Mr. Wonderful's Chicken & Waffles

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a good name. As you can imagine, my curiosity got the best of me when I drove past Mr. Wonderful's Chicken & Waffles a few times. Every time I drove down Emery Road, I'd look over at Mr. Wonderful's and think, "Damn, dude has set the bar pretty high for himself."

Imagine walking in the door everyday knowing that you've got to live up to, not Mr. Meh, Mr. Decent, or even Mr. Pretty Good, but Mr. Wonderful?!?!?

This little carryout place sells primarily soul food. Not only do they sell chicken and waffles, but also (on the day I was there) tri-tips, fried fish, and a selection of sides that fall somewhere between Angie's and Boston Market.

Since I wanted some healthy protein for after my workout, I ordered the baked chicken. I was a little disappointed to see it come out of the steam table submerged in some type of liquid. The guy running the counter wanted to know if I wanted any sauce with my chicken. When I asked what they had, he said, "Well, we've got the mild, a sweet sauce, the Miami Hea-."

"Excuse me? Miami Heat?!?!? Are you kidding me?"

"Yeah, I know. I know. I gotta change that shit. That LeBron really screwed me on that deal."

"He screwed us all, didn't he?"

*Chuckling a little* "Yeah, I guess you got a point there."

The front of the store easily had ten people picking up orders. Sometimes you end up with a fairly long wait at these carryouts, but to Mr. Wonderful's credit, they are well staffed, efficient, and friendly.

Out of respect for my Cleveland sports fan brethren I opted to pass on the Miami Heat. The chicken was decent enough, considering I only paid $6 for the entire dinner. In the end Mr. Wondrful's puts out a decent product at decent price for the surrounding neighborhood it primarily serves. I wouldn't make a special trip, but if you're in the neighborhood you could certainly do worse.

Mr. Wonderful's Chicken & Waffles
23041 Emery Rd.
Warrensville Heights, OH 44128
(216) 464-5230
http://mrwonderfuls.com/

Hiroshi's Pub

Since last summer I have wanted to try Hiroshi's Pub in Beachwood. Located a little further down the strip (on the opposite side of the drive) from Moxie and Red, Hiroshi's Pub is relatively hidden from sight.

The interior has clean looking aesthetic that is rather expansive with numerous little spaces that open off of the main space (perfect for large parties that would like a semi-private space). A large bar with flat screens runs along the left side of the restaurant. As you head to the restrooms an open area of the kitchen on your right exposes the smoker that works around the clock.

I knew I was in for an experience when one of my friends asked for a Coke and the server said sheepishly, "Well, we don't have Coke. We serve "cola"." Seriously? Col-a? I'm not a big soft drink person, but when a place serves cola - it just seems a bit odd.

As one would expect in any respectable pub, Hiroshi's offers up a decent selection of beers (10-15 different micros and macros total). Burgers, salads, sandwiches, barbecue, and sushi add up to what is the largest menu I've ever seen. Yes, even Cheesecake Factory.

I'm not going to give you the play-by-play on what the four of us ordered. I'm just going to say that the Hiroshi's menu could be much more focused. I thought pretty much everything we ordered was bland and unimaginative. The sushi we ordered seemed to be quite large and out of scale with what you would get at a solid sushi place like Pacific East (Coventry). The quality of the ingredients seemed to be middle-of-the-road.

One could make the argument that if a menu has too many different choices, the diner will be paralyzed by the available options. Another argument is that the menu becomes "jack of all trades, master of none". The dishes, while perfectly edible, don't really offer any kind of special experience, either through execution or thoughtfulness, to the consumer.

When it comes to the large menu argument, I fall into the "jack of all trades" camp. Like the Top Chef contestant that tries to put too many tricks into one dish, I think a large menu shows a lack restraint. How can one possibly execute, or expect his line cooks to execute so many dishes at a high level? If they are able to prepare all of these dishes, what does it say about the imagination of each individual offering? I think if Hiroshi's was broken up into a burger joint, a barbecue restaurant, and a sushi place it could be much more successful. While well intentioned, I think Hiroshi's Pub tries to accomplish way too much for just one restaurant.

