Waiting for WeightWatchers

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I've been trying to work through WeightWatchers and finding places to eat out has been a real challenge.

Speaking of WeightWatchers, the iPhone app is fantastic. It's been very helpful (I've lost about 15 lbs) but it's not really enough. I'm going to find a local gym and join up, hopefully seeing a trainer once or twice a month. That's the plan, at least.

In the meantime, I've finally discovered McDonald's selection of salads. Tasty and fairly low in points, they might just keep me on track during this difficult diet.

Wish me luck.

Normal service will be resumed soon, with a more healthy angle, potentially...

Cleveland Eats: Samosky's Homestyle Pizzeria, Inc. - Valley City, Ohio.

I might just have found a pizza place I like more than Romeo's. Sadly, it's a long way from where I live, in the middle of Medina County, Ohio.

If you've ever visited Valley City, you've probably either been driving through it (which takes about a minute) or visiting it for the Frog Jumping thing that they do each summer.

But in the middle of the town (village... it's really a nice hamlet, to be honest) is a really good pizza joint. They have won the same World Pizza Championship that Romeo's has won, and it's really no wonder. Their pizzas are very similar.

I ate a couple of slices of their Meaty Pizza, and sampled their cheese fries (called Chicken Coup Fries). I also had a couple of bites from their house burger.

The burger was alright, but I left it unfinished - mostly because I knew that the cheese fries and pizza were the reason I was there.

The cheese fries are good - very good. I should have probably been eating them first, though, because as the cheese cools, the fries get unmanageable - a common issue, of course. Still, they were a good experience and highly recommended.

The small Meaty Pizza? I've managed to eat about a quarter of it. So much meat, so little room in my stomach. I think they get their meatballs from the same place as Romeo's, they tasted very familiar. With pepperoni, bacon and ham on there too, though. I was quickly overwhelmed.

So, I'm impressed with Samosky's. They are a bit of a hike to get to if you're not in or near Medina, but worth a trip out some sunny afternoon. They also have ice cream and some attractive looking baked goods in there too. A little bit of everything in a beautiful little village.

http://samoskyspizza.com/index.htm

Cleveland Eats: DiBella's Subs - update

Recently, the DiBella's in Solon has started "baking" their hot sandwiches, instead of merely running the meat and cheese under a grill. I'm not entirely sure I'm a fan of this new process, for two main reasons. First, the way the lettuce and tomatoes taste (and their consistency) is considerably different after they've been baked. While the extra sweetness might appeal to some people, I can't say I like it. I may have to stop getting both of those toppings on the subs in order to continue eating there. Second, the sandwiches are now blisteringly hot when they are served - the the extent that they can't realistically be eaten for a few minutes. While this probably suits those customers who are heading back to the office to eat their food, for those of us who like to unwind with a magazine while sitting in the lunchy atmosphere of the place, simply staring at the sandwich for five minutes feels... wrong?

I'm thinking about subtracting a point from DiBella's for this new baking process - if only because it's not an option for hot sandwiches, it's the only way they are making them now. Had they maintained their previous method alongside the baking, there would obviously be no issues.

Still... as expensive and as dangerous as their sandwiches are, they remain some of the best subs in the area.

Have you tried their new baked subs? What do you think?

Cleveland Eats Report - How is the economy impacting your eating habits?

With money tight and the economy taking a long time to recover, our eating habits are changing. Various reports indicate that people are eating out less often, which makes a lot of sense, but how are you impacted? If you do still eat out at a restaurant, are you noticing any changes in the quality of food served, or in the service provided? Are you eating fast food more, or less often?

I used to quite enjoy Speedway's cheeseburgers. They were inexpensive (2 for $3) and while not exactly nutritional they were a cheap and reasonable alternative to fast food sandwiches. However, about eight or nine months ago, something changed. I bought two one day and was disgusted by the taste and smell and noticed that even the texture of the meat had changed. Clearly, Speedway had decided to provide a cheaper version of their cheesebuger and I've had very few since.

I also suspect that some Subways are doing the same thing, being slightly less generous with their toppings in light of a tighter budget. In their case, I have some sympathy for the individual store owners, as the $5 Footlong promotion must be eating directly into their profits.

Have you seen any evidence of eateries taking short cuts because of the economy?

Cleveland Eats: George's Kitchen - 13101 Triskett Rd. Cleveland, Ohio

A couple of weeks ago, I was having breakfast-for-dinner at IHoP with fellow writer, John Newman. He then told me about another really good breakfast place (he shares my "interest" in the most important meal of the day) so we headed there around 9am one Saturday morning. It was busy, which is always a good sign.

We went in and were quickly seated. The menu was pretty broad with all the usual breakfast delights. I ordered sausages, eggs and hash browns, which came with toast. I also ordered a side of bacon, just to see.

