This post was sponsored by The Ohio Wine Producers Association. If you’re heading to Vintage Ohio August 6 – 7, remember to use code 2010CLFD for discounted tickets.

1. How did your fascination and appreciation of wine start? Growing up in Alsace, France, I helped my grandfathers tend their small vineyards and make wine, mostly Riesling, Sylvaner and Gewurztraminer. They were making wine for personal consumption.

2. What is the best plate of food you’ve ever had and what were you drinking? I enjoy cooking; there are so many neat recipes.  My best food and wine pairing ever was a beef tenderloin with fingerling potatoes and Chateau Cantemerle Haut-Medoc from Bordeaux.  It was fascinating and a revelation.

3. What is your favorite Ohio winery to visit? Ferrante winery. The folks there are very nice and welcoming; they make excellent wines and have a great restaurant where you can savor both food and wine.

4. Top 5 Ohio wines worth sampling? What Ohio wines do you carry? The Cabernet and the Viognier from Kinkead Ridge.  The fruit wines from Breitenbach.   Ferrante’s Rieslings.  Wolf Creek’s Redemption Red and White Lies.

At Giant Eagle we carry wines from many Ohio wineries as we strive for diversity, and we offer the widest assortment of Ohio wines in the state. Chain-wide, we carry Breitenbach, Debonne, Ferrante, Lonz, Mon Ami, Maize Valley, Meiers and Raven’s Glenn. Many stores also carry two or more of the following, based on consumer demand: Biscotti, Dover, Firelands, Kirkwood, Laurello, Mantey, Mastropietro, Paper Moon, Quarry Hill, Silver Moon, Valley Vineyards, Virant and Wolf Creek.  While assortment varies by store, most wines are available on a special order basis.

5. What makes Ohio so ideal for producing wine? The climate mostly.  The climate in Northeast Ohio is ideal for producing whites, while down south some very nice reds are made.

6. If Cleveland were a wine, which one would it be? A Riesling – it’s Cleveland’s sweet spot.

7. Favorite wine pairing? Riesling with pork dishes and sauerkraut.

8. What’s the best way to navigate the wine menu at a restaurant? By the weight of the wines, which many restaurants are now listing. One key to pairing wine and food is to match the intensity of the food with the weight of the wine. For instance, full-bodied wines like cabernets have lots of tannins, which can make them taste bitter but are also great for cutting full-flavored foods that are spicy, peppery or fat. That’s why robust reds go so well with a steak au poivre.  Lighter, crisper, cooler wines like Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc are great for spicy foods because they ameliorate the heat.

9. Favorite sites to learn more about wine? Robert Parker is the preeminent wine critic in the world.  What he says often determines the wine market.  Jancis Robinson’s Saturday column in The Herald Tribune is an industry must-read. Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast are also great resources.  To get out in the world and start sampling, visit Local Wine Events which provides information on local – and often free – wine tastings in your area.

10. What are three wines everyone should sample in their lifetime? What wine do you always keep on-hand at home? These would be the wines that are best-of-class in their appellation and/or varietal designation – based on the wines you like.  For instance, I love Pauillac, Sauternes and Riesling.  So for Pauillac I would want to sample Chateau Mouton-Rothschild.  For Sauternes, Chateau d’Yquem.  For Riesling, Zind-Humbrecht Grand Cru Rangen de Thann. Now while these wines are exceptional, when it comes to selling wine, for me, it’s all about giving the customer great quality at a particular price point.  We never wanted to be snobby about wine, because I don’t think more money guarantees a better bottle.  We realized it really turns people off when picking wines becomes too difficult and expensive, and happy wine drinkers are frequent wine drinkers. So at home, I keep Ohio wines of course, as well as California Cabernets, Pinot Noirs from the Northwest, reds from the Rhone Valley and Italian Pinot Grigios.

11. Favorite restaurant in Cleveland?  L’Albatros

12. Where did you grow up and how did you end up in Cleveland? What’s your favorite thing about Cleveland and what drives you nuts? I grew up in Alsace, France, and moved to the US in my twenties.  After working in Illinois and Texas, I joined Giant Eagle 7 years ago and moved to Cleveland.  This is the best decision I ever made.  I love the people here; they are very friendly and welcoming.

