been a pork slider as it was a duck. That being said, it was definitely a delicious combination of flavors. Perhaps a better idea would be to sauce the duck less and make additional sauce available in a squirt bottle.

The third course was to be a sampling of their "Slice of America" All American Burger:


Here was a shot with the crown removed:


Comprised of a sirloin burger patty cooked medium, the burger quarter came topped with American cheese, diced pickles, and a special Reddstone "sauce." An additional slice of perfectly ripe tomato and lettuce leaves were available on the plate for those who wanted them, but I chose to eat my burger as it came. I tasted the special sauce by itself and found it to resemble something similar to the sauce on a Big Mac, only with a bit of chili heat. Nothing obnoxious, mind you, but just enough to make it interesting. After squishing the burger down to a manageable size, I took a bite. This was a tasty burger. Nothing particularly innovative, but tasty nonetheless. To continue with the McDonald's analogy, it almost came across as a gourmet version of the Big Mac.

Some complained that the burger was a bit messy, but as a burger lover myself, a messy burger just means that you are doing something right. Additionally, with the restrained use of toppings, I didn't have condiments and toppings squirting out the sides with every bite.

Along with out burgers, baskets of freshly fried salt, pepper, and rosemary fries were brought to each table:


These were hot, crispy, and very tasty. The interesting thing about fresh rosemary is that you can smell it way before you taste it and such was the case tonight. Condiment caddies were brought out containing mustard, ketchup, and hot sauce, but I preferred to eat mine as they came. I would have no problem ordering these the next time I come for a meal at Reddstone.

Our fourth course was another worldly trip, this time to Japan / Thailand. Here was a bowl of the Shrimp and Soba Noodles:


Here was a closer shot of the bowl:


Besides the perfectly cooked shrimp perched on top of the noodles, the dish also contained pickled Napa cabbage, red bell pepper, scallions, black and white sesame seeds and was dressed in a mildly sweet and spicy peanut sauce. The noodles were also nicely cooked and dressed and the balance of flavors was, to my taste, the best of the evening. I'm also happy to see that they served this dish with chopsticks; however, they may want to reconsider sticking the chopsticks directly into the bowl of noodles. Just as with sticking chopsticks into a bowl of rice, it is considered symbolic of death in Asian culture. It doesn't personally bother me, but then again, I'm not from that culture.

By the time our fifth and final course came out of the kitchen, the sun had begun to make its final descent into the horizon. The last dish was a braised five spice beef short rib:


Here was a shot of the same dish from another angle:


Perched atop a potato and kimchee latke and topped with fried crispy leeks, each dish also had a small pool of plum sauce. As this was set down in front of me, I could smell the cinnamon and nutmeg from the five spice powder. The leeks were beautifully fried and were crispy without being greasy. The beef, having been long braised, was definitely tender, but when I tried to cut it atop the latke, the experience began to go south. The latke sort of smooshed apart, making the possibility of getting a forkful of vertical ingredients, starch, protein, and vegetable a bit harder than it should have been.

While the potato and kimchee latke was tasty, I completely lost the taste of the kimchee, both the spice and the fermented flavor. And the worst part was the braised beef itself. Everyone universally agreed that it was too salty. Mine was salty, yes, but not to the point where I couldn't taste other flavors. However, the overwhelming warm spices from the five spice powder completely overwhelmed the beef flavor. All I could taste was salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. The sweetness from the plum sauce helped a little to cut the salt, but not enough.

While I think that this dish was an excellent idea, I think it definitely needs to get tweaked a bit before being placed on the summer menu. For me, less salt was an obvious first suggestion, but I also think the five spice powder could be a little less pronounced as well. And I love the idea of using kimchee to give the dish a spicy, fermented flavor, even if it is just subtle. As fellow blogger Nancy from Fun Playing With Food suggested, perhaps use the kimchee as a garnish on top. Or perhaps sandwich the kimchee between the latke and the short rib.

Our meal now at its conclusion, one of our servers brought us the check for the bar tab and we all divvied it up appropriately, adding in a tip for the service we had received tonight. Having now tried some of the new summer menu items, I am eager to return back and try some of the other food that we didn't have a chance to try tonight. I've been told that the chicken wings are fantastic and I'm always up for a good chicken wing.

Including this blog, six other bloggers / blogging teams were present to taste the food. I have linked to the ones who ended up writing about the event tonight at Reddstone so that you can get a sense of what others had to say as well:

Bite Buff

Cleveland Sandwich Board

Food 'N Such Cleveland

Fun Playing With Food

Green Dog Wine

Heights Eats

I was familiar with four of the six blogs already and it was great to add two more to my list of writers to check out on a regular basis.

