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.

Best Burger on the East Side of Cincinnati

A good burger is one of those foods that I just crave sometimes. I have a couple of favorites in my little corner of Cincinnati. I think they are the best:

- Zip's Cafe, Mt. Lookout Square. They have won Best Burger awards from all the local publications several times and for good reason. Their burgers are simple and delicious. Not too big, not too small. The toppings are pretty standard: lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, catsup, mustard, mayo. I get mine with everything except the mayo. There isn't a lot of variety: Zip Burger, Zip Burger with Cheese, Double Zip Burger. They also have a girth burger that includes a split mettwurst with the burger, I haven't gotten that one... yet. (I think they have some sort of veggie or turkey "burger", but I don't count those as burgers, they are more like gross sandwiches). Anyway, with such a high quality of burger you don't need much else. It is my favorite burger in Cincinnati, hands down and thats mainly because of its taste and simplicity. Also, they have great chili and you can wash it all down with good selection of beers on tap. Usually a Great Lakes variety and a 7 or 8 English or Irish beers. Or cheap megapitchers of Bud Light. Zip's has a great atmosphere. Its a dark tavern, casual place. There is a toy train that goes around the restaurant along the top of the walls. There is a small bar in the back, "The Code Room", that you might not even know was there unless you are from around here. In the bar there is a huge plasma tv with HD service- seems out of place in this comfortable place- but I love it. When I first moved out to Cincinnati, before I had cable, I would hang out with the bartenders and watch baseball all day and night there. Zip's is one of the places I will miss the most when I leave Cincinnati.

- Arthur's Cafe, Hyde Park Square. Arthur's is a great place to go with a group of friends for food and drinks. They always have cheap pitchers of beer. The outside patio is perfect for a summer evening, but be prepared to wait for a table outside. Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays are Burger Madness nights. You can get a burger with any and all toppings. The options include jalepenos, grilled onions, mushrooms, a bunch of different cheeses, chili, and anything else you would normally put on a burger. Its a good deal. The atmosphere, inside or outside is very casual. I don't know what a "neighborhood bar" really means, but this is it.

- Terry's Turf Club, Linwood. I've only been to Terry's once, but it is in the running for Best Burger on the East Side. The atmosphere is like a weird 50's diner with all kinds of neon signs and decor. It tries hard to be overly casual with overly exotic, yet small, menu. I like the concept, and I think eventually it will get better. I got a burger with burgundy wine with wild mushrooms and truffles. It was tasty, very home-made tasting. Very greasy. I liked it fine. I would like to try the foie gras on my burger and maybe the goat cheese. The beer selection was great. It included a small variety of Bavarian-style brews. I forgot the name brand, but I had a light wheat heffeweizen style. There was a lot of texture and flavor. The burgers were served on a paper plate and the only knife was a large chef knife borrowed from the kitchen. This is why it seemed to be trying too hard to be casual. A real plate and silverwear would have been better. Overall, I will go back, and probably soon. After writing this post, I'm hungry for a burger.

Runners Up:
- Hyde Park Tavern, Oakley Pub and Grill

Stay away from:
- Mt. Lookout Tavern, Mulligan's

Busy Foodies

hey all, we have been super busy these days!! Between working and wedding planning and studying for the bar, it's been eating out and quick meals for us.
Don't fret...We've got some great posts in the works including some fine dining in our hometown of Sandusky, OH and tonight we are having a dinner party with some of Ryan's classmates! Should be a great night and I will definitely post about our dinner.


FYI- for all Cinci people- every Tuesday at Fountain Square there is a really great open market!! I went during my lunch hour today and it was a great way to spend my lunch. There were about a dozen booths set up and the vendors ranged from fresh lunch choices, bakeries, African Shea Butter, goats milk products, flowers and fresh produce! There was also a wonderful herb booth where I got some great herbs- Herbs De Provence, a Tandoori spice rub, and a Moroccan spice blend. The vendor was so knowledgeable and very friendly. He was even wearing a t-shirt that said "Foodie." on the front which won me over right away. All of the fresh produce were well-priced and looked very tasty. I came back to work with a few ears of sweet corn, my 3 herb packets, and fresh sugar snap peas..All for about $7. Not bad.

Tuesday is normally not a very exciting workday but now it can be!! I believe the market will be going on every Tuesday from 11-2 until the end of August.

Have a great day everyone, stay tuned for photos from the dinner party.

dinner thrown together-success!

