Lola, Cleveland

Friday 1 November

Kathleen had kindly organized a mass visit of the Classics Department to the Cleveland Museum of Art, for the show "Sicily: Art and Invention Between Greece and Rome."  So we brought her out to dinner so she could relax a bit after her long stint of driving. 

Holt had forethoughtfully gotten a reservation for Michael Symon's Lola Bistro, the place where he made his name.  (We're big Iron Chef fans.)

First we needed, and got, a bottle of wine: Foucher-Lebrun Sancerre "Le Mont" 2011 - excellent, and not too expensive.  Another nice touch: the wine list they hand you is on a tablet, so they can e-mail you the exact reference to the wine you choose.

As appetizers, we ordered "pork belly and pig ear" (the latter shaved thin, but still a bit too hard and jerky-like), tossed with watermelon, tomato, feta, jalapeno, cilantro, and red onion; and a couple of savory beef cheek pierogies with wild mushrooms and horseradish crème fraiche.

Our main courses were meaty slices of sturgeon on a bed of chorizo, shellfish, apple, cilantro, and leek; and an excellent sliced hanger steak with cilantro, pickle sauce, chiles, and a brimming silver cup of thin, crisp french fries.  A glass of red was a must for the steak, so on the recommendation of our nice waitron we added a fruity Abbots Table blend from Owen Roe winery.

On the whole, a fine meal from a fashionable place; apparently the one doesn't cancel out the other.