Even with a few missteps tonight, the flavors and creativity that the kitchen team put forth in this new summer menu really did impress me. I'm not often on the west side of Cleveland for a post-work meal, but if I find myself in such a situation, I might just have to stop back by and put together a tasting menu of my own.

Meeting Fellow Bloggers at A Taste of Fleming's

On my recent drive back from Kansas City to attend the annual eGullet Heartland Gathering, I received a rather curious email message somewhere on I-71 between Columbus and Akron. It seems that a local PR person in the Akron area had found my blog through a Google search and quickly realized that I might be just the kind of attendee she needed for an event she was arranging for one of her clients, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. The initial email contained an invite to the complimentary event, A Taste of Fleming's, which was only a few days away.

I have never eaten at any of the Fleming's locations, even though there are two close to me, both in Akron and in Cleveland. And in fact, a relative of mine actually works as a server at a Fleming's located in another state and has berated me on several occasions because I have not stopped in to check out the food. Oddly enough, I originally thought that perhaps my invite to this event was somehow connected to my relative. Nope, she was just as surprised as I was. After running the notion of a review by her, she said she would be absolutely fine with me attending the event.

Still a little nervous, I responded to the woman from the PR firm detailing a few of my concerns, most of which centered on the fact that if I blog about an event, free or not, I plan on being completely honest, but fair. She replied quickly to allay my fears and said that I could write whatever I wanted, good or bad, and was fine with the fact that even though the event was on July 30th, this entry probably wouldn't post until the middle of August. I was happy to accept.

So, at 4:45 PM on July 30th, I arrived at the Fleming's on Chagrin Boulevard. Here is a shot of the exterior:


As I got close to the front door, I saw a sign posted outside that was advertising the menu I was here to taste tonight:


When I originally walked in the door, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I figured by this point there would already be quite the crowd. As it turns out, this event was being held specifically for local bloggers and the masses of people I was expecting to have to navigate through turned out to be about twelve people representing five different food blogs. Early on we decided to have our sampling on the patio, and even though it was just a touch warm when I first got there, once we settled in and sat down to start eating, the weather was just gorgeous.

Before I go into the actual food and drinks we were about to experience, I think it would be a good idea to discuss why we were all here. Fleming's is trying to promote it's "5 for $6 'til 7". This means that every day in the bar area, they have 5 wines by the glass, 5 various cocktails, and 5 different appetizers for $6 each before 7 PM. I'd like to think of it as a "happy hour" with snacks.

I started out with a nice glass of Zinfandel:


This was a nice summery wine. It didn't have any heavy tannins and the gentle spiciness of the wine was easy to drink on a warm summer day. This also paired very well with our very first tasting, the tenderloin beef carpacio served with chiffonaded basil, finely chopped egg, capers, red onions and dressed with a little creme fraiche:


The impressively pounded beef was tender and delicious and the toasted bread rounds served as a nice serving vessel. Creamy, crunchy, herbaceous and salty all worked well together to make this dish a winner. What really struck me about this dish (and really almost all of the dishes we would be tasting today) was the lightness of the dish. Not necessarily in the fat content, but really the mouthfeel. Coming to a restaurant that is primarily known for it's steaks, this was a pleasant surprise.

Along with the beef carpacio, the next dish was also uncharacteristic of my preconceived notions of what to expect at Fleming's, crispy fried calamari with banana peppers tossed in a sweet chili sauce:


This isn't the best calamari I've ever had, but it was darn good for $6. This sat on the table probably longer than it should have as we were enjoying our first glass of wine and talking. The breading was less crispy than it should have been, but I think had we eaten it as soon as it had come out, that wouldn't have been a problem. Having just a slight bit of chew to the calamari rings, the flavors really went well together. I thought that perhaps the banana pepper rings might be too spicy and overpower the other flavors, but they were mild with only a slight kick and melded perfectly into the other flavors on the dish. I would definitely order this again.

Here is a shot of my plate after grabbing round number one of appetizers:


For our second round of appetizers, we started out with the Wicked Cajun Barbeque Shrimp:


This was served with a piece of toasted bread and pickled jalapeno peppers. This was the spiciest dish of the night, but not so spicy that the other flavors in the dish were masked. The seasoning was spot on and the shrimp were succulent and sweet. It was during the description of this course by the executive chef, Eli Kratzert, that we found out that nearly everything at Fleming's is made from scratch in-house, including all of the sauces and breads. Color me impressed.

