rockandroller

Phnom and Opa were the ones I was going to suggest too. Also, Venezia did not have their license when I was there, but it was in process (Moha Orchid's new restaurant in Lakewood).

I quit eating commercially processed ground beef several years ago, but my memory says that The Little Bar and Becky's both have awesome burgers. Cheap and good.

Great review & pix, Edsel. How many people were there? Was it a lively crowd?

wowwwweee! Great pictures as usual, Nancy, and great description of the evening LuckyGirl, much appreciated. Sounds and looks fantastic.

Sounds awesome! Great pix!!!

When do they get back?

Just joining the thread here, but where is Sun Luck Garden? DT or E side?

doesn't it look wonderful? I think we should have another eG dinner there just so we can hear about this from Dom.

...when your boss always asks you on a business trip where the eG people said we should eat. ...when there isn't one "real" person you know, only other eGulleters, who would be as excited as you were at making your first duck confit (which I did last week. Yay!!! So yummy).

I just took some friends there the other night. One had never been, the other grew up less than a few miles away but hadn't been since a few weddings as a child, neither even knew there was a restaurant, or of the wonderful things Dominic and the people in his kitchen are doing there. Turns out our server was the girl from a previous gathering of some eG folks, it was nice of her to remember, and our food as usual was awesome. Two more people who will now become customers (and hopefully, their family and friends, and so on).

This may be a dumb Q, but how much effect will letter-writing from people who are not only not even these people's constituents, but from completely different states have? I have an entire wall in my office dedicated to the numerous letters I've received back from my representative (Kucinich) in response to my numerous letters to him, and I think that makes a difference, but he knows my vote affects him, as does my word of mouth to my friends and neighbors, who are also his constituents. I don't know whether or not my contacting someone from NJ would have any effect since why should he care, I don't vote him into or (hopefully) out of office. If anyone can shed light that indicates it would help, I will be more than happy to write. Between this and the bill introduced in NY regarding trans-fats, I can't believe all the effort these people are wasting going after the wrong people/organizations, when there are so many that are actually worthy of their scrutiny and legislation which would actually help U.S. consumers.

Thanks for the update and info, Michael. I've heard so many rumors swirling about when they are opening, it's hard to believe it's finally going to happen. This is going to be great for downtown and for Cleveland's dining scene. Bacon ice cream? Hmmm. Intriguing.

There are really NO good restaurants within walking distance of that hotel and it's not a very nice area for walking. Not unsafe, but not pedestrian-friendly - W. 150th, the street it's on, is very heavy with traffic and there are mostly fast food and bad chain places there like Denny's. I would not eat anywhere around there if I were you, including "Somer's" which is awful. However, you're a short drive from a lot of decent places. In non-rush hour traffic, you're only about 15 minutes from downtown via I-71 north. If you continue north on W. 150th, you'll shortly be in Lakewood where there are several good places to eat. For inexpensive, good and healthy Lebanese, I recommend Aladdin's in Lakewood (www.aladdinseatery.com). Take W. 150th northbound into lakewood (about 5 minutes). You'll cross I-90 at the cleveland-lakewood border, keep going north until you get to Detroit road (you'll pass Madison where there's a 5th Third bank and a BP, next light is Detroit, turn right. Aladdin's is on your left within a couple of blocks, I can't remember the cross street but there's plenty of street parking and the first hour is free on the meters, or there's a small parking lot in back. Pepper's in lakewood has very good pizza. Their other food is so-so but the pizza is excellent. It's a very small joint on the S side of the street diagonally across from Baker Motors, also on Detroit. If you keep proceeding East on Detroit from W. 150th, you'll be there in about 10 minutes. There is a lot of stop and go traffic on Detroit due to lots of stop lights. I think it's right after Cove but look for Baker Moters as your anchor, and then there's free street parking all around. the Borderline Cafe is one of my fave places in the city for breakfast. If you get there late morning there's always a line but it's worth the wait. It's also on Detroit, but west of W. 150th (which is called Warren Road in Lakewood by the way). Turn L at Detroit and keep going for about 10-15 minutes. When you get to Riverside, look for a place to park on the street, it's in the plaza on the N side of Detroit just after Riverside. Around the Corner is a bar also in this strip, just "around the corner" from the Borderline - they have the best wings in Lakewood and a large, decent bar menu. Gets crowded with youngsters in the later hours. The Rush Inn has a pretty good bar menu, it's on Detroit across from the Beck Center for the Arts. It's W of Warren/150th, not as far as the Borderline, on the S side of the street. Ferris' Steak House is on Detroit but well into the Cleveland area, as opposed to Lakewood. It's sort of stuck in the middle of nowhere but is a very good, unassuming steak place, the kind where they still give you a basket of crackers with dinner and/or a simple iceberg salad w/meal. Steaks are excellent. If you're up to going downtown, there are lots of more upscale places to eat with good food. PM me if you'd like downtown suggestions, I know my post is getting long so I'll quit while I'm ahead.

