Cleveland Foodie

noodlecat. noodlecat. noodlecat.

Michelle V — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:37:02 +0000

I’m so excited for this to open, I just can’t stop saying the name.

If you’re active on Facebook, then you’ve likely seen people “liking” Noodlecat over the past few months. And this week, the proverbial cat was let out of the bag so to speak as to what this secretive restaurant is exactly and who was the masked man, er chef, er, duo, behind it. It’s Team Sawyer of course!

Noodlecat, slated to open later this summer, will be in the former Theresa’s Pizza locale on Public Square near the soon-to-open Pura Vida. According to Amelia Sawyer, the restaurant, “will be a mash-up of Japanese and American cooking. It will be both modern and traditional.”

Added chef Jonathon Sawyer, “We wanted to do noodles for a long time now. We think this will translate really well to Ohio, like what we did at [Bar] Cento with Roman food. We can tell a similar story here and showcase what’s unique to Ohio.”

With the opening of Noodlecat, the goal for the Sawyers was to have clarity of concept. “Noodles tend to be lumped together in Cleveland. Really muddled in fact and you don’t get to see what authentic Japanese noodles are,” explained the chef.

“The main point is for us to have fun, and be the second certified green restaurant in Ohio,” he added. “We’ll be casual, really fast, a lot of fun and all under $15.”

Just like their flagship Greenhouse Tavern, a lot of staples will be made by the chefs, like rice wine vinegar and a local fish sauce he’s currently working on. He’s also excited to embrace more healthy and veggie-based options, and of course, sourcing a ton of local, quality ingredients.

A sneak peek at the lunch and dinner menu is enough to make you want to relocate downtown. While it’s still a work in progress, some of the items include:

Slow Soy Cooked Eggs n Soldiers w/ Japanese white bread, crispy snap peas & tempura potato
Broiled Rice Balls w/ seasonal ingredients
BBQ Pork Belly Steam Bun
Ohio Beef Burger Steam Bun
Veggie Miso Steam Bun
BBQ Blue Fish Steam Bun
Pork and Clam Soba w/ BBQ smoked pork country sausage, salted cured chili paste, burnt citrus fruit, toasted garlic, young shallot & bottarga
Crispy Veggie Tempura Soba w/ seasonal vegetables, miso paste, tofu, peas, scallion & shitake mushrooms
Spicy She Crab Udon w/ ginger, garlic, young shallot, crab paste, spinach, house made surimi & soft boiled egg
San Fransisco Surf n’ Turf Ramen w/ poached scallop, wild mushrooms, pasture raised ohio chicken, young shallot & sliced radishes
Chilled Ohio Soba w/ ponzu, crispy peas, shredded nori, scallion & wasabi
Su Tofu Udon w/ wakame seaweed, warm dashi, shitake mushrooms & soft boiled tofu
Whole Roasted Suckling Pig w/ oysters, BBQ, buns, horseradish vodka & condiments
Very Spicey Whole Crab w/ rice cakes, lots of Garlic, Fish Sauce & Chili customers are advised to wear a bibb
Salt Grill Sustainable Himachi w/ oysters, pickled veggies, chilled unfiltered sweet sake, buns & condiments
Sustainable Sashimi Style Plate w/ pickled veggie, salt cured chili paste & calamansi

“A noodle place like this will make people happy,” concluded Sawyer. I concur.

bon appetit recognizes the greenhouse tavern as one of america’s best

Michelle V — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:43:00 +0000

By now you’ve probably read plenty of local reviews on The Greenhouse Tavern from media and bloggers alike. And I’m going to assume you’ve talked to a few people who told you that the wings were ridiculously good, the burger best in town and the pasta unreal. And that’s all true (okay, maybe not the burger – for me that goes to Lolita, but this one is a very close #2) and hopefully was enough to convince you to see for yourself. But just in case it hasn’t, here’s perhaps the most impressive recommendation and one all Clevelanders should be excited about because Cleveland is once again receiving national recognition for our outstanding culinary talent:

Bon Appetit named The Greenhouse Tavern one of the 10 Best New restaurants in America.

