What to do with a Monster Cauliflower

Yeah, all of that is from a single head of cauliflower

At the Shaker Market I laid eyes on one of the most incredible heads of cauliflower I'd ever seen. They were big and absolutely filled with florets. Usually when I buy cauliflower you get a smaller head and thirty percent of it is usually waste, for this thing I'd say it was closer to fifteen percent. In fact, the one I picked up was just over four pounds and was enough to make this recipe (which calls for 2 heads totaling 4 to 5 pounds.)

Is there a better way to spend a Sunday morning?

Like most everything I've made from the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook, this one is a keeper, (admittedly the only stinker was the chocolate chip cookies, but I think the problem was the amount of flour. I hate baking recipes that use volumes for dry ingredients.)

While this soup is not exactly low fat, it is an irresistible bowl of goodness. I've always found cauliflower to be a pretty boring veggie that is difficult to find good recipes for. As was the case last weekend, the locally grown vegetables at the North Union Farmers Market continues to dwindle, but all of the items used in this recipe can still be found here in Cleveland. This soup is one that should have broad appeal. It's sophisticated enough for the foodie, yet homey enough that my dad wouldn't be afraid to eat it.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Red Beet Chips
by Thomas Keller from "Ad Hoc at Home"

• 2 heads cauliflower (4 to 5 pounds total)
• 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter
• 3/4 C coarsely chopped leeks (white and light green parts only)
• 3/4 C coarsely chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon Yellow Curry Powder or Madras curry powder
• Kosher salt
• 2 C milk
• 2 C heavy cream
• 2 cups water
• Peanut or Canola oil for deep-frying
• 1 medium red beet
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• Torn Croutons (see recipe)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower, and cut out the core. Trim off the stems and reserve them. For the garnish, trim 2 cups florets about the the size of a quarter and set aside.
2. Coarsely chop the remaining cauliflower and the stems into 1-inch pieces so that they will cook in the same amount of time. You need 8 cups of cauliflower (reserve any extra for another use).
3. Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, leeks, curry, and coarsely chopped cauliflower, season with 2 teaspoons of salt, cover with a parchment lid, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are almost tender, about 20 minutes. Remove and discard the parchment lid.
4. Pour in the milk, cream, and water, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes, skimming off the foam from time to time.
5. Working in batches, transfer the cauliflower mixture to a Vita-Mix (leave an opening in the lid for the steam to escape). Begin pureeing the cauliflower on the lowest speed and blend, slowly increasing the speed, until smooth and velvety. Check the seasoning and add more salt if needed. Transfer to a large saucepan and keep warm. (The soup can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
6. Fill a small deep pot with 1 inch of peanut oil and heat over medium heat to 300 degrees. Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet. Line the rack with paper towels.
7. While the oil heats, peel the beet and slice off about 1/2 inch from the top. Using a Japanese mandoline or other vegetable slicer, slice the beet into rounds that are slightly thicker than paper-thin. Reserve only the full rounds.
8. Carefully add a few beet rounds to the oil and fry, turning them with a wire skimmer or slotted spoon as the edges begin to curl and pressing gently on the chips to keep them submerged. You will see a great deal of bubbling around the beets as the moisture in them evaporates; when the bubbling stops, after 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, the beets will be crisp. Transfer the beets to the paper-towel-lined rack and season with salt. Fry the remaining chips in batches. The chips can be kept warm in a low oven.
9. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the vinegar and the reserved cauliflower florets and blanch until tender, 4 to 6 minutes. The vinegar will help keep the cauliflower white. Drain.
10. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter turns a rich golden brown. Add the florets and saute until a rich golden brown. Set aside.
11. To serve, reheat the soup. This is a thick soup, but if it seems too thick, add water to thin it to the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
12. Pour the soup into a serving bowl or soup tureen. Top each serving with a few cauliflower florets, several torn croutons, and a stack of beet chips. (If the beet chips sit in the soup, they will become soggy and discolor it.) Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with pepper. Serve the remaining florets, croutons, and chips in separate bowls on the side,

Torn Croutons

• 1 loaf of country bread
• Garlic Oil from Garlic Confit (see recipe)
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter

