my second visit to AMP150

You may remember that after my previous visit to AMP150 Bar & Restaurant, I left blown away by our dining experience.  I loved the concept of farm to table cooking. I loved the food. I loved the chef’s dedication to local ingredients. I even loved its random location.When my good friend Mary and her boyfriend wanted to do a double date, I had to suggest this CLE restaurant.

As a reminder, from their website: AMP 150 is a 200-seat restaurant and bar with an open casual feel playing up-beat rock and roll and serving tasty selections all priced under $20.

Chef Ellis Cooley has been noted all over blog land and Cleveland print publications for his dedication to reaching out to customers with social media. Utilizing their Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare connections, he’s enticed diners to walk into the Aiport Marriott, only to hook them to return for more in the future.

Our server for the evening was Sonya.  She was phenomenally prepared to answer all of my questions about the changes to the menu since my last visit. She was an excellent representative of the restaurant, so I knew we would be in good hands that evening.

We met our dining companions at the restaurant that evening. Unfortunately for them, they were stuck in traffic. Fortunately for us, we ordered an appetizer to start since we were starving.We started our meal with the SWEET SOY & PEANUT CHICKEN WINGS with House Made Spicy Kim Chee:

I RARELY eat chicken wings, but these were worth it. The wings were crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. I really enjoyed the soy glaze. Hans and I would grab some extra peanuts from the slaw with each chicken bite for some added variety in flavor.The house made spicy kim chee was definitely spicy and HOT. I have a high spice tolerance and couldn’t bare much more than a few bites of the slaw. We ate all the wings and left the majority of the kim chee. We didn’t want to overwhelm our taste buds so early on.

Hans started his meal with the APRICOT GNOCCHI with Shaved Asparagus and Parmesan:

Whoever is making the pasta at AMP150, I give you a standing ovation. The se were the definition of a perfect gnocchi. Like my previous experience with their cavatelli, a little starchy pillow of heaven was balanced perfectly with the apricots. The dish wasn’t over the top in sweetness, which I appreciated. Hans wished he would have ordered two more servings of this small plate – it was that good. I’m sure if you asked your server for an entrée size, AMP150 would accommodate your request.

I started my meal with the Fennel, Figs and Grapes Salad with a Champagne Vinaigrette:

I did ask for my salad to be dry, with the dressing on the side. Unfortunately, the salad came out dressed with additional dressing on the side.I didn’t want to be difficult, so I enjoyed the salad as the kitchen intended it to be.  I’m what you would call “sauce sensitive”, so it was a bit soggy for my taste, but normal human beings would have been pleased with the pre-dressed salad.  In the end, I was perfectly fine as I highly enjoyed the vinaigrette’s taste.  Since it didn’t overpower the salad, it didn’t kick up the already sweet pairing of the grapes and figs.  While I normally don’t lean towards sweets in my dinner selections, this was a nice change to my normal starter choice.

My friend Mary started with the WATERCRESS SALAD with Lake Erie Goat Cheese, Strawberries, Toasted Almonds and Balsamic:

…and she ordered the PASTA PRIMAVERA with Handmade Herbed Pasta, New Vegetables and Ricotta for her main dish:

Mary noted she enjoyed both offerings. She said that the watercress was “a bit much” for her. I think it was attacking her as she tried to eat it. As for the pasta, she liked how she could add her ricotta as she wanted as she worked her way through the dish. She was very pleased with her selection. Considering I almost ordered the same dish, I knew I too could order it and be content.

For my main, I ordered the BLACK MUSSELS with Ginger & Lemongrass, Spicy Chili Broth from the Starters menu:

My first note is that a dish like this screams for some grilled bread or toasts – something to dip into all that glorious broth. I ask my server for a piece or two of bread, which she happily provided.I really enjoyed the broth combination and the amount of spice in the dish. Unlike the kim chee in the wings, I wasn’t being bulldozed by spice. I may have attacked myself while trying to open up one of the mussels with my thumb.  Hey, sometimes a good dish is worth a little blood, right?!

