On the Sly

Slyman's
3106 St Clair
Cleveland, OH
216-621-3760

Reuben Sandwich

The best corned beef in Cleveland is at Slyman's. You could go to slymans for pastrami, roast beef, or turkey sandwiches, but don't waste too much time on these other sandwiches. You should just get a corned beef sandwich. If you attempt to order something else besides corned beef, listen to your diner waitress when she says, "Honey, we have the best corned beef in the world, would you like to try one of our corned beef sandwiches?" Your answer should be yes to the corned beef sandwich.

"Man on the street interview"

I got tipped off to try Slyman's by Pete, who used to live in Cleveland. I need to get more Cleveland food tips from Pete because he has never steered me wrong. Slyman's does have the best corned beef I have had in my adult life. It is so good, that I brought home a pound of the good stuff and that is what we have been eating for lunch everyday since I have gotten back. Here is a tip for you travelers: I take gallon and quart sized ziplock baggies with me when I travel. I never know when I need the baggies. Sometimes I need them to transport my liquids on a plane, sometimes I need them to take leftovers back home or to the hotel room. This time, a gallon ziplock was needed to take home a pound of this hearty corned beef.

On this day at Slyman's, I got a Reuben which is a toasted rye bread sandwich with a little kraut, and melted Swiss cheese and piled high with corned beef. The sandwich line is going non-stop. They guy slicing the meat did not stop slicing for the whole hour I was there. This shop has this deal down pat, it did not take more than 3 minutes to get my order. The waitress came around with 1000 island dressing on the side, if I wanted it. There is a big cup of horseradish on all the tables to enhance the sandwich if you want it. I decided to mix a little 1000 island dressing with a scoop of horseradish to use on my sandwich. I had to use a fork and knife to start eating the sandwich because it was too tall for me to eat with my hands. The corned beef isn't overly salty like the cheaper stuff sold in chain grocery stores. It has a nice briskety texture, moist and tender. The Swiss cheese, horseradish and the nice toasted bread complimented the corned beef.

Also on this day, Cleveland News Channel 5 stopped in to get the opinion from the "man on the street" about the upcoming Ohio State U football game. Apparently, as the locals were saying, it is rather common for news crews to come to Slyman's to get the opinions from the "man on the street", and it is possible to get a news crew there every week.

My suggestion is, if you fly in and out of Cleveland, take a small soft side insulated lunch box and a ziplock baggie. Go get yourself some corned beef and carry it on the plane in the baggie and lunch box. Apologize to your airplane neighbors for the corned beef smell, and tell them it is corned beef from Slyman's. Then the airplane neighbors will ask you for a taste of the corned beef because they know how good Slyman's is. Eh, you better get a pound and 1/2 to take with you so you can share the corned beef with the airplane neighbors, and still have a pound of corned beef when you get home.

Dim and Den Sum

Dim and Den Sum
Dowtown Cleveland, OH
facebook.com/dimndensum
twitter @DimAndDenSum

the truck - can't miss it

Before February 2010, Chris and Jeremy had to jump through hoops to change old Cleveland ordinances and rules about mobile truck food. Finally in February 2010 permit in hand, the Dim and Den Sum truck, the 1st mobile food truck in over a decade, rolled onto the roads of downtown Cleveland to feed hungry and adventurous lunchers from City Hall to the Cleveland Clinic, to the Cleveland Art Museum. People of Cleveland love this food truck. Ever since I caught wind of this truck, I have been on their Facebook and Twitter feeds to let me know where they are going to be each day they are making lunch. Actually, that is the only way to find out where lunch is from Den and Dim Sum, it is by electronic means, Twitter, Facebook, or the banner on the front page of the DimAndDenSum.com website.

rib sammich

The gig at Dim and Den Sum is that they try to use some locally grown food in every sandwich or wrap they sell. The food is Asian Fusion. On this day, I got a Rib Sammich which is pulled pork rib meat with Asian fermented black beans, topped with marinated heirloom local tomatoes and fresh local sweet pepper slaw. I also got homemade bison gyro wrap with local heirloom tomatoes, homemade fresh local cucumber pickles which were lightly brined, spinach and gyro sauce. They also offer jarritos sodas. I really liked the fresh locally grown vegetables on my sammy and wrap. I think the vegetable preparation and marinades or pickling added to the success of the sandwiches. I wish this Asian Fusion food truck would come to Nashville because it is not just another taco truck.

I was told that I was trying the "new menu" items. There seemed to be a little confusion from the regulars mulling around. Every single regular asked where the PBLT was. There wasn't a sammy like that on this day. The PBLT is a pulled pork, bacon, lettuce, tomato and sriracha mayo sandwich which seems to be a favorite. The air around the the truck seemed to be resignation to try another sandwich, but every single regular requested the PBLT be put back on the menu. One week after this lunch day I had, Dim and Den Sum put the PBLT back on the menu. Judging all the chatter amongst the diners about the PBLT, I would suggest that the PBLT be a regular item, and never be taken off the menu, even if the other items change.

