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At the end of October, it was my month again to pick for the monthly outing of the Happy Mouth Supper Club. I selected the Iron Horse Inn, which has newly reopened in Glendale after being closed for a while. Chef Stefan Marcus is at the stove, and does a very nice job!

Almost the entire Happy Mouth group was there (with a few guests: Beth, Julie, and Terry) and we were seated downstairs in the restaurant’s formal dining room. Our server took exceptional care of us all night.

We started with a mussels appetizer compliments of the Chef, then went into other appetizers — the excellent Red Pepper Bisque and the night’s special soup of Creamed Spinach and Cognac. Both were awesome, as were the Lobster Strudles we enjoyed. Afterward, Chef sent out a small green salad with duck confit. The salad was lightly dressed, and the duck confit was very tasty.

After that, it was into entrees. Everyone fell quiet, which is a sure sign that people are enjoying their meals quite a bit! Desserts were great, too!

LOLA BISTRO

On Wednesday, October 8, I found myself in Cleveland Ohio for a work-related event. Once that event was finished, the evening was my own, so I went to LOLA BISTRO, one of Iron Chef America Michael Symon’s places.

Despite not being able to make a reservation on Open Table, I was able to walk right in and was seated immediately. It annoys me when restaurants participate in Open Table only to lock out entire evenings, especially during the week when restaurants are slower. The dining room was not full by any stretch.

The first-floor dining room is spacious and decorated in dark, soothing colors with nicely appointed tables — padded tables, linen tablecloths, and nice, funky silverware. I especially liked that the steak knives were engraved, “Live to Cook”. A nice touch. Chef Symon was not in the restaurant. He is opening a new place (in Detroit? I don’t remember…) and was there this evening.

My server, Gina, was friendly and knowledgable without being overbearing. After discussing the menu a bit, I was torn between a couple appetizers — a sweet corn & bacon soup or the charcuterie plate. I decided on the charcuterie plate and, surprise!, Gina brought me a taste of the soup. The sample of the soup was sweet and bacon-y. Nice interplay of flavors.

The charcuterie plate contained a delicious bacon-wrapped rabbit pate with pistachios, pork salami, another type of salami, and an amazing air-dried pork. All served with whole grain mustard, pickled onions, and cornichons.

From there, I moved on to the Beef Cheek Pierogi (as recommended to me by Michael Ruhlman, who was unable to join me after all due to family commitments) and they were… pretty good. Thick dough, nicely seared on the outside, stuffed with shredded beef cheeks and smothered in a wild mushroom sauce and a horseradish creme fraiche. The mushroom sauce was overly thick and bore a striking resemblance to a jarred mushroom sauce. Everything was cooked well and seasoned appropriately, but it lacked the OOMPH and balance of flavors I’ve come to expect with meals at restaurants run by Iron Chefs (this being the third such restaurant I’ve dined in). And so begins my general complaint about LOLA: The flavors were big but one-dimensional.

The next example of this complaint came with my entree… Squab with foie gras, chanterelles, confit, sweet potato puree, dried cherries, and a wine reduction/demi-glace. Again, cooked nicely. Presented well. Obviously a thought-out dish, but the execution left it one-dimensional — the expected lift from the dried cherries was simply overpowered by the rest of the ingredients. The foie gras was “B” grade and hidden in the wild mushrooms, which I thought was a strange choice for a premier ingredient. The sweet potato puree, while very silky, was not served at the right temperature (instead it was cool to the touch). The plate was not warmed, either — certainly a contributing factor to the temps being off.

I didn’t have any desire for desserts, but enjoyed the two cookies Gina brought for me. I respect what Chef Symon is trying to do, but overall, LOLA was …pretty good… Is it worth dining at LOLA? Sure. The prices aren’t terrible — I paid $70 (before tip) for the above and a glass of wine. Is LOLA going to redefine the way you think about food? No.

Have you dined at Lola? What’s the best restaurant in Cleveland? Let me know in comments.

This was Wendy’s month to pick, and she changed things up for us quite a bit… She told everyone to prepare for “potentially the most expensive Happy Mouth ever”, and that our evening would start at Paul Sturkey’s MESH Restaurant. We all met at the appointed hour for drinks, appetizers (I had their excellent foie gras appetizer), and socializing. After a while, Wendy escorted everyone outside and told them that we had reservations in the private room of the best Swedish restaurant in the area.

It took a moment for everyone to realize that Wendy meant the cafeteria at IKEA, which sits just a few moments away from MESH.

Far from being our most expensive Happy Mouth, Wendy’s outing was one of the least expensive (and most fun in recent memory!). Good choice, Wendy!