13. Bottle Shock or Sideways? These are both good movies – this is what I know about one, and hear about the other.  I watched Sideways when it was released and loved it; I have yet to watch Bottle Shock.

14. Biggest misconception about wine? The cellar isn’t for every wine.  Not all wines improve with age, so be sure to ask before you buy.  Use your local wine steward as a resource: describe wines you’ve loved in the past, or bring in labels, and they will likely will point you toward something really delicious.  Also, while serving wine, “room temperature” doesn’t mean “warm” – somewhere in the 65 degrees range is as hot as any wine should get. Think about it – “room temperature” in a stone lodge in Italy is a lot cooler than a sweltering wine bar in mid-summer.  And while we’re on the topic of temperature, the chemistry and taste of wine changes if it is rapidly cooled.  So rather than throwing a bottle of white wine in the freezer to chill it, leave it in the fridge overnight and then take it out an hour before drinking it to let it warm up slowly.  You’ll be amazed at how much richer the same bottle can taste.

15. What wineries are must-see at Vintage Ohio? Breitenbach, Debonne, Ferrante, Maize Valley, Wolf Creek.

“What kind of wine do you like to drink?” asked Jim Clendenen, named winemaker of the year in 1991 by Food & Wine and in 1992 by the Los Angeles Times for his Santa Barbara winery, Au Bon Climat. “Usually cabs – heavy, full-bodied, cabs,” I replied. “Oh. Then I’m afraid I’m not going to make you very happy,” he quickly answered.

Jim was seated at our table for the Au Bon Climat wine dinner at The Greenhouse Tavern last week. Actually, we had quite the table. In addition to Jim, was one of my best gal pals, Lori, Charity (I Heart Cleveland and Chartreuse), Ruth (Gatherings Kitchen) and Drew Neiman of Neiman Cellars. The company and conversation, coupled with the perfectly-paired courses and wine made for an exceptionally fun evening.

Chef Jonathon Sawyer prepared five courses for the dinner based on wine his team sampled and selected prior to:

1. Potato crusted monk fish (poor man’s lobster) with herb salad / paired with Au Bon Climat pinot blanc
2. Corn roasted pork with spicy soubise and fresno chilis / paired with Sanford & Benedict Chardonnay
3. Ratatouille with zucchini flower, Chevre de Provencal, tomato broth and fresh herbs de Provence / paired with Santa Barbara Pinot Noir
4. Fatted calf with poached cherry, proper polenta and filbert (hazelnuts) / paired with Isabelle pinot noir
5. Pinot noir granita / paired with Dogfish Head Red & White

It’s true, I like heavy wines. I can’t even tell you the last time I intentionally ordered a white wine out (best guess late ‘90s). So truth be told, I was fully expecting to walk away with another ridiculously good meal from Greenhouse and sample a few wines, but not really be impressed by any of them.

I’m really beginning to enjoy when I’m wrong. I was really taken back by how much I liked the wine. While I still don’t think ordering white out or picking up a bottle is in my near future (unless for company), I certainly appreciated the whites we sampled, especially the chardonnay (even more so with the fried hominy in the pork). But what really won me over were the pinot noirs. I have tried to like this wine before and sampled plenty. But it just never did it for me. So I expected more of the same here. Not even close. These were light – but also rich. I was smitten. First with the Santa Barbara pinot but then came the true gem of the night, the Isabelle pinot named after his daughter (actually, the original name of this wine was Isabelle Morgan but he dropped Morgan from the name after his divorce – you learn a lot when seated with the winemaker!). Of course it was also the most expensive wine of the night at $55 a bottle, but it was worth it. In fact, I bought a bottle that night to enjoy with Jamie, and suspect more bottles are in our future.

Jim, a native of Akron, moved to California in the ‘60s. His winery, which means a well-balanced vineyard, was also listed on Robert Parker’s Best Wineries of the World in 1989 and 1990. He’s also recognized by Food & Wine as a master cook for sharing several published recipes with the magazine.

In between each course and prior to the start of our dinner, both Jim and Jonathon would talk and explain their approach. The two of them had great delivery and obvious enthusiasm for what we were about to experience. I actually learned quite a bit, without feeling like I was just schooled.

