Tartine

Tartine Bistro
19110 Old Detroit Rd
Rocky River, OH
440-331-0800

table-scape

I finally down loaded the YELP app onto my little machine. I had not downloaded YELP before now because I just don't quite get the Yelp website, and have had a hard time getting the review information I want out of the website. The app is completely different, and delivers exactly what I want while on travel. The Yelp app summarizes the restaurants by price, proximity to the current location, offers maps, offers comments, and offers addresses and phone numbers. I relly really like the Yelp app. So, during my most recent trip to Cleveland, I finally downloaded the app and gave it a whirl. What came up near the top was Tartine Bistro in Rocky River. This place got 4 stars, and peoples comments were generally positive. I decided to give this place a whirl.

When I arrived, there was plenty of free off street parking, and the restaurant was tucked into a corner of a cute old style strip mall. There is an antique store, hair dresser, art shop, home accessories, and other little shops that are fun to window shop.

crabcake

I went here for lunch, and it was late, about 2 pm. It was a lovely day, there were a few people eating outside, and another table inside and me. I noticed that the people dining outside had pizza. I looked at their pizza. I didn't see a char on the edges of the pizza, which is normally desirable to not have burnt pizza, but I have strange taste. I really like charred, blacked edges on my pizza, and the only way to do that is in an extremely hot pizza oven or a wood fired pizza oven. The pizzas looked good, but my taste is burnt edges. So I moved on and went in to get seated and look at other options on the menu.

I looked around and there was a red glow to this place. It was a bright sunny day in Cleveland, and this restaurant was noticeably darker inside. I guess the dark read painted ceiling made the room seem darker than it was, and gave everything a red glow. I suppose the red glow on food is appetizing, compared to a blue glow. I was seated near the open chef's area, which looked like a chef's bar. I got to watch my food being made. I believe it was a sous chef creating my food, and he made my crabcake and my salad for me. My crabcake was a lot of crab, low to no filler, and then formed into a patty and it looks like it was pan fried on all sides. Very nice. I had a frisee salad as my second course, and that was a tartine. There was a nice think slice of toast on the bottom, frisee salad with bacon bits, hollandaise vingarette, and a fried egg on top. I love salad this way with and egg yolk that I can crack open and have the warm yellow yolk ooze all into the salad leaves. Oh, I love the texture and temperature contrasts of the thick liquidy warm rich egg yolk against the crisp cool and vinegary frisee.

egg and salad

As I was settling up my bill, a big man walked into the restaurant, and walked straight to the door that lead to a back room. He was louder than any patron and staff. Until then, I did not realize what a nice quiet lunch I had. He said something about going to the West Side Market to see what he could get. I am guessing he John McDonnell the owner of Tartine Bisto. The West Site Market is the oldest public market in Cleveland and the USA, and is located at the corner of West 25th and Lorain Rd. I may try to go to the West Side Market on my next trip to Cleveland to buy fruit and maybe some vegetables. During travel, I usually buy a piece of fruit or 2 for every day I am on travel. Sometimes it is hard to eat right, and get enough fruit and vegetables in my diet while on travel status, so getting a piece or 2 of fruit for each day helps my diet be a little better.

Tartine was a really nice option for the close of my most recent trip to Cleveland. I love Cleveland when it is not winter. There is really good food in and around Cleveland. There are a lot of little ethnic Eurpoean and Asian restaurant in the Cleveland area. The architecture in many parts of Cleveland is quite beautiful. There is a nice hard working feel in the Warehouse district. I have not yet tried Little Italy in Cleveland, and that may be my next adventure.