Austin - one of the 2 1st customers ever

On this day that I happened to be flying in to work in N. OH, I had just enough time to find the Twittered location and get lunch. This particular day, Dim and Den Sum was parked in the shade by the CIA, the Cleveland Institute of Art. Lucky for me, school was not in session yet, so I was able to find street parking quickly. CIA is across the street from the Cleveland Art Museum and next to Case Western Reserve. The roads in and around the museum, CIA and CWR are part of an old-school (literally and figuratively) city park layout. It is an oasis from the multi-lane urban roads such as Euclid and Chester. This little section of Cleveland does not follow the grid pattern of roadways, rather all the roads are curvy and windy, and it is possible to get a little turned around inside this oasis.

I met a couple of Den and Dim Sum regulars including Austin and Stuart. Stuart takes a lot of photos of his food, and his flickr site has over 17k. It is rare for me to run into people who photograph their food like I do, so it was really a pleasure to meet someone else who likes to do the same. He eats out a lot in Cleveland and he knows of tasty places to eat. He recommended a couple places to me, which I will have to catch on my next trip to N. OH. Austin was also eating from this food truck, and he happened to be the very first customer with his buddy in February 2010. He happens to work near CIA, so he just biked over to the truck for lunch, and got the same exact food I did. We both really liked the rib sammy because the flavors are just so perfectly balanced with sweet, salty, and sour. It was fun to learn a little about Austin's life style, he does not have a car and bikes everywhere, even in winter. The buses in Cleveland like Nashville have bike racks, so in the winter Austin will take the bus with his bike, or just take the bus. He lives on the west side of town near an area with a bunch of ethnic restaurants, and a bar, restaurant, nightclub that has been continuously open and running for over 40 years. I did not get a chance to go to that establishment, and forgot to write down the name. Is it Steves? Anyone out there who can help me out with that? I would like to go to some of the restaurants he mentioned and this nightclub in the west side, so anyone? anyone? I didn't write any of these down. Austin, if you read this, comment and tell me again!

Get on the tweet, get on the facebook, get on the website, and find out if Dim and Den Sum is going to be in your neighborhood. Go get yourself a tasty treat, meet people in your neighborhood or other working stiffs near you. It is a lot of fun.

Nothing to do with Napoleon Bonaparte

Farkas Pastry Shoppe
2700 Lorain Ave
Cleveland, OH
216-281-6200
2 blocks west of the West Side Market
W-F 9-4, Sat 9-2
special orders made in advance on other days

Napoleons

I had a late plane out of Cleveland, and it had become later and later, and I could have had a great night on the town, the plane was so late, but that is another story. Because I had a late plane, I had time to head to the West Side Market for snacks and a late lunch, so I called up my long time buddy, who works in downtown Cleveland, to come meet me for a long lunch. My buddy has lived in Cleveland for about 20 years, and her husband was born and raised in Cleveland, so they know their way around this town. We met for lunch, and since I mentioned I had plenty of time before heading off to catch my Late late plane, I could do something else. A sparkle came to my buddy's sweet tooth, and she said, "follow me!" We walked through a block of the trendy restaurants including the Great Lakes Brewing Company (well not trendy, but great locally brewed beer), and the Flying Fig, and come out on Lorain Rd. And then, there it was, the most unimpressive store front you could ever imagine.

My buddy said, "We are going to have dessert, and here we are!" Where were we? We got to Farkas Pastry Shoppe. So we walk into this door in an old building with no air conditioning. I look around, there is one table, a counter, and a couple people tossing around dough and flour while wearing their off-white industrial aprons. Again, completely underwhelmed visually, but I was guessing that there was little energy put into decor, and a lot more energy put into the desserts. I was right, and desserts here are delicious!!

My buddy is quite familiar with this pastry shop because her husband went to school right around the corner from this shop, and she has been coming to this place ever since she moved to Cleveland. One time, long ago, at some sort of PTA event, she was slated to bring a dessert, and she brought a sheet of Farkas Napoleons, and they were a big hit, so from then on, she has been designated the dessert lady, and always told to bring the Farkas Napoleons.