Tonight I played in a softball game with my coworker Sheila so I didn't have a lot of time for dinner. I was starving because I had a light lunch so I wanted to have a filling, but healthy dinner, so I threw this meal together. I guess I would call it my version of an on the run seafood scampi? Who knows, but here's what I did:

I bought a bag of frozen shrimp, scallops and calamari from Trader Joe's and the bag was almost gone, just enough for a single serving, so I put the frozen seafood in a colander and let cold water slowly run on it to defrost. While that was defrosting I diced half a shallot and added that to a saute pan with a little olive oil. Once the seafood was defrosted I added them to the saute pan to cook. When the shrimp, scallops and calamari were about halfway cooked I added a spoonful of diced garlic. I also seasoned the seafood with salt and pepper, dill, and fresh basil and when the seafood was completely cooked I added a couple splashes of white wine and a squeeze of lemon wedge and turned the heat down to let it simmer.

While all of this was going on I decided to make a different kind of starch to accompany my seafood dish. I didn't really have time to make pasta and I didn't feel like rice, so I decided to try something new, quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah") it is a similar texture to couscous and has a light, nutty flavor. It's also really good for you. I bought a box at Trader Joe's a while back and after I saw that it can cook in the microwave for 6 minutes (there is also an option for stove top preparation) I knew it was meant to be!

When the quinoa was done, I poured it in to a bowl and then mixed in the seafood and sauce and I was ready to eat! I also squeezed a little more lemon juice before I started to eat.

For a meal I prepared in about 10 minutes, I was pretty impressed. The seafood was really good and the mixture of the white wine and lemon worked really well with the seafood. And of course garlic makes EVERYTHING better. :) I also really liked the quinoa, I'm excited to make some more recipes with it, because it is a nice alternative to pasta.

Sorry no photo..no time!

Ryan Graduated!

Hey all, these have been a busy few weeks, lots of wedding stuff and school stuff. Ryan is done with law school! (besides that pesky bar exam) Last weekend Ryan's parents, grandparents and twin brothers (and Stephanie!) and my parents made the trek down to Cincinnati to celebrate.
Graduation was really nice and after that was over everyone headed back to our apartment and we had some appetizers. Ryan's mom brought shrimp cocktail and champagne for celebrating and my mom brought some cheese and crackers and grapes.Sorry for the photo with almost empty platters, I forgot to take a photo earlier..
We decided to make panne con zata which is a garlic-type bread that I think I've mentioned before. I bought a loaf of french bread and sliced the bread horizontally (like a sub) and then score each piece and drizzle with olive oil. You can season it with whatever you want, but I kept it simple. Salt and pepper to start, crushed red pepper and oregano. I just started growing fresh herbs again so I clipped some basil leaves and added those to the bread. I also added sun dried tomatoes to half and then sprinkled mozzarella cheese on each side. Then I wrapped the bread in foil and it bakes at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. After 10 minutes I recommend checking to see if the cheese is melted.We also decided to make prosciutto wrapped asparagus which is a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis' first cookbook Everyday Italian. Ryan made this for me a while ago for my birthday and it was a great appetizer, and it was definitely a hit at our party! It was very easy, basically just seasoning the asparagus with salt and peper and a little bit of olive oil and bake it for 12-15 minutes. Once you take them out of the oven, let them cool and then wrap each spear in prosciutto and there ready to serve!After appetizers we relaxed for the afternoon and then had a great dinner at Bella Luna, a wonderful Italian restaurant in Cincinnati. Everyone seemed to really enjoy their dinners and besides the room being a little loud, I think everyone had a great time.

My dinner was great, I ordered the seafood stew, it was shrimp, mussels and scallops over a bed of pasta and the sauce was an olive oil sauce with diced tomatoes and a lot of spice to it! The sauce seemed to have a definite flavor of pepperoncini's. The last time I ate at Bella Luna I had a the mussels appetizer as my meal and the sauce was flavored with pepperoncini's and had them diced in the sauce. So maybe that's their thing. Either way, it works because both were tasty!
Another recommendation is to get the calamari appetizer. It's not the fried calamari that has become pretty standard on menus, it is cooked calamari in a spicy diced tomato sauce that is wonderful with the fresh breadsticks they give you.

