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.