The issue isn’t on stands yet, but you can read a sneak peak on GHT’s distinction as well as the other nine here. Also making the list is San Francisco’s Bar Jules, which I ate at this past spring and couldn’t agree with its recognition more.

A big congratulations to chef Jonathon Sawyer, Amelia and the entire GHT team. We are so happy for you and can’t think of a more deserving group.

UPDATE: Here’s the story.

inside: greenhouse tavern

Michelle V — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:45:00 +0000

With four visits thus far and another one planned tomorrow, it’s safe to say I’m a bona fide Greenhouse Tavern fan. From Cento to Greenhouse, I’ve admired and enjoyed chef Sawyer’s approach to cooking. And I’m not alone. Sawyer and the entire Greenhouse team are receiving high accolades on the local and national level. And they couldn’t be more deserving. And the best part? They’re just getting started.

Here’s the piece I wrote for Metromix (and it made the front page to boot!):

Inside: Greenhouse Tavern
East 4th Street welcomes Ohio’s first certified green restaurant

After years of planning, commitment and determination, The Greenhouse Tavern on East Fourth Street is finally open and hoping to make as little impact as possible.

Certified as Ohio’s first green restaurant, The Greenhouse Tavern team, led by Chef Jonathon Sawyer, is guided by two principals: The proximity of the farm to the restaurant directly impacts the quality of food, and practicing green business everyday is not an option, but rather fundamentally imperative.

Guided by these principals, with each plate of food, the restaurant serves French-inspired fare consisting of local ingredients at approachable prices.

Food: While the restaurant may not have a big impact on Mother Earth, diners are another story. Chef Sawyer continues to make food, regardless of its origin, approachable and unfussy.
The menu, printed on 100 percent, post-consumer recycled fiber, is sectioned into firsts (small tastes), seconds (larger appetizers), thirds (full dinners) and halves (accompaniments to share). And the majority of ingredients are locally sourced, further minimizing the carbon footprint by eliminating unnecessary shipping while at the same time benefiting our local economy.

For firsts, try the French breakfast radishes with butter and salt and the organic American prosciutto. The sliced radishes, a vegetable that normally doesn’t receive much praise, are unexpectedly good and simple. The prosciutto is not too salty and lays deliciously atop grilled bread.

Under seconds, three are not to be missed: Chevre salad (French for goat) with Ohio goat confit from Lucky Penny Farms in Garrettsville, fresh herbs and sheep’s milk cheese; Virginica oysters with Meyer lemon mignonette; and hand-ground beef tartare with a cold poached egg.

The salad is packed with layers of flavor and the fresh herbs really shine. The tartare is simply magnificent. An order of the skate wing was the only somewhat disappointing second.
For larger portions, you really can’t go wrong. Standouts include the buckwheat pasta with mahogany clams and chili, cod in papier with fresh black truffle and potato, and the roasted Tee Hills chicken from Loudonville, Ohio with bread heels, carrots and herb jus.

The perfectly prepared pasta satisfied, although be aware, it can be a bit on the salty side. The roasted chicken, with its flavor-packed crispy skin, was surprisingly juicy, tender and well-received all around.

To finish off the meal, pastry chef Kerry Garcia has a handful of tempting items, mostly priced at $5. Not to be missed is star anise pot de crème with valhrona bittersweet chocolate and fleur de sal Florentine and the Calvados apple tart with cognac ice cream.

Libations: In continuing with the focus on all things local, general manager and beverage director Everest Curley approached the drink menu, specifically beer and liquor, with an emphasis on supporting the Great Lakes region. Because, as he shares, there is a superior product right here and wants to give the mom and pop purveyors a market all while exposing diners to a new product they may not experience otherwise.

The barley section of the drink list includes a selection of four beers on tap, including Four C’s Pale Ale from The Brew Kettle in Strongsville, 12-ounce bottles, 22-ounce bottles and a handful of 750-milliliter bottles.

Under grain, it’s a similar tactic. You won’t find all the usual suspects, with the exception of a handful like Grey Goose, Johnnie Walker and Crown Royal. Instead, there’s Boyd & Blair potato vodka from Pennsylvania, Buffalo Trace bourbon from Kentucky plus a lengthy list of other regional finds.

