Thursday, December 20, 2012

Vento la Trattoria and Wine Bar--Bay Village, OH [$$$]


This week was Shannon’s choice, and she chose Vento La Trattoria in the Cleveland suburb, Bay Village. After driving around in attempts to find a place to eat the day prior to our lunch, Shannon happened upon this place by happy accident.  Set back from the road across from Huntington Beach, Vento is perched upon the Metro Parks and adjacent to Bay Arts Holiday Shop.

We arrived just after 12:30 and didn’t leave until after 5.  To emphasize, we were here from mid-light until they had to light the candles for the dinner crowd.  We were promptly seated by our awesome waiter, Tino, who thoughtfully sat us at the “coolest table” (his own words.)  He brought us food and wine menus, which were hard to concentrate on due to the intoxicating smells and beautiful holiday décor (you will see….).
Tino later told us the building was an old train station built during the Civil war in 1861.  The wood is all original and was moved from Dover Center road.  Behind the restaurant is a red caboose, a gift from the Bay Arts society.

We soon concentrated on the wine menus and food menus, respectively.
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Grace:
I have always been a sucker for a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, but today I chose the Malbec with enticing plum and pomegranate flavors to accompany my dish.  Since Shannon had told me 24 hours before where she wanted to go, I had looked up the Vento menu at my job. I was definitely leaning toward the wild mushroom pizza, but my second choice was the truffle sacchetti pasta. Going with my original instincts, I ordered the mushroom pizza and oh…my…Lord, was it good.

There were four medium sized pieces, of which I ate three. The pizza comprised of wild mushrooms, provolone, mozzarella, garlic and truffle oil. Being in the holiday spirit this week, I decided to splurge on something for myself…which was a $15 pizza. The pizza went really well with the Malbec. The wheat dough was from Breadsmith in Lakewood, and the complimentary bread that came to our table was also from there. It was all so fantastic! From Tino’s amazing service, to the fabulous and rustic Italian décor, this place was phenomenal! I am so glad Shannon chose this place, because I’ve always wanted to go and had always heard great things about it. We even came back to blog here after we shopped around a little and had one more glass of wine. If I could sum up this lunch trip in one word, I would have to say “Fantastico!”

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Shannon:
Jumping for joy to arrive, Grace and I sauntered into Vento with little inclination of how gratified we would be at this establishment.  We decided last night we would also be ordering wine with lunch, since that seemed necessary being at a very wine-oriented Italian restaurant.  I perused the white wine list and landed on the Coda di Volpe, which was described to have hints of pineapple, white peach and licorice.  Tino told me it was a fantastic choice, so when he brought me my glass I was not surprised that it was indeed delightful.

Upon deciding my main dish, Tino told me he was also a vegetarian, and that the Truffle Sacchetti Pasta was “crazy.”  I swiftly decided upon this pasta.  In the meantime Tino brought complimentary breads and balsamic butter which was utterly fantastic in every way.  I unabashedly ate that entire basket, excluding the one piece Grace chose.

My pasta arrived with a heavenly aroma that I almost forgot to take a picture before digging in.  The Truffle Sacchetti Pasta consisted of wild mushrooms, roasted eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, and truffle oil.  This was just as amazing as it sounds, if not better.  It was the perfect amount, because pasta always makes me so full.  I finished off the breads with sopping up the leftover truffle oil.  It was fantastic.

This place is my new favorite place.  Whenever I discover somewhere new, it mystifies me for the longest time.  I just know when I’m at work tomorrow I’m going to be thinking of the twinkling lights hanging in Vento.  I think I would live there if I could.  Please go there, if you like to be kind to both your eyes and your stomach.

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Festive archway!

Amazing chandelier

Bar area

More seating and decorations

Coda di Volpe (left) and Malbec (right)

Fresh bread with fabulous butter

Shannon's Truffle Sacchetti Pasta

Grace's Wild Mushroom Pizza

Outside Vento with Caboose

Caboose!

