Coquette Patisserie in Cleveland

After our blissful trip to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Amanda and I were in the mood for a snack.  She hadn't had any birthday cake yet so that was an obvious must!  She mentioned a little patisserie that had opened recently near by, we glanced at their website and we were sold!  Within a couple minutes we were making our way to the Coquette Patisserie.  It took us some time to find parking but it was totally worth it.  The shop itself is absolutely adorable...

 I mean, how cute is that!?

We decided to share a couple of their amazing looking cakes and a small french press of coffee.

 So pretty!  We ended up getting (clockwise from the top): the pear pinwheel, the Queen of Sheba, and the chocolate triomphe.

 We were both actually a little wary to dig in because it all looked too beautiful and perfect to eat!  The Queen of Sheba (with the fleur-de-lis) was this first one we tried and turned out to be our least favorite.  It was good, but once we tried the pear and the chocolate triomphe it was blown out of the water!  Amanda loved the pear the most, while I was absolutely crazy about the chocolate triomphe.

Look at that!  I was expecting a dense cake like the Queen of Sheba, but when I dug my fork in I was surprised to find a soft white cake covered in a fluffy chocolate mousse covered in a creamy, rich ganache topped with candied hazelnuts...WOWZA!  So good!

If you find yourself in Cleveland anywhere near the university or the museums I would definitely recommend you stop by and try one of their delicious and perfectly constructed goodies!  They also offer a cheese and a charcuterie plate, a selection of beers, and wine and champagne.  It'd be a great spot for an afternoon snack with your best lady friends or a sweet spot to stop for dessert on a date!

Well, with that, happy Friday everyone!  I gotta say this week felt both short and long to me; the first half of the week flew by but the second half seemed to crawl.  I'm very much looking forward to the weekend!  Antoine and I are heading to the Krohn Conservatory orchid show, which I'm insanely excited for, and then I'm hoping to spend a good deal of the weekend relaxing and maybe reading.  What about you?  Any fun plans in the works this weekend?

Lunch at A Tavola

After spending an hour or so at Krohn Conservatory, feverishly taking pictures of anything and everything, Antoine and I were hungry.  We debated on what to get but finally we decided pizza sounded good, as it usually does to us (especially me!) and I suggested A Tavola.  Antoine had never been and I had only been once, a little over a year ago.  We were happily seated right away at the pizza bar, right by the beautiful brick oven...

If you haven't been it's definitely a fun place to sit.  You get to watch them not only assemble your pizza but then skillfully slide it into the big brick oven.  It's crazy how fast it goes from being raw dough with toppings to a perfectly cooked pizza with lightly charred crispy crust!

We started off with drinks, which is a totally unusual thing for us.  Antoine and I are generally not the type to get drinks when we go out (unless our purpose is to get significantly tipsy...a la margaritas at Barrio during Midpoint).  But we figured what the hell!  It was our day of fun and they had a Rhinegeist porter that Antoine was eyeing, and once I saw "house-made ginger beer" I was sold...bring on the Ginger Beer Me!

A dark and stormy with house-made ginger beer...yum!  And potent!  This was the second drink I had had at A Tavola, the first was a Flinestone Pushup for my birthday last year and it was equally tasty.

For an appetizer we got a trio of sliders, beef, chicken and eggplant (with a side of goat cheese), which they kindly cut in half so we could share.  Surprisingly enough the eggplant was my favorite and the chicken was my least favorite...totally unexpected as I love chicken and I usually only half like eggplant.  For our pizza we got the brussels sprout with caramelized onion, fontina and artichokes!  Our waiter suggested we add some bacon and boy oh boy were we glad we did, it was delicious!  The caramelized onions practically melted, the bacon was heavenly and the still crisp brussels sprouts were a nice contrast to all the other rich flavors.

After lunch we were kind of tipsy and extremely full, but since we were so close to Holtman's and we don't get down to OTR very often decided it was necessary to walk a little farther up Vine Street for a donut...for later obviously.

Holtman's not only has an absolutely adorable sign, but some kickass donuts!  This time we decided on a chocolate frosted cream cheese filled donut and a blueberry fritter to share!

A little while later, once we were back home, I made myself a cup of coffee and Antoine and I dug into our donut/fritter!  Oh my, that blueberry fritter was so good!  I'm glad Holtman's isn't right down the street from us, because those could be habit forming for sure!