Hiroshi's Pub
3365 Richmond Rd
Beachwood, OH 44122
(216) 464-4665
hiroshispub.com

Great Lakes Baking Pizza Night

*Flashback to childhood*

It's Saturday night and my dad smells like aftershave (which I personally have never used), my mom is rockin' the latest fashions from Summit Mall, and I (along with my brothers and sisters) am waiting for Silver Spoons to start. Sandwiched somewhere between Silver Spoons and Diff'rent Strokes, would be the arrival of the evening's dinner.

The Saturday night tradition, at least in our Medina home, was that we always ordered Rustic Inn pizza - one pepperoni and sausage, and one mushroom and peppers. Sadly, Rustic Inn has since gone to Jesus. The pizza of my childhood may be gone, but I'm sure the Saturday night preteen pizza tradition continues across this great nation. Every weekend the children are paid in pies, whilst mom and dad savor their ever-so-brief evening respite from chaos.

My gut tells me that many of the children in Hudson share this very tradition with the "Saturday Night Pizza" at Great Lakes Baking. You see, this bakery is your everyday bakery by day (six days a week, closed on Mondays). However, on Saturday nights they make pizza for carryout.

The Pizzaioli

For me it's all about the pizza quest. Pizza of my youth is for the most part gone. (I consider Antonio's my adopted pizza of my youth, since I made a beeline for that place every time we went to Parmatown Mall. Don't laugh, there was a point in time when Parmatown was the shit. Seriously!) At any rate, I happened to be kind of in the neighborhood (Northfield), so I figured this was one of my rare chances to pick up a Great Lakes Baking pie.

I called and ordered a pepperoni ($13), while I drove in that direction. If I'm ordering Neapolitan I'll typically order a margherita pizza, anything else and it's either pepperoni, or pepperoni and sausage. If you do order over the phone, ask what their special pizza is. The price is typically more, but there's usually some pretty good combinations. I missed out on a blue cheese one that had my name written all over it.

The Oven

The staff, as far as I could see, was mostly teenagers or young twenty somethings. You could tell they clearly enjoyed making these pizzas. The kid that was putting them in the oven was pretty amped about my interest in what they were doing. There are a couple small round tables with a few chairs for those who want to eat it at the bakery. While there were people eating there, I'd probably get your pie to go. It's true that the bakery doubles as a pizzeria quite nicely, but they don't have the trappings that one would typically like with their pie (soda, beer, apps, etc.)

The Slice

As you can see, the pepperoni is not the stereotypical low end stuff you find at most run-of-the-mill neighborhood pizzerias. They sprinkle a moderate amount of seasoning on top that really adds a some extra oomph to the spiciness of the thick pepperoni. GLB offers a Rustic French and a Whole Grain crust. I opted for the French along with the red sauce (white and pesto sauce are also available). Thankfully, they don't go nuts with the cheese or the sauce. As the picture shows there's a pretty good balance of dough, sauce, and cheese that results in a chewy crust with a slice that is not overly greasy.

My verdict? Great Lakes is on the right track. The kids that work there seem to be very excited about the crafting of these pies. I liked what I ordered, but I think next time I'd go with their specialty pizza. The pizza is solid and probably serves up one of the better pizzas in Hudson. (I'm not familiar enough with the pizza around there to say for sure.) That being said, I don't know if it's worth making a special trip from afar to get, especially since it's basically carryout only.

Great Lakes Baking
85 S Main St
Hudson, OH 44236
(330) 342-5878
www.greatlakesbakingcompany.com

Trade Winds Caribbean Foods

Trade Winds is a combination island grocery store and carryout. This little gem is located across the street from the vast wasteland formerly known as Randall Park (which seems to be amplified ten fold in the dead of winter).