One of the bakers come to the counter and asked what we would like. Napoleons for everyone! We got a complimentary cup of coffee, and sat down a the one table. The baker cut pieces of Napoleon for us and then topped it with a little powdered sugar. The Napoleon had a flaky multi-layer pastry top to it, a layer of creme, a layer of vanilla creme, and a base of more flaky pastry. Oh, the pastry layers had such a nice crispy thin crunch to it which contrasted well with the smooth coolness of the creme layers. Both creme layers were extremely light and just melted in my mouth. The creme and pastry were not overly sweet, just the way I like it. This was the perfect dessert for less than $3. The Napoleon was so good, and I wanted to bring some more Farkas desserts home with me, but the Napoleon would not travel well. I then opted for the Linzer torte inspired cake. I got 2 pieces of the raspberry linzer torte made with linzer dough and raspberry filling, and then topped with hazelnut cake. Each large square was less than $2, and it too was delicious!

So, again, just like Jolly Donut in Sandusky, OH, don't judge a book by its cover. Neither Jolly Donut, nor Farkas Pastry Shoppe store fronts look like much at all, and I would have passed by both of them (and have) without given each a second thought. Well, I know better now. Farkas Pastries are really nice pastries. If you find yourself at Cleveland's West Side Market, make sure you take a walk 2 blocks west on Lorain Rd, and get yourself a European pastry treat.

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.

Give me sum dim sum

Li Wah
2999 Payne Ave
Cleveland, OH
216-696-6556

Asia Plaza (E 30th and Payne Ave)

the sign

The two weeks leading up to my trip to Cleveland, I had been to the middle of no where South Central Kentucky, middle of no where North Central Tennessee, San Francisco and Sonoma. Before embarking on the back to back to back to back trips, I went to a rather sub-par dim sum place in town which microwaved food before delivering items to my table and was quite bad. There is no dim sum, let alone Chinese food in South Central KY, nor in North Central TN. When I was in San Francisco, I made the mistake of going to a dim sum place at noon on Sunday that did not have a line with at least a 1 hour wait, and was about 2/3 empty. The San Francisco place was better than the sub-par, but there was not enough of turn over, and some of the steamed food was served to me cold because it had been in the cart too long. I was so disappointed that I chose poorly in San Francisco. I should have just waited the hour for the good dim sum.

ha chung fun

When I got off the plane from San Francisco and got on the plane to Cleveland, I knew I had another chance for dim sum, as I have eaten at Li Wah before. Last year, I was at Zinc Brasserie, and was asking Andrea and Kirk where there is some decent Chinese food in Sandusky. They said there isn't, but in Cleveland at the Asia Plaza, Payne Ave, St Clair Ave, E 30th to about 39th, there are some Chinese and East Asian style restaurants. A few weeks before I left on my whirlwind travel, I can't remember if it was Michael Ruhlman or Michael Symon who took a little poll on Facebook asking where there is decent dim sum Chinese food in Cleveland. Well, overwhelmingly, Li Wah was on the top of the list followed by Bo Loong and others. I had been to Li Wah before because it is easy to find off of 90, 2 and 6. There is plenty of off street parking. There is a nice Asian grocery store next door. It is just an easy hang at Li Wah.

pi quot

On the occasions that I have gotten to eat here, it has been fairly full for dim sum midweek any time between noon and 2 pm. I hear there is a wait on the weekends, but I have not tried Li Wah on the weekends. At Li Wah, I have had har gau, pi quot, cilantro har gau, beef chow fun with gravy, ha chung fun, and jung. The steamed food was steamed, the pan fried foods were pan fried, and the dishes that normally come with sauces came with sauces. This seems a little odd to write that I was impressed with steamed dim sum that was actually steamed, but the bad dim sum I had in Nashville tried to pass off microwaved food as steamed foods (not good). I will not take steamed dim sum for granted ever again. I love steamed dim sum that is actually steamed! The two dishes I really like a lot are the chung fun and the pi quot. The chung fun at Li Wah is served with an optional sauce. I opt for the sauce because I like it, but it is not mandatory for those who are looking for a lower sodium dish. The pi quot at Li Wah is actually as good as anywhere I have been in San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and New York. The pork is smooth with just the right amount of fat, and the fermented black beans mixed with the steam and pork fat makes a really nice umami sauce for the pork. Another dish that I really like was the now yook chow fun, the stir fried beef with white rice noodles, and Li Wah delivers a decent version. There was one version of beef chow fun that I had in New York City in a little basement joint off of Canal Street that was truly exceptional. This noodle dish was stir fried over an extremely high heat so that the oil reached the smoke point and added a smoky charry edge to the dish. There is only one place in Boston that did the same thing. Li Wah did not get the wok that hot, but the flavor of the noodles and beef was very nice and satisfying. There isn't a huge Chinese population in Cleveland, but there is just enough to support a restaurant like this. There is also a long old world tradition of food in Cleveland, so the general population is used to dining on a lot of ethnic foods from Europe and Asia. I am looking forward to going back to Li Wah during my next trip to Cleveland.