So another normal Friday night and a trip with the family to Chef Jonathon Sawyer’s restaurant The Greenhouse Tavern on what is now probably one of the hottest spots in all of Cleveland. This was my first trip to the Greenhouse and i’ve hear a lot of good things about it so i was very excited to try it out.
For those of you who don’t know Greenhouse Tavern is one of the first certified green restaurants in the country and the first in Ohio to have that honor. The restaurant itself is beautiful, composed of three levels, the basement is where the so-called “magic” happens as the kitchen is located here as well as a chefs table which is from what i have heard the best seat in the house. The second or main level includes the bar and some seating while the 3rd floor is more like a mezzanine with seats overlooking the whole main floor of the restaurant. All the wood you see in the restaurant has been reclaimed including that used in the tables and on the walls, additionally the carpets are made of recycled materials.
Now that the decor is out of the way let’s get to the all important part, the food. The menu is divided into 4 sections, First’s, Second’s, Third’s and Half’s. First’s include items like warm olives, bread and butter, radishes with butter and what turned out to be my favorite dish a Formage Blanc with toasted bread. The formage blanc was so tasty with a hint of thyme, and what really made the dish was the bread which was toasted perfectly and made an all together very tasty first course. My parents who I went to dinner with tonight had the olives and bread and butter. The olives were good, but the bread and butter was great. Normally I am averse to paying for bread and butter, but once again the toasted bread along with a goat’s milk butter that was a nice tang that made the dish outstanding and well worth the $3.
The seconds are your more standard appetizer fare, with items like french onion soup and a beef tartare, but the standout of that section has to be the chicken wings, which are tender, crisp, and the fall off the bone all of which add up to some of the best wings i’ve ever eaten.
I don’t know about most people but one way to judge how good a restaurant is in my opinion is how good of a burger they can make, and here The Greenhouse Tavern excels, the burger and fries are one of the best in the city, juicy, flavorful and just plain good is the best way to describe it. Additionally the steak frites which my mom and dad both had were very good, the only low point being the grilled romaine salad that accompanies the steak. What could be a refreshing side to the steak frites turns out to be a limp piece of flavorless salad that the steak could really have done without.
For desert a very nice smore, encompassing a homemade marshmallow and gramcracker with very god melted chocolate topped of what was a very good meal. Made even more fun by watching Sawyer run around the restaurant doing among other things serving drinks and checking in with every table to make sure that everyone was enjoying their meals. Speaking of drinks, Greenhouse Tavern has a very nice beer and wine list including some very good boutique wine and beers. Which make for a really fun time at another of Cleveland’s very good restaurants.
In other news, look what showed up on shelves today.
Christmas Came Early
Fresh from the Great Lakes Brewery the first batch of Christmas Ale this season, christmas never comes early enough when it comes to this christmas ale, which is one of the better ones out there.
mylifeincleveland
