Cleveland Foodie

2182 bistro

Michelle V — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:11:00 +0000

For my latest Metromix review, we headed back to 2182 Bistro in Brecksville. This wasn’t my first visit to the tiny French bistro and wine bar, but I have a feeling it will probably be my last.

It’s not that everything on the menu is disappointing, I have had a few good items. But for the most part, the food has just been so so, especially this last time (I had the gratin de macaroni which should have been outstanding based on description alone, but was instead a huge disappointment).

In addition, the service, while timely and attentive, has been rather unfriendly on each visit – almost as if they had much better things to do then work that night and let you know it.

I realize this place has a lot of fans. Maybe it’s a fluke and it really is a great establishment. But for us, it’s not worth the trip and after several attempts to like it, we’re done.

You can read the entire review here.

2182 bistro

Michelle V — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:56:00 +0000

I was supposed to check out this Brecksville hot spot back in February with my girlfriends and our moms, but the weather had other plans. It has taken us this long to reschedule, but we did and finally made our way to 2182 Bistro – all 10 of us – last night for dinner.

I was probably the most excited to check out this tiny and somewhat hidden French bistro. I’ve heard wonderful things about this place, including from many readers of this blog.

The place itself, as previously mentioned, is a bit on the cozy side which also makes for a rather noisy evening. There was nothing about the overall decor that really stood out and impressed me, but in general it’s nice and simply decorated with a lot of what appears to be local art for sale displayed throughout the restaurant and bathroom.

For my meal, I started off with the soup du jour: smoked chicken tortilla soup. As for dinner, I went with the almond-crusted tilapia with white beans, capers and a citrus buerre blanc. My mom ordered the mushroom and leek linguine with tomatoes, goat cheese and pinenuts; we swapped halfway through.

Honestly speaking, I was a little disappointed. Based on previous chatter, I was anticipating a meal packed with a lot of wow. Instead, I felt my soup and fish were both good, but not great and definitely not enough to get me back to Brecksville anytime soon. The tomato-based soup was actually served a little cold and didn’t really pack any smoky flavor. And as for the fish, the beans mixed with the citrus buerre blanc were easily my favorite part. The fish itself, while cooked perfectly, just didn’t offer anything that really stood out.

When I traded my mom for the rest of her pasta, I wasn’t anticipating much, but was thankfully wrong. This pasta was fantastic – definitely packed with wonderful flavor and something I would gladly eat again. It wasn’t too rich and had the perfect balance of mushrooms, olive oil, goat cheese and pine nuts. A very enjoyable dish that I actually would have liked to have all to myself.

By this time I was pretty full, but everyone else opted for dessert. I did manage to try a bit of the chocolate mousse and strawberry bread pudding. Now those are two desserts that had the wow factor I was looking for all along – especially the warm bread pudding.

I will also say that I helped myself to several of my friend’s pomme frites with rosemary and parmesan and they were easily addicting. And while I didn’t try any, my other friend and her mom shared the mussel appetizer, which really looked good and left me wishing I opted for that instead of the soup.

Food aside, it was truly a wonderful night. I have been friends with these women for most of my life and through the years, our moms, which are all like our second moms, have also become close. It’s really something to be part of and to be constantly surrounded by such great women. Good times. Good times indeed.

q & a with chef nolan konkoski

Michelle V — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:52:00 +0000

Chef Nolan Konkoski is the man responsible for the popular tequila dinners, among other tasty dishes, at Momocho. He’s originally from upstate New York and started cooking in college as a means to make money (went to school for English literature and writing). Lucky for us, he pursued cooking.

1. What are the top 5 spices every home chef should have? Chipotle, bay leaf, cumin/coriander, cinnamon and black peppercorns. But really, every home chef should just use more high-quality salt.

2. What is your favorite and least favorite thing to make? Soups and sauces. I love the patience they require and the freedom you have to build a strong background of flavors. I hate making empanadas, chile rellenos and chimichangas – any tiny, tight, time-consuming items that require your hands.

3. What is your favorite thing about Cleveland and what drives you nuts? I love city’s overall support of cinema — from the Cedar Lee and Shaker Square theaters to the Cinematheque to the Film Festival every year. As for my least favorite things… traffic lights, traffic cops and corned beef.

4. If you could cook for one person, real or dead, who would it be? P. Christopher Kelley.

5. You’re having a dinner party, top 5 songs on your play list? Mogwai – Dial:Revenge, Paul Simon – Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, The Fall – Cruiser’s Creek, Tom Waits – Ol’ 55, and Yo La Tengo – The Hour Grows Late

6. Favorite restaurant in Cleveland? Pacific East, Parallax, Flying Fig and Lolita.

7. What restaurant do you miss? Genoa Importing Company in Albany. I ate there five days a week in college.

8. What place have Clevelanders yet to discover? 2182 Bistro in Brecksville. I know it’s not exactly a secret, but I think it deserves more attention.

9. What’s your last meal on Earth? A cheese and charcuterie board.

10. Most unusual food you have ever tried? The garbage plate at Nick Tahou’s in Rochester, NY.

11. Most famous person you have cooked for? Ah, the true test of a great chef. I made a sandwich for Tony Shaloub once. How’s that?

12. What’s the inspiration behind the tequila dinners? For me, the tequila dinners allow a certain freedom with food, beverage and service that we don’t otherwise have the time, space or resources for. We get to shut down the restaurant to the public for one night and treat a small group of people to a more precisely thought-out and executed menu. It is what most chefs wish they could do on a nightly basis. You limit the variables, take the decision-making out of the customers’ hands, and hopefully create a memorable experience. I love briefly putting aside the taquitos and fried ice cream and focusing on fresh concepts. Plus, we all get to get drunk on a Wednesday in the middle of winter.

