Fall restaurant week. YAY!

Restaurant Week is one of my favorite weeks of the year, glad there are usually 3-4 a year.  The deal is that you get a three course meal for $33 a person.  Some places take this as an opportunity to bring people in that maybe would not normally eat at the restaurant, others try to be cheap about it and offer mediocre choices.  http://www.clevelandindependents.com/restaurant-week.php

Ok here is my run down.....

Most creative:

Paralax, Paladar, Edwins-

Paralax and the yummy options.  First course has a choice of a salmon maki roll, grilled apple salad, or roasted butternut squash soup.  Second course is where it gets creative.  Choice of cider braised pork cheeks with horseradish potatoes and mustard greens or sauteed rainbow trout with ginger fried rice pickled cabbage and a chili-Carmel sauce or for the vegetarians miso glazed eggplant.  All awesome choices for a meal, creative and well worth the cost of the dinner.  The desserts sound good as well- ginger apple crisp, chocolate truffle torte or pumpkin creme brulee.

Paladar has an amazing Latin themed menu and some really cool choices to pique your taste buds.  You can start you meal with a crab and heart of palm empanada, Mojo pork tostones, or a salad,  The second course promises Coconut curry vegetables, Argentinian mixed grille, chimichurri portabello mixed grill or mojo marinated salmon.  Each one sounds better than the next and all have the signature Latin flare.  For dessert- pineapple rum upside down cake or churros.

Edwins-  This is a unique restaurant and the concept and purpose behind it makes me want to eat there even more then this great menu.  To start you can have soup, and herb salad or a pork terrine with cognac.  The entrees feature a cornish hen with cilantro butter, portabello napoleon, or salmon with a white wine butter sauce.  You almost never see Cornish hen on a menu.  For dessert a creme brulee or a ginger vanilla soup with tropical fruit and jasmine sorbet.  A great additions is that for $18 you can get a flight of wines to pair with the meal.

There are three restaurants totally worth it, even if the menu is not that creative.  Oldies but goodies.  Delmonicos, Blue Point and Salmon Daves.

Delmonico's- To start there is a choice of wedding soup or iceberg salad- classics but if done right they can be amazing.  Entrees include a choice of Steak Christopher with tiger shrimp Bearnaise sauce and garlic mashers or chive crusted walley with sundried tomato and asparagus risotto, vegetables and a ginger pine nut butter sauce.  or veal and shrimp piccata.  For dessert the always elegant but delicious chocolate flourless cake and vanilla bean creme brulee.

The next, Blue Pointe Grill has always been a favorite of mine.  The first course is either tomato bisque or an iceberg salad.  The second course is a salmon with blue crab and lemon risotto or sauteed jumbo shrimp with Klondike rose potatoes or tornedos of beef with a root vegetable puree and garlic spinach.  Each one is decedent but simple.  desserts are the old standby- flourless torte and creme brulee.

Salmon Dave's may be one of the best values for your buck for restaurant week.  You can start with  house salad or lobster bisque.  The entrees each sound delicious and luxurious.  There is a choice of a pan seared salmon with lemon dill butter, lobster neuberg, or lobster chicken cavatappi.  For dessert is the ever popular flourless chocolate torte or cheesecake.

Now the ones that are big old busts and I do not recommend:
Fire and Red are both charging $39 and the choices are not that great.  Moxie is offering chicken and biscuits.  Seriously, these restaurants need to step it up int he future.  

Red Lantern Revamped

So I recently went in to the revamped, now hip, Red Lantern in Kamm's Corner.  I want to start with...it looks great!  The prices though are a little steep for Kamm's Corner and especially for the actual food.  The food is so so at best.  But the weekly specials make it worth while.

We went on Thursday and it was half price taco day and $4 margaritas.  The Margaritas was worth the $4.  The tacos were only worth half of the normal cost.  We ordered steak tacos and pork tacos.  They asked how we wanted to steak done- we said medium rare and it was definitely cooked well done.    Normally they would be $10 each for 2- on Taco Thursday they were $5 each for two tacos.  They were tasty but nothing overly special.  The pork taco actually tasted like the meat was a little bit old.  We also really wanted chicken wings and ordered the garlic wings done extra crispy.  The wing itself was done nicely.  It was crisp and cooked well.  The sauce, however, was non existent.  There were 8 wings for $9 lined up on a plate and not tossed with the wing sauce, but sitting in a pool of unflavored oil with some chopped garlic sparingly sprinkled on top.  We asked for hot sauce so we at least could sprinkle some of for flavor.

