Italian Beef At The Dog House

My fascination with the Italian beef sandwich stems from a PBS documentary called Sandwiches That You Will Like. In it, the author travels all over the country looking at local sandwiches that make each area tasty and unique. Maine has the lobster roll, Philadelphia has the cheesesteak, Buffalo has the beef on weck, and Chicago has the Italian beef. Originally started by Italian immigrants as a way to use cheaper, tougher cuts of meat in the first quarter of the 1900's, this sandwich has been feeding hungry Chicagoans for quite some time. At its simplest form, an Italian beef sandwich is composed of a nice Italian sandwich roll, thinly sliced cuts of tender beef, topped with either a mild sweet pepper mix or spicy giardiniera, and is optionally dipped in the jus in which the sliced beef sits waiting for service.

It's an intoxicating mixture of textures and flavors and once you've had the real thing, impostors are easy to spot. Soon after moving back to Akron several years ago, I learned of a place called Nicolino's on Route 91 in Tallmadge that had brought several Chicago classics to the area. It wasn't until I actually stopped in one time to pick up a deep dish pizza that I learned that they also served Italian beef sandwiches, too. The next time I stepped in, you can guess what I ordered. Being a tad on the pricey side, I was disappointed with what I received. Essentially a salt lick on soggy, disintegrated bread topped with peppers and onions, this sandwich was a disaster. It wasn't until I traveled to Chicago back in August 2007 that I finally had a chance to try the real deal. And it was GOOD. The bun, while dipped, still held together. The salt level was much more controlled and the balance of spices and heat were spot on.

I recently received a tweet from another Cleveland foodie, @kyleroth, who mentioned in passing about a place serving Italian beef in Cleveland. We messaged back and forth a bit and I quickly learned that The Dog House located near the intersection of Coventry and Euclid Heights Boulevard was serving not only a selection of hot dogs (as the name would imply), but also Italian beef sandwiches. While I had @kyleroth's assurance that it was a good sandwich, I continued to put off a visit for a while until I could stand it no more.

I charged up the battery on the cellphone, grabbed the $1.00 off coupon for Grum's and headed up to Cleveland. The Dog House was located at 2767 Euclid Heights Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44118 and can be reached at 216-321-0717. At the time of this writing, there appears to be no website associated with the restaurant. Parking was whatever was available on Coventry Road. I choose to park in the parking garage located across from Big Fun. The first thirty minutes were free and the addition of a quarter extended your time by another thirty minutes.

Here was a shot of the exterior of The Dog House:


Once inside, I quickly looked around to discover a quaint little shop with two small two-top tables and a bar seating area along one wall with stools that could seat another five to six guests. Fortunately, at 2 PM on a rainy Sunday afternoon, the place was pretty quiet. As I walked through the front door, I noticed a wall menu posted on the left wall:


This menu was repeated on the right wall, although individual hot dogs were also advertised, some classic, some made up specifically for the store's location (Case Dog, John Carroll Dog, Coventry Dog, etc.). For me, however, the menu was almost irrelevant as I knew why I was standing inside the restaurant. I placed my order for an Italian beef and a bottled water. The man working the counter asked if I wanted it sweet or spicy. Good sign. I ordered it spicy. He started to assemble the sandwich in front of me. The second good sign was that the beef was already ready to serve in the jus. At Nicolino's, they actually reheated the beef from cold for each order. After filling the bun with slices of beef, he topped it with the spicy giardiniera. I was beginning to wonder whether or not he was going to ask me if I wanted it "dipped." Fortunately, he gave me a variation of dipped, "wet." Of course I agreed. Sadly, here was where things started to go south. Instead of quickly dipping the entire sandwich in the jus, he ladled about a cup of broth around the sandwich. I innocently asked him if they made their own gardiniera. He looked at me a bit quizzically and stated that they don't make anything from scratch except the barbecue sauce. As is so often quoted from the Star Wars movies, I had a bad feeling about this.

I took my tray to the tiny table by the front window:


Here was a close-up shot of the Italian beef sandwich itself:


Notice how dry the bun is? That's because all of the jus was at the bottom of the styrofoam container:


The implication of this was that only the spine, or the bit of bread holding the two halves together had touched the jus. And even in the relatively short period of time between him ladling on the jus and me picking it up to eat it, the spine completely disintegrated. This meant that each time I tried to pick it up and take a bite, I had pieces of meat and giardiniera falling out every which way. Fortunately, these pieces fell back into the waiting styrofoam below. As for the bread itself, it wasn't the sturdy Italian roll I had eaten in Chicago. It was more like the Orlando Italian Hoagy rolls you can find at your local supermarket.