I've still got one more post lined up, but not sure when it will make an appearance yet.  If I'm not back before the weekend I hope yours is wonderful.  Try to stay warm out there!!

Incline Public House: A Brunch Review

A little while ago Antoine and I made plans to meet up with my sis, Michelle, and brother-in-law, Christian, to have brunch on what happened to be Mother's day.  After reading Katherine's post on the Incline Public House and seeing their brunch menu, I knew we had to try it out.  Incline doesn't take reservations and they said (both on the phone and on their website) that they opened at 11am on Sunday, yet when we got there at 10:45am there were already people seated inside and there was a 45 minute wait.  But luckily I had my camera with me and the view is amazing, so we spent a couple minutes taking pictures and enjoying the panorama of Cincinnati.

Even though it was freezing outside, it was sunny and the view of Cincinnati was fantastic.

Sadly, all my negative comments about the Incline are about the wait and the lack of organization on the hostess' part.  Don't get me wrong, I have no problem waiting for a restaurant.  I've easily waited an hour and a half to be seated at Melt before...maybe even 2 hours.  And when Antoine and I went to brunch at Blue Moon Cafe in Baltimore, we waited easily two hours in the hot sun (and it was totally worth it).  But I do have a problem with waiting when there are multiple (we're talking easily 4 to 6) tables open, bused and set...just sitting there, empty, for 30 to 40 minutes.  A huge party was taking up all the seating (and space) in the entry way and it was freezing and windy outside.  I was definitely getting testy during our wait to be seated; the combination of there being 4-6 tables open that could have had people sitting at them, some servers just standing around, and seeing all the delicious looking food through the window made me a little grumpy.  Oh, and I hadn't had coffee yet.

But, once we finally got seated (at one of those tables that had been empty for some time) we had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed brunch!

The coffee, which our server told us was from Coffee Break Roasting Company, was fantastic!

Christian and his four beverages.  He really seemed to enjoy the Bloody Mary he ordered.

We saw a couple people with beers and tasty looking cocktails.

My sister and I were both in the mood for sweet and savory so we decided to split The Hangover Cure and the Bananas Foster French Toast.  We tend to gravitate toward the same menu items and we both love to share, so we enjoy having brunch together even more since we get to try multiple dishes.

The Hangover Cure: biscuits, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage gravy, cheddar cheese and argula topped with a fried egg.  Antoine also got the Hangover Cure, and we all really enjoyed it.  The arugula was dressed with some sort of vinaigrette which had a slight sweetness to it helping to counterbalance the richness of the egg, bacon and gravy.

Bananas Foster French Toast: French toast topped with a butter rum sauce, bananas and whipped cream, served with your choice of bacon, sausage or goetta.  This was my favorite!  I would totally get it again.  My sis and I were about ready to lick the plate when we were done.  The sauce was so buttery and delicious!  Since I ate the fried egg from the Hangover Cure (eggs make my sis a little squeamish), I let Michelle order goetta (I'm not a goetta fan) as the accompanying side.  I did try it and it wasn't bad.  Michelle said she liked it because it wasn't greasy like some goetta can be.

Christian got the Pastrami Hash: Fried potatoes with onions, peppers and pastrami topped with a fried eggs and served with crostini.  He really enjoyed it.

The food was fantastic, all of it!  Not a complaint in the group, only "mmm" sounds.  Our waiter told us that almost everything is made in-house, even most of the mix-ins for the bar, including the orange juice and purees.  So, once you get seated, expect a little bit of a wait for your food...but trust me, it'll probably be worth it.

The Incline Public House has only been open since February, so I'm sure they're still getting their bearings.  However, one of their biggest issues is obviously their hostess stand.  Our waiter told us that some evenings the wait can be as long as 3 hours.  And while I'm looking forward to returning and enjoying the view on the balcony when it's warmer, I certainly won't be waiting 3 hours, because that's ridiculous!

