rockandroller

We love the pig here in cleveland, it's true.

I just wanted to post a big thank you to NancyH for all her hard work on organizing this fantastic event. Thanks for everything you did, Nancy. Though I was only able to attend part of the festivities, it looks and sounds like everyone really enjoyed it and we were able to show off how great Cleveland is to many folks.

Great pix and videos everyone. Sure had a good time Thurs and Fri and looks like Sat and Sunday were great as well.

We do indeed have a gem in Chinato, glad others are finding that one as it's one of my faves. I have to agree that the chicken livers/polenta/killbuck mushrooms/house-made bacon dish at Lolita was the star of the night for me. And just from a personal preference standpoint, I actually thought Rocco's pizzas from Farenheit were better than the Lolita pizzas, but I like a crust that's not too dark and more even toppings than a traditional pizza, and Rocco's hit that mark. Good thing I don't live in Tremont as those would be a regular late-night snack. The house made potato chips with, apparently, crack sprinkled on them from Farenheit were also really good (I think it was bacon/scallion/parm/truffles but I could be wrong). Looking forward to seeing everyone at GHT tonight.

Nothing wrong with the eggs at Annemarie's dairy stand, they're local and good.

Serious question - if we pay you when we arrive, do we need to include the fee that's listed on the eventbrite site?

Hi Nancy - just reading through last several pages to get caught up. I am not participating in any of the Saturday or Sunday events and may have to bag on Friday daytime stuff as well as things are very busy at work and I may not be able to take the day off. My plan as of now is to attend Thursday night Farenheit/Lolita/Dante and Friday night GHT dinner but not VTR beforehand. Do we just show up at GHT at 7 for the dinner? For what it's worth, I've been to Istanbul in Tremont twice and it is FABULOUS, if others are contemplating a Thursday lunch.

ah Luckygirl, I'm sorry to miss you, I'm available for just about the opposite of when you'll be there. I plan to attend (solo) the Thursday night festivities and everything on Friday. I am a very tentative maybe for sunday brunch.

I'm late to this thread but am glad people are coming back to Cleveland and I hope to attend at least some of the festivities. Various comments - I def. think a visit to the sausage shoppe on memphis is worthwhile. Do NOT bother with Maha's restaurant on 25th. Outside of the falafel, their food is awful, awful, awful, which is too bad as the owner is a nice guy. I've tried it 3 times and every meal was a bust. Love the idea of something at Greenhouse Tavern and Sterle's, and I vote for B-spot over Lolita if we're going to a MS place, though I think Lolita has a private room upstairs which could be very helpful; either one is probably fine. I most strongly vote for Chinato to be part of the weekend (a Bruell restaurant), they are just fantastic. As to Crop, I'm not sure that they're open for lunch on Saturday so if you do lunch there, it would have to be Friday. I know I probably wouldn't be able to do sunday dinner there and I'm local - I can only play around so much on the weekends with a 19 month old baby and a FT job to tend to.

Ditto that, 100%. I perused it twice and when I saw the places that people were recommending where I live, which I *know* to be awful from first-hand experience, I never bothered going back.

"The other thing with tipping is that, unlike at a retail store, where if you buy a given TV, you will get exactly that TV, service at a restaurant both has substantial variance and is a bigger part of the experience. If a server is more helpful or friendlier than usual, or if my party receives anything comped, I feel obligated to leave a larger tip. I guess, on the flip side, though, variable tip sizes are what encourage different diners receiving different levels of service, so maybe that's not so much a good thing. " You get SERVICE at any place you patronize. I work a 2nd job in retail and believe me, there is a big difference between people who wait on me at most store and the above and beyond customer service I try to provide when the opportunity presents itself. I get paid no more or no less if I go out of my way to go the extra mile and help someone than I do if (like last night) I spend my entire shift with zero customers and ring up zero sales (welcome to the recession - the whole mall was dead). Unless you're talking about Ikea, where it's all self-serve, service is relevant to everywhere you shop - the grocery store, the retail store, the restaurant, the hardware store, etc. You don't pay less for your dishes at my store because one of the clerks was in a bad mood or didn't provide the help you wanted or you had to wait in a long line or whatever. We are motivated to give good service therefore not from a begging perspective, but from an internal one. And the good departments that have good people who do believe in good customer service have a lot of happy customers and repeat business (and business from word of mouth). I do wish restaurants were like this as well.

I suggest Lola, but he'll a) need reservations and b) need to choose carefully to keep costs down, perhaps just an entree and single glass of wine. But the food is not to be missed if you have only one night in Cleveland and are downtown.

Thanks all! As to where Linden is, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere But I like it there.

thanks! I'll check it out!

I will be coming to TN for a long weekend in mid-June by car to stay at a B&B in middle TN (in a tiny town called Linden). In the past I have had a really, really difficult time finding anywhere decent to eat in the area around Linden. The closest medium sized city that's not TOO far to drive is a place called Columbia, which is about 40 minutes away. The trip will also include a day in Nashville so I am looking for rec's there (Monell's sounds good from previous threads, but what else?). I am primarily interested in recommendations ANYWHERE south and west of nashville, no further south than columbia and preferably somewhere on or near rte 412 or 40. Also interested in nashville recommendations and things to see that are NOT country music related (not at all interested in the grand old opry, for example, or the fancy hotel that is often recommended there). thanks everyone!