Lemongrass - Cleveland Heights Thai

Lemongrass has been a fixture in the Cedar Lee area for quite a while now and it has been a pretty long time since I last checked in; but thanks to a Groupon deal (check out Groupon here) I had $20 to spend and I felt in the mood for some good Thai. 

Located at 2179 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights (map is here), just a couple of doors down from the Cedar Lee Theater, Lemongrass is a handsome space.  The small bar is in the middle as you enter, with a nice dining room on one side and a garden room that is a little more casual on the other.  A small patio seating area is in back of the garden room.  I was seated in the garden room and the decor was very nice, light and casual with enough Thai accents to make it feel exotic without being overpowering.  I have to say that I was impressed with the way that they have kept the space up, it looks very clean and new, despite having been here for quite a while.

The menu (which can be seen at their website) has a nice variety, including some unusual items.  $20 goes a decent way here, enough to get a top line entree and an appetizer. 

I started with the vegetarian gyozas,  which are described as containing peanuts, carrots, water chestnuts and melon.  The order came out quickly with 6 crisp dumplings and a sweet dipping sauce.  The good was the crisp gyoza skins, deep fried so that they were light and crunchy and the sweet dipping sauce which added a nice contrast to the dish.  The filling was good, but the peanuts overpowered everything except a little of the carrots.  While not bad, I was expecting more contrasts both from a flavor profile and the textures.  Its not that these were bad, its just that especially after going through six of these, they were a bit boring.

For my main course, I took my waiters suggestion and got the Seafood Choo Chee.  While a nice serving of Shrimp, Scallops, Squid and Vegetables in a curry sauce, I ended up a bit disappointed.  First, while all of the seafood was cooked properly, none of it had much impact, especially disappointing for the nice sized scallops, my personal preference would have been to give them a bit of a char to get some nice texture and flavor.  The sauce was nice, with the right balance of Thai basil and a hint of sourness you expect from Thai food and a little less heat then I would have preferred, but it could have used a bit more complexity in the flavors.  In addition, it reminded me one of the things that I didn't prefer at Lemongrass over the years, the sauces tend towards being soups rather then sauces.  In this case I ended up putting all of the rice into the dish and still just barely managed to soak it all up.  I like a good soup, just not when I am expecting a regular entree.   The vegetables in the dish added some flavor and texture, but not nearly what I was expecting.  I will admit that some of this may be personal preference, the way Lemongrass prepares Thai food just doesn't scratch my itch, I prefer something a bit more rustic and home style, but that is me.

Service was good for the most part, although I could have used a refill on my water during the entree; this was especially bad as the restaurant was almost empty.  I know it is a careful balance when things are quiet in a restaurant, you don't want to have your server hovering over your table, but servers need to remember to check in every so often, no matter how busy or slow things are.  I will say that it looked like all of Cedar Lee was very quiet, it was early evening on a weekday with beautiful weather, plus I think a lot of people were checking out Melt.

So, Lemongrass has held up well over the years, with very nice decor, a great location and high quality food; unfortunately it just doesn't quite do it for me, the food is too refined for my preferences and can be soupy.  Prices are decent, but portions may be a bit undersized for what is being charged.  Give them a try if you are in the area and judge for yourself.

Melt Cleveland Heights - Greatness Comes East

So I managed to wait one day before I headed out to check out the new Melt Bar and Grilled in Cleveland Heights.  Located at the corner of Cedar and Taylor Roads (map is here), Melt has taken the amazingly successful formula from Lakewood and transplanted it to the East Side.  Even though I arrived at just after 11:00am on Saturday, the dining room was already filled up with a line out the door.  Luckily there was plenty of room at the huge bar and so I grabbed a stool and settled in.

Looking around you get something of the feel with the brick walls, the kitschy decor and the warm friendly feel.  One half of Melt is a large open dining room with nice tables and chairs and the open kitchen.  On this day the dining room is packed with families with lots of young kids.  Of note is the wall with all of the old Dairy Queen items.  The feel of the dining room is a bit more basic and open.

The other side of Melt is a large U shaped bar with another set of seating along the wall.  This gives the bar almost as much seating as the original Melt has with all of its seating.  Here the decor is more intense and diverse and mirrors that of the Lakewood location.  Plastic Dracula, snowmen and jack-o-lanterns are strewn about and thin screen TVs above the bar have sports and cartoons showing.  Little details are cool such as the old video game panels that line the top of the beer coolers.  All in all a good transfer of much of the atmosphere of the original along with its own unique feel. 

For those who know the location from when it was Peabody's or one of the other bars that were located there, they have filled in the floor and made everything into a single floor. 

Melt has a huge selection of beers, both on tap and in bottles, I will have to work through these over time.  It will be interesting to see how Melt ends up between bar and restaurant, the food is so good, but this will be a great place to just hang and drink.