1. Cut the crusts off of the bread. Tear the bread into irregular pieces no larger than 2 inches. You need about 3 cups of croutons; reserve any remaining bread for another use.
2. Pour 1/8 inch of the the garlic oil into a large saute pan and heat over medium heat until hot. Spread the bread in a single layer in the pan (if your pan in not large enough, these can be cooked in two smaller pans.) Add the butter. The oil and butter should be bubbling, but if you hear sizzling. the heat is too high. Adjust the heat as necessary, and stir the croutons often as they cook. Cook until the croutons are crisp and a beautiful rich golden brown on all sides, 15 to 20 minutes. Move the croutons to one side of the pan and keep warm until ready to serve. Torn croutons should be used the day they are made; you can reheat them in a low oven before serving if necessary.

Garlic Confit

• 1 C peeled garlic cloves
• About 2 C of canola oil

1. Cut off and discard the root ends of garlic cloves. Put the cloves in a small saucepan and add enough oil to cover them by about 1 inch - none of the garlic cloves should be poking through the oil.
2. Set the saucepan on a diffuser over medium-low heat. The garlic should cook gently: very small bubbles will come up throught the oil, but the bubbles should not break the surface; adust the heatas necessary and/or move the pan to one side of the diffuser it is cooking to quickly. Cook the garlic for about 40 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until the cloves are completely tender when pierced with the tip of knife. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the garlic to cool in the oil.
3. Refrigerate the garlic in a covered container, submerged in the oil, for up to 1 week.

Caffe Roma

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I had to drop Regina off at the airport last week so we figured we’d try someplace on the west side for lunch. We had driven past Caffe Roma a few times and weren’t quite sure what it was all about.

If it’s one of those places that is a bit of a mystery due to just opening, to lack of grapevine info, or not having a website, we’ll generally test drive it at lunch. The strategy has seemed to have worked pretty well because the time and money investment is lower than dinner.

Located at the intersection of West 130th and Lorain, Caffe Roma occupies the end unit of an old shopping strip. There is parking around the back and on the two side streets that straddle the block wide shopping strip.

As you walk inside you notice that the décor is fairly spartan. Sicilian and Italian National football team photos and Italian artwork adorn the walls. The acoustics aren’t particularly inviting nor is the draftiness of the space, but the regulars who were eating there didn’t seem to mind much.

Looking at the menu one thing really stands out – lack of lighter options. There is no antipast0, fresh veggies, or grilled anything. The lion’s share of the menu is either deep fried, pasta, Italian Sausage, or Sicilian style pizza. When asked if there were any veggies, our very accommodating server told us that she could give us a side of the peppers and onions that they use for the Italian Sausage.

I like pizza, but Sicilian is my least favorite kind. I just don’t like the doughy heaviness of that particular crust. It seems like 80% of a single piece is bread.

If Caffe Roma does anything well, it’s Sicilian Pizza. With the ability to order by the slice, which is cool, I ordered a slice of pepperoni and one with sausage.

Fresh out of the oven, the crust had the hallmark thick Sicilian crust. I thought to myself, “Oh boy, here’s another heavy piece of pizza.” But when I bit into it, the crust was actually really crispy and airy. If you come here I would try the pizza. It’s actually pretty good.

Desserts consist of gelato from La Gelateria, assorted Bindi offerings, as well as house made tiramisu. Since it was lunch we decided to skip the dessert.

They don't have a liquor license, so needless to say - no vino. One thing that does suck is Ohio's lack of a BYO law that legally permits you to bring your own wine. Perhaps you might call ahead and see if they'll let you bring some on the sly.

I can’t say that it’s anything that really reminded me of Rome, per se (maybe Caffe Palermo). I do think the very reasonable prices and down-to-earth service fill a niche in the surrounding West Park neighborhood.

Caffe Roma
13000 Lorain Ave
Cleveland, OH 44111
(216) 889-9999

Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

Unlike Thomas Keller, I don't have the Central Valley's bounty beckoning at my back door. Each week as I peruse the ever shrinking offerings at my local farmers market, I'm constantly faced with the question of what to make with fewer and fewer locally available vegetables.