The food was great. The hash browns were interesting, being more finely chipped rather than the short-strings of places like IHoP or the dull awful cubes of Bob Evans. The eggs were cooked to perfection (over-medium, of course), and I really enjoyed my breakfast there.

They don't seem to have sweeteners on the table, favoring pure sugar, but I was quickly provided with what I requested (note - I like to mix my artificial sweetners - you should try it.)

In summary, I very much enjoyed my first visit to George's Kitchen and may well be revisiting it soon. Next time I'll take better notes :)

Cleveland Eats; Healthy Eating thoughts

As might be guessed, having a food-related blog, I'm not a small guy. I do like my food (well, I like what I like, though I'm more experimental than I used to be) but from time to time I become aware of the importance of eating good, healthy food.

I'd like to get some suggestions about good places to eat out, that actually have healthy menus available, but are still filling and satisfying.

About a year and a half ago, I was really trying hard to lose some weight. I found that Chili's had some pretty decent options for healthy food, and I wasn't completely depressed eating there.

Where else works for you? Do you stick with 6" subs from Subway or have you discovered a place that lets you eat well, eat often and eat lots? Cleveland Eats would like to hear from you...

Cleveland Eats: Sullivan's Irish Pub and Restaurant, Lakewood, Ohio

A couple of weeks ago, myself and John N. went to Sullivan's Irish Pub & Restaurant for Sunday Lunch. I was surprised by how quiet it was, fully expecting to be barely able to get a seat. I can only imagine the place is hectic later in the day. It certainly should be - the food was excellent. Sullivan's had been recommended by Sue Henderson, one of the owners of Gaelic Imports (aka, "The Irish Store", the source of most of my imported British food and chocolate). I'd been hoping to check the place out for a while, so I was glad to finally have the opportunity.

The place itself was really quite nice. It reminded me a little of a bar/restaurant I recently visited between Portush and Portstewart when I was back over the New Year, so I suppose that's a thumbs up from me. It might be a nice place to hang out during the day, actually.

I tried the shepherd's pie, and John had the corned beef sandwich - we had the boxty with cheese dip for an appetizer.

The pie was huge, filling and tasty. There was a nice rich beef gravy with quality steak and a good mix of vegetables. I had a side of parsnip and carrot mash, for old time's sake. That was pretty good too, and not something you'd find in every Irish pub. The boxty was decent and the cheese dip was excellent. John spoke highly of the corned beef sandwich, but I didn't like the look of the fries provided - I'm usually disappointed in pub fries though.

It wasn't cheap - $12 for the pie was probably about three dollars too much, though it was pretty much a dinner entree rather than a lunch snack.

Overall, I was impressed with Sullivan's and intend to go back soon.
Also, they do a good pint of Guinness.

Note: I'm going to try not giving scores for a while - I'm not entirely sure they are really helpful in all cases.

Cleveland Eats: Romeo's Pizza, Medina

Later the same day that I had the rather disappointing lunch at Sully's, I also had dinner with Matt and Jamie at Romeo's Pizza in Medina. Specifically, we ate at their "sit in" pizzeria section, which serves the same food as their delivery pizza operation.

I've been hearing a lot about Romeo's recently, as I'm a regular listener to "The Maxwell Show" here in Cleveland. I thought I'd give it a go, since Maxwell honestly seems to be drooling when he talks about the pizza.

As the guys are on a health kick right now (good for them!) we split a medium "Butcher's Shop" and ordered healthier entrees. I ordered penne pasta.

Well, the pizza was amazing. I honestly think it might be nicest I've ever had. Really. It was their base sauce and crust, though they do other sauces and crusts, and the meats were just great - meatball, sausage, bacon and pepperoni. I couldn't get enough, and regretted not ordering a pizza to myself.

The pasta couldn't compete, and I only finished half of it, if that.

The next day, on my way back from an afternoon of writing in the Brecksville Panera, I picked up a couple of pizza's for Sara and myself, and truly got my teeth into a decent serving size of their "Butcher's Shop". It's very rich and not for the squeamish, but wow.

So, 5/5 for their Butcher's Shop Pizza. I will be trying their other fare ongoing, including their subs and some of their other toppings and saunces, including a garlic sauce which I'm sure really goes well with their hawaiian pizza. Yum.

Cleveland Eats: Sully's Irish Pub, Medina

Normally, I stay the heck out of Irish pubs. Not because I'm a self-hating Northern Irishman (I might be one of those, that's not why I don't go to Irish pubs) but because the food is usually just typical bar fare with some "oirish" stuff thrown in. Thusly, it's almost always a disappointment.

My trip to Sully's in Medina was no different. It's a nice place on a Saturday lunchtime, and I'll admit that it looks like home. The music was of the touristy-rebel variety. I'm not quite sure what that would be like if you were an American in a touristy Yank Eatery in Ireland - probably 30's prohibition bar music playing all the time, only more annoying.

