Corky & Lenny's - Eastside Institution

While I don't do Delis very often, my brother was in town for business and Corky & Lenny's was the place we decided on for lunch. A convenient location, a wide variety of food and large portions of meaty products have always been a favorite. Having been around for over a half century, Corky & Lenny's has been providing deli to the Eastside of Cleveland for as long as I can remember. Originally located in Cedar Center, C&L created a branch at I-271 and Chagrin in Woodmere Village and has since moved all its operations there (map is here). C&L has a modern feel with bright colors and modern fixtures. Coming in the door, you walk past the bakery and deli counters where take out is available. Seated at one of the tables (large booths are also available) service is brisk and straightforward. One of the charms of C&L over the years has been the wait staff, these are professional servers who are driven more by speed, efficiency and turnover then charm. This does not mean that they may not be friendly, just don't expect it. The menu is large and diverse (go here) although in all my years I have never gone far from the deli or dairy portions. The range of the menu and the look of the dining room seem to have C&L as the Cleveland version of the East Coast Diner. This trip I kept it simple, just a whitefish salad sandwich on Kaiser Roll. The sandwich was just what you would want, the whitefish salad was wonderful with a smokey, salty taste which set off the rich texture. Complimented simply with lettuce, tomato and red onion, this is an enjoyable delight. C&L provides good straight forward food in good sized portions, certainly not the cheapest place in town, you can get out for about $10 or so per person, depending on what you get. While I don't think I have ever heard anyone argue that C&L has the best corned beef in town, they certainly do manage to serve a lot of food to a lot of people. Maybe not a high recommendation from me, but then deli is not really my thing, you certainly could do a lot worse the Corky & Lenny's for a meal. If you have been to Corky & Lenny's you probably already have a strong opinion one way or the other, if you have not, you should give it a try as it is a Cleveland institution and something you should at least experience once.

Agave - Crocker Park Upscale Mexican

I know its been a bit sparse on new posts, a combination of revisiting some favorites and trying to find new worthy places. This past week was especially quiet as the motorcycle was in the shop. Luckily I got it back for the weekend, so I headed to Crocker Park in Westlake to have lunch at Agave Tequileria and Cochina. Agave is located at 20 Main Street, Westlake, near the Movie Theater. The restaurant is very sleek and modern, with a warm, darkly lit interior set off by the large bar and the wall of windows in the front. Since it was a nice day I had lunch on the small patio in front, a nice and casual set up with a good view of the people walking by. My server was nice and attentive, although she did forget to give me the chips and salsa, the other server on the patio was nice enough to bring me some. The chips were ok if nothing special and the salsa was good if a bit mild; it was thick and fresh tasting, with just a hint of heat and smoke. For lunch, Agave offers a nice small menu of items that are available for $8 (see the list here). I decided on the Shrimp Fajitas (and yes I know from watching Alton Brown on the Food Network that fajitas actually refers to Strip Steak, so that shrimp fajitas is just another American bastardization of the Spanish language). As opposed to most places that bring you the fajitas on a sizzle plate, Agave serves them up on a large plate with some pico de gallo, guacamole, rice and a small cup of beans. The Fajitas were 5 large tail on shrimp, large slices of onions, peppers and tomatoes. Although each of the ingredients on its own was fresh and flavorful, as a whole the dish was a bit soupy and lacked the punch I associate with fajitas. After some time trying to figure it out I came up with two things, first there was a lack of seasoning both on the spice end and it was missing the nice citrus contrast you get from the squeezed lime, and second not being served on the sizzle plate meant that the ingredients were just pan sauteed, this resulted in the whole being a bit wet, the peppers were way undercooked and most importantly, there wasn't the wonderful burnt/caramelized flavors you get from the hot pan. For some people having tail on shrimp might be a problem as well, especially for an item that is suppose to be eaten rolled up in tortillias. The the rice was a good Spanish style rice and the beans, while not refried, were a nicely prepared cup of pintos with a little cheese on top. I will say that only giving two small sized flour tortillas seemed a bit miserly, especially for an $8 lunch. Overall, the food was good, just nothing exceptional or memorable. Agave may be a good choice if you are looking for some Mexican food in an upscale setting and you like your food on the mild side. For me the combination of the price and the lack of excitement from the food will mean I will probably look elsewhere.