Jonathon explained that he is fairly picky with the wine dinners and only interested in holding them when the winemaker is willing to come in and represent themselves. He explained that his goal is for the quality of the wine to enhance the quality of the food and to peacefully coexist. When this can happen, he shared, is when they thoroughly enjoy putting together these types of dinners for people to experience food and wine in a way they might normally not.

When talking about his wines, Jim shared that his winery was the first to get rid of asbestos, long before wineries were told they had to. He shared that he makes healthy wine – not because he “cares” about our health per se, but because he drinks more wine than anyone he knows and wants to be healthy. His wines, he added, have low alcohol content and low acidity. He joked that he likes to drink early and drink often, and with his wines, he can (low alcohol or not, I did have to take a few Excedrin in the morning!).

As for his favorite wine, that would be pinot noir – whether it’s his or someone else’s. He explained that it goes with absolutely everything. Especially duck with crushed raspberries and maybe a little garlic and ginger, his favorite pairing.

As for what we ate, once again the chef and his team made me a very happy woman. Seriously, these people can cook and have yet to disappoint me. These types of dinners are fun because you get to sample things not typically found on the menu and I would imagine it gives them an opportunity to play around and get creative. My favorite of the night though was the fatted calf – hands-down. As Sawyer put it, this animal lived a wonderful life, not as long as their parents perhaps, but still enjoyable.

Thanks again to GHT for inviting me to this dinner and for allowing me to give away a pair on the blog. Now seeing first-hand the time that goes into planning and executing these events, and how seriously the team takes them, I highly recommend checking out the next one for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

On August 5, Maximillian Riedel will be in our area to  sample Ohio wines and to demonstrate exactly how his family’s stemware provides an exceptional tasting experience vis a vis ‘regular’ wine glasses.

Riedel, as you may know, has been in the glass business for 300 years. Maximillian is the 11th-generation Austrian crystal maker keeping the family business intact. Professor Claus J. Riedel was the first designer to recognize that the bouquet, taste, balance and finish of wines are affected by the shape of the glass from which they are drunk.  Fifty years ago, he began pioneering work to create stemware that would match and complement different wines.  In the late 1950’s, Riedel started to produce glasses that were a design revolution.  Thin-blown, unadorned, reducing the design to its essence:  bowl, stem, and base.

Working with experienced tasters, Riedel discovered that wine enjoyed from his glasses showed more depth and better balance than when served in other glasses.  According to Robert M. Parker, Jr. of The Wine Advocate, “The finest glasses for both technical and hedonistic purposes are those made by Riedel.  The effect of these glasses on fine wine is profound.  I cannot emphasize enough what a difference they make.”

If you are into wine,  now you have the opportunity to learn  first-hand why exactly there is a difference and participate in a tasting conducted by a member of this iconic family featuring wines selected by the Riedel team. Wines to be sampled include: 2007 Grand River Valley Reserve Chardonnay from Debonne’ Vineyards in Madison, 2008 Grand River Valley Gewürztraminer from Ferrante Winery in Geneva, 2008 Grand River Valley Pinot Noir Select from St. Joseph Vineyard in Thompson and from Dover, Breitenbach Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon.

The event will take place at Quail Hollow and include a cheese sampling and heavy hors d’oeuvres. Additionally, each guest will receive a set of Riedel glasses, valued at $125. The event is from 6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. and costs $95 per person. There are a limited amount of seats available.

This Riedel event launches Vintage Ohio weekend at Lake Farmpark August 6 – 7. Cleveland Foodie readers can get special discounted tickets to Vintage Ohio by using code 2010CLFD.

This post was sponsored by the Ohio Wine Producers Association.

For the past 8 years, The Culinary Vegetable Institute and The Chef’s Garden host a fundraiser to support and promote Veggie U. This year we were lucky enough to attend the Food & Wine celebration with over 30 participating chefs and wineries offering tastings throughout the night on the grounds of the farm under one big (read: HOT) tent. Despite the heat (and bugs), it was a simply outstanding event. We ate, drank, ate some more, made some new friends, reacquainted with old ones, and then ate and drank once again. Truthfully, this was a fabulous event and evening – we had a ball and will continue to attend and support Veggie U and its mission of helping kids make better food choices and understand where their food comes from for years to come.