Hans ordered the BRAISED LAMB with Chili Spiced Grapes. He subbed the GRILLED ASPARAGUS with House Made Duck Prosciutto, Shaved Parmesan for his side dish.

I did snag a bite before Hans licked the plate clean. On our previous visit, Chef Ellis gave us the full run down on how he prepared the lamb. Since we knew all about the extensive steps taken in the preparation of the dish, it was no surprise that the lamb was outstanding. It was perfectly cooked so that it melted in your mouth. I was amazed by how tender it was. Hans also enjoyed his asparagus and was pretty proud of himself for such an excellent meat and side pairing!  By the end, he had stolen some of my left over bread and was sponging up any drizzle of sauce left on the plate to savor every single bit he could.

LONG STORY SHORT: We once again enjoyed our experience at AMP150 Bar & Restaurant that Thursday evening.  It was filled with outstanding food and excellent service, and that combination is always a winner. I was also glad to see the bar hoppin’ that evening, as there were several groups of young professional enjoying the fun atmosphere.

I look forward to returning this week: our monthly CLE Blogger get-together will take place this Thursday the 24^th at AMP150.  This month, we’re taking everyone to the West side of town! (Don’t worry Eastsiders: we’ll be heading out that way in July!) If you are interested in joining the fun, let me know! You know you won’t regret your meal selection!

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restaurant review: Eddie’s Pizzeria Cerino

There’s nothing quite like a Girls Night Out – especially when it involves a viewing of the new Sex and the City movie and dinner beforehand at Eddie’s Pizzeria Cerino:

c/o Pizzeria Cerino's Facebook page

From their Summer 2009 Newsletter on their website: A Letter from Eddie:

I am very excited and proud of Eddie’s Pizzeria Cerino. Our customers can expect a unique blend of Cerino family recipes that Carrie cooked in her home and new recipes that reflect my personal culinary experience. Over the years I learned to always start with quality ingredients, to never take shortcuts in the kitchen and to always strive to create a memorable meal. But what makes us unique is my goal to teach our entire staff the same lessons I learned “growing up a Cerino” and making that part of our culture. We know that success is not simply serving delicious food, it is nurturing relationships and providing a consistently extraordinary dining experience.

The restaurant doesn’t take reservations except for their gathering tables that seat more than 10 people. Knowing we had somewhere to be later in the evening, I arrived early to get a table for six. I was surprised to find that even on a Saturday night, the place wasn’t slammed.

It was a beautiful night in Seven Hills, so I asked if we could have a table on the patio. The hostess and a woman whom I believe was a manager accommodated my request, moving some of the patio furniture. This included removal of a large patio umbrella, so know that I was incredibly grateful to the staff for this.

Their menu had a great deal of options, so it was hard deciding what to choose:

A nice assortment of appetizers, salads, pasta entrees and pizzas was available. Based on some of their previous restaurants, I knew pizza was always a solid choice with the Cerino family, but decided to save that for a visit with Hans.  (I noticed a nearby table with the Italian Blue Smoke pizza: balsamic infused bbq sauce, chicken, pancetta, caramelized onions, mozzarella, provolone cheese. That will DEFINITELY be ordered next time!)

To start I ordered a half size of the Tuscan Salad with romaine, field greens, tomatoes, cannellini beans, red onion, and Italian pancetta bacon. As usual, I asked for the dressing – balsamic vinaigrette – on the side.

This was one hefty side salad. I was grateful I was splitting an entrée with one of my girlfriends because I would have NEVER finished this salad and my main meal.  The salad is normally served with a Tuscan ranch dressing. I think the ranch dressing would make the salad too heavy with the beans and bacon. I’m glad I selected the salad dressing that I did – the vinaigrette balanced the plate well.  I questioned the authenticity of the “Italian pancetta bacon”, which seemed like any other bacon you would pick up at your local grocery.  Overall,  it was a nice salad option to start your meal.