Debonne Winery - Lake County Getaway

Sunday a group of us from Mosaic (the Jewish Outdoor Club website is here) headed out to Lake County for a nice hike at Hogback Ridge Park and then headed to the nearby Debonné Vineyards for a light meal afterwards. Mosaic is a group of Jewish adults who enjoy the outdoors and we have events regularly, check it out. Hogback Ridge is one of the hidden gems of the Lake Metroparks, with a nice boardwalk through the woods and a long flight of stairs down to a very nice hike along Mill Creek which is very picturesque. After the hike we headed to Debonne, which is located at 7743 Doty Road, Madison, OH 44057 (map here). Set in the middle of its vineyards, the winery is set on a small rise, giving nice views and allowing a welcome breeze across the patio and lawn. The building has a rustic alpine feel and the inside of the bar area has the patina of age and care that comes over time. We sat outside and enjoyed food from the grill that is run during the summer. Food is simple, affordable, but well prepared and designed to compliment the wines. I had a nice pasta salad served in a bread bowl; the salad itself was nice with a slightly sweet, brightly flavored dressing and complimented by vegetables, including baby corn. While the salad was a bit overdressed, the bread bowl was excellent, having been warmed in a hot oven and for $5 it made a nice light lunch. The menu includes items off the grill, cheese items, including a very nice looking fondue and appetizers. You will not find complex layered flavors here, instead they seem to take the approach of using quality ingredients and preparing them well and selling them at prices that you can afford. Unfortunately, I was on my motorcycle, so I did not try the wines, although Mindy did like their Riesling. Wine is available by the glass, bottle or by the flights and it seemed like a lot of people were enjoying the wine. To provide a nice compliment to the setting, there was a trio playing jazzy rock music. In addition, I watched a biplane take off from Debonne's airstrip, another nice treat. Overall, this was an enjoyable and relaxing way to spend a summer afternoon.

Customer Service - Some Recent Experiences

I wanted to do a slightly different type of post here talking about customer service. I have experienced this from both sides; I spent many years working in restaurants and since then have eaten at many types of restaurants. Three recent experiences will help to illustrate my points. First the good; for those who have read my post on Gray House Pies, in addition to the wonderful pies, I was very impressed with my interaction with the owner, both with his willingness to share his passion for his products and his concern that they be presented in the best possible fashion, even if it took taking a couple of dollars out of his pocket. Clearly his pies are not just a job, this is a place that wants its customers to enjoy the quality of their food and to return again. This was especially interesting as he knew that I had already purchased gift certificates and thus had paid most of the amount already. The bad, fairly recently I headed out for lunch at Caballo Bayo in Chagrin Falls, which has been my main go to place for Mexican Food recently. While the food was good and the service was OK, I ran into an issue when the check came. In most of my lunch visits I have ordered the #1 special, which is a Chili Relleno, Taco, beans and Guacamole Salad; a good deal and even more so because they have allowed me to get a Shrimp Taco as part of this. Well this time there was a $2 charge added to the bill for the Shrimp Taco; when I asked my waitress she explained that there had been a change in management and that now they had to charge for this. I of course asked her why she hadn't mentioned anything when I ordered and all she could do was apologize. I of course paid, however I left with a very bad feeling, about this for several reasons. First the fact that they added a charge without putting it on the menu or telling me in advance is never a good thing. I found during my time waiting tables that letting people know about things like this and letting them decide is much preferable to just springing it on customers. Second the amount of the charge, $2 seemed excessive, especially when you look on the Caballo Bayo menu and see that as appetizers they charge $2 extra for 1/2 pound of Shrimp Tacos, not a single Taco. Third the fact that the waitress didn't offer to ask her manager or try to in any way fix the issue really upset me; I may not of made a big stink about this, but it did annoy me, enough so that I am very hesitant to go back. Finally the in the middle, recently Pizza Pan (website here) had a coupon for a $2 medium pizza on Fridays at the South Euclid and Warrensville Heights stores. A very good deal, especially as their medium is 12" and 8 cuts and I found the pizza to be very good. I was even more surprised when they told me to hold onto the coupon and that I could use it on subsequent Fridays, which I did. Then last week, when I called in my order, they informed me that there had been a mistake and that corporate had meant it to be a one week deal. While I thought this could have been handled better; with the simple solution being that they took the order and sold me the pizza, but took the coupon, I did understand and at least I knew up front what was going on and had been given a reasonable explanation. I may not have been 100% satisfied, but I did understand and appreciate their position; in addition the promotion had worked, in that I was reminded of the quality of their pizza and considering the size and the value of their pizza, I well order from them again. I know that service is not the most important factor, to me the taste and quality of the food, followed by the cost are more important; but service is up there and it is the least expensive thing to fix. The people are there already, you need to make sure that they know how to deal with people and that they have a clear message to deliver. In addition making sure that people have a good attitude makes a huge difference. One bad experience with service can really s0ur me on a restaurant, while good service will always bring me back. I will do another post with suggestions on what I think should be important to a server. Let me know what you think and some of your experiences, both good and bad.