Closed since early January 2008, the IRON HORSE INN in Glendale Ohio has recently reopened. The building has a storied history, and it is great to see it open again under new ownership. Wendy and I have dined there twice as guests of the restaurant. This is a “preview-review”. Both of our meals have been in the upstairs dining room, so this review focuses on that space.

The IRON HORSE INN has clarified the vision of the restaurant, envisioning it now as two distinct eateries contained under one roof — downstairs presents a fine dining menu while upstairs has re-adopted the original name of the restaurant “Bracker’s Tavern” (which is slightly confusing…) and offers upscale bar food. It is possible to enjoy an informal meal with a cold beer or a nice glass of wine upstairs or to dress up and enjoy the fine dining options offered in the formal dining room downstairs. The downstairs dining room also features a chef’s table that, while not located in the kitchen, promises as-yet-unknown (to me) special treatment from the chef.

The exterior of the building has been spruced up — and it needed it since it had been neglected. The restfully-colored exterior is invitingly lit and the restaurant beckons with a warm glow. The patio out front is a great place to get a drink and a meal on a comfortable evening. Entering the front doors of the restaurant, you can either climb the short set of stairs to the second floor (an elevator is available and the entire restaurant is handicapped-accessible) for an informal meal or meet the front-of-house manager straight ahead, whose desk is placed at the French-door entrance to the downstairs (formal) dining room. The manager’s desk is imported from Vietnam and is decorated with crushed eggshells (really! — we checked this out with Robin, the owner) and is prettier than you would imagine.

Upstairs, there is a new sitting area just past the top of the stairs that provides a nice place to wait for a table, should the need arise. This new sitting area replaces a small dining room that was wasted space most of the time, and it houses another of the eggshell-decorated furniture pieces. The dark green walls, exposed ceiling beams, and long dark-wood bar of the dining room create a comfortable lodge-y feel. The tables are well-space, so your dining neighbors do not become your dining companions.

The kitchen has received a face-lift with the appointment of Chef Stefan Marcus as Working Chef in charge of the kitchen. His team puts out creative, confident dishes that give testament to Chef Marcus’ years of experience. The kitchen demonstrates restraint — there are no superfluous ingredients or garnishes on the plates. In conversation with Chef Marcus, his enthusiasm for the new venture is evident and infectious. He’s got big dreams for the IRON HORSE, and appears to be in a good position to make them come true.

In our meals there so far, we’ve sampled Jerk Chicken Quesadillas, Crab Cakes with house-made Remoulade, Clam Chowder, Buffalo Chicken Penne with a bleu cheese sauce, and a couple different Paninis with Sweet Potato Fries. Everything has been top notch (standout favorites include the Buffalo Chicken Penne, the Crab Cakes, and the Sweet Potato Fries) and the menu offers sufficient variety to remain interesting for some time. I don’t know if they run specials upstairs or not; on our two visits (one of which was a preview) there were no specials.

They offer “Funny Name Wines” in Bracker’s Tavern, too… an ever-changing selection of value wines with, well, funny names. While I think the idea is somewhat hokey, it seems to work and the couple different wines we’ve tasted have been very good values and reasonably drinkable.

For the most part, the IRON HORSE INN feels like an established restaurant, mostly free of the “opening jitters” experienced by some new places. However, on our visits, there have been a few issues ranging from menu grammar & spelling errors (”Tuna Tar-Tar”, anyone?!), the lack of short descriptions (or even just regions) on the “Funny Name Wines” list, and a few service issues (the wrong entrees were delivered to our table on one visit) reveal that this is, in fact, a new restaurant with a few growing pains.

But the IRON HORSE INN is worthy of your visit right now, and will continue to grow and mature through the startup. It might just become your new (old) favorite restaurant.

(We will eat downstairs soon and I’ll post about that.)

Contact the IRON HORSE INN at 513-772-3333.

Finally, some national attention paid to the developing food scene here in Cincinnati!

This time in an article about Lavomatic, which is run by a good friend of mine, Chef Joanne. The article is by David Tamarkin at Gourmet.COM and is worth checking out.

Finally! Since being without power at my datacenter (actually, my computer room (actually, my spare bedroom)) since Sunday, September 14, the power finally came back on last night around 1:00am. Trying to get things back to normal around here…

The webserver is back (obviously), the Personal Video Recorder (PVR) is back, and my Network Accessible Storage (NAS) stack … needs some attention. It booted but all the drives (over 1 terrabyte) are not back online yet. That may be part of the NAS’s internal boot-up verification process, or it might be a problem. Will diagnose — and fix — this evening when I am back in Cincinnati (I am currently in Lexington Kentucky).

UPDATE: The NAS stack is back up and running. Doing final configuration checks to ensure that it’s re-integrated into the server network, but it’s looking promising.