The grape section of the list stretches a little further than the region—much further to be exact. The wine list is inspired from the team’s trip to Paris last year. The group spent the past 18 months tasting wine to ultimately narrow down to 45 bottle choices including several glass pours. With the final list, Curley explains, every table can afford a bottle of wine if that’s what they want.

As for specialty cocktails, all drinks are made to order; no premade concoctions found here, which is what the team believes every customer deserves. The drink selection pays homage to cocktails from the pre-prohibition era, when drinks had a reason, Curley states. One must-try cocktail is the signature Ginger Flip, a subtly sweet, unique blend of Goslings rum, egg white, ginger beer, powdered sugar and fresh nutmeg.

Décor: The team worked to keep much of the original Cort Building in tact. The space features four different dining levels that break up the large space into four uniquely intimate dinning experiences.

The basement, where the main kitchen is housed, features a chef’s table (best seat in the house), classic jukebox that spins 45s and bathrooms complete with one-of-a-kind, handmade wallpaper from Europe. The solid English oak tables are actually laboratory furniture from John Carroll University’s science classrooms, circa 1950s. And the bars, kitchen and restrooms utilize the latest water-saving technologies, including solar-powered dual flushers and faucets.

The main dining area, which is earthy and open, features Civil War era cedar barn wood from Jefferson, Ohio that chef Sawyer found on the side of the road. The vintage benches (even a few church pews), bar tables, chairs and chandeliers custom-made from a local bike co-op that feature bike rims are all recycled from local neighborhoods. Finally, the long bar that spans the narrow space illustrates the teams’ dedication to finding creative eco-friendly design solutions. Wine and beer bottles were painstakingly broken to bits and recycled to create a custom concrete bar top.

Next are two mezzanine levels, each offering overhead views of the restaurant and people watching on East 4th Street. The carpet squares are not only produced in a sustainable factory with high-recycled content, but are samples from interior designers and architects that were headed for the landfill. From the collection, an aesthetically pleasing patchwork design was created.

Finally, the rooftop, which is set to open later this summer, will offer dining and a functional greenhouse that will contribute to the daily food preparation.

Service: After a handful of visits, you’d think this restaurant’s been open for a lot longer than a month by the way this team works together and interacts with customers. Servers are knowledgeable, friendly, efficient, and most important, passionate about where they work and the restaurant’s mission.

Insider tip: Happy hour is available twice, starting at 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., then again from 11 p.m. until 1 a.m. Look for drink and food specials, including $3 prosciutto, $5 chicken and duck wings with chili pepper and garlic, pomme frites with housemade aioli, $1 Virginica oysters and a $7 Ohio beef burger with raclette cheese.

Many remember the popular Rock & Roll wine projects from Sawyer’s Bar Cento days. Look for these at Greenhouse soon, only bigger and better. Additionally, brunch service is expected to start this summer followed by lunch.

Bottom line: Sawyer and crew’s footprint may be environmentally small, but the impact they are making on Cleveland’s culinary scene is impossible to ignore.

preview dinner at the greenhouse tavern

Michelle V — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:33:00 +0000

They say good things come to those who wait. Well Cleveland, we’ve waited and in return, we’re rewarded with not good, but great things.

On Sunday night, Jamie and I were fortunate enough to be included among the eager and downright giddy that had the pleasure to attend The Greenhouse Tavern’s family and friends preview.

People often ask me why I am so passionate about local restaurants and not so positive towards chains. Take one step inside this restaurant and you will know why. It’s people like Jonathon and Amelia Sawyer, Everest Curley and the entire GHT crew. Because their passion is contagious. Because to fulfill a dream it takes months upon months of hard work, resolve and sacrifice. Because there is a dedication to support their communities and neighbors. And because there is a genuine desire to put exceptional quality on each plate. All while leaving as little of a footprint as possible.