Since I was going to be driving through the area on my way back from the west side, I figured I'd stop in and pickup some carryout for dinner. I kind of already knew what I was going to be ordering when I walked in - even though I had never been there before. A good jerk chicken is hard to find and I figured what better place to try than here.

I gave a cursory look at the menu, but decided quickly on an order of the jerk chicken with a side of red beans and rice. (While not as bad as a misspelled sign, I was absolutely flummoxed by the idea of a carryout business not having any takeout menus - especially if there's no website. Trade Winds has neither a website nor menus for you to take home. Ouch!)

The dinner was somewhere in the range of $8-10, which is about what I would expect to pay for an order of this size. The seasoned pieces of chicken were of good size, very moist, with a jerk sauce poured over the top. While not the baked on blackened kind of jerk that I'm used to, the greenish sauce had a well developed depth to its heat. The red beans and rice also had the jerk seasoning drizzled on top, which I thought was really good.

I can't really speak for the rest of the menu since I've only ever ordered the chicken. The inside of the space is extremely clean, with a modest selection of Caribbean groceries, and the service is very prompt and courteous. My only criticism is the lack of menus for impatient, call ahead types - like me.

Trade Winds Caribbean Foods
4681 Northfield Rd
Cleveland, OH 44128
(216) 663-9463

Island Cuisine: "Where they fucked up the sign - but not the food."

Sorry, I can understand not having time to update an online menu. I can understand temporarily running out of takeout menus. I can even excuse a restaurant for not having some kind of web presence. But a sign where the name of the actual restaurant is misspelled? Not a good first impression.

The Sign

I'm an underdog guy, so I'm not going to harp on it too much due to the ethnic element. In their defense they certainly aren't the first ethnicity to misspell the word "cuisine". Wanting to make sure there wasn't some sort of alternate spelling I didn't know about, a quick search on Google revealed that pretty much every different ethnicity has made the same spelling mistake. I'm sure the people at Island Cuisine are breathing easier now. But seriously, fix the sign (it is spelled correctly inside in the restaurant).

Ironically enough, the correctly spelled "#1 Shrimp Curry in Ohio" portion of the sign is what lured me in. I'm not sure who handed down this verdict, but if IC thought enough to emblazon it on a sign, it had to be good - right?

The Interior

This is effectively a carryout joint. The inside is neon green and canary yellow. One table with chairs sits in the picture window of the store. A few other chairs are scattered throughout the space for the sole purpose of taking a load off while they get your food together.

The Menu (Note the correct spelling at the top)

I've eaten here three times, and had the shrimp curry twice and the jerk chicken once. IC's shrimp curry is certainly something to take note of. Their curry is a layered flavor that doesn't pack a stinging heat like you get with some of the Thai or Indian curries. I also found the savory rice and beans to be a great counterpoint to the seasoning of the shrimp. Recommended.

What I would not recommend is the jerk chicken. For the money, I'll go to Tradewinds over in North Randall. When I order jerk chicken it has to have a decent kick to it. I want a nice discernible jerk crust on the outside of the chicken. Island Cuisine's relies on a thin almost soup-like gravy to season the meat. Maybe it's been marinated with the jerk, but it's a pretty weak flavor. While I didn't care for the sauce on the chicken it did taste really good when it seeped into the cinnamon and nutmeg of the rice and beans.

Island Cuisine isn't going to wow you with their atmosphere. You won't find any takeout menus, a website, or curiously enough spoons. (Which I find odd, since they serve soup.) I would, however, suggest an order of curry shrimp called in ahead. What IC lacks in refinement, they make up for in soul.

Island Cuisine
20023 Harvard Ave
Warrensville Heights, OH 44122
(216) 491-8250

The Original Pancake House

I'm not a big breakfast guy. Hell, I'm probably less of a brunch fan. For whatever reason I always seem to feel sluggish as hell the rest of the day after eating brunch.

You can imagine the enthusiasm I felt when my mother suggested we go to the Original House of Pancakes with my brothers and sisters. Yippee!!! I can't wait to waddle out of a restaurant and feel like a sloth all day. What are weekends for, right?

