Tom's Seafood Restaurant - All You Can Eat Dim Sum

Well I am a happy man. Tom's Seafood Restaurant has brought back the all you can eat Dim Sum deal. For those who are not familiar with Tom's it is located at 3048 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland Ohio, right between Slyman's and E.30th Street and the Inner Belt (see map here). Set in a stand alone building with a mock red Chinese front, the outside may appear dated and a bit run down, but the inside is a different story. Consisting of one large room with some Chinese decorations and the fish tanks in the back, Tom's is light and clean and creates a nice impression. Depending on the time of day, there can be a wait for a table, especially when all you can eat dim sum is going on. In the past I have been seated at a large table with a number of other different people, so they work hard to get everyone served. All you can eat Dim Sum is available on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00am to 3:00pm and costs $9 per person. The way that this works is that a number of carts are wheeled about the dining room and you select which items you would like. Dim Sum is basically small appetizer sized items in a number of configurations. For an idea of what Tom's offers you can go here on their website. The choices are varied and will change from time to time and during the time you are in the restaurant. Among the items you will be offered are steamed items, such as shrimp dumplings, shue mei, chicken's feet, tripe, and bbq buns. There will be fried items such as eggrolls, stuffed eggplant and pot stickers. They have noodle dishes and a rice porridge called congee. Also there are desert items and other varieties. One of the challenges can be the language barrier, those who are operating the carts do not always have the best English skills, however they are always friendly and willing to show you everything on the carts. The regular wait staff is attentive and will help out on requests as they are permitted. Tom's does have some photo menus that can help you navigate through the varieties of Dim Sum. Having learned that the all you can eat Dim Sum was back, I headed down there at about 1:00pm on Saturday. This was about the end of the lunch rush and I was seated quickly. I started with an egg roll and an order of Chinese Broccoli in oyster sauce. This was soon followed by orders of Shrimp Dumplings, which are my all time favorites, combining shrimp in a translucent dumpling with just the right amount of sesame flavor. I also had the shrimp and chives dumpling, the shrimp rice roll, some stuffed tofu, a helping of noodles and a couple of the custard tarts as dessert. This is probably the best all you can eat deal in town; the food is fresh and well made, there is a wide variety and it is unique. Be warned that when Tom's is very busy, such as Sunday lunch time, the most popular items (such as the Shrimp Dumplings and the Custard Tarts) can be snatched up quickly, so it pays to keep a eye out and don't be afraid to get up and get what you want. The advantage of these busy times is that there is even more variety of items offered and the carts are frequently restocked. Tom's draws a heavily Asian crowd and provides great food and a chance to be daring in your choices. One of my true favorite food experiences in Cleveland it is hard to go wrong here. The most fun is if you get a group of adventurous friends and head down together, that way you can share the experience. I highly recommend you head down to Tom's during the weekend and check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Frozen Dee-Lite Cafe - Old Fashion Take Out

For the past couple of years whenever I have been out East on Route 422, usually headed to or from Nelson's Ledges, I have always been interested in the big take out place at the fork in the road in Parkman, Ohio. So since Sunday was a nice day I hopped on the motorcycle and headed out that way. Turns out the place is called the Frozen Dee-Lite Cafe, its address is 16508 Main Market Rd, Parkman, Ohio (see map here). A long building with an orange/red steeple on top, it is hard to miss. The set up here is interesting, there are a series of windows along the outside wall where you place your orders, behind the windows is the kitchen and then there is an enclosed dining area with a bunch of tables so you can eat inside, but you have to order outside. The menu is actually quite extensive, with everything from burgers to pizza to Cincinnati style chili. And there are a whole lot of ice cream choices, both soft serve and hard ice cream. I tried the clam strips and an order of the sweet potato fries. The clams were a portion of typical frozen clams, nicely fried and served with a typical tarter sauce. While nothing to make a trip for, they were pretty good. The sweet potato fries were very nice, although they were served as more of a desert, topped with powdered sugar and sided with a brown sugar butter that was very good. The fried items were very clean tasting, it is apparent that they use a good oil and clean it regularly. Since there was only one person working I had to wait while he completed the previous order, so he gave me a free small soft serve cone. The soft serve was good, nice and creamy with a very nice vanilla flavor. It seems that the Frozen Dee-Lite Cafe is not doing anything exceptional, they are doing a lot of different things very well. This is not a place you are going to get high end ingredients or exotic flavors, but they seem to be taking care to keep things fresh and clean. Definitely worth stopping at if you are in the area. I will probably be using this for a stop when heading home after a hike at the ledges.