There are some great specials- Tuesday is kid's night and there are kids items for $2 and Kids milkshakes for $1.  And Wednesday is half priced whiskey and wine, and Monday is $3 craft beers.  Friday is all you can eat perch dinner...but it is $20 which seems rather steep to me unless you can eat a TON of perch.

They do also run a daily happy hour from 3-6 pm with appetizers at $5, Burgers at $5, and Flatbreads at $5.  But again, just not all that thrilled with the quality of food.  I would go back again just to try something else as many places have an off day.  But I am in no rush to get back here. 

Cibreo

 Most people know, I hate going downtown because it is always so hard to park and too much traffic...I know I am spoiled by my local Cleveland neighborhood spots.  But this is one place worth fighting the traffic to enjoy happy hour...Cibreo. 

There are 6 offerings for happy hour and nothing over $6.5- including drink specials.  Let's start with the food...they have meatballs- one of my favorites.  These have a little twist made with pancetta and veal and they are only $4!  Also for only $4- aracini.  These little balls of rice and stuffed with yummy goodness are delicious.  On the "pricier" end is the mussels for $6.5 served in a white wine, garlic and tomato sauce.  I do not like mussels, but the broth is worth it- I just go with someone who will eat the mussels and share the broth.  The bad thing is that happy hour only goes from 3-6pm and so unless you are downtown it is hard to get to before it is over. 

For the drinks- they offer $2 beers- a deal for downtown, 5- yes 5 different types of wine for only $5 each and 4 different cocktails for $5 each.  This is amazing pricing for downtown. 

Cibreo is a great additions and Scott Kuhn and Driftwood Restaurants do a great job creating fun spots that are classic with a little twist.  Even if you don't make Happy Hour, try this place as a special occasion restaurant.  The Antipasto is amazing and all of the meals are fabulous. 

Healthy Grocerty Store Dinner

So I am all about quality on a  budget.  About a year ago I signed up for e-mail alerts from Earth Fare in Fairview Park.    I have shopped there a few times and just find it really expensive and so rarely go out unless I am looking for a really high quality product that I cannot get through my farm share.  Recently though I received an e-mail about their daily deals.  WOW!  This is a great way for a budget conscious person/family to get a quality meal "out" without a lot of cost involved.

Each day they offer something different.  The one positive is that no matter what you get it is prepared fresh with high quality meats, vegggies, and so forth.  So here are the options:

Monday- $5 fresh made sandwiches.  This could include things like the "Bird's the Word" with Turkey, guacamole, tomato, cheese, sprouts, and lemon mayo or the "Attack of the Veggie Wrap" which includes hummus, cucumber, tomatoes, sprouts on a spinach wrap. 

Tuesday- $5 BBQ chicken and 2 sides. 

Wednesday- $5 One protein and two sides

Thursday- Kids eat free (not of much interest to me at this point in my life, but for a family- this is a great bargain. 

Friday- $5 rotisserie chicken- Spend a few extra for some sides and you have a meal for 2, with leftovers, for under $5 a person.

One of the best meal deals is on Sunday.  Hot Dogs for $2, Hamburgers for $3 and sides for just $1.50.  This is a great deal and a family of four could potential spend only $16 for a full meal for the family, and not have to cook. 

Now some of the great offerings they have- they can rotate daily.  The sides include things like broccoli slaw, asparagus, baked beans, roasted potatoes and many others. 

These are some wonderful deals for "fast food" without sacrificing quality.  My boyfriend wanted fast food for dinner last night and spending conservatively we spent almost $14 for just 2 people and not nearly as good of a quality as at Earth Fare.  On any night for around $10 we could get a healthy quality fast food meal for two. 

Sometimes the frugally classy need to look to find the great deals in different places.  It is not always about a restaurant or bar for food.  Many grocery stores now a days see the need for this fast casual environment but recognize that people want healthy. 