Chef Sawyer, who was happily back in the kitchen after a four-month hiatus, treated guests to a generous sampling of menu items. We experienced:

Hand ground beef tartare with a poached egg and wild ramps

French breakfast radishes with butter and salt

Cod in papier with black truffle and potato

Roasted Tea Hills chicken with bread heels, carrots and herb jus

Chevre salad with Ohio goat confit, herb salad and sheep’s milk cheese

Roasted bone-in skate wing with capers, garlic and anchovy

Crispy chicken wings with chili pepper, scallions and garlic

From start to finish, with each passing course, to say we were impressed would be an understatement. We ate some seriously good food. My two favorite items were surprisingly things I don’t even care for: chicken and radishes. I rarely make chicken let alone try it in a restaurant. It’s just something I never cared for. Until now. The crispy skin and meat were packed with flavor. And the radishes, simply perfect. My other favorite was the chevre salad with Ohio goat confit. We had a similar dish at the Brooklyn Beer dinner last month so we were eager to sample this again. And it didn’t disappoint. The only dish I wasn’t crazy about was the skate wing. While the table seemed to enjoy it, I felt it was just okay and that the garlic and anchovies weren’t as prominent as expected. Nonetheless, I wasn’t too concerned because I was surrounded by wonderful flavors and aromas and tablemates (thanks Steve & Julie) that didn’t seem to mind my wandering fork.

Chef Sawyer’s dishes are simple and use straightforward ingredients. But when combined, the result is a complex, layered dish full of unique flavor. Much like the space itself featuring four different dining levels. It’s a brand new restaurant yet it has many stories to tell, some decades old. It’s worthy of post all its own, which I will do in the very near future.

Yes Cleveland, the wait is almost over. In two short weeks, the restaurant will officially be open for dinner, with lunch and brunch not too far behind. This restaurant is just one more reason why there is a very happy foodie living in Cleveland.

q & a with amelia zatik-sawyer

Michelle V — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:37:00 +0000

There are a lot of blogs I try to keep up with on a regular basis, from cooking to marketing to a few topics in between. One of those not-to-miss blogs is Chef’s Widow. The widow in question is Amelia Zatik-Sawyer, aka Mrs. Jonathon Sawyer of Bar Cento and the highly anticipated Greenhouse Tavern. Her blog is honest, real and extremely entertaining. And she’s more than just funny and insightful. She knows about business, sustainability and has figured out a few things about our city that others still can’t seem to grasp.

1. What is your favorite restaurant in town (other than Bar Cento)?
I am a fan of that guy who is on the Food Network. I think his name is Mike Symon??? He’s ok and that restaurant of his, Lola, isn’t so shabby.

2. What restaurant do you miss? Franny’s in Brooklyn, NY.

3. Any restaurant or hidden gem you frequent that the rest of us have yet to discover? #1 Pho in Middleburg Hts. is a new fave of mine.

4. Where do you grocery shop? In the winter I go to Heinen’s. In the summer, I go to the Peninsula Farmer’s Market.

5. Favorite meal from your childhood? Pimento & Cheese Sandwich

6. Last meal on Earth? My husband’s chicken & root veggies that he used to make when we live on the lower east side of NYC.

7. What’s the first thing you notice when you walk into a restaurant? How long I sit at a table before someone comes up.

8. You obviously know and have worked with a lot of talented and successful chefs. What is one trait they all have in common? Their borderline insane work ethic and love of tattoos.

9. What is the inspiration behind your blog? It started as an outlet for my frustration with Jonathon’s insane hours; now it’s more of our diary about our journey through this crazy life.

10. What is one thing about Jonathan the rest of us would be surprised to know?Have you ever been at a concert and noticed an extremely loud clapper? Well if you have, then you were probably sitting next to the chef. We went to The White Stripes a couple years ago and I noticed this loud, annoying clapping. As I looked for the clapper, I realized it was Jonathon. We haven’t been to a show together since.

11. If you could choose any profession in the world, what would you be doing? I would be a PAID writer.

12. Do you cook? If so, what’s your specialty? Not really. Nowadays, I am a pretty bad ass at meatballs. But really I suck at cooking. That’s kinda why I married a chef…Don’t get me wrong, I married Sawyer for love and all but it helps that dude can take a half a carrot, tofu and a piece of chicken out of our empty fridge and turn it into the best thing I have ever tasted.