There comes a point where you just get tired of the same base seasonal dishes that have only a small twist to them. I'm not saying it has to be "Fancy Food", as some people call it, but give me something different and tasty.

I can't say enough great things about Keller's "Ad Hoc at Home". Armed with the limited number of vegetables that were available to me, this Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup fit the bill for different, tasty, and locally available Ohio fall vegetables.

I originally decided to make this for my wife, but after tasting it myself I was more inclined to stash it away for myself. Trying to taste this thing with your eyes does it no justice. The combination of the bacon fat, the small amount of mild curry, and the punch of the red wine vinegar really creates a satisfying taste to the dish.

When it's all done this soup is more like a quasi-chili than anything else. The lentils absorb nearly all of the stock so it ends up being fairly thick.

Is this the way Keller intended the soup to look like? I don't know. There wasn't a picture in the book, but I bet it came pretty close.

One last thing, don't forget to make some extra bacon. The crispy saltiness makes the perfect bite!



Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup
from Thomas Keller's "Ad Hoc at Home"

• 8 oz. applewood-smoked bacon
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 C thinly sliced carrots
• 2 C coarsely chopped leeks
• ¾ to 1 tspn Yellow or Madras Curry Powder
• Kosker salt
• 1-½ lbs. sweet potatoes
• 2 Sachets (1 bay leaf, 10 peppercorns, 1 peeled and smashed garlic clove, and 3 sprigs of thyme wrapped in cheesecloth)
• 2 C (about 8oz.) Spanish Pardina or French de Puy lentils, small stones removed, rinsed
• 8 C Chicken Stock
• 1 to 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• Freshly ground pepper
• Cilantro leaves

Cut the bacon into lardons that are 1 inch long and ½ inch thick.

Heat the canola oil in an 8 to 10 quart stockpot over medium heat. Add the bacon, reduce the heat to low, and render the fat for 20 to 25 minutes. The bacon should color but not crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and set aside.

Add the carrots, leeks, onions, and curry powder to the pot and stir to coat in the bacon fat. Season with salt, reduce the heat to low, cover with a parchment lid, and cook very slowly for 30 to 35 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Remove and discard to the parchment lid.

Meanwhile, peel the sweet potatoes. Trim them and cut them into a ½ inch dice. Put the potatoes, one of the sachets, and 2 teaspoons of salt in the large saucepan, add cold water to cover, bring to a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and spread on a tray to cool; discard the sachet.

Add the lentils, second sachet, and stock to the vegetables, bring to a simmer, and simmer for the 30 to 40 minutes *mine went every bit of 40 minutes*, until the lentils are tender. (At this point, the soup can be refrigerated for up to 2 day.)

Spread the bacon in a small frying pan and crisp over medium-high heat.

Add the vinegar to taste to the soup, then add the potatoes and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve the soup garnished with the bacon and cilantro leaves.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

Right now we're trying to put together the menu for the Thanksgiving feast we will host in a few weeks. This year we're trying to take a less traditional route.

One of my quests is to try some nontraditional desserts using some of the more typical Thanksgiving dessert ingredients. The now defunct Gourmet magazine provided the template for a Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle.

There's really only three components to it: Pumpkin mousse, Whipped Cream, and Gingerbread.

I chose to use Gourmet's recipe for the mousse and whipped cream. The recipe for that can found here.

For the Gingerbread I chose to not use the recipe from the Nov '09 Gourmet, but a Gourmet from 2000. This Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread is moist as hell. You can actually see some of the stickiness hitting the side of the glass in the picture above. If you take anything from this post, it's to try this recipe, this is one for the arsenal. I made this on Saturday and had a slew of the cubes left over and these were still as moist on Wednesday as the day I made them on Saturday. Instead of putting this in a bundt cake pan I made it in a 13x9 pan for 50 minutes.

Topping it off are some candied pepitas. These didn't really turn out as good as I would have liked. I'll be trying some other things to top this off.

I think I'm definitely on the right track with this one. If I can iron out the topping I think we'll have one of our Thanksgiving desserts.