The beef was tender and juicy. The giardiniera was good and spicy. However, the same problem that had plagued Nicolino's version from several years ago also seemed to beleaguer this sandwich, too: WAY too much salt. There was so much salt, in fact, that it was hard to taste anything else. From first bite until last, all I could taste was salt and heat. I normally don't drink an entire bottle of water with a single meal, but in this case, it was a requirement.

I threw away my garbage, returned the tray to the front counter, thanked the gentleman who took and filled my order, and walked out into the still rainy and gray Sunday afternoon. While I would probably be curious enough to return and try one of the specialty hot dogs, one thing I am sure I will not be returning for is the Italian beef. I'd rather wait several years to have the real thing than a pale version I could get more often. I would hate for someone who had never actually tried this sandwich to eat this one and think it was representative of what you receive when you order this in Chicago.

Dejectedly, I walked away from the restaurant towards Coventry Road until I remembered that I still had that $1 off coupon for Grum's in my pocket. I might not be hungry now, but I certainly would be later and a Turkey Ridge might very well just hit the spot.

An Audience With Twig At Her Eponymous Diner

In my two previous visits to Twig's Diner, I had managed to show up for a rather late lunch. Today as I was driving through Barberton, I decided to go for a late breakfast / early lunch instead. I pulled into the tiny parking space just outside the diner thinking that it wasn't very full. Of course, I had forgotten to check the parking lot across the street and when I walked inside, I realized the folly of my assumption. While there were no available tables, there was room at the counter, so I took advantage of it and grabbed a seat. The good news was that I finally got to meet the one and only Twig.

Twig was clothed in a multi-hued ensemble and had a personality to match. She was every bit the extrovert I had figured she would be, but she was also a wonderful hostess and concerned owner. As I was finishing my late breakfast today, I had a chance to speak with her for several minutes and I found her to be gracious, informative, and delightful. I don't know if I am making a bad assumption, but my guess would be that she only works until the majority of the lunch rush is finished. My previous two visits had me showing up in the 1:30-2:00 PM range. It would behoove you, gentle reader, to show up when Twig is there because it takes the experience of eating at Twig's Diner and puts it over the top. It turns out that Michael Symon isn't the only one with a distinctive laugh.

By the time I sat down in the restaurant they were officially serving lunch (starts at 11 AM); however, I decided to settle on a longtime breakfast favorite of mine, Eggs Benedict ... or in Twig's vernacular, Twig's Benedict:


Twig's Benedict comes with a side of homefries. Here was a closer shot of one of the Eggs Benedict:


I tasted a bit of the hollandaise sauce that had been advertised on the menu as being homemade. You can see from the photograph above that it was on the verge of "breaking" (where the fat comes out of emulsion and globs of melted butter start to pool together), but it managed to hold together during the course of my meal. The flavor of the hollandaise was quite nice, being a bit more lemony than a traditional sauce. However, in this case, it worked well to counterbalance the fattiness from the egg yolk and the slice of American cheese, which some may question is traditional in Eggs Benedict.

Upon cutting into the egg, all of the wonderful eggy goodness oozed out onto the plate:


This really was a very nice Eggs Benedict. You had multiple flavors and textures happening at the end of each forkful. I had noticed that each of the poached eggs looked very similar, almost as if they had come out of a mold. When Twig stopped by to check on me, I asked her about it. It is common for restaurants to pre-poach the eggs either the night before or the morning before service, keep them cold, and then gently reheat them in water for service. Twig insisted that the poached eggs are done to order at the exact moment that a customer requested them. The downside was that only four could be done at a time this way. I consulted another friend who is in the food service industry and she said that more than likely Twig's was using egg molds which are lowered into simmering water. Whatever method Twig's was using, the eggs were properly cooked and delicious.

Along with my Eggs Benedict, I also received a portion of their potato homefries:


These were cooked nicely and had some great texture to them. I tasted them as they came and while I could detect some seasoning, they definitely needed more salt. After I applied a bit of ketchup to the potatoes, the seasoning issue resolved itself and I greedily shoveled these fried slices of potato into my mouth. My server came around and bussed my plate and silverware and offered me a slice of pie for dessert, but I had other plans so I politely declined and simply asked for the check instead.

The food has been consistently good at Twig's Diner and now that I've gotten to meet the one and only Twig herself, I am convinced that if you are looking for a wonderful way to spend some time eating breakfast or lunch, this interesting little diner in Barberton is the place to go. Even when Twig isn't there, the cast of characters still entertains and of course, the food is just as good. To me, Twig's is definitely a destination type establishment and worth seeking out, especially if you are already in the Akron area. If you aren't in the Akron area, plan a trip, it's worth it.

