Trader Jacks Riverside Grill - Chagrin River Hangout

We went kayaking on the mouth of the Chagrin River (the livery website is here) and after a very enjoyable couple of hours paddling around exploring the marinas, the islands and the houses we headed over to Trader Jacks for some lunch. Located at 35901 Lake Shore Blvd, Willoughby (see map here), Trader Jacks sits just beneath Lake Shore Blvd as it heads over the Chagrin River and has a great view from its patios. For those familiar with most of the Chagrin River, you almost wouldn't recognize it at its mouth. The last mile or so this is a big river and it has marinas, large and small houses and just a whole different feel; sort of what you would expect from a South Florida area along the intercoastal. Trader Jacks kind of continues that feeling with a nice relaxed feel and attempts at upgrading the quality of its menu. Of the items we tried, everything seemed pretty good, the portions were large, the prices reasonable. The onion rings were good sized rings of onions with a breaded coating and deep fried. The Calamari was fresh cut and breaded before being fried as advertised. While all of this was just fine, there were not any exceptional flavors. I was a bit disappointed that the food, while well prepared, just didn't taste better. Don't get me wrong, nothing was bad, but by the same token nothing was exceptional. Especially with the amount of fried items, you just want that feeling of eating something that sends your taste buds into orbit. Service was interesting to say the least, while the food came out in a reasonable time, I had to request the mayo sauce to go with the Calamari, soup was sent out twice. Our server was a bit frazzled and seemed to have trouble understanding my question about what kind of broth was used to make the vegetable soup. The bottom line for Trader Jacks, really good location and they are obviously trying hard; giving big portions of pretty good food at reasonable prices. What I think they really need is someone with some culinary chops in the kitchen. If they could improve flavors, this could be a real gem. In any case I can highly recommend finding a nice day to paddle the Chagrin River.

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Confluence of Greatness

Last week I noticed that the new Five Guys (review is here) has opened up on Richmond Road across from Tri-C East in the same strip as DiBella's Subs (review here) (map is here). If you have read the past entries you will know that DiBella's is one of my current favorites for subs and that I have raved about Five Guys, especially the french fries. Well now I can easily combine the two; I can grab a tuna sub with hot and sweet peppers and then walk a couple of doors down and grab an enormous bag of hot, fresh tasty fries. Well that is of course what I did and it was really good. The cool tuna is nicely set off by the spicy hot peppers and complimented perfectly by the fries. Of course the one downside is I have to try to resist having this combination too often as I will end up fatter then I already am. I will have to work on it; in the meantime, we have another Five Guys open on the East Side and so far it is not as crowded as the Mayfield Heights location, plus there are some good subs just down the way if you are not in a burger mood. A great place to grab a lunch or a quick dinner.

Around the Corner Saloon - Lakewood Bar

I probably should have put this up sooner, but I was trying to figure out what to say about Around the Corner Saloon in Lakewood. We ended up there kind of by default; as we were headed out to see Little Shop of Horrors at the Beck on a Saturday. Unfortunately our first choice, Melt (review here) had an hour wait and then one of my friends did not want to Indian so India Garden was vetoed (review here). By this time we were just looking for something decent and fast, and that is pretty much what we got at Around the Corner. ATC is a bar right near the Lakewood/Rocky River border at 18616 Detroit Road (see map). They do have a very nice and big patio out in the back, so the setting was nice, even if the furniture was a bit rinky dink. The menu (see it here) is pretty much what you would expect, burgers, wings, bar foods, etc. There are a couple of surprises, such as the lettuce wraps with your choice of beef or chicken, but pretty much a Cleveland bar menu. So the question becomes how is the food? Well, it ended up being fairly typical bar food. I had the fish sandwich with fries; the fish was a nice sized portion of frozen fish, deep fried and topped with cheese. Pretty decent, but nothing memorable. The fries were crisp and well made, yet nothing special. My friend had the lettuce wrap and while there were alot of interesting possiblities, including jicima and a couple of sauces, nothing was really distinctive or special; a real questionable choice was to provide a pile of small Romain leaves as the lettuce wraps, not easy to wrap and just a bit wrong for the dish. The only item that stood out was the Tomato Florentine soup; a rich and thick soup with some nice flavoring and a good presentation; it almost seemed to come from a different kitchen. I should mention that sevice was OK, but that the kitchen sent the soup out twice and the lettuce wraps were about 15 minutes behind the rest of the meal. Things like this happen, but it is not good when you have to try really hard to get your waitresses attention as she is lounging by the bar to correct this. If you don't deliver your own food to your table, you should always check in to see that everything is right and there are no problems. Overall ATC is a nice bar, with a very nice patio; I would guess a great place to get you drink on, however it is probably not the best choice for dinner, especially given the other alternatives that are nearby. While nothing major to complain about, on the whole the food was just average. Just because a place is doing a fairly standard menu, does not mean that the food cann't be good.

