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.

Souper Market

I was out in Lakewood and wanted to get a quick meal so I stopped in the Souper Market at 14809 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, OH 44107; this is the 2nd location for SM, the first is in Ohio City at 2528 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44113. Souper Market deals up soups and salads. The Lakewood location is a small store front in the middle of downtown Lakewood, it does have a counter with some stools, so you can eat there or take out. I ended up picking up a bowl of the Cream of Asparagus and Crab soup and a Greek Salad. The Crab and Asparagus Cream Soup was good, just the right thickness, creamy without being too dense. It had a good quantity of crab meat, but seemed a little light on the asparagus. While nice it seemed a bit underseasoned to my taste; while the cream base was good I didn't get enough flavor from the crab and asparagus and there was no contrast of any kind. The salad was made to order and was very good, fresh greens with tomatoes, feta, onions and pepprochinis topped with a very good garlic herb vinaigrette (I had them leave off the olives). The greens were fresh and crisp, with the feta and the dressing providing good flavor compliments. With the soup you get a big hunk of very good crusty bread; the perfect compliment for both the soup and salad. Souper Market makes soups from scratch using quality ingredients, I have found that some of the seasonings is a bit mild to my tastes, but it is worth giving it a try.

Melt - Update

Well Melt has added the space next door and they did fabulous job of making it look like it has been there all along. The space provides a couple of extra tables, which will be used when the patio is closed and a lot more space to allow people to wait for tables to become available. Nice job. I also wanted to mention that Melt has a brunch menu available all day on Sunday and while not extensive, the egg dishes, french toast and waffles sound great and look to be really well prepared. On my last couple of trips here, I have added the soup of the day to my feasting. Certainly didn't need it since the sandwiches are enough to fill up even me, but they sounded so good I had to give them a try. And I was very happy with the soups. The soups are served in one of Melt's many variety mugs and they tasted home made. Thick and rich, without being overpowering and seasoned very well, this is what soup should be like. Finally, I wanted to give a big shout out to the staff at Melt. Everytime I have been there they have been friendly, knowlegable about the food and drink selection and seemingly having a good time despite being busy. It might be working in a place that puts out consistently outstanding food, it might be that the management does a very good job of hiring and training or it just might be a lucky happenstance. In an case we all complain enough about bad service, so lets try to recognize and more importantly reward good service. Remember to throw a little something extra in the tip when you think the server deserves it.

El Tango Tanquira - Another Lakewood Find

So after a rough start I am finally having some success on quest for good inexpensive Mexican food in Cleveland. My latest find is El Tango Tanquira at 14224 Madison Avenue in Lakewood. This place has built a nice reputation and has gotten some great writeups online so I figured I would give it a try. The outside is nothing special, but easy enough to find. Once inside I was struck by the decor, kind of a funky Southwest feel, with a nice tile floor, wooden tables and wrought iron chairs and plenty of colorful decoration. A really fun place and kind of has the feel of the places I find in Western ski towns, funky but clean. Instead of heading to a table in the small dining room on the left, you head over to the counter in front of the kitchen on the right and place your order. Once you have picked your food and paid you sit down and from there you get table service with full plates and silverware. The menu is not overly long, but the items on it appear to be very good. I ordered the Green Chili Stew with Vegetables and the Burrito with fish added to it. All items were fresh and made to order. The stew came out first and it was exceptional. A thick bright green chili stew was studded with vegetables including onions, squash, broccoli and beans; and to add a suprise and extra flavor note there was a wedge of fresh pineapple as well. The flavors were excellent, well seasoned and complex with just enough heat. I would highly recommend this. The fish burrito was next, good sized and filled with Spanish Rice and beans; the fish were very nicely grilled pieces of a Snapper. All of the ingredients were very good, but as a whole the burrito didn't come together. It needed a sauce or salsa to get everything to combine. It also seemed a little too simple in the food combination, I would like to see some vegetation (onions, peppers, tomatoes and/or lettuce) and some cheese to make the burrito complete. Now for my mini rant, El Tango does not put out the chips and salsa, it is $4.95 for them and they looked good on a nearby table. They do not have water by the glass and they do not have hot sauce, at least not in a bottle, they were willing to sell me some of the salsa for $1 extra. While the food here is very high quality, well prepared and reasonably priced ($4.50 for the chili stew, $6.95 for the Burrito plus $1.00 to add the fish) I start to feel like I am less a customer and more of a income source when I have to pay an extra charge to make the meal suit me. I can understand the chips and salsa, but not serving water or having any sauce included in the burrito does not seem right to me. Now that is just me, I generally don't like to pay the high price for drinks when eating out, unless I am having something alcoholic and I like to be able to doctor the flavor of my food, but that is me, your mileage may vary. Overall a very good place, fun decor, good service, high quality food, some of which is exceptional (try the Green Chili Stew), at what should be reasonable prices until you start having to pay for all the extras. If this was closer I probably would visit again and try the Fish Tacos, but I am just bugged enough by the extras issue to not make a special trip across town.

Melt - Lakewood's best

Over the Memorial Day Weekend I decided to take a ride through the Metroparks. Since I was going to Rocky River to start the run I decided to hit Melt on Detroit right in the middle of Lakewood. Now Melt has gotten quite a bit of attention and good reviews, and all of it is deserved. For those who haven't been there or haven't heard Melt is one of the best bar/casual restaurants in the area. The decor is old fashion corner bar with all kinds of funky hip decor. The walls are covered with Cleveland memorabillia, with a heavy dose of Cleveland sports teams. There are plastic figures on top of the bar, Dracula, the Easter Bunny etc. and there are a number of TVs which may be on sports or on cartoons, either way you win. The music is great rock and roll. The atmosphere is fun and friendly with a lot of humor. Once you get in and seated, which may involve a wait as the place is usually humming along, you are faced with the first of many hard choices, what to drink. Melt offers one of the best beer menus around, with everything from the regular suspects to beers I haven't seen before. You'll have about 20 draft choices, and a near endless list of bottled beers sorted by category and with plenty of information in the list. All seem to be reasonably priced and there are usually monthly beer specials, so you will have even more options. Now you will get to the menu. Melt bases it's menu around the grilled cheese sandwich. But not the little old ones we used to get in school, these have been elevated to works of culinary art. With a wide range of choices it is hard to go wrong. I have had the Mushroom Melt, the Lake Erie Monster (walleye), the North Coast Shores (Crab Cakes) and they have been excellent. It starts with thick slices of good bread, which are then stuffed with high quality ingrediants and your choice of cheese and then grilled to perfection. Served with a large mound of home made fries and a good coleslaw, this will fill up even the biggest appetite. Melt has taken the grilled cheese and made it king. In addition the menu has a number of appetizers (try the vegie chili another winner), salads and burgers. There is also a monthly special, this month it was the Big Popper. A heavenly combination of cream cheese, cheddar cheese and jalepeno peppers is sandwiched between two slices of killer french toast and served with a side of blueberry maple sauce. This all combines together in ways that will make your tongue sing. The sweet and hot contrast nicely, as does the gooey cheese with the crisp peppers. Served at a size that made me cry Uncle for $8.00 it was the best meal I have had all month. I do want to mention the servers. In the times I have been to Melt, the service has been excellent. The servers know the menu and can explain it to you. Plus they really seem to enjoy working there. This last visit, the bartender was rocking out to the classic rock tunes as he kept drinks filled, delivered and cleared plates and generally made sure that everybody was having a good time. Kudos. Melt is located at 14718 Detroit Road in Lakewood, next to Geigers. There is a small patio. You can check them out on the web at http://www.meltbarandgrilled.com/home.html