Since I was on my own for dinner I decided to meet my brother-in-law (who happens to be my default dinner partner when my wife isn’t available), to try 56 West in Lakewood.
Since I have been on the weight loss program for the last couple of months, it has become a little more difficult to find places that are friendly to fatties trying to shed pounds. The menu at 56 West seemed to have a few viable options. Since neither of us had ever been, we decided to give it a try.
56 West is collectively about the size of Melt’s current configuration. The kitchen and a waiting area are on the right side, where the entrance is, and the dining room is on the entire left side.
The menu offers many creative items that don’t venture too far out into the hinterlands, but do give a welcome variety. All burgers and sandwiches are served with only a pickle. If you want fries or anything else, you have to order those for an extra couple bucks. This doesn’t bother me since I don’t want the fries, but this is the type of thing that drives the “stick to your ribs” crowd to the exits.
I opted for the ONE HOT CHICK which is a marinated chicken breast with spicy fried onion straws, pepperjack cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red curry mayonnaise. I also got a side of the SULTRY SLAW made with Napa cabbage, shredded carrots, scallions, in a rice wine vinaigrette, and sesame seeds. I thought the chicken sandwich was a winner. The slaw on the other hand, was waaaay too chunky. There were some pretty tough pieces of cabbage that I don’t think would have tasted good if shredded to a quarter of the size. The pieces should have never made it into the slaw, they should have tossed out.
My Brother-in-law was less than thrilled with his burger. I can’t say that I really blame him, the patty was kind of small. Without a bun it really looked small (think George Castanza and the pool shrinkage). At the end of the day it was a puny eight dollar bacon and cheddar burger without anything else but a pickle.
When it was all said and done, it was one up (mine) and one down (his). I think 56 West is nice option for a quick cheap bite for those in the neighborhood, but I don’t see it as much more than that. If you are a big eater, and by that I mean a Man vs. Food type, you will definitely want to pass this place up - Melt it is not. While I thought mine was good, I don’t think it warrants a special trip from the east side.
56 West
16300 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood, OH 44107
(216) 226-0056
www.fiftysixwest.com
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