Pizza Street sounds like a street I want to live on, if it weren't for the kids. We don't have a pizza street here, in restaurant or an actual street. We do have a Fries street though, I've always thought it would be great to live there so you could say "I live on fries, and I don't get fat."

I thought his name was Keith Greene, and he usually referred to himself as K-Greene but they changed that for the TV show because they didn't want people to know his last name. I also thought that Heather was involved with, um, someone else on the show. No?

I just discovered this thread. It sounds like your trip is going great! Chiming on on "Cleveland" food, I think it's a mix of ethnicities and that's what cleveland is, as it's really a melting pot of a lot of different types. I mean, there is a HUGE Irish population here, the kielbasa crowd and the whole Polish section of town and their influences, lots of Italians/the little Italy section, I could go on and on. I would be hard pressed to pick one single food as a representative of Cleveland cuisine. To be most accurate, I would say a European multicultural buffet would have to be the representative. Something with pierogi, kielbasi, sauerkraut balls (which are DIVINE by the way), Irish stew and soda bread with a hearty stout and a heaping dish of eggplant parm.

ah. Have never watched the Apprentice. Reality + food was the incentive for me watching this show. Generally I don't care much for reality TV so perhaps this is typical of the genre.

That's kind of what I assume. Everything you say is correct. But even more than that, what does being pushed into being a mediocre line cook have to do with operating a kitchen at a Vegas resort? I understand people were probably originally selected for their personalities or their colorful backgrounds, but from what they're showing us, nobody is learning much about any aspect of running a kitchen here except that you have to do whatever you can to keep the food coming out during service? What does fumegating the place and running all day and night as a bar back/dock worker teach you about becoming an exec chef? Why isn't their punishment to spend hours in the kitchen or library (or both) studying and learn how to properly bone all types of fish or prepare gallons of good stock?

You were missed, sorry about the car trouble. DH and I had a very yummy chorizo app and the others all split a guac sampler which they said was awesome. Some had rellenos which also got a big thumbs up. DH had the pork chop entree and I had an enchilada which came with 3 different sauces on the 3 different "sides" of it, everything was v. tasty. I thought their margaritas were too heavy on the sweet & sour mix but hubby liked them, I stuck with mexican beer which went down very well.

oooh! *rubs hands together with glee* I didn't know Greg Kinnear was in it. I can't wait.

I didn't post as I was (pardon the pun) nearly the only salmon swimming upstream by not getting the popular blue egg ravioli and CR salmon, which I understand were enjoyed by all. That being said, my meal was WONDERFUL and I was thrilled to have room to stuff down the delicious tiramisu, you guys missed the boat on not getting dessert! And Nancy was right, my leftovers (aglio-olio pasta) made an excellent breakfast the next day. Thanks go to Nancy to organizing and for going above and beyond in picking up my stranded a*s from the very rainy bus stop, and to Dominic and his crew for taking such excellent care of us, and providing an incredible dining experience for all.

Thx for the menu, sounds great. tokaris, the 20th is the only night I'm not free so plan away!

I will have to check this place out. I've heard of it because I've planned several meetings at the Bertram but I've never actually been there myself, that's a real haul from the SW side of town. But I'm always making recommendations for people looking for places for dinner, this one will be added to the list. What's their appetizer menu like? Generally when a place is expensive like this we just get apps and salads so that we can sample the food. But neither of us are big seafood lovers. It seems more and more if a place has 10 apps, 8 of them are seafood. Great for everyone else, not so great for me.

I haven't eaten a hot dog in years but these pictures were absolutely mouth-watering. My sister and BIL lived in Chicago for years and my BIL always swore by a place called "U Dawg U" (sp?) as being the best. Any insight?

that is what I am working on now ← yayz, let us know how else we can help and any of your plans that include an open invite to the eG folks to join, it would be good to have some get-togethers, small or large. What are the dates?