I begrudgingly drove across town to for the big rendezvous at The Original Pancake House. Having never been, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked through the door. Fully expecting to be waiting in line as families parked their ass for after church brunch. Imagine my bewilderment when the asked how many were in our party and then walked us straight to our table!

As a Clevelander I knew my luck was going to run out. Fine - I didn't have to wait for a table. But that wasn't going to change the fact that the food was probably going to suck, right? I open the menu and went straight to the Apple Pancake. Yes, one pancake. I wanted something that didn't require me to soak it in that super sweet, artificial syrup. Oh, and they had "thick" bacon. Thick? I'll be the judge of that. I told the waitress she'd better not be lying or I'd have to flip the plate.

Out of nowhere I smell something that resembles apple pie. The waitress set "the pancake" down in front of me and I couldn't believe the size of the damn thing. When it's fresh out of the oven it's inflated (the picture shows what it looks like after it's deflated). Covered in Granny Smith Apples and Sinkiang cinnamon glaze, I wondered how I was going to finish the whole thing. With a little help from my friends I was able to finish it off.

I will say that the bacon is actually very good, too. When I cook at home I have a huge slab of Benton's bacon that cut big fat slices off of. The stuff they serve here isn't too far off that mark.

The OPH is clean, efficient, and has an attentive friendly staff. Alas the sluggishness returned, but at least I can say it was worth it. If you have the opportunity you've got to try this apple pancake. Even if you get something else, make sure you get the bacon - trust me, you won't flip the plate.

The Apple Pancake

Original Pancake House
3000 Westgate Mall
Cleveland, OH 44126
(440) 333-5515
www.originalpancakehouse.com

Pizza Roma

This little pizzeria sits just off the intersection of Wilson Mills and SOM Center Rds, in Mayfield. Since I had never heard anyone really talk about the pizza here, I figured I'd stop in the next time I went to Microcenter.

The store itself is very clean and is decorated in the style of Pizza Parlor Chic. Red checked table clothes, faux stone arches, and a rustic fireplace round out the interior. The takeout counter sits at the front of the shop with testimonials to the late founder of the business. I forget his name (something along the lines of Big Pete), but the stories that were posted in the front of the store described a larger than life character. In his pre-pizza career he was the owner of a landscape company, but saw this little shop as something he'd like to do in his older years. He has unfortunately passed away, and now his daughter now assumed the company reigns.

I ordered a pepperoni and sausage pizza to go. When I get home I was struck by the fact the sausage was cut into cubes. I had never seen this before and instantly thought, "Wow! What a good idea! I bet this is going to stay on the pizza a hell of a lot better than the stuff that comes crumbled into little balls." Wrong. As I bit into the first slice, the sausage just rolled off the cheese. Note to self: Sausage cubes are less likely to adhere to cheese than most other forms of pizza sausage.

Square Sausage on a Round Pizza

The crust was of a medium chewiness (similar to Pizza Hut, but more "bready" and much better). The sauce is bright red with a kiss of sweetness to it. Pizza Roma is not what I would consider a greasy pizza, either.

Overall, I think they represent a good neighborhood restaurant with good value, but not one that I'd go out of my way for.

Pizza Roma
785 SOM Center Rd
Mayfield, OH 44143
(440)499-6415
http://mayfieldvillagepizzaroma.com/index.php?sid%3D50667%26show%3D578381%26w%3D1000

Tartine Shortbread

Tartine Shortbread Cookies

We absolutely love Tartine in San Francisco. Since we can only get out that way once a year (if we're lucky), the Tartine cookbook was going to have to fill in the 51 weeks out of the year.

Only recently was this book cracked open, but there are two things that really drive me nuts about cookbooks with a focus on baking. The first is recipes that use volumetric measures for dry ingredients. I love Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc, but that damn book uses volumetric measurements for the baking recipes. I've seen my fair share of things turn out "iffey" over a tad too much or too little of dry something or other. (Keller's chocolate chip cookies come to mind.) Second, is a recipe that tells you what to do but not why. It's the little nuanced explanations that allow the home cook's knowledge of what they're doing grow because of these little nuggets.