An Evening with Thomas Keller and Ad Hoc

I love cookbooks. Last week I ordered Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller and Johnny's Iuzzini's Dessert Fourplay. I was pretty excited when they arrived today in the mail. I had actually looked at both of these books a couple of weekends before and thought they were certainly worth buying.

Quite honestly, I'm not a chef. I don't pretend to be, which would explain why I had chose not to get the French Laundry cookbook. It's not that I don't think I could do the recipes. I can. The problem is that it takes a lot more time for me to do it, than it would for someone with better skills and equipment. Ad Hoc at home is the antithesis of The French Laundry. The majority of the recipes have minimal ingredients with way fewer processes than TFL.

Honey-Glazed Cipollini Onions

With a bowl of cipollini onions from Snake Hill Farm sitting on the counter, I figured there was no time like the present to test drive one of Keller's recipes. An easy to follow recipe with just six ingredients, the Honey Glazed Cipollinis were delicious.

If you haven't seen this book, you've got to take a look. Not only are the recipes relatively easy, but there's a lot of "how to" info also included.

Honey-Glazed Cipollini Onions
by Thomas Keller from Ad Hoc at Home

• 1-1/4# Cipollini Onions (about 14 ), about 2 inches in diameter
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed, skin left on
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 1/2 C Chicken Stock
• Kosher salt and freshly ground block pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Peel the onions. Cut off the top of each onion to create a flat surface for browning. Trim the root ends. If any of the onions are noticeably larger than the rest, peel off an outer layer so that they are closer to in size.
3. Heat an oven proof frying pan large enough to hold the onions in a single layer over medium heat. Add the canola oil and heat until warm.
4. Add the onions cut-side down and cook until browned, swirling the pan from time to time for even browning, about 6 minutes. Turn and cook to lightly brown the second side, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, and honey to the pan. The honey will bubble up; once it stops, add the chicken stock and swirl the pan to incorporate. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring just to a boil.
5. Transfer to the oven and cook for 15 minutes, or until the onions are tender and the liquid has reduced to a thick glaze. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Transfer the onions to a serving dish and spoon the glaze over the top.
   

My All Star Cleveland Fall Lineup

To say that the last couple of months have been busy is an understatement. The steady amount of travel coupled with absolutely mind bending projects, has left me with very little time or energy to update this blog.

Thankfully, we aren’t quite at the George Jetson era where you take a pill for dinner to satiate your appetite. I still have to, and thankfully so, eat real food. I can’t think of a better way to unwind mentally than sitting down at a favorite eatery and enjoying fall’s bounty. These are the best things I’ve eaten in the last couple of months.

Appetizer
Thyme the restaurant in Medina
Chipotle Cream Steamed Mussels with andouille sausage, tomatoes, and focaccia bread

The serving size was huge, the chipotle cream (notice I didn’t say chi-poltee) was so good I would have taken a bath in it. I don’t know who does their bread, but it’s the best focaccia I’ve ever had (and I don’t even really like focaccia). There’s a salt on top of it that makes it absolutely addictive.

Salad
Moxie the restaurant in Beachwood
Honey Crisp Apple & Nueske’s Bacon Salad – candied walnuts and adam’s reserve cheddar vinaigrette $8

Chef Bennet has done it again. I’m not a big salad guy, so when I see something out of the ordinary like this I have to order just out of curiosity. The apples are shaved really thin and create a voluminous pile of “salad”. Drizzled on top of the salad is the vinaigrette with a generous amount of bacon and candied walnuts sprinkled on top. Usually I look forward to the bacon and candied nuts, but the cheddar and apples steal the show. If you go, you have to try this before the season’s over.

Entrée
fire food & drink at Shaker Square in Cleveland
Lobster Thermidor – potato cakes with warm spinach, bacon lardons with mustard vin $24/$48

I asked our server Mark (who’s one of my favorites in the city), what the deal was with this, and he said he couldn’t really explain it that well, but it’s just really, really good. I’m always game for some that’s just really good, so if it’s two “reallys” I had to give it a try.
“Really really” doesn’t do this dish justice.

