I have been eating out quite a bit these last few weeks so my CSA farm share goodies often get thrown into a side salad or something equally uninspiring. So I decided to showcase some of the great local Cleveland restaurants I've enjoyed in lieu of cooking. Most of you probably have eaten at some or all of those I will feature, but if you haven't- put it on your list for the next date night!
Even if you aren't native to Cleveland you probably are still caught up in Melt hysteria. Starting with their (originally) tiny flagship Lakewood location (which has expanded nearly every year I think!) to their newest location over in my neck of the woods on the Eastside, Melt Bar and Grilled has covered Cleveland in oozy gooey delicious cheese. This place is one of those concepts we've all probably thought up over a few too many beers but quickly pushed aside as something that would never make any real money. I mean, grilled cheese and all of it's variations are delicious, but a restaurant selling grilled cheese? Nah, it would never work. Well, for all of us that never patented the idea or took the plunge, a group of friends finally did and have built a small cheese empire for themselves. The lines are often long and the wait for food even longer. But that's not for a lack of service as the wait staff is always friendly and efficient, but more to do with the volume of business they do! If you don't have the time or don't want to wait, you can be served at their bar pretty quickly in my opinion. Take-out just isn't going to cut it as the decor lends a certain je ne sai qua to the whole experience. But if you are pressed for time, or are off in the head and don't have a penchant for cheese (seriously, who ARE you people????) you must at least go for the beer and desserts.
Wednesday night after the dinner rush was over a couple of friends and I found ourselves hankering for some dessert. It was too cold for ice cream and we didn't want anything particularly expensive OR fancy. Melt to the rescue! I must admit, I had never had room to eat dessert after one of their monster sammies but I was seriously missing out! Fried twinkies! Locally made cheesecake (ours was chocolate cookie dough I think) the size of your head (seriously!) and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread Pudding!! The bread pudding comes with ice cream, caramel and chocolate fudge sauce and these cute goldfishy shaped cookies that I think were also chocolate. YUM. Three pints of Left Hand Milk Stout and we were a happy group. In hindsight, we probably could have ordered one dessert and shared it since they are so incredibly huge. But sometimes you just have to live a little and try all the flavors!
Melt Bar and Grilled
Wednesday night after the dinner rush was over a couple of friends and I found ourselves hankering for some dessert. It was too cold for ice cream and we didn't want anything particularly expensive OR fancy. Melt to the rescue! I must admit, I had never had room to eat dessert after one of their monster sammies but I was seriously missing out! Fried twinkies! Locally made cheesecake (ours was chocolate cookie dough I think) the size of your head (seriously!) and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread Pudding!! The bread pudding comes with ice cream, caramel and chocolate fudge sauce and these cute goldfishy shaped cookies that I think were also chocolate. YUM. Three pints of Left Hand Milk Stout and we were a happy group. In hindsight, we probably could have ordered one dessert and shared it since they are so incredibly huge. But sometimes you just have to live a little and try all the flavors!
Melt Bar and Grilled