Papa Joe's And The Mystery Of The Undercooked Noodle

Contrary to what many people might think, I abhor sending food back to the kitchen. It isn't that I feel that as a customer, I should get what I ordered. It isn't that I'm afraid that the kitchen staff is going to do some unspeakable horror to my food. Having worked on the line in high school, I know that having to re-fire an order can throw your rhythm off. Suddenly the other six orders you had cooking that were running smoothly now get botched because you have to add in that extra order and that delicate house of cards called pacing can come tumbling down. That's why I am willing to live with a burger ordered medium that comes out somewhere between medium well to well but still juicy. That's why I am willing to eat food that isn't seasoned properly when it comes out of the kitchen. Of course, there are always hard and fast rules, especially when it comes to food safety. So if I ever send a dish back to the kitchen, you can be sure that something really is fundamentally wrong with the dish.

Tonight, for dinner, I decided to check out an old stomping ground that used to be a favorite of my grandfather and mine, Papa Joe's / Iacomini's. Truth be told, my grandfather's true favorite was actually Little Joe's in Bath, Ohio (where Ken Stewart's Lodge currently resides), but we ate many meals at Papa Joe's, too. Located at 1561 Akron-Peninsula Road, Akron, Ohio 44313, they can be reached at 330-923-7999. A word of warning on the website, the ever-present Flash introduction has sound, so adjust your volume accordingly.

I pulled into the restaurant at 7 PM on a Saturday night to a quite full parking lot. I knew that not having a reservation might present a problem, but I was willing to wait as I really had nothing else planned for the evening. The restaurant was definitely full and when I told the host that I didn't have a reservation, he initially seemed a little flustered. He initially told me it would take about fifteen minutes to find a table, but miraculously he seemed to scrounge one up in a matter of minutes. Granted, it wasn't an optimal table for taking pictures (as you'll see in just a bit), but at least my wait was short and sweet.

Just so you, gentle reader, are aware, all of the photos have been "fixed" by the processing software I use (a combination of the GIMP and Picasa) for legibility. The original photos would've been completely unusable without some serious contrast boosting and lightening of each one.

Once I was seated, my server dropped off a menu. Here was a shot of the front of the menu:


Fortunately, the rest of the menu is available on their website, so please feel free to check it out. The only other photo of the menu I took was of the nightly January 2010 dinner special that seemed to call out to me, the pork ragu:


Besides the pork ragu, I noticed on the specials board when I first walked in that one of the soups du jour was a sweet potato bisque. Intrigued, I asked my server about it and she described it to me and indicated that it was available in both a cup or a bowl. My dinner choices now clearly in focus, I ordered a cup of the bisque to start and the pork ragu over pappardelle for my entree. Shortly after placing my order, a basket of warmed dinner rolls and butter appeared on my table:


I never managed to find out if they bake these rolls on the premises, but I can tell you that they were warm and delicious. The butter pats were also nicely softened and spread easily onto the steaming interior of the rolls. The flavor of the rolls, while nothing extraordinary, was still very good and made for an excellent starter to the meal.

Shortly after my dinner rolls arrived, my server brought the cup of sweet potato bisque to my table:


The bisque had been topped with a dollop of sour cream that had been sweetened with a bit of maple syrup and a grinding of fresh cinnamon. I decided to smell and taste a bit of the bisque by itself, sans sour cream. It had a very vegetal smell to it, almost like vegetable soup or V8 juice, and had no hint of any kind of spice to it. The flavor, however, had just a hint of sweetness to it. I realized that after tasting it, the vegetal smell was probably due to the presence of carrots and onions in addition to the sweet potato. The seasoning was quite nice. For my second spoonful, I added just a bit of the sour cream mixture on top and the combination of the sweet, the spice, and the soup made for a very pleasant mouthful. The only real nitpick for me was that the bisque wasn't silky smooth. However, that didn't stop me from finishing the entire cup.

About halfway through my cup of soup, my served stopped by my table to drop off my salad:


While I was a bit annoyed that I suddenly felt like I was being rushed, I figured that at least I didn't have to worry about the salad getting cold. I finished my soup and turned my attention to the salad. A mixture of various greens, spinach, frisee, and radicchio, the salad was finished off with several rings of red onion, shredded carrots and a couple slices of fresh cucumber. When I inquired if any of the salad dressings were homemade, my server had responded with, "White French." Since I had ordered the dressing on the side, I was able to try the dressing first, before adding it to the greens. My initial reaction? It was very tasty. It had a taste very similar to blue cheese dressing but without the pungency of the cheese. I enjoyed the dressing both on the salad greens and as a dip for my second dinner roll. And while there wasn't any kind of chemical alchemy going on like there was during my trip to Parasson's, the fresh dinner roll made a wonderful vehicle for getting the dressing to my mouth.