Once again my impeccable food karma didn’t let me down. The half portion is pretty big (half a tail), there’s no way I could have tamped a whole one down my esophagus. The buttery lobster meat is topped with this crispy mustard topping, that when mixed together with the lobster meat, is like a savory edible type of crack. I could have done without the potato cake and just had another helping of the spinach. The saltiness of the bacon, , (which also has crack-like qualities) is mixed with the spinach. As a side note: Chef Doug Katz said they smoke the bacon themselves in the tandoor oven. He said we were more than welcome to purchase some if we wanted to. Good to know. If you go, don’t miss this one.

Dessert
3 birds in Lakewood
S’mores – warm chocolate fudge cake, graham cracker cookies, house made marshmallows, caramel sauce $7

For the life of me I can’t remember the name of their pastry chef, but as far as I’m concerned she’s right there with Kate O’Donnell at Moxie. Whoever she is, this girl has come up with a mean lineup of desserts.

You’re probably thinking, “S’mores? Been there. Done that.” Unless you’ve been here and eaten this – then you haven’t.

Served deconstructed, this dessert is separated along a narrow plate. The graham crackers are actually these thin shortbread cookies that, when topped with the fudgy cake and other components, make a very rich and delicious bite. A glass of milk might actually come in handy. We had always wavered a little bit on dessert when coming here in the past, but the desserts this summer and fall have been very interesting.

Although I’ve been busy we typically get a chance to go out once or twice a week. We’re coming up on that part of the year where all there really is to do is cook and eat. But that’s not a bad thing, is it?

Bistro 185

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Ask most Clevelanders if they like autumn, and I would venture to say that most would say they do. Many of the people would probably say it’s their favorite time of year. If we could figure out a way to go from the falling leaves straight into spring (which around here is “winter jr.), the city’s population would probably double.

With the onslaught of winter headed straight at us in the next month, what’s a Clevelander to do?

When I think of cold and snow, I think comfort food. Is there anything more Cleveland than sweater clad patrons with heavy coats slung over the back of their chairs, on a perpetually wet floor covered in a mixture of melted slush and salt, drinking beer and feasting on a plate of steak and mashed potatoes? If we really want to capture the mental picture, this scene takes place in one of the many old narrow bar spaces that exist in the old neighborhoods around our city.

While, thankfully, the brisk winter wind hasn’t arrived yet, the pall of grey is still attempting to overtake the sun, and the snow is still a little ways off, our scene fits Bistro 185 like a well worn glove.

We made the mistake of winding our way north through the back streets to get this small east side restaurant. Just a word of advice: unless you live in South Euclid or nearby, just take the highway. Traffic lights absolutely kick your ass the whole way there.

With sleek neon signage glowing in the dwindling daylight, we passed up the outdoor patio and headed into the cozy interior. The first thing that strikes you at the door is the hominess of the setting. The attire is casual and the crowd is diverse. The acoustics are such that there’s a privacy of conversation, but not so loud that you have to shout.

Since we had been here before, we pretty much knew what to expect. The menu is largely on the heavier side (we are after all, Clevelanders). Heavy doesn’t bother me, but Regina wanted the only thing they were out of – Yellowtail Snapper. For those of you keeping score, they get a gold star for offering sustainable fish. She finally settled on the Roasted Figs stuffed with Goat Cheese (monstrous portions), and the Smoked Duck Breast on Potato Pancakes with Raspberry Chipotle Drizzle. She liked the duck a lot, the figs she wasn’t as thrilled with. I think she was expecting smaller figs with less cheese. The duck breast which was her quasi-entrée was spot on.

Since I had behaved myself (dietarly speaking) during the week; I opted to reward myself with a 16 ounce Pepper Crusted Steak. Like everything else I’ve ever had here, it was a good solid dish of food.

Bistro 185 gets it. If you had to draw up a restaurant to fit the neighborhood this would be it. The menu is a continuous beat of Cleveland favorites from Chicken Paprikash to Lamb Shanks to Pan Roasted Walleye. The portions are big enough to satisfy most appetites. This is a restaurant your kids, parents, and grandparents would feel comfortable while finding something on the menu that they love. In terms of price it may well be the best value on the east side, if not the entire city. We had a $50 gift certificate and struggled to make the minimum. One more piece of advice: make reservations especially on the weekends (it is beloved after all).