Taste of Belgium Bistro: A Brunch Review

If you live in Cincinnati and have been to Findlay Market then you've had, at the very least, a sample of Taste of Belgium's delicious Liège style waffles.  And if you've had one then you know how awesome they are, especially compared to most of the run-of-the-mill "Belgium" waffles you find at most brunch spots.  If you're me, then you're lucky enough to have a partner who once he tries something tasty and gets it in his head that he wants to try making it at home (which happens all the time), then he spends hours researching online for the best recipe and techniques for that certain dish.  Yep, that's Antoine!  Well, when Antoine and I first tried a Liège waffle from Taste of Belgium years ago (from their Findlay booth) Antoine immediately set out to find the perfect recipe, which, as we found out, must start with pearl sugar.  Lucky for us, there's this little place called Jungle Jim's that usually have everything you could possibly need when it comes to unique ingredients.  After a test-run or two, Antoine was making Liège waffles like a pro...a very very dangerous thing.  As you may or may not know, Liège waffles are dangerously good.  Unlike their "Belgium" counterpart Liège waffles are dense and buttery with bits of pearl sugar throughout that caramelize from the heat of the waffle iron.  It's heaven!

Yet, as much as I love these little pieces of heaven, I still hadn't made it to their bistro on Vine St (which opened up at the end of 2011).  So, when my mom was in this weekend and we rattled off a bunch of different brunch options for Sunday I was really happy when she said, "waffles sound good!"  Like most trendy places that are popping up in OTR, I expected Taste of Belgium's Bistro to be busy and possibly a little uppity.  Sadly, it was a little more uppity than I think I can take...especially when I can have tasty Liège waffles at home (or even at Findlay) without enduring attitude and feelings of inadequacy.

We walked in a little after 9:30am (they open at 9am on Sundays), so there was a little bit of a wait, but not too bad.  When my sister went up to the hostess to give her our name the hostess, without looking at Michelle, said "I'll be with you in a minute".  Several minutes went by, two other parties came in and stepped up to the hostess station, and when the hostess was ready, what did she do?  She's looked right past my sister (who was standing right in front of her), and asked the next person how many in their group.  Steam immediately started coming out of my ears!  My sister let it roll off her back and politely said she was next and got Miss Attitude's attention.  And this is why I let my sister handle these things, because I would have gritted my teeth and "I was fucking next! Thank you very much!" and felt an intense urge to punch her!  *(FYI, I wouldn't actually punch someone for that, but I would definitely want to)

Anyway, we were shortly seated and, thankfully, our server was nice and waited on us right away.

I got a latte, which was good.  Not the most amazing latte ever, but it did the trick.

My sis got a chai latte, which was pretty tasty.

Silly sister, making faces for the camera.

There, that's better!

Michelle and Antoine both got the waffle n' chicken ($10).  It had really good flavor, but Antoine and I both agreed that it was a bit of a disappointment that the chicken wasn't the usual fried chicken you get with chicken and waffles, instead it was more like a chicken cutlet that you'd get with Chicken Parmesan.  Still the sweetness of the waffle and slight spiciness of the hot sauce made a good combo.

Mom got the waffle with fruit and cream ($5).

I got the waffle with banana and nutella ($5).  

I don't know, call me crazy or call me a cheapskate...but I don't know if I'm willing to spend $5 on a waffle that's barely 4 inches in diameter with some nutella and half a banana on it.  Especially when some of the servers and staff give off this vibe that they think they're the shit and you're not good enough to be there.  And when Antoine can make a waffle just as good, at a fraction of the cost, and I can stay in my pajamas while I eat it.  Not too mention that the wait can be long; there was a long line of people waiting when we left.  And seating is pretty cramped!  My sister was butted up against a pipe that was protruding about 10 inches from the wall and our table was so close to a high-top table that Antoine and the lady behind him (at the high-top) had to coordinate with each other any time one of them wanted to get up or sit down.

While the food was tasty, overall the vibe of the place left me with a bad taste in my mouth.  I'm not sure if I'll be eager to return, when places like Senate and A Tavola are so close and feel a little bit more inviting, albeit just as busy.  And as far as brunch spots in OTR go, I will continue to choose Mayberry's over ToB Bistro anyday!  Mayberry is anything but snooty and they're portions are very generous.  Plus their food is killer!   And as far as Liège waffles go, I'll leave it up to the Findlay Market storefront, because they're always friendly and inviting, or Antoine, because he won't charge me and he's cute!

Have you been to Taste of Belgium's Bistro?  What did you think?  Have you ever tried a  Liège waffle before?  Isn't it buttery/sugary magic?!

*Author's Note: Shortly after posting this, Taste of Belgium contacted me via twitter to apologize and track whoever it was that was mean to us and slap them.  Awesome!  Thanks for the personal attention Taste of Belgium, you definitely haven't lost me as a customer...your product is just too tasty!