My Favorite Restaurant Ever

I was finally able to go back to my favorite restaurant EVER last night for a little July 4th celebration! I know I have told you girls about L'Albatros before, the most amazing restaurant up in University Circle (Cleveland). This is the place that our server at the Melting Pot was suggesting for a Corkscrew girl's night out.

This restaurant is French. For that reason it is extremely difficult for me to get Matt to go! He's not into French food much , but it's not too expensive so I try to get him to take me more often than he'd like! French food consists of a lot of meat, cheeses, creams, cream sauces, mushrooms, and strange "things" that Matt refuses to eat. (escargot, chicken liver, anchovies, etc.) However French desserts are usual very light and fresh. You are NOT going to find anything here that is plain, but everything is WONDERFUL and very flavorful. But for those picky eaters there are many meals that come with "FRENCH" fries!

This place is gorgeous. The atmosphere is very modern. You have to book at least a week in advance, but in the summer time it is easier because their huge patio is open and Case Western is out for the summer.

Now onto the food pictures! This was the best pomegranate martini I have ever had. You name any kind of drink/martini and they will make it. They are not shy with the vodka :) They bring unlimited warm bread around and there is olive oil, and also a mustard seed spread at each table for the bread.

We were so hungry that we forgot to take pics of the appetizers before digging in, oops! I had my usual favorite salad ever, The Frisee and Bacon with Poached Egg salad with Vinager and Dijon Mustard. WOW. That's all I can say, best salad ever. Tastes kind of like breakfast. In Matt's quest to find some sort of salad or appetizer he likes here, he ordered the Pulled Pork with Spices and Toast Points. I really liked it but it was definitely unusual, more like a chicken salad spread made from pork with toasted bread, pickles, and beets.

Onto the greatest meal of all time, the Mussels with Pomme Frites (french fries) with spicy aioli sauce. It's basically about 20 mussels in the most amazing broth ever with tons of fries and spicy sauce on top. I have had about 4 meals here and this is my favorite. Matt LOVED his meal, the Chicken Breast with caramelized fennel and goat cheese. The goat cheese was a huge portion of goat cheesy mashed potatoes.

The desserts here are all very fresh and light tasting. We shared a Warm Brownie with Vanilla bean ice cream. This was fantastic, and there were lots of nuts, chocolate chips, and dried cherries in the brownie.

If you ever want a special night out, this is the place to go. The chef that owns this restaurant owns 3 others in the Cleveland area and we are going to have to try them all at some point. But it's hard not to keep coming back here!

-Michelle

Backyard, Pasta Salads, Chipotle Roasted Chicken and Conversation

Corkscrew Girls had their summer wine and food fest on a delightful Thursday evening. Although we were down one gal so we made Michelle;s hubby an honorary member. Kelly is currently in Italy enjoying some good food and wine.

We paired a delightful fresh Barefoot Pinot Grigio with our dinner of chicken & pasta salads. There were two roasted chickens, one regular and one chipotle. Moist and delicious they were an excellent accompaniment to Whitney's outstanding pasta salads. She didn't make one, but two huge bowls. Sweet corn, feta cheese, mozz cheese, calamata olives, salami, real bacon, cherry tomatoes.... they were spectacular!! I believe they had a red wine garlic vinaigrette. She might have to verify.
All of this was eaten with gusto along with fresh, soft pretzel rolls.

All followed with the insane fruit salsa and cinnamon/sugar chips that Michelle has posted to this site before.

Lily, their little Cavalier Spaniel loved all the tidbits she was able to snag!

The way it looks right now everyone will be staying in the area so there will be many more restaurants and menus to tackle!! Brasa in Cleveland might be next.

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

I made a really yummy Spring-like appetizer today for a family get together, and it was such a hit I had to share! Dicing all of the fruit and making the cinnamon chips is a bit time consuming, but it is well worth the effort!

With a manual blade chopper (not a food processor though, it will make it too soupy) chop up:
1 pound strawberries
8 ounces raspberries
4 ounces blueberries
2 Fuji apples
2 kiwis

Then mix the fruit in a bowl with:

1 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP white sugar
3 TBSP fruit preserves (i like boysenberry, but you can use any kind)

Refrigerate this for about an hour until it is cold, then serve it with the BEST part, the yummy cinnamon chips!

10 flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
cinnamon and sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. Then spray the tortillas with cooking spray. Dust them with the cinnamon sugar. Then cut each tortilla into about 8 pieces with a pizza cutter and bake them for about 10 minutes at 350. They will be hard and ready to eat about 15 minutes after coming out of the oven!

I am in love with this recipe, and ever member of my family was too! I can't decide whether it is more of an appetizer, or more of a dessert. You could probably serve it with some cool whip to dip them in also!

-Michelle

Chowder House

Last night some friends introduced me to The Chowder House in Cuyahoga Falls. I was totally impressed!

It is quite small and reservations are expected on weekends. We walked in, on a Wednesday night, and had no trouble getting a table, but as we were there in continued to fill up. They also have a patio which was being utilized by many.

The decor is as amazing as the menu. The place is just adorable. The menu is diverse, but the quality is outstanding! The large cup of lobster bisque I started with made me wish I had gotten a bowl as did my friend. It was an otherworldly experience! Insanely creamy and with gigantic globs of lobster!