I ordered a 1/3 pound burger with fries, and got what I ordered. It was fairly tasteless - but do consider my previous entries around burgers, and the fact that I'm aware that I may not actually know what a good one tastes like.

I was disappointed with the food, and the price - it was at least a couple of bucks more than I thought it was worth.

I will end up going back and trying something else, and as such, I won't be scoring Sully's today. But I always feel vaguely uncomfortable in this kind of Irishy place, not least because it's touristy, and for about a dozen other reasons too.

I hear good things about Sullivan's in Cleveland though....

Cogan's - Bad Food, Lousy Service, Burton, Ohio

First of all, "Bad Food, Lousy Service" is Cogan's motto, and it elicited a chuckle from me when we pulled up on Thursday for lunch. I knew how it would look when I wrote my review here, so it amused me more than one level, that's for sure.

Since starting my new job, about 20 miles north-east of Solon, I've tried out a few new eateries - but this is really Cleveland Eats, not "almost-Pennsylvania-Eats." That said, I'll have a few reviews coming from the Middlefield/Burton direction over the next couple of weeks, since I've eaten at some really nice places that are almost worth the drive out.

So - Cogan's. My colleague Frank (hey, Frank!) is a fan of the place, and I can see why. It's at first glance a pretty standard American food place (burgers, wings, wraps) but the place has a history, and it's all over the walls (photos of the owner and his friends in the sixties and updated, the same friends in the same pose thirty years on, along with other items of interest that probably mean something to someone working there, past or present), in the quality of the service and the attitude of the people working there. It's also in the menus, which have been written with a great deal of humor and tongue firmly in cheek. Frank pointed out the owner, Tom, who was in his apparently ubiquitous beanie cap, making the time to talk to everyone, staff and visitor.

I ordered a cheeseburger (my standard "first time" order at a new place) with fries, and waited to see what would come out. I wasn't disappointed, though the portion size was a little on the small size when it came to the fries. I was pretty hungry though. The burger was tasty and above average for a restaurant like this, and there were a variety of toppings available when I ordered, including whipped cream. Really. I ordered two different cheeses and onions.

The fries were good, and with vinegar on the table (a plus in my book) I wasn't disappointed (except by the portion size).

Frank told me a story about the house hot sauces, and though I didn't partake, I was impressed with the uniqueness of the place, something I'm always searching for.

So, Cogan's in Burton is something a little bit special from what I've seen. I'll be back there, and though I'm not sure how long we'll be based in Middlefield (looks like a month or two) I think I'll suggest to Frank that we schedule a weekly "lunch meeting" here to discuss work in what is honestly a one-of-a-kind atmosphere with food that I'm looking forward to exploring further.

Atmosphere: 4/5 (Relaxing, unique) Service: 3/5 (I'm sure Frank would give it a 5, but I'm just getting to know them) Food: 3/5 (Decent, portion size a bit small. I need to explore the food further).

Old reviews posted, an update of the Mission Statement

I've copied the old reviews over from my original blog, and there weren't that many, sadly - I do hope to do better.

I had originally posted the following as a kind of "statement of intent" and I think it still stands.

One of the things I'm going to do here is to do real restaurant reviews. I use the word "real" very carefully here, and it's important in a couple of ways.

First, my intention is to really give insight into the places where real people eat on a daily basis, not high-brow insights into restaurants that I might only go once or twice a year, and where, frankly, sometimes the food might be wasted on my sullen and cynical palate.

Second, I hope to rate these places on the things that matter, using language that makes sense. You'll all know what I mean when I review a restaurant and their offerings, and I'll be brutally honest. When service is good, I'll say so. When it's bad, I'll be relentless about it. But I give a lot of second chances, and I'll usually go back somewhere a few times to see how things are going.

Finally, this is going to cover everything, from fast food to the more familiar chains, to the one-off places I crave to discover. Breakfast is my favorite meal, but I'm a big guy, so I clearly like my food. I hate bad service, and I'll call a place out on it. But there's nothing I love more than somewhere that gets better.

So there you have it. I think my feelings probably still stand as written, and you should still see some plain language, home-spun thoughts about the places I choose to eat appear on this blog.

As always, please comment and let me know if you think I'm right or wrong, or if you have recommendations of places I should try next.

New blog address for Cleveland Eats

I know it's been a while since I posted, and part of the reason for that has been my experimentation with blogging software. Initially, I was hosting the blog on my own site and server, and while that was very interesting from a technical point of view, long term it's not really going to help me actually post.

I've got an iPhone, after all, and Google makes things very easy if you're tapped into more common blogging software (such as, shock, Blogger.com) so here I am.

My older posts will still be available until such a time as I move them over here. But for now, I'd like to get back to posting my "Cleveland Eats" reviews, and my technical reviews, on a more regular basis and with the ease-of-use that Blogger offers.