So once I had finally taken it all in, I settled in and decided on my lunch.  The menu (which you can see here) has come over with no changes, which is a great thing.  The soup of the day is Dortmunder Mac and Cheese; after checking that it was vegetarian, I ordered a cup and was surprised to get a full mug of very thick, very good mac and cheese.  I would not call this a soup, as it was easily as thick as most mac and cheese that you can get.  The taste was wonderfully smooth, with some nice crispness from the scallions and the goldfish that came on the side.  The flavor was a wonderful combination of cheese with a bit of smoke and a hint of heat.  Over many visits to Melt, I have not been disappointed by the soups and chili.

My main choice was the Wake and Bacon with Avocado subbed in for the bacon.  The sandwich came out perfectly cooked with a huge pile of french fries and a side of sweet slaw.  The sandwich was a wonderful balance of fried egg, avocado and melted cheese between giant slices of bread.  A little hot sauce added to give some heat and this is one of my favorite sandwiches.  The fresh cut fries were nicely crisp and if anything better then what I get.  The sweet slaw was nicely crisp and well balanced.  A huge plate of excellent food at a reasonable price.

Despite the fact that this was only the second day of operation, and a more then full restaurant, the service was superb.  Chris the bartender who served me was knowledgeable about the food and the bar, was friendly and in a great mood.  Surprisingly, after getting used to having to wait for food at the Lakewood location, my food came out amazingly fast.  I wouldn't count on this happening, but even if you have to wait the food is more than worth it.

My first review of Melt in Cleveland Heights is very favorable.  They have managed to bring the fabulous food and excellent service, while retaining much of the fun atmosphere.  Right now it feels a little more divided then the Lakewood location, with the dining room area being a bit more family friendly and the bar side being a bit hipper and rowdier.  As long as they can manage the crowds and keep standards high, Melt East will be a huge success. 

I would recommend that you go give them a try, except that Melt is already very busy and I want to be able to find parking and get seated when I get the urge, so instead think about driving over to Lakewood and leaving the Cleveland Heights location alone.

China Buffet - Tasty Chinese in Mentor on the Lake

It seems like the strip malls on Andrews Road in Mentor on the Lake are the place to be for good food at rock bottom prices; I recently reviewed El Patron (link is here), there is a Little Caesar's offering large pizzas with one topping for under $4 and then there is China Buffet.  Despite about the most generic name possible, I came away with a very good experience.

I noticed China Buffet since they were advertising $4.49 lunch and when I mentioned it to my friend Mindy who lives out that way she actually recommended China Buffet as a place she likes.  Located at 5985 Andrews
Road (map is here), behind a Wendy's, the exterior is nothing special and seems a bit run down; however this is quickly dispelled once you are inside.  Decorated in Chinese Buffet style, with a large mural of waterfalls on one walls and dividers topped with wood scrollwork and painted glass, the room feels brand new and spotlessly clean.  A look at the buffet is even more encouraging, with all items well stocked and looking fresh and well prepared.



After being seated I headed over and was pleasantly surprised to see a nice variety of what looks to be well prepared sushi; including items with roe, seaweed salad and a futomaki with raw fish.  Certainly not what you get at a Sushi restaurant, but better then most Chinese Buffets.  Sampling the items I found them to be flavorful and well prepared, with crisp flavors and a nice hand in seasoning.  About the only complaint I had was that the raw fish was a bit stronger then I would have preferred.


I move on to the hot buffet and am even more impressed, the items I tried were well prepared and for the most part were more flavorful then I have become accustomed at Chinese Buffets.  A couple of spicy items I tried had a nice heat to them, which is unusual at buffets.  Even better was the Seafood Combination, which had shrimp, bay scallops, crab sticks and squid in a creamy white sauce.  The seafood was nicely cooked, with the squid and scallops tender, a very unusual occurrence in my experience with buffets.  The white sauce actually had a pleasant mild soy flavor to go with silk texture and added to the dish.  The items I tried, generally tasted good to very good, with flavor profiles I would expect if I ordered them off of a menu rather then getting them at a buffet.  The vegetable fried rice and the lo mien were OK, but noting special. The buffet offered a nice variety, although not as big as some I have seen. 


Even the deserts I tried were flavorful and seemed to be a better grade then I have become used to at Chinese buffets.  


Despite having a generic name, this China Buffet offers very good food in a clean setting at a very good price; I wish more buffets were like this, offering food with flavor and keeping it fresh as possible.  While not offering anything unique, I prefer having everything well prepared and would recommend you give China Buffet a try if you are nearby.