13. Where do you grocery shop? Dave’s Market in Ohio City, unfortunately. West Side Market and Trader Joe’s occasionally.

14. Favorite guilty pleasure when it comes to food? Cadbury Mini Eggs.

15. Any plans to open your own restaurant some day? If I am still cooking in 10 years, I will have my own place. But there is too much to learn and experience before then to promise anything.

16. Anything new on the menu that people should try if they haven’t been in a few months? We are looking forward to a menu change in the spring.

17. If you weren’t a chef, what would you be doing? Worst-case scenario: teaching high school English. Best-case scenario: writing and directing movies.

18. If you could be another chef, any chef, for a day, who would it be? It’s probably an obvious answer, but Anthony Bourdain looks to have a pretty sweet life. Eat, drink and travel to exotic places.

19. What is one easy Mexican-inspired dish anyone could make at home? Tostitos chips and salsa.

20. Favorite TV show? HBO’s The Wire is the best show ever on American TV. It is realistic, important, timely, humorous and incredibly intelligent. So you rarely meet anyone who has heard of it. Everyone is too busy watching Rachel Ray make a Triscuit sandwich.

21. What is one thing you would change about your job? I would love if everyone I worked with showed up on time every day – and stopped asking to borrow money. My job would be much less stressful.

22. What is the best plate of food you have ever had? My mom’s sour cream pear pie.

23. Favorite meal from your childhood? The #2 Super Value Meal at McDonalds: crispy chicken sandwich, fries and an orange Hi-C.

q & a with chef jonathon sawyer

Michelle V — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:54:00 +0000

After working at several well-respected restaurants, including Michael Symon’s Lolita and Parea, Kitchen 22 and The Biltmore, Chef Jonathon Sawyer, a Cleveland native, has decided to open up his own place, Gastropub, the first nationally certified green restaurant in Ohio. While he is in the process of securing a location and hammering out the details, you can find him at Bar Cento, which will be adjacent to Bier Market in Ohio City this October, where he will be the partner/chef. According to Sawyer, the menu will be rustic featuring modern & traditional brick oven pizza’s as well as entree selections. Cento will also offer ‘cento vino’ (100 wines) to accompany each dish.

1. The top 5 spices that are a must in every kitchen:
black pepper, sea salt, crushed red chili flake, whole nutmeg,
anchovies (I know this isn’t a spice but I use it like it is one)

2. What is your favorite and least favorite thing to make:
My favorite thing to make is pasta dough. It is very therapeutic which I need every now and then in the kitchen. My least favorite thing to make is anything partially hydrogenised containing high fructose corn syrup or involving a microwave.

3. If you could cook for one person, real or dead, who would it be:
Winston Churchill. He was a man of passion; I admire passion.

4. You’re having a dinner party, what are the top 5 songs on your play list:
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
Clap Your Hands & Say Yeah – Skin on My Yellow Teeth
The Darkness – love what you’ve done with your hair
David Bowie – Oh! You Pretty Things
Blind Melon – Mother

5. Favorite restaurant in Cleveland:
Considering Symon is one of my best friends…Lola

6. What restaurant do you miss:
I miss Franny’s in Brooklyn horribly. Michelin trained chef settles down with wife to have a family and opens rustic style pizza joint on Flatbush Ave. My wife, son and I lived a block away and spent a good portion of our income there.

7. What is your favorite thing about Cleveland and what drives you nuts:
My favorite thing about Cleveland is the Cuyahoga National Valley Park and the produce and proteins that are produced in it. What makes me crazy is local chefs that source there ingredients from Holland, Japan, or California when we have everything needed right here in our city.

8. Most famous person you have cooked for:
The most famous person that I have ever cooked for would have to be Tom Hanks. My favorite famous person to cook for is most definitely Jimmy Fallon. He is hilarious and way fun to hang out with and rock out karaoke after a long night in the kitchen.

9. Most unusual food you have ever tried:
100-year-old egg, chicken sashimi, raw octopus, bear meat and raw milk two-year-old cave aged butter

10. If you weren’t a chef, what would you be doing:
I would probably be a farmer or forger or a barfly in New Orleans.

11. What hidden café/restaurant have Clevelanders yet to discover:
2182 Bistro in Brecksville

12. Can Cleveland ever be in the same league as Chicago and NYC in terms of culinary offerings? What do we have to do to change this perception and be on that level?
I don’t think you can compare the culinary landscapes to each other. There are too many factors that don’t match up i.e pedestrian vs. commuter, sheer size of cities, average income, industry, etc…

I would hope that Cleveland would cultivate its own narrative thread similar to that of Napa Valley or the Pacific Northwest where ingredient worship is more important that the man behind the dish.
For Cleveland to become known for its gastronomy, the people need to realize and embrace the greatness of our city. Although Cleveland is not as large as some other culinary greats, we do have the resources at our fingertips to make amazing food and cuisine. We just need to utilize them. Since moving back from NYC, I have unearthed more local and indigenous ingredients than I could have ever expected to find in Cleveland. The perception that needs to be changed is that these bigger cities are better than Cleveland. Frankly that’s not true. Cleveland has the potential and has already reached its own level of culinary greatness. We just need to look locally for what the future of our culinary landscape should and will be.

I love that answer – thanks, chef!