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.

La Dolce Vita - Little Italy Bistro

I know that it has been a little while since my last post; been back to some favorites (Tom's for Dim Sum, Ritchie Chan's for Chinese) and been doing some cooking at home. But I was down at Case Law School, my Alma mater for a CLE and I figured I would use the gift certificate I had for La Dolce Vita in Little Italy. I was lucky enough to pick up some discounted gift certificates from one of the radio websites a little while back, so I had $25 to spend, which is a good thing, since LDV is very good but a bit expensive. Located at 12112 Mayfield at the intersection of Murray Hill Road, LDV has expanded over the years to occupy several connected storefronts. Walking in the corner store I was quickly greeted a seated, by my choice, at the bar. The decor is a an eclectic mix of Italian, Opera, a mask collection (which really agrees with me) that all comes together into an welcoming combination of relaxed and romantic. The atmosphere is unique and I liked it a lot. The bartender was friendly and helpful, knowledgeable about the menu and the specials. After looking through the menu and the specials (menu can be seen here), I decided on getting the Lentil Soup and the Clams Tarantino. The soup took a while to come out, but when it did it was a nice bowl of lentils, carrots, onions and cherry tomatoes in a nice vegetable broth; a bit underseasoned, but a nice light bowl of soup. The Clams Tarntino was even better; a large portion of fresh pasta was topped with baby clams, thin slices of zucchini and the cherry tomatoes. The pasta was excellent, the clams were beautiful little (about fingernail sized) that were tender and delicious with the zucchini and tomatoes offering a nice contrast; I might say that the dish was a bit underseasoned, but considering how delicate the clams were more seasoning could have overpowered them. Then interesting thing was that while often the first taste is the best, in this case the flavor seemed to build the more I ate, with the last forkful and the sop afterwards being even more satisfying then the start. Accompanying the meal were a couple of fresh baked rolls and butter. With the soup being $5 and the pasta $19, this is certainly not the cheapest place in town, especially considering that salads and other sides are Ala carte, but the food is very good and distinctive, not your everyday Italian, the atmosphere is very good, especially if you are looking for some romance. While I wouldn't be hitting La Dolce Vita on a regular basis, this is certainly a restaurant that I would recommend especially for the right ocassion or if you are in the mood for some very good Italian food and the cost is less important. Finally, I will remind you that if you like the blog, you consider making a donation to Bowl For Kids Sake for Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters; any amount would be welcome and more information is available at this post. Thank you.