With my salad, I tried some of the bread basket option: a warm piece of focaccia:

Looks amazing, right? Well, I have to admit, I was a tad bit disappointed after my first bite. The bread was freshly baked moments before arriving at the table and had a lovely texture. The crust had a nice balance of cheese, salt and pepper, but the main bulk of the focaccia was just average on taste. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for a heavy piece of bread that evening, as I only had a few bites of the offering. I bet it would pair nicely with one of the sandwich options on their menu.

From the specials menu, a friend and I split the full order of the Pan Seared Scallops in brown butter served over Garlic Parmesan Whipped Cauliflower:

My first impression:  “well, that looks like a hot mess”.  I realize it’s hard to make pureed cauliflower look “organized”, but I feel the presentation of the dish could have benefited with some additional care in plating.  The sea scallops were nicely prepared and benefited from the brown butter and cauliflower beneath them. Without those, the scallops were a bit lacking on seasoning.  This was obviously done on purpose due to the explosive flavor of the rest of the plate. There was a nice but strong garlic flavoring to the cauliflower puree. I appreciated the small chunks of garlic in the puree. I felt just the right amount of Parmesan was used where the “cheese factor” wasn’t hitting you over the head.  Overall, I was pleased with our entrée selection, as was my friend – we did finish off the entire plate.

My friends ordered everything from a cup of the soup of the day (black bean – interesting at an Italian restaurant), Caesar reggiano starter salads, the whole wheat penne Sorrento, a personal 9” cheese pizza and the rigatoni alla Bolognese.  All of these dishes looked extremely tasty, as my friends assured me they were! That Bolognese rigatoni caught my eye – you know I’ll be ordering some meat sauce at a future visit!

LONG STORY SHORT: I was happy my fantastic friends put up with my “type A”/planner personality, and let me pick our dinner spot.  We had a lovely meal on the porch that evening at Eddie’s Pizzeria Cerino.  The staff was extremely helpful, from arrival to departure. We were well taken care of, on both the service and culinary fronts. I plan to return with family as you can’t help but want to share these dishes with the ones you love. While the area South of I-480 already has an abundance of Italian restaurants, I think this establishment will find its place to become a long-term, steadfast “go-to”.

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restaurant review: Bucci’s Brick Oven

I am one lucky lady. In the past few weeks, I’ve won three $25 gift certificates to locally owned restaurants from Cleveland Independents. Two Fridays ago, we took my great friend Mary out for a congratulations dinner. After a LONG search and FAR TOO MANY “informational interviews”, she was offered a full-time job at a very well known Cleveland arts institution! I am so happy for my girl!!!  It was time to celebrate, so we hit up Bucci’s Brick Oven in Middleburg Heights for a low-key evening to be followed by a redbox rental.

c/o buccis.net

From their website: When guests come to the Brick Oven, we want them to feel like they are entering our home, becoming our friends, and sharing in our family traditions. We are so proud of our recipes, passed down from generation to generation. This Bucci Family restaurant has a wood burning brick oven that lends an old-world authenticity to our Italian cuisine. We keep our atmosphere warm and cozy, our portions hearty, and our staff friendly. We invite you to join us in celebrating life, family, and friends, and to share in our traditions or make some of your own.

Our menu features pasta, pizza, steaks, fresh seafood, sandwiches, and much more.

c/o restaurant.com

When we walked into Bucci’s Brick Oven that Friday evening, the joint was jumping.  I immediately anticipated having to wait for a table. Luckily for my hungry belly, we were seated immediately at a table in the back of the restaurant near the kitchen.

Bucci’s was definitely a “family friendly” establishment, as in it’s the place where the family works together and the family dines together. The tables around us were filled with large parties, tables of six or more. You could see generations of family members serving patrons, bussing tables and running the register. I definitely enjoyed knowing I was supporting such a business.  Our server was a lovely young woman who was able to answer all of our questions, kept our glasses full and table clean.