Having finished my soup and salad, I ended up waiting about ten minutes for my entree. Where I had previously thought that my serving rushing my meal in order to turn the table, turned out to be more about her just having bad timing with the soup and salad. When my entree arrived at the table, I was more than delighted to see that the description that I had read on the menu translated into a tasty looking plate of food. Here was a shot of the ragu over pappardelle:


I tasted the ragu first. It had a wonderful balance between sweet, salty, and acidic. I could taste each individual component of the sauce as well as the entirety of the ingredients put together. Comprised of tomatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, white wine, and incredibly tender pulled pork, this was a delight on my taste buds. While the menu hadn't said if the pappardelle was fresh pasta or not, it definitely looked like fresh pasta. My mouth now watering, I used my fork to roll up a bit of the pasta and the sauce and took a bite. From that very first bite of pasta, I knew something was off. Really off. The first thing I noticed was the texture. It had a very soft and gummy texture, sort of like uncooked dough. The next thing I noticed was the taste of raw flour, which even with the flavorful ragu combined in with the pasta, I could easily taste. My mind sort of raced at this point. I wanted to be sure that before I sent anything back to the kitchen that I was absolutely sure that the pasta wasn't cooked correctly.

My thought process went something along the lines of this: If the pasta was cooked from dried and undercooked, then it would still have a hard center. If the pasta was cooked from either dried or fresh and was overcooked, then it would be mushy, yes, but not gummy and would tear in a predictable manner when stretched between fork and knife. When I took a noodle and applied a little force to elongate the noodle, it didn't tear at all, but stretched, just like a raw bread dough. To be fair, I tried additional noodles from other parts of the bowl, thinking that I might have just gotten a small pocket of undercooked noodles. Unfortunately, the pasta was universally undercooked.

When my server stopped by to check on me, I asked her if the noodles were fresh and she almost emphatically insisted that they were cooked from dried pasta. I very delicately told her that I thought that the pasta was fresh and undercooked and showed her what happened when I stretched one of the noodles. She immediately realized that I wasn't just trying to make trouble and she took the entire bowl back to the kitchen. Not a minute later, she came back, apologized, and said that not only were the noodles fresh (which she hadn't realized), but the chef agreed that the pasta was woefully undercooked.

She immediately offered a replacement entree. Since I had already had a cup of soup, a salad, two dinner rolls, and about 1/4 of my previous entree, I asked her if I could simply get an order of the penne with meat sauce to go. I have to give her credit because once I identified the problem, she immediately worked to address and resolve the issue quickly and with as little annoyance to me as possible.

After only a few minutes, she returned to my table with my take-out container, apologized once more, and left the check. Here was a shot of my container of penne with meat sauce:


Choosing the penne with meat sauce was a no brainer for me. I've had it before and always loved it. In fact, that was what I had on my mind when I initially thought of returning to Papa Joe's. However, the pork ragu looked especially enticing on the menu tonight, so I decided to forgo one for the other. Who knew that I'd end up going home with an order of it? I did have some of the pasta later on that night for a snack and it was just as good as I remembered it.

Even with my fresh pasta snafu, I still highly recommend Papa Joe's. The flavors of all the dishes were quite good and the pork ragu by itself was outstanding. Once I identified a problem with my dish, my server worked quickly to remedy the situation to my satisfaction. While I wouldn't recommend just showing up at 7 PM on a busy Saturday night without a reservation like I did, they are often much less busy during lunchtime and offer a similar menu that is even more affordable. Would I order the pork ragu over fresh pappardelle again after tonight's experience? Absolutely. Had the pasta been executed perfectly, I think Papa Joe's would've pulled off a hat trick of flavors and textures tonight. I'm definitely willing to take that chance again.

MORE AMP 150 Winners!!

Well, technically not more ... I didn't happen to acquire additional gift cards. What did happen, gentle reader, was that only one out of the three gift cards were spoken for. And given that I gave a one week time limit on claiming the cards, here I am in the interesting position to pick two new winners from the list of already submitted (and closed, by the way) comments on the original posting for the giveaway. As a reminder, there were 41 comments from which to choose. In the original drawing, comments number 5, 25, and 32 were selected. Sarah, commenter number 5, snagged her card within a day of me publishing my results. Hopefully, the next two winners will dutifully claim their cards. Like before, they will have one week from today, so Sunday, 5/23/10 at exactly midnight.

Just like last time, I have employed the use of random.org to pick our two new winners. And they are (drum roll please) ...

1) Comment #23 - Iya -- CLAIMED!!

2) Comment #13 - BONNIE K -- CLAIMED!!

Once again, simply shoot me off an email to my address and tell me how you'd like me to get the cards to you and I'll be happy to take care of it sooner rather than later. Congratulations on our two new winners and I hope they have a great time and a great meal at AMP 150 soon.