In between all the good eats, chatter and laughter, we learned a  little Cleveland  food scoop.

I ran into the ladies behind The Lounging Gourmet.

After meeting and briefly talking with Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s Ice Cream, she shared that she’s working on a cookbook that will spill all her delicious little secrets and is actively scouting out Cleveland for a location (maybe by this spring?). Speaking of cookbooks, you may have heard that the Sawyers are working on one too – and getting fairly close to sharing plans for restaurant #2. Finally, ran into a former classmate of mine, Scott Kuhn, who shared that he’s in the process of a major renovation of an old building on the other end of Chagrin Falls (was formerly private property up until now) for a microbrewery (he’s hoping it will mirror some of his favorites in Portland). Much more to come on this.

My favorite dish of the night was a tie between the braised pork belly from chef Craig Deihl at  Cypress in Charleston (I’m heading outside Charleston for vacation this August, will have to make a trip to check out his restaurant) and squash blossoms stuffed with sweet corn, Chevre and spicy peach chutney via chef Michael Delligatta from The Inn at Verailles. Wow. Wow. Wow. I was not familiar with him or this inn, but what an impression this dish made. I also enjoyed the watermelon and cucumber salad from Three Birds and bison flank steak bahn mi with foie gras butter and your choice of toppings from chef Beej Flamholz. Best in show would have to go to Ann Blackwood of Kalahari. She had at least five beautifully decorated desserts with amazing detail. Personally, I didn’t care for the taste of the sweets but Jamie sure did, making a few stops for these tiny chocolate ganache bites with lavender flowers. Chef Jonathon Sawyer of The Greenhouse Tavern demoing his Ratatouille Provence along with Jay (also pictured above with chef Lee Ann Wong, Jay and Amelia) was also fun and informative.

Thanks to Michelle Demuth-Bibb of The Chef’s Garden for sharing some of the pics.

If you have been there before, you probably know why this person shared this warning of sorts. If you have never been  before and saw what I saw, you may have spun around and walked out. I know I might have if I wasn’t tipped off by some trusted sources to look beyond the decor and focus on the food. Which is what I will share with you today. Mekong River in Cleveland Heights boasts a wonderful menu (for the most part). The decor, unfortunately, is clearly not a priority. The carpet is all tattered and torn and stained, dust outlines paintings and a fresh coat of paint was needed several times over – decades ago. It’s not even one of those quirky, borderline charming in a forgotten kinda way spaces that one could overlook. It’s just plain bad. And if you’re like me, the overall atmosphere of a place is almost just as important as the food. Now I don’t mean I need Lola-quality decor every time I dine. Quite the opposite. I’m all for dives. But Mekong River is in its own category and that’s why if I go back, it will be for takeout.

Enough decor chatter, let’s focus on the food. For the most part, I really enjoyed my meal. The flavors, aromas and Thai and Cambodian combinations were tempting from the moment I stepped inside. The appetizers were a hit, especially the Thai curry puffs (you need to try these!). I also enjoyed the wonderfully fragrant samlaw machu kreoung – a true one-bowl wonder of layers of great flavor. I can’t say Mekong is my favorite for Thai, but I can certainly see why it’s so well-liked and has a fair amount of devotees.

Like always, here’s part of the review or you can read the full post here:

If you’re in the mood for Thai, head to Cleveland Heights, which seems to boast a Thai restaurant in just about every main section of the city. One in particular, Mekong River, is often referred to as the best in the area as well as a favorite take-out stop for several area chefs.

Food: Thai and Cambodian are the focus of Mekong River, named after one of the world’s longest rivers. There’s no shortage of choices here, with several tempting pages ranging from starters, soups, curry, Thai and Cambodian entrées, noodles and fried rice specialties and a lengthy offering of vegetarian choices.