The Tartine cookbook is definitely one for the bookshelf (and uses measurements for both ounces and grams). When I told Regina I was making shortbread cookies she groaned. Before the actual recipe starts, the authors explain why they use cornstarch rather than rice flour or potato starch. They said that cornstarch basically creates a softer melt-in-the-mouth texture, while the other two result in a firmer even crunchy kind of shortbread. Armed with the information you're almost being dared to try the other two out, just to see what happens.

I'm a note taker when it comes to cookbooks. If something doesn't seem right I'll typically jot it down on the actual page so I don't make the same mistake twice. In this recipe they call for cutting the cookies into 2"x1/2" rectangles. If you know what this actually looks like, you know there's no way these cookies are that small. I cut them to 2"x1" and the seem to look just like the picture. You could maybe cut them 2"x3/4", but I still think they'd be pretty small.

My only other note is to make sure you let these set up over night. When they've only been out of the oven for an hour or two they're way too soft. An overnight stay in the fridge seem to give them the perfect firmness. The superfine sugar is an absolute must. Don't use regular sugar! You can warm the bottom of the glass pan on the stove to help loosen the cookies' grip on the glass dish.

The book is awesome. Get it

Here's a link to the recipe

Steve's Hot Dogs

If Steve's Hot Dogs isn't a blast from the past, then I don't know what is. This dinky little 24 hour breakfast/lunch counter on Lorain Road is about as old school, blue collar, stereotypical Cleveland as it gets.

Steve's concept is pretty simple: an array of different breakfast options arranged in a million different combinations are posted on the wall. Non breakfast choices range from their popular hot dogs, to chili, to burgers and fries.

I go there really for one thing - the slaw dog. Is it anything fancy? No. Do they serve them on poppy seed buns? No. Are they big 1/4" dogs? No. The slaw dog has nothing fancy in its cole slaw. In fact, the slaw is of the bland "straight out of the container" variety. The hot dog itself is your garden variety cheap-o, skinny little dog - again, nothing fancy. The bun, while warm and soft, is nothing that you really take notice of. I like to have brown mustard added to mine for a little bit of pizazz, but all of the elements together somehow work. It's a good cheap lunch.

The interior of the place looks like something lifted from a late night scene in Pacino's Needle Park. Go here after hitting the bars and it's hard saying what you'll encounter (which I think adds to the excitement). I love going to places like these because they are really the only functioning remnants of what's left of the old west side working class neighborhoods.

Steve's Hot Dogs
5004 Lorain Road
Cleveland, OH
(216) 961-1460

Pizza Express

I'm always looking for places within a fifteen minute drive of my house. No matter how skeptical, I'll try anything once. Enter Pizza Express. Not only do they do pizza, but they also serve...subs (which many pizza places serve)....ribs (okay, some do. Not great ones, but still)......fish (okay, now your starting to lose me)....falafel (What?!?!?). They pretty much run the gamut.

Excuse me if I was a little skeptical when I read this Pizza Express review with the title "Too Good to be True" by a Google user with one whole review under their belt

"To good to be true This one of the only pizza resturants that I have came across in a very long time, that everything that they serve, its just excellent, pizza, sub, fish, ribs, you name it they have it, and believe me the taste is out of this world, more people need to know about this place. Once you have ate there, believe me you will go back!!!"

Ain't she a beaut? Marco's called, they want their pizza back.

With such a sterling recommendation I had to try it, right? As you can well imagine the pizza could have easily passed as that of Marco's. Let's just say that if you're not close enough to walk to it, the trip is probably not worth making. Pizza Express is what it is, very inexpensive pizza that serves the immediate neighborhood around it.

Pizza Express
3971 Warrensville Center Road
Cleveland, OH 44122-6764
(216) 491-9138 ‎