Fathead Brewery - Westside Saloon

I have been meaning to give Fathead Brewery a try for a little while, have heard good things about it; so I managed to get across town this weekend and see what is going on. Fathead is located 24581 Lorain Road, North Olmsted, Ohio (map is here) at the intersection with Columbia Road, not far from Great Northern. The space used to be a large farm market that has been made over into a spacious restaurant and brewery. The bar is in the front with a big dining room taking up the back room. The feeling is one of lots of space with the beamed ceiling and room between tables. Overall the look is nice and clean with a warm feeling. Of course there are TV's with sports playing, but less then at most bars around town. I sat at the bar, unfortunately since I was on the motorcycle I had to pass on having a beer; they offer a wide selection on tap, including both their own house brewed beers and other specialty beers. Instead I took a look at the menu of starters, pizza and sandwiches (go here to take a look). I settled on the Walleye sandwich; while there are some items, this menu caters to the carnivores. The walleye was an 9" sub bun with a couple of nice sized pieces of the fried fish lettuce and tomato served with a very good tarter sauce and a large helping of homemade potato chips. The fish was good, although some parts had a bit of a fishy taste which can happen with walleye. The overall portion was large and as I said the tarter sauce was one of the better ones I have tasted, with some nice bright flavor notes to compliment the fish. The chips were ok, unfortunately not that crisp despite being quite well cooked. For $9 a very big portion and quite filling and that seemed to be the norm here, watching other food come out Fathead seemed to tend towards the Flintstone's style portions of food, big and meaty. Overall a nice place, being a Pescatarian, I am probably not their key demographic. A good place to head if you want some quality beer and large portions of food at decent prices. Hopefully I will get back there and try some of the beers. Once again, I will remind you that if you like the blog, please 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.

Ballantine - Willoughby Gastropub

We took a group out to Willoughby to check out Ballantine. Willoughby has become a center for good dining on the far East side with a nice mix of upscale and dive restaurants in a charming downtown. I have heard quite a few good things about Ballantine and the food, but that there has been a lot of turnover and changes since it first opened. It seems that they have finally settled on a directions, since since it was originally billed as a gastropub, but the current menu describes it as a Pizzeria and Bier Bar. In addition the couple of website links I can find for it are dead. What we found was very good food and an appealing upscale atmosphere. You get a feel for the place even before walking in as the front wall of windows shows an inviting upscale atmosphere with lots of dark wood and pools of light. As you walk in you see seating at a counter by the kitchen/pizza oven, also a long well stocked bar and a number of tables in a dark room. Seated at one of the high tables along the wall we had a view of several flat screens showing sports (in our case a Cavs game). Oil lamps on the tables add atmosphere if not illumination. The menu features a number of good sounding Neapolitan (thin crust) pizzas ranging from $8 to $12. The starters have some real winners and I decided to go with splitting the Lobster Mac and Cheese and an order of the Calamari. The Mac and Cheese was excellent with pasta shells in a wonderful cheesy becarmel sauce with a good portion of Lobster meat. The portion was good if not huge, but the flavors were wonderful, I would probably have the Mac and Cheese without the Lobster next time as it didn't add that much to the flavor. The Calamari was also good, sauted in a light crust with a bit of heat and some nice contrast from the onions and capers. Prices were ok with the Mac and Cheese going for $8 plus $4 for the Lobster, the Calamari was $9. Others at the table had the entrees $15 - $20, which were nice portions and included your choice of 2 sides. Beyond the Mac and Cheese, I did hear that the Rissoto and the spinach were both good. Food comes presented in large white modern plates and bowls and the look is very nice. Ballantine also features an extensive beer menu, including several beer flights, which allow you to sample several different draft beers. Overall, Ballantine seems to have found its niche, well prepared and presented food and drink presented in a warm upscale atmospere. If you are heading for an evening out, give them a try. The dinners

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