Fine Dining on Lake Erie: Restaurant Review of Zinc Brasserie

Our beautiful hometown of Sandusky, Ohio has a beautiful and tasty new restaurant, Zinc Brasserie. Located downtown, a stones throw from the picturesque Sandusky Bay and Cedar Point, Zinc Brasserie opened last summer. Sandusky has a lot of wonderful, local places to eat (and a lot of boring chain restaurants too) but there has never been a restaurant quite like this in Sandusky. The menu is seasonal with elegant and gourmet ingredients (duck confit, blood oranges, and artisan cheeses are rare on menus in Sandtown) and the decor is chic

Now, don't get me wrong I love my local Sandusky restaurants, there are some great family-owned, local restaurants that have great food and a wonderful, hometown charm. But that is a post all in it's own.Maybe after my parents read this they might say "Erin, this isn't the FIRST fancy restaurant in Sandusky...I remember when.. etc., etc. etc" but at least in my memory, I don't remember there being a restaurant like Zinc Brasserie.

Ok- now about the food. My parents, Ryan's parents, and Ryan and I all ate at Zinc Brasserie to celebrate a weekend home, wedding plans and because we're all going to be a big happy family soon! :) Our waitress was really nice and helpful, their late spring menu was full of choices and then there was a chalkboard full of specials they change daily. Zinc also has a great list of cocktails so after we ordered the cocktail and wine, we were ready to order.

I started with the ruby red beets and blood orange salad, which was AMAZING. I have been really loving beets lately so once I saw this salad on the menu, it was a done deal. For some reason as a child and until about 6 mos. ago I never liked beets. Maybe it's because my mom used to eat them cottage cheese and that I thought that was weird or maybe it's their very deep, dark purple color that turned me off, but man have I been missing out!! Beets are so good for you and so tasty. But, I digress.. The salad was really good, the combination of the rich goat cheese truffles with the tartness of the blood oranges and the sweetness of the beats was a heavenly symphony on my taste buds. I think I could have just ate like 3 plates of that salad for dinner but I finished my salad very satisfied and excited for my dinner.

For dinner I ordered one of the specials which I believe may have been an appetizer.. I chose the mussels in a white wine sauce with a spicy sauce in the broth. The mussels were delicious and the broth was very light with a few cherry tomatoes for color and a wonderful sweetness. It all worked so well with the flavor of the mussels. I really liked the spicy kick in the sausage and it provided a little extra something special and spicy to my meal.

Here are Ryan's salad and dinner. He might make an addition to the post and talk about it. I know his salad was something a little different for him and he also chose seafood which is not the norm for Ryan but he thoroughly enjoyed them both.

I definitely recommend Zinc Brasserie to anyone from Sandusky or just passing through. It is a great restaurant with a nice atmosphere and when you walk outside, the view is beautiful (the photo at the top is the view). I also recommend taking a walk around downtown before or after your done. Sandusky is a great city and the more people who spend time downtown the more it will grow in to the great city it has so much potential to be.

Chalk Food + Wine Part 2

I'm so glad Cincinnati local restaurants decided to do a restaurant week. I had heard of other cities doing the same thing and always thought it was such a great idea. In Ryan' s post her said that the $25.08/person was not a really good deal, but I kind of disagree. For some of the restaurants that participated, it was not the best deal to do the tasting menu, but for many of the pricier Cincinnati restaurants, I think it's a great deal. It's a great way to experience a restaurant you might not normally go to every Saturday night for a reasonable price. And it's always good to support local restaurants.

I liked Chalk right away. I thought the atmosphere was modern with a little bit of a quirky touch. I wore my favorite red shoes and the hostess complemented me on them when we walked in and then our waitress did too. That put me in a great mood right off the bat. :) Our server was really great, she was very knowledgeable and fun and very attentive. Before I get in to the post out my meal, I want to talk about the wine I ordered. I decided on a red wine and saw on the wine list a natura carmenere. I was intrigued so I asked the server and she informed me it was a South American wine and the grapes are all organic. She said because it was organic, you could really taste all of the flavors. I decided to try the natura carmenere and it was so good! It was a really flavorful wine, not too dry. I definitely want to try and find a bottle of this next time I am at a wine store.

Ok- now about my meal. Ryan talked about our calamari appetizer and I thought it was good, I liked that it was 2 takes on calamari, but the dish wasn't really memorable compared to the rest of our dishes. The first course of my tasting menu was a potato and beet salad. The salad had fingerling potatoes chopped in small pieces, diced beets and walnuts lightly tossed in a walnut vinaigrette. On top was a little bit of lettuce and a crispy chip. There was some of the vinaigrette artfully presented on the side and a small segment of what I think was grapefruit. The potato salad was excellent, I loved the pungent flavor of the beets and the crunch of the walnuts. The vinaigrette was not heavy at all and was a nice complement to the ingredients. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to eat the little segment of grapefruit with the salad or if it was just a garnish, but it brightened up the salad when I did have a bite with the grapefruit.

Second course I chose the butter poached cod. It was served over carrots and green lentils and there was a light buttery sauce surrounding the meal. You can see in the picture that on top are some blue flecks, that is salt! I just tried doing a little research to see if I could figure out what kind of salt it is, but I am still a foodie in training, so I'm really not sure. I think it might be crystalline sea salt. Anyway, the cod was really good, wonderfully cooked and it paired well with the carrots and green lentils. The light buttery sauce was also really nice and not very heavy, which I like. The bites with the blue salt definitely had a salty kick to it, but it really enhanced the flavor of the fish.
My third course, dessert, was just pure sin in the form of a double chocolate cupcake. It looked so pretty when our server laid it in front of me I almost didn't want to eat it, but that didn't stop me from immediately taking the chocolate piece from the top and taking my first bite of rich (and I mean rich) chocolaty goodness. I'm not really a chocolate or dessert person, but this cupcake was like the mother of all cupcakes. It was a chocolate cupcake with a layer of ganache and then a 2 inch layer of chocolate mousse frosting with chocolate chips, sprinkles and the chocolate piece on top....whoa. Needless to say it was amazing and I only ate about half of it because it was so rich and I was getting full.

I would definitely go back to Chalk, I really liked the atmosphere and the back patio looked like it is probably a happening place when the weather is nice. My grade: A