If there’s a restaurant that captures the essence of what it means to eat in Cleveland, I think Bistro 185 is it.

Bistro 185
991 East 185th St.
Cleveland, OH 44119
(216) 481-9635
www.bistro185.com

Black and Tan Ice Cream

For years we had talked about making ice cream. It just seemed to be one of those things that we had always talked about doing, but never got around to actually doing. I think a big part of it had to do with the translation of the kitchen gadgetry for the home cook. I have never had cappuccino, from a machine made for the home, which tasted remotely close to the stuff I obsessively consumed in Italy. My fear was without spending a mint, homemade ice cream was going to be in the same category.

The fears were laid to rest when we borrowed my brother-in-law’s ice cream maker and tried a recipe out of Fine Cooking. After screwing up one batch of custard, my second try proved successful. It was official; with a good recipe you can make not only edible, but downright good ice cream out of a home ice cream maker.

Besides the ice cream maker, Dave Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop” is an absolute must for the aspiring home ice cream creator. The recipes are well written and a great bases from which to create more creative flavors.

Most ice cream recipes (especially the custard based ones) can be a little involved, but this Peanut Butter Ice Cream is as easy as it gets.


Peanut Butter Ice Cream
From “The Perfect Scoop”, by Dave Lebovitz

• ¾ C (180g) Smooth Peanut Butter (like JIF or Skippy the stuff you have to stir doesn’t work)
• ¾ C plus 2 Tbsp (180g) Sugar
• 2 2/3 C (660ml) Half and Half
• pinch of Salt
• 1/8 tspn vanilla extract

Puree the peanut butter, sugar, half and half, salt, and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

My addition was to mix twenty crumbled Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, as I transferred the ice cream from the ice cream maker to the storage container. I also added chocolate covered candied macadamia nuts (which will be another post).

Where in the hell have you been?

Sorry for the lull in postings. I've been traveling back and forth from Cleveland to New Jersey fairly frequently and it doesn’t look like it will end for a few more weeks. In the meantime I continue to wrack up potential postings, with no time to really write about them.

When I'm not working I find myself in a frantic race against the impending Cleveland winter to finish removing paint from the "Incredible Molting House". It's been a real pain in the ass, but when I'm done this thing is going to look awesome (and won't have to be painted for awhile).

Since I'm still getting my ass kicked between work and the house, I figured I'd just drop a few random thoughts...

The Deck
I admit that I'm a Cleveland Independents whore. When those gift certificate sales come out we're all over them. About a month ago they started selling something called "The Deck" ($29.95). It's an actual deck of cards that has a $10 off coupon printed on each one. As you would expect, some of these offers are better than others. I think I can say that for the money, it will pay for itself with relative ease. If you don't have one you can purchase them here.

Luxe
Some people rave about this place. I think I'm just lukewarm on it. I'd been a couple of times before and I found it to be "meh". This time I loved it. I had the Harissa Chicken Wings. In a word - awesome. While not for everyone, theies things are long on heat. The waitress told me they were braised and then somehow cooked so they were crispy. When I asked if they were deep fried she said they weren't. Whatever they did to them they were worth the price of admission. I would say they're neck and neck with the smoked wings from Fathead's. These are actually what I was expecting GHT's to taste like. A lot of people rave about those wings, I just don't think they have enough flavor (although I love the restaurant). I will say that Luxe has good desserts at good prices. In fact, most are so big they could be shared.

Buckeye Beer Engine
Went to "The Engine" and found Stuart Spivack (purveyor of fine food photography according to the acknowledgments part of the McNulty's Bier Market menu) ordering up good eats. During the course of dinner, I found out he was a fellow Buckeye. Thank God he wasn't a teaching assistant for one of my many forays in OSU calculus. You'll be happy to know that I did eventually make it out of that horrible subject alive. That is one thing I don't miss.

Jeni's Beet Lemon Poppy Seed Ice Cream
When we went to GHT last Saturday (thanks Julie), the guest of honor, Johnathan, was the only one with the balls to order the ice cream. It should have been called Red Lemon Ice Cream. The was nothing "beet-y" about it; except for its color. I had the apple crisp (which I didn't care for all that much). The chocolate mousse is probably the best thing I've had there.