La Brasa Restaurant - Authentic Central American Food

La Brasa Restaurant has received write-ups in the Plain Dealer and Scene magazine for offering genuine Central American food; sounds like a place right up my alley, so I headed to the Stockyards area of the West Side to check it out. Located in a storefront at 6110 Denison Avenue, Cleveland Ohio (see map here) 44102, La Brasa is a clean but fairly unadorned spot. As you enter one side has 5 booth type tables and the other has the counter and kitchen. The menu is pictures above the counter with both Spanish and English descriptions, no prices are posted. Although they have worked to make the place clean, it has little actual character other than the American and El Salavordian flags in the front window. The menu is weighted towards chicken so my choices were few, either a cheese empanada or the fish dinner; I ordered the fish. Only later when I asked for a takeout menu did I learn that there were several vegetarian dinner options. For $9 I got 2 large fillets of tilapia pan fried with a large helping of yellow rice and a serving of salad/salsa. The fish was well prepared with a very mild yellow crust, what was lacking was a bit of seasoning, even a little salt and pepper prior to the cooking would have helped; especially with a mild fish like tilapia. The rice was good with a mild taste and the pigeon peas providing a bit of contrast. The highlight was the salad/salsa, which was a fine dice of tomatoes, onions and peppers; rather than a regular green pepper, these had some bite to them and gave the full meal some needed spice. The meal was sided with a caddy holding jalapenos, green and red salsas. The red salsa was very thin and had no heat at all, the green salsa which I was warned was hot had a fairly low heat factor but added much needed flavor to the meal. Overall the meal was good, but not exceptional, not a surprise for a restaurant that has made its reputation around a single item, at La Brasa its roasting chicken over charcoal; if you order something else it is a crap shoot. The decor is dive although the lady behind the counter was nice and friendly. If I ate chicken, I think La Brasa would be a strong recommendation, as it is, it is probably worth checking out as it is fairly unique in this area; we don't see many genuine Central American restaurants, and a good dive is always worth supporting.

Five Guys - Burgers and Fries

You may be asking yourself why is a guy who doesn't eat meat reviewing a burger place; good question, but I have heard about Five Guys for a while and now that they have come to our area I thought I would give them a try so I headed over to their new location at 1237 SOM Center Road in Mayfield Heights. This is part of the new strip mall just North of Eastgate. Five Guys is a snappy set up decorated in white and red tiles with some black accents. A pretty good sized place offers seating at both regular and high tables and a counter along the wall. You enter past piled up bags of potatoes waiting to be made into fries, grab some peanuts in the shells to eat while your order is being made, saunter up to the counter and order from a fairly simple menu. Five Guys offers burgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, fries and drinks. That is it, no chicken, fish, happy meals or even milkshakes. Now that does not mean there is no variety as there are plenty of toppings that you can add (bacon and cheese are extra, all of the other toppings are included) from basics like ketchup, tomato and lettuce to the more interesting like grilled onions, mushrooms and jalapenos. I ordered a grilled cheese with grilled onions, mushrooms, green peppers and jalapenos ($2.49) and a regular order of fries ($2.39). While I was waiting for the order to be made I settled in and started eating the very tasty peanuts. About 5 minutes later my number was called and I picked up my order, all of which are served in a bag whether it is to go or for eat in. The grilled cheese was nicely done with the bun grilled nicely and a good portion of the veggies making for a very tasty treat. I especially want to mention the jalapenos which were crisp, fresh and very spicy, helping to take the sandwich up a notch. The fries were very good and the portion size was huge, a regular is suppose to fill a small cup, yet mine seemed to be at least double what I would have expected. The fries are fresh cut and then fried in peanut oil, the result is a very good fry with a nice crisp outside and a well cooked inside, the peanut oil adds a little extra flavor to compliment the good potato taste. Five Guys is decorated with quotes from the many favorable reviews they have gotten around the country; not suprising when they do such a good job and keep their approach basic and focused. I arrived about 1:30pm on a Saturday and the place was very busy and stayed that way; clearly Five Guys is catching on in Cleveland. I admire Five Guys, they have taken an approach of keeping things basic and using quality products to produce very good food at a reasonable price. They do not make excuses, cooking in peanut oil and serving bulk peanuts, they warn if you are allergic you need to stay away. They have not tried to expand their menu or make it overly complicated and they are succeeding with this approach. Go see what you think, they currently have locations in Mayfield Heights, Southpark and Great Northern.