I had the crab cake appetizer & a salad as a meal. I should have picked just one of them because the portions/size were worthy of their own time. The crab cakes came with a summer corn cream drizzled with jalapeno vinaigrette. The freshest crab cakes ever. Nothing frozen here. The salad was a wedge salad topped with roasted tomatoes and the house white French dressing. They make the dressing there and it was delicious.

They have a beautiful pastry case/selection and I chose, to take home, a raspberry lemon cheesecake. I ate it at home, after having been to a movie, and it was such a refreshing combo of flavors. Very creamy and full of flavor.

They do not currently have alcohol, but you can bring in your own. They used to charge a "corking fee", but the state laws have changed and we were told that they can no longer charge and you take all responsibility for what you might bring in. On weekends they say every table has wine or beer with them. They are in the process of getting a wine/beer license, but say that they have such little space that selections will be quite limited.

We had water, but I would consider taking some wine in the future. A gem hidden away on a side street, but one that should be sought out.

Spa Night/Ladies Night

Once again the Corkscrew Girls have another successful meeting! This month it was at the Melting Pot for Ladies Spa Night. An event that they have the last Monday of every month. For $35 you get quite a bit of food and a choice of spa treatments. Two of the most popular are the hand massage/paraffin dip and the head/neck/shoulder chair massage. The later is the one I always go for! Last night she nearly hurt me, but it felt soooooo good.

The ladies Night menu starts you off with a cocktail selection and I chose a Blackberry & Champagne. The others had a mixture of wine and Bloodmarys. Then we met John our awesome waiter! Great personality as well as service. Anyone that can handle the four of us deserves a round of applause!!

We started with one of the best cheese fondues I have ever had. It consisted of baby Brie and Fontinella as well as bacon, scallions and white Truffles. OMG was it rich and flavorful. We ate it up in minutes and actually asked John for more cheese. He surprised us with a "John Special" blend. All we could tell was that there were jalapenos, bacon and tomatoes. Outstanding John!

We later realized that maybe the second cheese was not necessary because by the time we were finished we were miserable. Whit and I had a second cocktail and then the desert came. We had two of, what I consider, the best chocolates on the menu. One had peanut butter and pecans while the other was a dark chocolate with salt and.......I can not remember what. Maybe one of the other girls will write a review and tell me what it was! We had so many yummy tidbits to dip, but my faves were the cheesecake, mini brownie bites and bananas. I don't usually like marshmallows, but they had some rolled in Oreos and I liked them plenty!

All in all another great gathering and we are talking about our next meeting being held at a Mexican place where they have Margaritas the size of your head. Just ask Whitney.

Whitney's Pasta

For a long time Whitney has talked about this great pasta dish that she makes. She always brings it up during our food conversations and those are frequent! So, I decided to stop wasting time and just buy the supplies and make it one Sunday afternoon. Here we go...and by the way it was awesome with a nice Italian Pinot Grigio!!

Saute onion, garlic

Add grape tomatoes halved and add some salt to get them to break down

I then added some organic chicken sausage with tomato & basil

Once the pasta was cooked I added cut up mozzarella cheese, into the warm pasta, and then tossed everything else over top! That easy and SOOOOOOOO good.

Thanks Whitney!!

PALADAR, The Best Mexican EVER

So it seems that we have a new favorite restaurant in the Beachwood area! Last night we went to Paladar Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar after some shopping and had some of the best mexican food ever (and I know how the Corkscrew girls love their guacamole!)!

We found this place on the OpenTable website and decided to give it a try. It is on Chagrin Blvd, not real close to Beachwood mall, but about 5 minutes away. Again it seems like reservations have to be made about a day in advance over the phone or on this website, and it is worth it!

It was really tough to decide what we wanted because their menu is a mile long. You can order different kinds of salsas and guacamoles which come with a chip blend of Plantain, Yucca, Malanga, and Tortilla. That is why the chips look so strange in the picture. They always have a special guacamole, and tonight it was "Lemon Basil Guacamole". It was FANTASTIC! I've never really tasted anything like it, but I saved some to add to the rest of my meal it was so good. We also got an appetizer called the "Mini Braised Short Rib Soft Tacos"- Shredded Beef Short Rib served with Fresh Lime, Queso Blanco Cheese and Citrus-Carrot Slaw alongside Warm Flour Tortillas. WOW. There were 6 tiny tortillas to fill, and this could be the best thing I have ever eaten. EVER. We have already eaten a few when the picture was taken, we couldn't help it!

For his meal Matt got the "Roasted Half Chicken Mole"-Oven Roasted Half Chicken served atop Sweet Plantains, White Rice Pilaf and our Housemande Mole Sauce garnished with a Fresh Herb & Jicama Salad. He loved this, and I could have probably eaten an entire plate of the sweet plantains. I got the "Paladar's Blackened Fish Tacos"- Blackened Tilapia drizzled with Cilantro Adobo Sauce topped with a Pickled Red Onion & Pineapple Slaw and Shredded Cabbage in Warm Soft Corn Tortillas served with a side of Frijoles. These were definitely the best tacos I have ever had. Whatever was in this slaw really made the taco!

This was a GREAT place to go if you are in the mood for Mexican, but they also have burgers , sandwiches, steaks, etc.. It is also not expensive. My tacos were about $13. We had a great time!

-Michelle