On our visit, we started with an order of the crab Rangoon ($4.99), wontons filled with cream cheese, crab meat and seasoning and Thai curry puffs ($5.99), ground chicken, sweet potatoes, onions and cilantro wrapped in a puff pastry served with a thick peanut sauce. Entrées included seafood samlaw machu kreoung, a sour pungent Cambodian stew with ground lemon grass, celery, eggplant, jalapeño, garlic, galanga, tumeric and tamarind sauce served with white rice ($13.99), and pad Thai, perhaps the most often ordered Thai dish with noodles, bean sprouts, scallion, eggs, bay scallops and shrimp ($13.99).

The star of this outing was definitely the appetizers, particularly the Thai curry puffs. These thick, small pie-like starters were savory and beyond satisfying. A trip back just for this is in our future.

Dinners were not as favorable. We’ve sampled pad Thai at just about every Thai restaurant around and this version was not among our favorites (though if you like your pad Thai a little less sweet and light on the peanuts, you might want to try this). The samlaw machu kreoung was much more memorable. This heavily fragrant dish is a one bowl wonder with many layers of flavor, including tangy, sweet and spicy. It’s an impressive dish, especially how it all seems to work so well together.

Bottom line: While the Heights has no shortage of ethnic eats, we’re not yet ready to crown Mekong as our favorite for Thai. It does, however, offer wonderful options and is worth checking out—for takeout.

Just a friendly reminder that if you’re not participating in Wade Oval Wednesdays, you’re missing out. It’s one of my favorite Cleveland summertime activities, and I look forward to when our daughter is just a bit  older and she’ll be able to appreciate some of the happenings taking place mid-week, too (like when they showed The Goonies for movie night – a classic!).

Speaking of the true Cleveland gem that is University Circle, be sure to take advantage of the Gourmets in the Garden series put on by the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Cooking demos by our local chefs in a beautiful setting – it’s a great way to spend $10.

And while it’s still a ways off, the RIPE! Food and Garden Festival will take place September 24 – 26 at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. This event celebrates both the edible gardening revolution and Northeast Ohio’s growing commitment to supporting and eating local food.

The 3-day festival begins with a special Harvest Moon Preview Dinner on September 23 on Wade Oval featuring cuisine by chefs Doug Katz of Fire and Ben Bebenroth of Spice of Life Catering Co. Participants  then choose among 3 tracks of programs: culinary, gardening, and childrens. Each track includes comparative tastings, demonstrations and appearances by gardening and local food experts. An onsite farmers market and garden marketplace will offer visitors an opportunity to take home garden-related products as well as local treats, including produce, cheeses, honeys, apples, etc. Local restaurants will be on hand selling harvest-inspired, ready-to-eat dishes. Children will also be able to sample local offerings and gain an appreciation for the benefits of healthy eating at special programs designed in the Hershey Children’s Garden.

From Anthony Bourdain’s Blog:

A few days ago, the city of Cleveland lost a truly great and important man. And I’m not talking about LeBron James. A hundred years from now, few–other than a few sports nerds–will remember him as much more than statistics on a long ago basketball court.

They will, however, remember Harvey Pekar, whose life and works will surely remain an enduring reference point of late 20th and early 21st century cultural history. Like those other giants of their eras, Twain, Whitman, Dos Passos, Kerouac, Kesey, the times he lived in cannot adequately be remembered without him.

It is true enough to say that he was the “poet laureate of Cleveland” or to describe his American Splendor as “Homeric”, but those descriptives are still inadequate. He was the perfect man for his times, straddling…everything: the underground comic revolution of the 60’s, the creation and transformation of the graphic novel, independent film, television, music (the classic jazz he championed relentlessly throughout his life).

He was famed as a “curmudgeon”, a “crank” and a “misanthrope” yet found beauty and heroism where few others even bothered to look. In a post-ironic and post-Seinfeldian universe he was the last romantic–his work sincere, heartfelt, alternately dead serious and wryly affectionate. The last man standing to wonder out loud, “what happened here?”

His continuing compulsion to wonder what’s wrong with everybody else was both source of entertainment and the only position of conscience a man could take.

After all, Cleveland, the city he lived in and loved, had, he reminded us, lost half it’s population since the 1950s. A place whose great buildings and bridges and factories had once exemplified 20th century optimism needed its Harvey Pekar.