Wild Goat Cafe - Wholesome Food in Kent

This blog has not had many nice things to say about national chain restaurants, but I will admit that they do build good buildings that offer fertile ground for local owners when the chain abandons them; one good example of what can happen is the Wild Goat Cafe in Kent.  Located at 319 West Main Street in Kent (map is here) in what was once a Friendly's, the Wild Goat is doing things right.  When I was an undergraduate at Kent many moons ago, I used to take Star, our fraternity dog, for walks along the Cuyahoga and then head over to Friendly's for some ice cream; I can say that while I miss Star, the Wild Goat beats Friendly's with ease. 

I had heard that Wild Goat was a great place for breakfast and lunch and that it was trying to use locally sourced, wholesome foods, so combined with the name I was expecting a kind of wild and funky place; actually Wild Goat is pretty mellow and straightforward.  The one big dining room is painted with several subdued colors, the tables and chairs are restaurant standard and there is a minimal amount of decoration.  The effect is pretty much standard American family restaurant.  When I got there it was early afternoon on a Sunday and they were full up, but there was room at the small counter up front.  Service was fast and friendly, the kitchen was a bit slower, but the food was worth waiting for.


The menu begins to reveal a bit more about the Wild Goat (you can see it here) with a bit more flair and a number of items that mention quality items such as hydroponic bibb lettuce and Kobe beef for the hamburgers.  But still sticking to a fairly straightforward selection of breakfast, sandwiches, salads and starters. 

Since I was in a breakfast mood, I ordered the Pancakes and Eggs with a side of sweet potato fries.  The pancakes were 3 medium sized cakes  firm on the outside and just the right amount of sponginess on the inside to absorb the syrup with a good mild taste.  The two eggs were perfectly cooked over medium and seemed to have more yolk then most eggs I have had, which is always a good thing.

The sweet potato fries were excellent, they came out piping hot and wonderfully crispy, with a bit less sweetness then most I have tried.  Each fry was light in color, with a clear snap to the outside and the inside perfectly cooked.  The flavor was less sweet then most, which worked wonderfully by playing more on the savory side of the palate.

Finally, although I was full, I could not resist taking home one of giant Cinnamon Rolls in the front case.   For $3 this was the buy of the day, with a giant roll that filled the full sized to go container, topped with a more then generous amount of frosting.  The fresh baked roll was very nice with a well balanced cinnamon layered between its swirls and the wonderful butter cream topping.  What was unusual, especially for an item such as this was that the sweetness was well controlled, even with the icing so that while I am sure I had too many calories, it could have been a lot worse.

The Wild Goat does very good food made from quality ingredients at fair prices.  Don't let the name fool you, this is straight ahead wholesome food prepared by people who care.  It may not be the flashiest, but it is hard to go wrong.

Yours Truly Restaurant - Good Clean Food

We were out for a weekday evening hike in North Chagrin Metropark and wanted to get something easy, so we headed over to the Yours Truly in Mayfield Village.  For those few who haven't stopped at one of their locations around town, Yours Truly is good wholesome food at affordable prices and has been around for almost 30 years. 

The Mayfield Village location is in the corner of the small shopping center at the corner of SOM Center Road and Wilson Mills (map is here).  The brick building with several large windows makes for a good setting for Yours Truly.  Once inside there is a short wait to be seated as they were full up, but things move quickly and we are soon seated in a comfortable booth.  The decor is a bit old fashioned, but balanced nicely and with some restraint, resulting in a comfortable and friendly feel.

The menu is fairly extensive, but hews mainly to American classics (you can see the menu here).  On Fridays, they have a very nice fish fry, but that wasn't available so I went with a scoop of the Tuna Salad on a garden salad.  The salad was fresh greens with tomatoes, cukes and shredded Mozzarella, topped with a generous scoop of very good Tuna.  At the table we also had the sweet potato fries, a chili dog and the choose two.  The food was simply prepared with good quality ingredients.  The flavors are simple and well presented in generous portions.  About the only surprising item was the honey mustard sauce that came with the sweet potato fries, because this was not a combination I had seen before.

Mindy described Yours Truly as "Clean" and I think she hit it on the head, the decor and upkeep is very good, the food is simple and value sized portions.  Eating at Yours Truly may not be the high point of your culinary experience, but you will come away satisfied and well fed and that is a good idea that has been going on for quite a while now.  I am sure that Yours Truly will keep up the good work.

El Patron - Mentor On The Lake Mexican

As I was cruising around on the motorcycle, following the Lake Erie shore East, I noticed a Mexican restaurant I hadn't seen before. Located at 5945 Andrews Rd, Mentor On The Lake (map is here) in a strip mall set back from the street was El Patron.  They seemed to have done what they could with the front, especially considering the location and the banner with $3.49 Lunch Specials certainly caught my eye, so I figured I would give it a try.   Once inside I was surprised to find that El Patron was nicely laid out with warm browns and tans, with real stone used to create the diving wall and some nice Mexican touches and less beer paraphernalia then most Mexican Restaurants.  The overall decor is relaxing with a nice touch of class.