Festival_OLMC

Sunday July 13th.,.,best deal in the city us at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel church at 70th and Detroit. After the procession come down for an amazing meal at the villa. Sit down meal, $11 fir adults and $7 for children. The food us homemade and the portions huge. Its served by the school kids and you can buy wine, limoncello. 

So the dinners include salad and either Camarillo and meatballs, spaghetti and meatballs, or fried chicken corn and French fries. The meatballs are all homemade and my favorite. It is and amazing deal.

If you want to walk and eat for $6 you can get a grilled sausage sandwich, meatball sub, or bowl of cavatelli and a meatball. For the kids there is pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs. If you have a sweet tooth try a homemade zeppole- Italian fried dough-3 For $2.50 For a lemon ice. We even have lupini. 

Sunday will have live Italian music and the wonderful homemade food. Hope to see you.

Frugal Thursday nights in Cleveland

So typically my blog is all about food, but being frugally classy I like great deals across the board.  The deal of the summer....Edgewater Live on Thursday nights. 

Everyone who knows me has learned over the years that the City of Cleveland is typically my focus.  I LOVE Cleveland and all it has to offer.  Since the Cleveland Metro parks took over Edgewater- the beaches are beautiful!  Thursday nights take a drive down to Edgewater and from 5:30-8:30 they offer free live music, food trucks, beer, soda and Honey Hut Ice Cream. 

What makes this a Frugally Classy thing...last night for $5, I got a pulled Pork Sandwich with fresh cole slaw on it, free entertainment, running in to tons of friends, and a walk on the beach with my favorite guy.  Now since this is a food blog- let me tell you about the food.  Each week there are various food trucks at the event.  Word is last week they ran out of food because of the unexpected great turn out.  We opted for the Cleveland Metroparks food truck and they were offering the pulled pork sandwich.  It was tasty, perfectly seasoned and the cole slaw on top was fresh made and had a great balance of dressing to cabbage.  The lines for all the food trucks are long- but you can dance in the sand to the music while you wait. 

Because it is a public beach, you can still bring your own food and a cooler of non-alcoholic beverages if you would like- making this an even better deal.  It was so great to see so many people out and enjoying themselves at Edgewater.  This is such a vital part of the city and to see so many people have fun and enjoy is just fabulous!

Check out their schedule of bands and get there early.  Don't forget some cash for the sweet treats and food trucks and make this a great Thursday night- on a budget.

Paladar Happy Hour

Finally I ventured to the East side and was able to Paladar at Eton.  I went in for happy around 6:15pm and was able to sit at the bar.  I was served rather quickly which was nice.  However, the bartender making the drinks for the bar and restaurant was very messy.  She would just spray water in to glass sloshing it around, when making mojitos she would fill them with the soda water and some would splash out.  It was messy and actually gross how she was making the drinks and had water/soda water everywhere behind the bar.  The service was also not that great.  There were two people behind the bar, the messy drink maker and another bar tender.  The other bar tender took some orders and poured some simple drinks or got water or pop for customers.  He took my food order and I also asked for a glass of water.  He said ok and never came back to check on me or bring my glass of water.  So I spent the time sipping on my mojito, eating, my food, paid and left.  No one was very attentive to myself or really anyone at the bar.  Even when the runners would come over with the food no one behind the bar knew who ordered what and the customers had to speak up.

Ok...enough negativity...the food was excellent.  They have a happy hour menu with many $5 drinks, discounted beer and wine and a nice variety of food items under $5 many to share.  I ordered the chorizo and cheese papusa's.  They were cooked perfectly, great sauce, great filling to dough ration and served hot.  I would definitely order these again.  Two women next to me ordered the two taco items off the menu and they also looked great.  Each order had 2 tacos and there was a nice balance of meat and vegetables on the tacos.  The mojito was ok, but it was definitely more club soda then anything else.  The majority of the flavor came from me squeezing the lime and muddling the mint leaves myself- they were actually pristine and had not been muddled at all. 

I definitely would go back again with a group and share some items.  They had guacamole, salsa trio and queso fundido that would have been great for sharing and based on what others at the bar ordered it all looked good, fresh, and enough to share as a meal.  My entire tab with tax and tip was $13.00 for the drink and the meal. 

This was a great place for happy hour and if I went again I would try to go with a group and sit at a table so I did not have to watch the messy bartender.