Bowl For Kids Sake - A Great Cause

I wanted to do a post on the Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl For Kids Sake 2009 fundraiser. This is a great cause and one that I am very passionate about, having been a Big for a while now. I have kept C-Town Eats as an ad free blog and tried to provide a service to those who find it helpful, entertaining or just a way to make yourself hungry. I hope that you agree, I have a lot of fun doing this and hope you enjoy it as well. If you feel that I provide something worthwhile I would ask that you consider going to my donations page here and put up some money, a little or a lot it is all appreciated. For those who don't know, JBBSA is based out of Belfaire in Shaker Heights and provides services and local programs to children and their families, including one-to-one mentoring matchs between an adult and a child between the ages of 6 and 18. The children are Jewish children from single-parent families, recently resettled immigrant children and families with special circumstances. Even better, if you want to be hands on, consider being a Bowler, you raise money for a good cause, get to bowl for free, get fed lots of fattening food, possibly win some very nice prizes and there is usually a lot of fun for the whole family the day of the event. Best of all, if you really want a fun and rewarding experience is to consider being a Big yourself; it has been a great experience for me and the feeling of helping a child who needs a friend is priceless. Once again if you want to consider giving, please go to this link and I promise I will keep eating out and telling you about it.

Raised and Glazed Donuts - Bainbridge Bakery

Donuts can be the perfect breakfast food, and pretty darn good most other times of the day. In Bainbridge there is a nice little bakery that supplies good donuts and other baked goods. Raised and Glazed Donuts is at 17800 Chillicothe Rd, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, which is in the little strip mall at the intersections of Chillicothe (Route 306) and Bainbridge Roads, just South of Route 422. The frontage is very small and the sign above just says "Donuts", but that is enough. Once inside you find a cheery pink space that widens out for several cases and displays of donuts and other good looking sweets. The nice variety of donuts are good sized and look very attractive. I tried the Creamstick and the Apple Fritter and both were very good. The Fritter was nice with a touch of Cinnamon and little bits of apple throughout. The Creamstick was a very large donut filled with a good vanilla creme and topped with chocolate. The donuts seemed to find a nice balance, sweet without being teethrattling (although I am a sucker for that), with nice firm textures and good clean flavors. These may not donuts you will dream about, but they will certainly fill the donut urge if you are in the area. In addition to the donuts, there was a large selection of other baked sweets, including brownies, tea biscuits and cookies. There is also a display case for samples of the kinds of cakes that they will make. Another nice touch that I like is the samples on the counter, a great thing for a bakery to do, getting a small taste is a very nice gesture and usually makes me hungry for more. Raised and Glazed is probably not worth a special trip, however if you are in the area, check them out, they are friendly, have a nice selection and the baked goods are very nice. Probably a Four Drools out of Five on the Homer Simpson Donut Scale.

Circle Restaurant - Monster Pancakes

So you are watching Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins on Food TV and you start to wonder why we don't have any place that serves pizza sized pancakes? Well not to far from Cleveland there is such a place and it is pretty darn good. Circle Restaurant is located on the Circle (what a coincidence!!) at the intersections of Ohio Routes 14, 224 and 225 in Deerfield, Ohio (map is here), which is South East of Ravenna and close to Berlin Lake. Evidently well know in the area, it was busy both times I have been there. The number and mix of different motorcycles in the parking lot are a good sign, we riders like big portions of good food. The outside is a nicely kept brick building of indeterminate age, the inside is very nicely kept up, with a cheery feeling and some nice touches like a tin ceiling. There is a counter and a square dining room packed with tables. Even when the line for a table is long, it does not take long as service is quick and friendly and food comes out of the kitchen in a very prompt fashion. The menu is pretty much straightforward American fare, but the portions are big, the prices are moderate and the food is fresh and good. One thing you might notice is that on the Breakfast Menu the pancakes come in orders of one or two and are about $3 per pancake. This is because the pancakes are about 14" across, and come falling over the edges of a very large plate. The pancake (and I only ordered one) comes nicely cooked with a golden brown color and nice texture. One result of making a pancake this large is that you get different textures depending on which part of the pancake you are eating. The outer edges are pretty thin and a little crisp, the middle is thicker and a bit spongier, just right to soak up the syrup. The flavor is good and in addition to the 2 eggs over easy this is a big breakfast. On a past trip I tried the Giant Cinnamon Roll and it was very good as well, with a nice contrast between the roll and the gooey cinnamon filling. Circle Restaurant has a list of about a dozen or so pies on the special board and I have a suspicion that they are very good as well. Circle Restaurant is one of those good down home style restaurants that makes good basic food and does it well. They are not trying to be cutting edge, instead doing what they know how to do and doing it well. Well worth taking a drive on a weekend and checking out some very good grub.