Cibo - Chagrin Falls Pasta

For the most part I have had a lot of success trying restaurants from Groupon (check Groupon out here), Cibo Homemade Pasta certainly ends up on the winner side of the list.  Located at 8564 East Washington Street in Chagrin Falls (the space that used to house Fat Taco) (map is here), at the intersection of Route 306 and Washington Street, Cibo is a friendly little place to get some very good pasta at an affordable price.  Tucked into a corner of the strip mall, it might be easy to miss Cibo, but it is worth finding.  Outside is a couple of tables overlooking a little fountain.  Inside you will find an attractive space that has a feeling of a little trattoria crossed with a fast food place.

Behind a long counter you will see the kitchen and the pasta machine pressing out fresh pasta.  The menu is straight forward and easy to understand, you pick either Cavetelli or whole wheat Rotini and then add sauce and any toppings.  There are also salads and a couple of sandwiches.  When I was there Cibo also had Eggplant Parmigiana, Cheese Lasagne, and some pizza available.  Everything looked very good, fresh made with high quality ingredients.  Since I had a $10 Groupon, I got 2 orders of pasta, one to eat there the other for the next day.

I had the whole wheat rotini with the Alfredo sauce at Cibo.  For $5 you get a very generous serving.  The whole wheat pasta were nice with a little more bite and character then regular pasta.  The Alfredo sauce was nicely balanced between the cheese and cream, with a subtle lighter flavor then many of the heavy Alfredo sauces you encounter; maybe a little bit on the subtle side, but good.

The serving of Cavatelli with the Arrabbita sauce and Romano cheese was one of the better plates of pasta I have had in a while.  The Cavatelli was perfectly cooked, just enough firmness to compliment the sauce and  give a nice chew.  The sauce was excellent, with nice tomato flavor, with spicy heat that balanced well with the grated cheese.  The portion was very good sized but I went through it quickly and would have kept going if there was more.  

Cibo's is a wonderful find, a place that is producing excellent food at affordable prices.  They are using high quality ingredients and obviously take pride in their products.  With a limited menu and the selected specials, they can focus on making the food taste good.  I recomend you head out East and give them a try.

Raised and Glazed Donuts - Bainbridge Bakery

Donuts can be the perfect breakfast food, and pretty darn good most other times of the day. In Bainbridge there is a nice little bakery that supplies good donuts and other baked goods. Raised and Glazed Donuts is at 17800 Chillicothe Rd, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, which is in the little strip mall at the intersections of Chillicothe (Route 306) and Bainbridge Roads, just South of Route 422. The frontage is very small and the sign above just says "Donuts", but that is enough. Once inside you find a cheery pink space that widens out for several cases and displays of donuts and other good looking sweets. The nice variety of donuts are good sized and look very attractive. I tried the Creamstick and the Apple Fritter and both were very good. The Fritter was nice with a touch of Cinnamon and little bits of apple throughout. The Creamstick was a very large donut filled with a good vanilla creme and topped with chocolate. The donuts seemed to find a nice balance, sweet without being teethrattling (although I am a sucker for that), with nice firm textures and good clean flavors. These may not donuts you will dream about, but they will certainly fill the donut urge if you are in the area. In addition to the donuts, there was a large selection of other baked sweets, including brownies, tea biscuits and cookies. There is also a display case for samples of the kinds of cakes that they will make. Another nice touch that I like is the samples on the counter, a great thing for a bakery to do, getting a small taste is a very nice gesture and usually makes me hungry for more. Raised and Glazed is probably not worth a special trip, however if you are in the area, check them out, they are friendly, have a nice selection and the baked goods are very nice. Probably a Four Drools out of Five on the Homer Simpson Donut Scale.

Fat Taco - Bainbridge Mexican

UPDATED 6/24/2010 - I was by Fat Taco and apparently they are out of business.