That being said, I decided against taking photos at dinner that night. For some reason, busting out my Nikon at a fine dining establishment is normal in my book, but I thought I might get some strange reactions in this environment. Bucci’s was almost too laid back for my usual formalized process – however, that is not a bad thing.

To start, the server brought out a basket of rolls for the table, along with Drew’s cup of Manhattan Clam Chowder, and side salads for Hans and myself.  I didn’t taste Drew’s soup, but I could smell the tomato from across the table. He said it was tasty and slowly consumed the whole cup with some crackers.

The side salads were your standard fare of iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber, cheese and croutons. I ordered mine with their house Italian dressing on the side, which I enjoyed tremendously.

As it was a Friday night in Lent, Hans ordered the perch special with fries. At $16.95, I’m not sure if it was worth quite that much, but the serving portion of the entrée was large.  Hans enjoyed the fries more than the perch, but admitted to remembering later that perch wasn’t his favorite. He’s more of a walleye kind of guy. Regardless, he ate almost every bite and was content.

I ordered the Roasted Vegetable Panini Sandwich. Uber excited to see the words “roasted vegetable”, I asked my server to go “light on the cheese”. The cook must have looked at her order slip and thought she meant “hold the cheese”. I was served a cheese-less panini. To tell you the truth, I didn’t miss it because I was distracted by the FRIED EGGPLANT on the sandwich.  I didn’t want to make a fuss about the “incorrect” description on the menu, but in between two perfectly grilled pieces of bread were some roasted red & green peppers, roasted onions and that previously mentioned FRIED eggplant.  So while I was a bit annoyed, I forgot how good fried eggplant tastes, especially sandwiched between two pieces of tasty carbs.  The sandwich itself was pretty big, so I ate one side of the sandwich in its entirely, then ate the “insides” of the second half, attempting to navigate around the FRIED breaded pieces.  Yes, I’m being picky. Yes, it was delicious. Yes, I would order it again.

Mary ordered the Turkey & Bacon Panini with a side of french fries. She was presented with a LARGE plate of a fairly large panini & a hearty portion of fries.  I should have snagged a few of those fries because they appeared to have an excellent crispy outside. Mary enjoyed half of her sandwich and took the second half home. Unfortunately for Mary, she left her leftovers in my fridge. Fortunately for Hans, he had lunch the following day! The panini reheated well after a 30 second trip in the microwave. I was impressed that the bread held its structure after the reheat. Hans enjoyed his next day meal as much as Mary enjoyed it the night before.

With his cup of Manhattan Clam Chowder, Drew ordered the Spaghetti with Meatballs. He was presented with one of the largest bowls of spaghetti I’ve ever seen. The accompanying meatballs were just as impressive. (Yes, you can snicker at the use of “meatballs” and “impressive” in the same sentence. Moving on…) While Drew regaled us with plot lines of the sitcom his buddies and him have been developing, he slowly worked his way through the entire bowl of pasta goodness. I was actually impressed that my bro finished the entire bowl! Considering he ate every bite, I’m pretty sure he liked his meal selection.

LONG STORY SHORT: Overall, our Friday night at Bucci’s Brick Oven was quite enjoyable. While I felt like it was a bit overpriced for a traditional Italian-style family-owned restaurant, it pleased me to know that we received a nice meal with huge portions from a staff of pleasant people who truly seemed to enjoy working that evening. I hope to return soon to try their pizzas and to get that “warm and fuzzy” family feeling all over again. Thanks again to Cleveland Independents for running such great Facebook giveaways!

