A. L. Kaplan

Tag: restaurants

  • Restaurant Review: L’Albatros

    Smack dab in the middle of Case Western Reserve University’s campus is a little gem of a restaurant called L’Albatros. It’s one of those places that college students ask visiting parents to take them because it’s a tad pricy for the average student. It’s also worth every penny. The decor is fresh and elegant, without being stuffy. We wore jeans to lunch, but clearly could have dressed up. Even though we arrived twenty minutes before opening, we were seated right away and served warm bread. The olive oil had a fresh, crisp flavor, which was perfect for dipping the crusty rustic bread. There was a real danger of filling up on the stuff before our lunch arrived.

    009My husband ordered the Mussles with Pommes Frites and Spicy Aioli. A generous portion of tender mussles came in a bowl of butter broth topped with fries and a drizzle of aioli. Yum. The fries were crisp and delicious.

    I had the Watercress “Caesar” salad. 011Served with both black and green olives, it was topped with a liberal portion of shaved parmesan. The anchovies weren’t those shriveled bone filled things you get in most places. These were fresh, fileted, with a slightly pickled flavor reminiscent of herring, but much milder.

    The Braised Shoulder of Lamb my daughter ordered had a rich and comforting flavor, good for a cold day in Cleveland. It was served with pasta risotto and rosemary jus.

    Fresh made pasta, tender, and cut in wide cut strips filled the Pasta Du Jour my other daughter ordered. It came with a healthy helping of roast root vegetables, eggplant, and kale. Shaved parmesan completed the dish.010

    This fantastic lunch for four was reasonably priced. If you ever find yourself in Cleveland, Ohio, Don’t forget to stop by L’Albatros.

    11401 Bellflower Road
    Cleveland, Ohio 44106
    216-971-7880
    http://www.albatrosbrasserie.com/

    I should mention here that L’Albatros is one of Chef Zack Bruell’s restaurants and that wonderful olive oil is his own unfiltered extra virgin olive oil made from California olives.

  • Under the Hanukah Tree

    Gifts? Who cares about gifts? Christmas activities are what really rock, like piling into the car and driving to my favorite restaurant in New York’s Chinatown. We’d bundle up against the cold and walk to Mott Street, stopping in shops on the way. Each year I’d buy a tiny clay figure of a peasant for my collection. Then it was on to Hunan House for a delicious banquet with our friends. Of course we had soup. Hot and sour or sizzling rice were my favorites followed by pan fried dumplings and spare ribs. The main course varied year to year, but moo shu pork and whole crispy sweet and pungent sea bass were almost always on the menu. Once in a while, if we ordered in advance, we’d get Peking duck as an extra special treat.

    Chinese restaurants aren’t known for their desserts, but Hunan House used to do a fried banana that was out of this world. They’d bring the sizzling pan of glazed bananas to the table and quick drop them in a bowl of ice water. The result was a hot delicious cooked banana surrounded by a sweet hard candy shell. If only I could go back in time. I’ve never found another restaurant that did fried banana’s like that.

    Bananas weren’t always on the menu. If they weren’t, we’d go to the ice cream place around the corner for mango ice cream or to Little Italy down on Mulberry Street for pastries. Not the same, but always delicious.

    Today this tradition has been passed on to the next generation.

    Happy New Year and may all your steam buns be hot.