Well I finally had a partial success in my inexpensive Mexican food quest. I think part of my ongoing hunt involves the loss of Que Tal on Coventry. Before it closed I could count on it for good, tasty, big and reasonably priced burritos. Well I may have found a pretty good substitute. Fat Taco at 8564 E. Washington Street in Bainbridge (the corner of E. Washington and Route 306 in the same little strip as Cowboy Food) is a very nice little Mexican fast food place. I have been here before, but it has been a while so I figured it was time to give them another try. Fat Taco is clean and simply but nicely decorated. You order at the front counter and you can eat inside or there are a couple of tables out front. The menu is not extensive; basically Burritos, Tacos, Nachos and Enchiladas, but the food is good and the portions are generous. I had the Fat Burrito; a vegetarian option which includes sweet potatoes, onions and peppers along with the rice, bean, lettuce, pica di gallo and cheese. The burrito was well made with generous fillings. I would note that while the menu described the onion and peppers as grilled, they seemed almost raw and the peppers were quite hot jalapeño slices. The overall taste was good, with a nice contrast between the sweet soft yams and the crunchy and hot peppers. I did need to add a combination of some hot sauce and taco sauce, but that is not unusual for me. Since it was Tuesday, I got the special, which is if you buy a burrito and a large drink, you get the chips and salsa free. The chips were obviously made in house, and while they may have sat for a day or two, they were good. The salsa was a nice fresh dice, with good flavor and texture, but it needed more heat. Overall, Fat Taco delivers high quality Mexican food at a reasonable price. While it may not knock your socks off, it will fill you up and satisfy your taste buds. If it were a sit down restaurant with a full menu my hunt might be over, but for now it continues.

Cowboy Food - Update

Was out to Cowboy Food in Bainbridge with a group of friends and have to say that the food was excellent. Where last time I had the Fish Tacos, and they were only so-so, this time I had the Blackened Grouper Sandwich and it was near perfect. The nice sized portion of Grouper was grilled very nicely, it had the nice spicey sear on the outside, with the middle being moist and tender large flakes of fish. Served on a bun with a side of lettuce, tomato and onion to put onto the sandwhich, it was tasty. So good no extra sauce was needed. The sweet potatoe fries were perfect, crisp with a great flavor of the sweet potato coming through. Friends had the 1/2 slab of baby back ribs and the BBQ Sundae (pulled pork, coleslaw and baked beans layered in a Mason jar and everyone enjoyed their food. About the only thing I could find to fault was that the pickle spear was only OK; if you are going to serve pickles, get some good real Kosher ones, but this is just nitpicking. Great food, good portions, friendly service and reasonable prices. Well worth checking out.

Cowboy Food Drink - Chagrin Falls

When I got off work the other day the weather was too nice to sit around so I got on the motorcycle and cruised out to Chagrin Falls figuring I would check out Cowboy Food Drink. Cowboy is at 8586 E. Washington in Chagrin Falls, right at the intersection of E. Washington and Route 306. Its been about a year since I had been out there and it seemed like a good time to check it out. Cowboy has been through some changes over the past couple of years, there has been a change in ownership, in the kitchen and a 2nd location in Mentor has opened and closed. Still with all that the changes have been minimal. For those who have not been, Cowboy is a restaurant and bar all in one. The decor is a mix of western theme and sports bar, with plenty of TVs tuned to sports, mostly hightop tables and a menu that features Southwestern and BBQ favorites. The overall atmosphere is fun and friendly and there is a stage for bands to play on during the weekend. The concept is to serve high quality food at a reasonable price in a fun manner. This time around I found the food to be generally good, although possible a step below what I remember. I had the fish tacos, 2 soft shell tacos with grilled white fish and the usual salad and sauce. The tacos were ok, with some of the fish, which was cut into small cubes tasting a bit fishy. The sauce and guacamole was good, but lacked distinctive tastes. Definitely needed some hot sauce which zipped them up. I got to pick 2 sides, in a carbo loading mood I got the Sweet Potato Fries and the Mac and Cheese. The fries were wonderful, fresh crisp, tasty and just sweet enough. The mac and cheese was good, although I was disappointed that it was a wet version rather then a baked version, still it was cheesy and thick. Overall a good meal at $10. For those carnivores, I have heard that the Pit Smoked BBQ is very good. With Pork, Ribs, Chicken and Brisket available there is a good variety. Service was friendly and prompt. The menu has seemed to stay basically the same for several years with the prices largely unchanged. I think overall Cowboy food is a great alternative to Chili's, or Ruby Tuesday's with good food, a great atmosphere and enough to keep you busy for a while.