Once seated I was quickly greeted by my server and got the expected chips and salsa.   The chips were nice, the salsa was good although a bit mild, with the occasional pepper or onion chunks to make things a bit more interesting.  A little of the green hot sauce zipped up the salsa to my liking.

Reviewing over the menu I was impressed with the variety (you can view the menu at the Chardon El Patron website here); I was especially happy to see that the $3.49 specials included a choice of Chili Relleno or Fish Tacos.  I picked the Chili Relleno with the rice and was rewarded with a nice sized plate with one good sized chili and a nice portion of rice.  The Chili was well prepared, the batter was good, the cheese melted without becoming a lava flow and the pepper flavorful, although once again a bit mild to my taste.  With Poblano Peppers it is always hard to guess how hot they will be, so I would not hold that against El Patron.  The sauce topping the Chili was very nice slightly sweet with a smokey, almost hickory flavor, reminiscent of a good BBQ sauce.   The rice was mild, but had a very nice taste and good texture without being overly dry. 

Service was good with water refilled, food came out promptly while still feeling prepared to order.  For $3.50 this was one of the better Mexican lunches I have had in a while.  I will definitely head back to El Patron, at least to try the fish tacos lunch.

El Patron also has locations in Chardon and Middlefield, so I will keep an eye out and possibly give them a try.

Mike's Place - Kent Mainstay for Grub

Over the weekend I took my young buddy Danny to Kent to show him around.  Since I was a student there they have redone the Cuyahoga River which used to be dammed behind a waterfall.  Now the river can run unimpeded but they have retained the old waterfall by using a pump to circulate water over it.  There is a nice park along the river and we saw fish, a turtle and a blue heron.

When we started to get hungry I took Danny to Mike's Place, which has been around for quite a while now, yet I had never managed to eat there.  Located at 1799 South Water Street, Kent, Ohio, which is the intersection of Ohio Routes 43 and 261 (map is here), Mike's is a place you almost have to see to believe.  The building started life as a Dutch Pantry, for those who date back further than we might like; which has been converted, added to and just messed with in ways that are fantastic.  To start with there is the full sized Star Wars Tie Fighter siting out front; where this came from I don't know, but it certainly looks good and draws attention.  Then you might notice the Castle Turret and catapult that sits behind the main building.  Finally you see the bright yellow and blue paint job and you are assured this isn't just some chain restaurant.

Inside is an amazing mix of memorabilia, antiques and just plain junk.  The booth room where we were seated looked out at the back of the Tie Fighter.  Looking the other way you have a booth with Elvis and R2D2 on top.

Even more amazing is that each room is different and each is the result of someone with their own wacky vision.  In the back, inside the castle is the bar with a medieval theme.  There is a Bus that has been added to the restaurant with tables inside. And everywhere pictures and license plates.  Truly a unique and fun atmosphere.

Then you get to the menu (which can be downloaded here).  At a hefty six pages of small type, this is one of the most text heavy menus you will find.  It is also one of the most in your face, funny, insulting and generally interesting things you will find.  From the 21 listed acceptable methods of payments, ranging from checks (sometimes) to droids and Excalibur to indentured servitude to the Rules (example: 10. Stop stealing our menus and we’ll stop keying your cars.) this is more than just a list of food, it is funny, it is insulting and it is extensive.

After much discussion and amusement we finally deciding on our lunches and gave our order to our friendly Serving Wench (I know I am violating Rule #2, but just as Mike's is his castle, this is my blog!!!). Service was friendly, knowledgeable and prompt, kudos to the staff and kitchen, especially as there was a Shaker Baseball team of 13year olds up for a tournament and yet everything was handled smoothly.

Danny had the kid's cheeseburger meal, which comes with fries and a drink for $4.  As you can see they use a nice bun and give a large order of fries; what you don't see is that there are actually two patties on the bun.  Danny said the burger was good and for $4 this is a great deal.

I ordered the Walleye dinner, which comes with two large fillets and two side dishes.  I ordered the baja rice and fries, which ended up being overkill.  The Walleye fillets were large and batter fried very nicely.  The fish was mild and flaky, the crust was crunchy and tasty.  Combined with homemade tarter sauce and the fresh lemon, better then I expected, and much bigger.   Added to this was the huge portion of tasty rice, which was moist and flavorful, but about twice what I could eat, then you get a full basket of crisp fresh cut french fries and you start having way more food then you need or want.  This was a lot of food for $9 and you even get a couple of rolls on the side. 

Mike's Place is the kind of place that I really like, it has attitude, good food, huge portions and more than a bit of humor.  The food is good straight forward cooking, well prepared; you are not going to get exotic food combinations or  or subtle seasoning, but you will leave full and satisfied and probably more then a little entertained.   Worth a trip, if only to get a picture of your Star Wars fan in front of the Tie Fighter.  If you are up Kent way stop off and give them a try.