“What went wrong here?” is an unpopular question with the type of city fathers and civic boosters for whom convention centers and pedestrian malls are the answers to all society’s ills but Harvey captured and chronicled every day what was–and will always be–beautiful about Cleveland: the still majestic gorgeousness of what once was–the uniquely quirky charm of what remains, the delightfully offbeat attitude of those who struggle to go on in a city they love and would never dream of leaving.
What a two minute overview might depict as a dying, post-industrial town, Harvey celebrated as a living, breathing, richly textured society.

A place so incongruously and uniquely…seductive that I often fantasize about making my home there. Though I’ve made television all over the world, often in faraway and “exotic” places, it’s the Cleveland episode that is my favorite–and one about which I am most proud.

That show was unique among over a hundred others in that everything–absolutely everything–went perfectly and exactly as planned. Unlike every other episode, pretty much everything had been “written” (or at least planned out) in advance: the look, the American Splendor graphics, destinations, subjects and content. In the middle of a blizzard in the dead of winter, we got exactly what we were looking for. We wanted American Splendor and that’s what we got.

This is due entirely to Harvey (and the incredible Joyce). Harvey may have had a reputation as cantankerous, TV-averse and difficult but from the very first minute he and his family were a delight. They opened up their lives to us in every way they could. They were exactly as they appeared in the great graphic novels and in the film–only warmer and even nicer.

The look, the tone, the sound, the whole feel of the episode that followed was Harvey’s. There was a moment at Sokolowski’s I’ll always remember as quintessential Pekar–that perfectly encapsulated the way we all felt absorbed in to PekarWorld. We’d just finished shooting a scene with Harvey, Toby Radloff and Michael Ruhlman–and Danielle, Harvey’s daughter, who’d been hanging out off- camera, temporarily went missing–out of Harvey’s watchful gaze. I remember looking at him, swiveling his head frantically, the very picture of parental concern and exasperation and actually SEEING comic book curlicues, exclamation points, question marks and smoke emanating from his head. He had made the world around him his world. We were–all of us– just passing through.

A few great artists come to “own” their territory.
As Joseph Mitchell once owned New York and Zola owned Paris, Harvey Pekar owned not just Cleveland but all those places in the American Heartland where people wake up every day, go to work, do the best they can–and in spite of the vast and overwhelming forces that conspire to disappoint them–go on, try as best as possible to do right by the people around them, to attain that most difficult of ideals: to be “good” people.

“Our man” as Harvey often referred to himself in his work, was a good man. An important man. A “great American” is an expression that has been cheapened with over-use, but if these words ever meant anything, they surely describe Harvey Pekar.

He was great. He was American.

For him to have come from anywhere else would be unthinkable. He will be remembered. He will be missed.

The 4^th annual Bastille Day Celebration for Slow Food will take place on the eve of Bastille Day – this Tuesday, July 13^th, beginning at 6 p.m. Participating chefs and farmers include: Thaxtons Garlic (look for a q&a with them soon), Crepes du Luxe, Bar Symon, L’Albatros, Jeni’s Ice Creams, On the Rise, Flying Fig, ABC Tavern, Erie Island Coffee, Moxie/Red and more. Tickets are $75 for non-members and help benefit Slow Foods Northern Ohio.

A little later this month on July 22, chef Sawyer and team will be hosting the Au Bon Climat (which stands for well-exposed vineyard), or ABC wine dinner. Founded in 1982, ABC produces internationally recognized pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot blanc wines from grapes grown in California’s Santa Barbara county. The 5-course dinner is $60 pp. Visit here to see each course and wine pairing.

The Greenhouse Tavern has given me four tickets to giveaway, two for Bastille Day and two for the wine dinner. On Tuesday at noon, I’ll pick two winners via random.org. If you’d like to go, and are free to attend either, please leave a comment to be considered. Since most of us are still talking about recent events, er decisions, leave a comment telling us why you are loyal to the great city of Cleveland and you’ll be automatically entered.

Good luck –and a big thank you to The Greenhouse Tavern for giving away these tickets to readers!

To improve literacy in our region, please support Cleveland Reads and its 9^th annual Reds, White and Brews fundraiser on July 16^th at Windows on the River. The event features wine and beer tastings from all over the country, along with heavy appetizers, desserts and a silent auction. Tickets are $90.