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restaurant review: Banana Bean Cafe

On our recent adventure to Columbus, we met up with one of my oldest friends, Erin. Since we hadn’t eaten since 7:15 in Cleveland that morning, Hans and I were up for anything. Erin’s been one of my best friends since the second grade, so she knows us pretty well & I knew she’d pick a great spot for a midday meal. Erin recommended the Banana Bean Cafe for lunch on a Saturday afternoon.

Banana Bean Cafe specializes in Floribbean Cuisine, that they describe as their “unique fusion of old favorites from the Florida Keys, Cuban, Jamaican, and Carribbean Cuisines”. Yes, in Columbus, Ohio.

From their website: It is our goal to provide a dining vacation, an invitation to a laid back, southern locale.  The Keys Bar seating area offering a relaxed, come in your flip-flops experience, or our Hemmingway Dining Room lends itself to a more intimate dining atmosphere.

Banana Bean Cafe definitely embraced their concept. A soundtrack of steel drum music played in the background while NCAA basketball played on the big screen TVs. The cafe had $1 Bud Light drafts that afternoon for the NCAA tourney, so Hans took advantage of that drink choice. Erin and I stuck with waters. Our server was polite and helpful. When we asked for recommendations, she was happy to oblige.

Hans ordered the BB Ranchero: Two Fried Eggs with Grilled Tortillas, House Potatoes, Black Beans, Plantanos Mavuros, Avocado Mash, Mexican Crema, and Red Hacienda Sauce:

Hans originally was hoping for some sort of burrito for lunch, so this hit the spot. It was easily the definition of a deconstructed burrito. I’m not sure how they kept the grilled tortilla from getting soggy, but they kept their texture, even with all that goodness piled on top.  It was Hans’ first experience with plantains, which I explained were a cousin of the banana. Therefore, of course he would love them. Hans ate every single bite on his plate. I actually think he was thinking about ordering a second round at the end of the meal.

Funny Story Side Note: When I went to take a bite, I managed to fling a black bean from my fork – I thought it landed in my purse! I seriously thought I was never going to find that bean in my Mary Poppins bag! Luckily, we found it on the booth in between my purse and Hans when we got up to leave. Bean crisis averted!

Erin ordered the Islamorada Fish Burrito with Grilled Orange Cilantro Shrimp or Beer Batter Cod with Avocado Mash, Mango-habañero Ketchup, Mexican Crema, Shaved Lettuce, Red Onion, Scallions, and Manchego Cheese Wrapped in a Fire Grilled Soft Tortilla with a side order of Sweet Potato Fries:

Erin shared her sweet potato fries. HOLY YUM. Those were some tasty fries as they had the perfect balance of saltiness and sweetness. And have you ever since a crinkle cut sweet potato fry?! Not me!

As for the burrito, this was not your typical burrito. The ingredients made it very fresh and very light. Overall, the star of that wrap was the mango-habanero ketchup. It was sweet, with just the right amount of heat. Erin, a very smart lady, combined the ketchup from the burrito with the fries, which was a genius move on her part.

I went with the Seared Tuna Burger: Fire Grilled Tuna Steak with Balsamic Cured Red Onion, Leaf Lettuce, Tomato, and Honey cup Mustard on an Olive Oil Brioche Roll:

Starting with those sides, the coleslaw was typical, but the pickle had a great crunch and minimal saltiness.  As for the sandwich, I ate this bad boy open face style – there was no chance I was going to pick this thing up!  The Olive Oil roll was tasty, but I only ate about 2/3 of it with the rest of the plate. It wasn’t the star: that generously sized steak of seafood glory was. The tuna/balsamic red onion combo was great. I loved it paired with the honey mustard on the roll. It makes me want to go to the West Side Market, get a fresh piece of tuna and get it grilling on my back porch.

I highly enjoyed our lunch that day – I knew Erin would do me proud. Lots of fresh ingredients paired with a fun atmosphere and good conversation always equals a good time. If you find yourself in our state’s capital, but want to pretend that you are much further South, hit up the Banana Bean Cafe for a mini-tropical get away – even just for the afternoon!

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