13. Where will the Sawyer family be five, even 10, years from now? Who knows! We are such vagabonds. Since Jonathon and I graduated high school, we have lived in Cleveland, Dayton, Akron, Miami, Brooklyn, Manhattan Proper, Jersey, Italy and The Hamptons. Hopefully in five years, we will be out of debt and kicking ass at The Greenhouse Tavern. Ten years I’ll almost be forty and we just don’t talk about that. I am sure wherever we end up there will be lots of food and wine involved. And kids. And dogs.

14. You might just be the first person in town with the title of eco manger. What will you be doing in this role at The Greenhouse Tavern? I will probably be doing exactly what I am doing now except on a more full time level. Right now I pretty much act as Jonathon’s accountant, publicist and agent/manager. At The Greenhouse Tavern, I will have my hands in all of that as well as making sure that everything we do in the restaurant complies with the the aspects of green living/business. Jonathon and I both believe that treating the land with respect and knowledge directly affects the quality of food as well as the business. I will go off of this and try to educate myself in different areas of sustainability and the eco movement. I would like to say that I (and the restaurant) am embracing the environment through food. Oh and I’ll probably answer phones, too…

15. What’s the best plate of food you have ever had? Franny’s pizza in Brooklyn, NY. And that new Wild Ramp pizza and Cento. Damn it’s good.

16. What’s your favorite thing about Cleveland and what drives you nuts? I have a hard time with the media in Cleveland. I feel like the papers and the news focus WAY too much on the things that are wrong with our city. Last week I saw a story titled “Which city is better, Cleveland or Detroit?” Are you kidding me? Why not focus on the positive aspects of Cleveland? There are many things happening in our city that are never promoted. We have a fantastic culinary landscape. We have MANY amazing chefs in this city. We have many growing organizations (including E4S, Green City, Blue Lake, Green Energy Ohio and The Office of Sustainability) that are growing and working hard to introduce our city to the green movement as well as practicing sustainability. But you would never know that if you only read the paper. We have awesome museums and the membership prices are unheard of. The Art Museum, although not complete, is going to be unbelievable. I also find it absolutely hard to believe that the city engineers have not yet come up with a way to utilize the fantastic Lake Erie shore. Every time I drive on 90 I can visualize how great the lake front could be. Wind turbines providing electricity for restaurants, condos, parks. Instead, I see empty buildings and rotting factories. It is so depressing.

17. You’re having a dinner party, top 5 songs on your playlist?

1. Funtime by Iggy Pop & the Stooges (Arrival & Apps)
2. All I want is you by Barry Louis Poiser (Dinner)
3. Ms. Fat Booty by Mos Def (Drinks)
4. Loose Lips by Kimya Dawson (More Drinks & Dessert)
5. Perfect Day by Lou Reed (Bye Bye)

Really I would play like 50 songs. Our dinner parties are not short and sometimes last overnight. And I would definitely play the new Flight of the Conchords.

18. With the restaurants, blog, being a mom and married to a chef who keeps crazy hours, what is the one thing that helps your sanity in check? Vodka & Cigarettes….j/k.

Seriously I am not that sane. Lately, I have been bartending at Bar Cento and that helps keep me somewhat normal. Although things are about to get super crazy because Jonathon just signed on to do a bunch of episodes of Dinner Impossible with Symon. I am sure my blog will be filled with stress filled stories in these next few months.

We also really enjoy hanging out at all the museums (we have memberships to all) and biking in the Cuyahoga Valley. That seems to subside the insanity.

19. Do you get to eat whatever you want whenever you want it? I wish. Currently I am on a diet to lose my baby weight and it blows. It’s hard when your husband’s restaurant serves the best pizza in the city.

20. You’ve lived in other places besides Cleveland, including NYC and Italy. What is one thing from those places you wish we had here? I wish Cleveland had a subway system or at least an elevated train. I can’t stand the fact that there really is no pedestrian lifestyle/public transportation system that is not ghetto in Cleveland. If there was an L train that went east and west into the ‘burbs that was like the MTA I think downtown Cleveland would be a crazy awesome city. I also wish that Cleveland had drop off laundry places. I miss taking my laundry in and having it returned clean and folded all for $20. Oh yeah…what I miss about bella Italia is the constant reminder of the past through architecture, people and the culture. No matter what town or village I was in, I always felt like I was living in an art history book. I loved it.