Velvet Tango Room
Went there for the first time - Holy Shit.

Route 62 Barbecue

The definition of the word “barbecue” means a lot of things to a lot of different people. For some it’s all about the sauce. For others it can be summed up in one word – smoke. And still others aren’t quite sure what it means. Like a toddler who has a favorite corner of their blanket, they can’t seem to put into words exactly what it is they like, all they know is that they like it…a lot.

You can imagine my skepticism when I had heard rumblings that a barbecue place was cranking out ‘cue that surpasses that of City Barbeque (my favorite in Ohio). Since opinions on this particular subject are so passionate and varied, there was really only one way to verify such a claim – go there and try it for myself.Since Regina was involved in a certification exam all weekend, I had pretty much all day to drive around and try places that I had meaning to try.

On this warm Saturday afternoon my first stop was going to be Route 62 Barbecue in Johnstown, OH (located about a half hour or so from Easton Town Center in New Albany). As I pulled up to my destination there were a number of “good barbecue place” hallmarks. The first thing you notice is the line that already existed at 11am. As I parked my car near the back I noticed two monster Ole Hickory Pit smokers. The building itself is just a stark block building that was built to be used as something other than a restaurant. This, too, I consider to be a good sign as it shows there is one reason why people are lining up to get in – and it ain’t the ambiance.

Ole Hickory Pit Double Trouble

There are picnic tables out front and about 15-20 seats inside the small front area of the restaurant. As far as eating at the restaurant, it’s a clean brightly decorated space with pictures of family, reviews, and barbecue related items on the walls.

As I waited in line I realized that most of the people were there to pick up catering orders for the Ohio State game that started in an hour.

I don’t say this very often, but looking at the menu on the wall, the prices seemed a little low. If I had glasses, I would have taken them off to clean them when I saw “Baby Back Ribs - $10”. Tough, chewy, inedible ribs from a chain don’t cost ten bucks. What’s the going rate for the best? How much for a death row slab? I was becoming skeptical; Route 62 was defying the law of good food vs. price, and it was making me uneasy. Good food, relative to its competitors, is typically not cheap in comparison (example Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream).

I ordered the smoked turkey sandwich with a side of baked beans and coleslaw. If Route 62 was going to win my heart, they were going to have to trump City Barbecue’s baked beans straight away. I realized after I placed the order, that a small bit of coleslaw actually comes with each sandwich. I was a little pissed at myself because I could have tried three sides instead of two. Dammit, I wanted to try the skillet corn!

I sat down at the table and opened up the container. Whoosh! The smoky scented steam rolled off the turkey and up my nostrils opening the flood gates in my mouth known as salivary glands.
The turkey is smoky.

The turkey is moist (for some reason women hate that word).

The turkey is going to make me drive two hours each way from Cleveland to Columbus on Thanksgiving Day. It’s that good. No sauce, no gravy, no anything necessary. Their turkey is a natural beauty – absolutely no makeup required.The baked beans were also very carefully crafted. Comprised of about five different beans, not the ketchupy brown sugar type (I normally gravitate toward), no chunks of meat; I thought this thing was going straight into the trash. Wrong! The textural differences of the beans combined with the brown gravy-like sauce were very different…and absolutely delicious.

The coleslaw reminds me a lot of the stuff that they serve at KFC. I actually prefer it chipped into smaller pieces, especially if it’s on a sandwich. It isn’t the shredded kind containing the tough strands of cabbage, or even worse, the bland kind with pepper on it.

So much food…so little stomach room…so far from Cleveland. The prices are awesome and the food is mind blowing.

Fact: Owners Jarid Blinsky and Brad Jalovec have the total package in Route 62 Barbecue.

Fact: This is the best I’ve had in Ohio.

Fact: The menu defies the laws of delicious food.

Update May 1, 2010

The food is as good as ever. Jarid let me take a picture of a suckling pig he was smoking for a regular's graduation party.

Suckling Pig a-roastin'

Where there's a smoke ring, there's flavor!

Route 62 Barbecue

580 W Coshocton St
Johnstown, OH 43031
(740) 967-2462
www.62bbq.com