Jamie used to be on the board for Cleveland Reads and we’ve attended this event several times. It’s truly a great evening and the wine tastings can’t be beat – and it’s for a very worthy cause. Personally, I’ve been involved in a handful of literacy programs in our area and spoken to several city leaders and educators on this topic. It’s quite upsetting to learn just how far behind many of our students are. But we can help. You can help. To purchase tickets, visit here. To learn how to support the initiatives of Cleveland Reads, including becoming a volunteer tutor, visit here.

The folks at Cleveland Reads gave me a pair of tickets to give away. If you’d like to go, just leave a comment telling us what your favorite book what growing up. I will pick a winner via Random.org on Friday, July 9.

P.S. I have two childhood favorites: To Kill a Mockingbird and The Giving Tree. I read the latter to my daughter almost weekly and still enjoy it today as much as I did growing up.

It’s that patio that I’ll miss the most. I never cared for the decor inside the restaurant so therefore only found myself at Baricelli in the summer. In fact, the only time I ever went inside was to mill around the tiny walk-in cheese cooler that housed many of my weakness.

I’m sure we all have our opinions as to why they are closing and can form our own conclusions. But for whatever the reason may be, I’ll personally miss the restaurant. Even though I only made it to Baricelli once or twice a year (wine, cheese and we’d share the Bucatini all’ Amatriciana – our standard Baricelli fare on the patio), it’s part of Little Italy’s fabric. That beautiful mansion on the hill with its exquisite grounds. Sure, they earned a reputation as a fine dining establishment and as a special occasion place that never seemed to fade, despite numerous attempts to change it. And that’s likely part of the reason behind its closing.  Nonetheless, it’s in the makeup of that neighborhood and it just doesn’t seem right that in a week it will be no more. Not to mention that that’s now two of my go-to restaurants in Little Italy that made my all time favorite pasta dish (Battuto was the other).

According to the article, Washington Place Bistro and Inn will open in its place this fall. The restaurant will not serve Italian dishes, instead it will focus on modern American comfort food. While I hate to judge a place based on one article and not knowing a thing more, I’m a bit skeptical about this new venture. Yes, I want something to go in there and would hate the thought of that beautiful structure sitting empty. But American comfort food? And based on the other establishments that the new owner, Scott Kuhn, owns, I don’t have high hopes for the food. While I am a fan of many places he operates, like 87 West, it’s for the atmosphere and wine, never the food. I consistently just find it to be average and not a main priority. Nevertheless, only time will tell and of course I’ll visit to fond out for sure – and hopefully be proven wrong.

As for Paul Minnillo and head chef Christopher Di Lisi, they have no plans to hang up their chef coats anytime soon. As Joe Crea shares in the article:

Meanwhile, the end of Baricelli doesn’t mean Clevelanders will have enjoyed their last meal from the artful hands of its skilled chefs. Minnillo is joining in the migratory pattern taken by growing numbers of the nation’s tops chefs from formal to casual.

This fall, Minnillo and partner chef Christopher Di Lisi, will open Flour at 34205 Chagrin Blvd. in Moreland Hills. Di Lisi’s wife, Krista, will serve as general manager. The 6,000-square-foot space will have an open kitchen, an expansive bar and a menu that the partner chefs describe as “moderately priced rustic Italian.” Flour will prominently feature an oversized wood-fired oven capable of baking authentic Neopolitan-style pizzas and other dishes, as well as an array of house-cured salume, antipasti, pastas and entrees.

The migration also will bring lower prices. Despite the area’s higher socioeconomic bracket, “these people are no different [in their changing eating habits], even though their homes are more expensive,” Minnillo says. “They’re going to more casual places.” The most expensive item on his new menu will be $21.”

As for the cheeses that I have grown to love, Crea shares that The Baricelli Cheese Co will live on inside the West Side Market offering more than 40 varieties from around the world in conjunction with Urban Herbs and the Cheese Shop.

Good news for cheese lovers, and despite the sad news of Baricelli’s closing, I am certainly looking forward to Flour and can see myself becoming a regular (and it’s fairly close to me!).