Patio and front door of Vento

Really awesome candles with natural wax spillage!

Candles again! (They need a ladder to light them!)

Same window--this shows how long we were there! :)

Bar area again (we even saw a shift change!...)

Shannon, Tino, and Grace!

Outside Vento (They have a lot of heaters if you want to sit outside/smoke!)
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Hopefully you will be visiting Vento soon, and we especially hope you go on a day that Tino works!  Although it is pricier than other places we have blogged about, we recommend it for date nights, friends nights, an after-work drink, what have you! Just go, go, go! We will absolutely be coming back—probably in the summer when we can sit outside and hear Lake Erie across the way. 


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Joe's Deli & Restaurant-- Rocky River, OH [$$]

This week we dined at Joe's in Rocky River. We didn't quite fit into the regular crowd age group, however, knowing it had recently been under construction to be expanded, the place looked great! Even with the expansion, we still had to wait about ten minutes to be seated. After being shown to our table, we noticed that the menu only had about two vegetarian entree choices for Shannon. But, no matter! Both ordered delightful lunches.
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Grace:
I have been going to Joe's since I was about two years old. I always loved how there was a cloth checker board at a table in the waiting area, but now it is no more. Despite this disappointment, at least Shannon and I didn't have to wait around for the entirety of a checkers game to be seated. The newly constructed restaurant is much more modern and simple than the old building was, seeing as the old one had green carpeting with pink seating. Eek. Having previously tasted the chicken salad years before, I basically already knew what I was going to choose. I opted for wheat bread, and was also pretty disappointed that my sandwich used to come with chips but again...is no more. If I would have known that, I would have ordered a side. When the lonely sandwich came, the chicken salad was placed in the center of the wheat bread in a perfectly round circle, like scooped ice cream. The lettuce is always very fresh and I especially loved the pickle on the side! Despite the differences I saw, I will continue to come back to Joe's for the rest of the time I'm in Cleveland. But obviously I'll just have to play checkers on my new iPhone while waiting.
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Shannon:
I was quite taken by the entire appetizers menu, it being mainly vegetarian options.  However my hunger was too big for an appetizer.  Sadly none of the soups were vegetarian.  Today is soup weather.  (Most days are for me.)  The two obvious items for me were either a veggie melt sandwich or a portabella mushroom burger.  I read and reread the descriptions of each to familiarize myself with their differences.  The biggest deciding factor was the portabella burger's inclusion of a pickle.  (My love of pickles is both new and intoxicating.)  So I ordered this, which also came with fries.  When it arrived it already wasn't staying together.  The mushroom was stacked with a roasted red pepper, melted mozzarella, two tomato slice, a large lettuce leaf, with a side of mayo.  I wisely cut the sandwich in half, since between bites I had to reassemble several times.  The portabella mushroom was marinated in garlic and olive oil, and it was certainly delicious.  The fries came in a spiral cone on the side, and were just the right amount of crispy.  And the pickle was as enjoyable as I suspected it would be (and was gone in seconds).  I was quite full by the end of my meal, I nearly finished all of my sandwich.  Towards the end the contents really didn't want to stay together no matter how much effort I put into it, so I focused more on the fries.  This was a very nice place.  I hadn't ever been to Joe's before, so I don't know how the decor compares prior to expansion.  I would certainly go back for some of those appetizers and that veggie melt sandwich.  I would also have liked to play checkers, but alas.
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Waiting area/Dessert case

Chicken salad sandwich

Fries in spiral cone holder


Portabella burger
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Joe's is fairly priced and clearly very popular.  It's a great place to go for any deli sandwich or for more elaborate dinner items.  However, not a place for vegetarian soup-lovers or people who want to eat out on Sundays.  Otherwise, it's a meal worth having!




Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Barroco (Madison Avenue--Lakewood, OH) [$$]

Note: Based on complaints/comments, we are trying to incorporate more first person accounts alongside the complex tense situation we've had.  We are too attached to this odd combination of third and first person already to completely part ways.  We tried some things to rid our blog of inconsistencies, but as of yet we haven't found something that works as well for us.  Please let us know if adding our separate accounts makes things any less confusing.  As cowriters, we want to write our entries together, as opposed to having entirely separate accounts of the same place.  Thank you for reading!
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Shannon's choice this week: Barroco! After coincidentally parking on the same side street, we walked up to and into a whimsically artistic eating-wonderland.  We were instructed to sit anywhere and proceeded to look over the very colorful menus.  Our waitress suggested we try the Arepas (ah-ray-pas).  Barroco's Arepas were named Northeast Ohio's best sandwich by Food Network and Cleveland's best by Cleveland Magazine.  Eyeing the arepas prior to her suggestion, we were definite in our decisions.  Grace chose the Buffalo Chicken Arepas with fries and Shannon originally ordered the Veggie Arepas with the black bean soup.  Shannon realized she needed to specify that she was a vegetarian because when the plate arrived she noticed there were some pieces of chicken among the vegetables.  She brought the plate to the counter and apologized for not specifying.  The cook was more than happy to remake the arepas, this time adding pineapple.  With our food, our waitress brought a rack of five different salsas/sauces to try.  Unfortunately we kept forgetting which sauces were which, but what we can remember included a cilantro sauce, a garlic sauce, a pineapple salsa, and one we decided was best described as ketchupy-mayo (which was delicious).  The fifth was a spicy one that neither of us tried due to sensitive palates. While waiting, Grace started on her meal and Shannon greatly enjoyed her soup.

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Grace:
As stated before, I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Arepas and a side of fries. Since Shannon's arepas had to be remade, I started picking at my fries and told Shannon to feel free to chip away at them with me since there was a heaping pile of them. The fries had a sort of Cajun seasoning, and were crispy and golden. After a while, I conjured up some courage and dipped my fries in the ketchupy-mayo sauce. I think the sauce also had some spice to it, but was also sweet at the same time. The Buffalo Chicken Arepas was fabulous! The white-corn pocket tortilla was full of diced chicken, mozzarella, tomato, and lettuce. The spork I was given was not very useful, so I had to ask for a knife and fork. I wish the tomatoes and lettuce were shredded so the arepas was easier to pick up and the contents of the pocket were involved in each bite. Overall, I loved the atmosphere and being an art history major, I loved the eclectic art on the walls! 

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Shannon: 
Waiting for the rest of my food, I ate my black bean soup.  The soup was topped with cilantro and white rice, which went deliciously with slight but not overwhelming kick to the soup. Upon second arrival, my arepas looked divine!  The mix of peppers, mushrooms, onions, corn, tomato and pineapple were positively spilling out onto the place.  Following Grace's lead, I began to eat the contents that would not stay in the pocket.  Trying to be adventurous, I put some of the cilantro, garlic, and pineapple salsas on my plate to taste.  Each of them were delicious but my favorites were the pineapple and garlic, which paired wonderfully together!  I attempted several times to pick up the whole arepas but found I needed to eat more of the contents before successfully doing so.  Adding to the difficulty of this task, I uncovered two tomato slices which made the contents even harder to manage.  Eventually though I finished the arepas sandwich style.  The mozzarella was really tucked into the bottom of the pocket, which was a nice surprise, but would have been tasty with the rest of the vegetables.  I highly suggest getting the Veggie Arepas with pineapple.  You can also add jalapeno, which I skipped, as I'm not crazy about spicy things.  Barroco has a beautiful and mystifying atmosphere.  The walls are covered in art and the back room is positively magical with its thousands of string lights.

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Mystifying back room!

Buffalo Chicken Arepas

Counter area

First Veggie Arepas

Remade Veggie Arepas with Pineapple

Sauce container art, how cool is that?

Actual sauces

Eclectic and cool!

Fellow restaurant-goers

This place absolutely has a really neat vibe, and we enjoyed our lunches.  We'll come back for a lunch sometime, but it may not be on our regular lunch circuit.