It was a wonderful weekend full of wonderful food..and here is a photo of some of the fun that went on after dinner at the bar. :)

Code Cracked: Bangkok Bistro

Tonight Ryan and I had a nice evening, we were productive before dinner and got the tuxes ordered for the wedding (check that off the list) and then we headed to dinner.  We were in Kenwood/Montgomery area, and folks if there is a great, local restaurant in this area of Cincinnati, please tell me, because all we ever seem to see is chain restaurants and the mall food court.  I'm sure there have got to be a few, but Ryan and I have even tried asking someone last time we were at the mall, and they had no idea where to send us, besides Max and Erma's or Macaroni's across the street.  Don't get me wrong, those restaurants are just fine and dandy, but I can eat there any time in any city in America.  We wanted something local and non-chainy.

So we headed back to the Hyde Park area. Of course I was wanting Thai food so we decided to go to Bangkok Bistro.  This is not our first time eating at Bangkok Bistro and I have always had a great meal here.   They have really good Paad Thai and pretty decent sushi.  Our dinner tonight was really good, we had a fun waiter, which is always nice and a few great things happened...1.) i had an awesome duck noodle soup that made me realize that Thai and Asian soups are my new best friend and 2.) I have cracked the code when it comes to ordering spicy food on the spice scale.  ha!

I'll start with my soup, I had the duck noodle soup which is new on the menu at Bangkok Bistro, and in this wonderful soup contained noodles, duck (duh, and duh) cooked lettuce, onions, tons of fresh parsley, and bean sprouts in a tasty beef broth.  The aroma of the soup when it was set before me was amazing, the fresh parsley brightened every bight and the duck (although a little fatty) was really tender and delicious.  I only wish I could have gotten a photo of it...but I forgot my camera. I've been very good about eating healthy and not going overboard because I'm trying to watch what I eat.  I've come to the conclusion that Asian soups are a really great option if you are a watching your diet.. I know the broth was probably super super high in sodium, but I ate my soup with chopsticks so by the time I was done (and stuffed) I still had 3/4 of the broth left in the bowl.  So, the other ingredients are not that bad for you and very filling! 

OK- so here is the big news...Many blogs posts ago, Ryan blogged about the plight of the white man and spicy food.  He wasn't sure how he was supposed to go about getting the really spicy food that he so loves...Well, I told you about our fun waiter, Ryan asked him what he recommended and our waiter told him he really likes spicy food.  So he recommended the Drunken Noodles and Ryan challenged him by saying "10" spice level.  The waiter was like, "are you sure" and Ryan said yes and I  added my two cents by saying "give it to him good!" The gauntlet was laid..  When Ryan got his dish he was pretty impressed, it wasn't so spicy that it wasn't enjoyable for him, but it had enough heat to satisfy his taste buds.  so yay!  

But here is where the code was cracked, I heard the waiter talking to another table about spice levels and he said that if you want it really spicy and the spice level is 1-10, say you want a 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15, therefore challenging the cooks and letting the waiter know you mean business.  If you say 9 or 10, they might take it easy on your thinking you can't handle it...Another suggestion the waiter made is ordering a 1o spice level and then asking for more sauce on the side, so if it's not spicy enough, you can always add more.  

Quite a productive evening I must say!!  So next time we are at an Asian or Indian restaurant that has spice levels, I want Ryan to test this code... I'll let you know what happens. 

Vegetable Orzo creation

One night last week Ryan and I were throwing dinner together and it didn't seem like we had much food in our pantry.  We had some pork chops and Ryan was in charge of those (that can be a separate post) and I took the challenge of figuring out the side dishes.  We had a few bags of frozen veggies and I found some orzo in the pantry and an idea was born!! It was a very quick and easy meal.  While the orzo was cooking according to the package instructions I roughly chopped a shallot and some fresh mint.   When the orzo was almost finished I put the veggies in the microwave (it was the Steamfresh veggies bag, Asian medley).  Once the orzo was done, I drained the orzo and the added the veggies and orzo back in to the sauce pan along with some olive oil.  I added the shallots, lots of garlic and mint and stirred everything together.  After I drained the orzo, I turned the burner down to low heat so all of the ingredients could warm together.  Then I just started playing around with flavors, I added about a 1/2 cup of white wine, salt and pepper, crushed red pepper, and parsley.  After I added all of that and stirred everything around it tasted pretty good, but it definitely was missing something.  Next time I might try adding lemon juice and maybe some lemon zest, but we were fresh out of lemons, so instead I added some white wine vinegar and it brightened up the entire dish.  The dish turned out really great and it has been really good for leftovers!  The mint was a nice addition, it really added a nice fresh flavor to the dish and the white wine vinegar is a must.  Next time I want to use fresh veggies, but the frozen veggies made this a quick and easy weeknight meal.