Next up on the appetizer list is a fairly tried and true stand-by, the Seared Ahi Tuna with Spicy Mustard:



First, let me just say that a pet peeve of mine is to see "Ahi Tuna" on the menu of any restaurant. It's redundant. It's like saying that the roast beef sandwich is being served "with au jus". Unfortunately, this is the nomenclature that has been widely accepted by the dining public; hopefully, someone who reads this blog entry will walk away and realize the folly of this mistake. ("Ahi" means "Tuna" in Hawaiian.) But enough about the semantics of how it is phrased. How did it taste?

This was a nice representation of this classic dish. The tuna was tender and seared nicely. The wasabi and mustard sauce served as a nice foil for the relatively uncomplicated flavors of the tuna. What was really nice though was the "slaw" that was served underneath the tuna slices. Dressed with sesame oil, this really helped to bring an Asian twist to the dish that I haven't had before. I was again impressed that this dish was only $6.

Here is a shot of my plate after grabbing the second round of appetizers:


At this point I decided to try one of the new cocktails on the 5 for $6 'til 7 menu, the Basil Lemon Drop:


This was a perfect summer cocktail, very light and refreshing. The basil added a wonderful counterpoint to the lemon flavor and truth be told, if I didn't know that this was a vodka-based drink, they would be entirely too easy to gulp down in two or three sips. I had to keep reminding myself to drink it slowly since I was going to have to drive home in a little while. Several others at the table also had these and everyone found them to be delicious.

For our final round of appetizers, we started out with Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes served over a red pepper sauce:


There are two main points I'd like to make about these crab cakes. First, to take a little liberty with the verbiage, they were very "crabby". You could really taste the crab meat in these. You could taste a little bit of binder mostly through mouthfeel, but the predominant flavor was crab. Second, these were a bit overly salted. Not so much that you would send them back, but it was noticeable to me. In fact, just to be sure, I tried a bite of crab cake from another plate that had been put out and both bites were seasoned the same. Considering that the seasoning was predominant throughout the crab cake and not just on the top and bottom, it's clear that salt was added to the mixture before being shaped into individual cakes. A little less salt and these would've been perfect.

Our final dish on the tasting menu was something that I've seen at other happy hours in other popular Cleveland restaurants, the mini-burger. Fleming's version is called the Prime Sirloin Burger with Cheese and Bacon:


And a close-up shot of the side of the burger:


Cooked to a beautiful medium-rare, this was a tasty burger. The chef did admit that the egg bun on which the burger is served is actually sourced from outside of Fleming's and not made there on the premises. They served up several different burgers, each with a different kind of cheese. My version had bleu cheese. The bacon seemed like it almost had a glaze on it of some kind and after checking with the chef, he admitted that they used a spice rub (which includes sugar) on the bacon before cooking it. While the burger was hot and juicy, I again got just a bit too much seasoning on the burger that I tried. Thinking that it might be the bacon, I removed what was left and tried the burger again. While the bacon did add some salt to the party, to my taste the burger was a little too aggressively seasoned. Note, however, that this didn't stop me from finishing my portion.

Served along side the burger were two perfectly fried onion rings and a spicy aioli for dipping:


This was a very nice way to end the meal. The onion ring was nice and meaty and fried perfectly. The aioli did a nice job of complimenting the onion ring. I'd be happy just to sit down at the bar and enjoy a plate of these guys alone to compliment my cocktail or glass of wine.

So what conclusion did I come to after finishing all of this? I was pleasantly surprised at the nice variety of dishes available on Fleming's 5 for $6 'til 7 menu. The Basil Lemon Drop I had was simply outstanding and other than a couple of aggressively seasoned dishes, the flavors really did work well together. I've not yet had the pleasure of trying one of their steaks, but I think if I was in the area and looking for a little post-workday place to wind down and meet up with some friends, Fleming's would certainly be on my list of places to go.

I should also make note of the fact that our host arranged a parting gift for all of the attendees consisting of two Fleming's wine glasses and a lovely wine bottle opener. In addition, everyone was graciously offered a bottle of wine from one of the five available on the menu. I choose a 2007 MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir from Sonoma Valley. My intention is to take it to my next dinner party and share it so that everyone can try it out.

In attendance tonight were Cliff Cravens, Operating Partner of the Cleveland location; Erin Victor, Private Dining Director of the Cleveland location; and Leslianne Love, Private Dining Director of the Akron location. All three were exceptionally gracious and provided all of the diners with a lot of the background information that you wouldn't normally get from just a visit to the dining room. Besides the main dining room at Fleming's, they also have private dining facilities that can seat up to 70 people as well as complimentary audio visual equipment for parties, business meetings, anniversaries, etc.

Should you choose to check out some of the other takes on tonight's event, here is a list of the other bloggers in attendance:

Sensory Overload

KaKaKaKaty.com

Tricia's Dish

Cleveland Sandwich Board