Our day trip to Cleveland wouldn't be complete without dinner at a Michael Symon restaurant

It's no secret that I adore Michael Symon. That smile. That laugh. That adorably round head.

So when I told my husband I wanted to drive to Cleveland for the day to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I had an ulterior motive: it was also to eat at yet another one of my favorite Iron Chef's restaurants. I have eaten at his Detroit restaurant, Roast, on three different occasions, and each time it was a revelation. I don't just adore Michael Symon the person, I adore his food.

So after spending the afternoon at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we then proceeded to drive a few miles south to the adorably quaint Tremont neighborhood to have dinner at Lolita. Can I just say how much I was smitten with this neighborhood? The houses were old but well cared for, and small mom and pop run businesses dotted the blocks among the modest, character-filled homes.

When we arrived at Lolita there was already a line out the door of people waiting to get in. Thank goodness we had reservations! But would you expect anything different from a Michael Symon restaurant on a Saturday evening?

You can tell I'm very excited.

Once inside, the space had an industrial yet homey feel. The bar looked into the open kitchen where the chefs, instead of wearing pretentious chef whites, don a much more practical, yet blue collar ensemble of a navy shirt with a baseball cap. Pretty much the exact thing Symon wore when competing in Next Iron Chef, though Symon doesn't need a baseball cap, what with him having no hair and all :)

Inside Lolita

I started my evening with the Lolita bellini which is described as something totally different on the website cocktail menu so I'm trying to remember all that was in it: Champagne, Belgian lambic, lemon, and something else - something with violet in the name... hmmm... well, anyway, whatever it was, it was delicious. Tart and bitter and sweet all at the same time. I had two of them. :)

My husband inside Lolita. I caught him mid-chew.

For an appetizer we decided to try something safe and something daring (I wanted to try two daring dishes, but The Hubs wouldn't go for it). For the safe dish, we ordered braised meatballs. For the daring dish I really wanted to try the roasted bone marrow, but my husband wasn't having any of that, so we decided to go for the crispy pig tails and ears instead. 

The braised meatballs were nothing to write home about. They were good, but not memorable; a dish that I'm sure was put on the menu to appease picky eaters. But can I just say that the crispy pig tails and ears were out of this world? It was the perfect example of what Symon talks about all the time when he refers the need for balance in a dish: a balance of flavors, tastes, and textures. In this dish, the richness of the fennel-onion agrodolce (sweet and sour glaze) was cut into by the tangy pickled chiles, and then of course you have the crisp texture of the pig tails and ears.

For the main dish I ordered the Buccatini which had pulled pork, pancetta, egg yolk and pecorino cheese. 

 Luscious is probably the best word to describe this pasta. I can still remember the tastes and textures of it in my mouth. 

 I also ordered a side of polenta to go with my pasta because I have had the polenta at Roast and it is rich and creamy and wonderfully decadent. The polenta at Lolita, while included the same ingredients, was not as enjoyable as the polenta at Roast. Lolita's version was much more cream-of-wheat-like. It felt like I was eating cereal instead of polenta. The flavor was good, it just didn't feel like a dinner dish to me.

My husband ordered the hanger steak with a Gorgonzola fondue, pickled onions, arugula and tomatoes which he enjoyed despite not being a fan of Gorgonzola cheese.

For dessert we shared the chocolate pot de creme with whipped cream and a salted caramel sauce on top. 

 

It was good, but I thought there was a bit too much salt on the top.  I'm one who usually enjoys a sprinkling of salt over top of a dessert, but this time it was a tad too much.

Overall, Lolita was an enjoyable meal, and if it was the only Michael Symon restaurant I had ever visited, I'm sure it would be one of my favorite restaurant meals, but having eaten at Roast, I'm content knowing that my favorite Michael Symon restaurant resides in my own hometown. 

Ending our enjoyable evening in Celeveland

Still, whether you find yourself in Cleveland or Detroit, I highly recommend making a pilgrimage to one of Michael Symon's eateries:

Cleveland:

Lola

Lolita

BSpot

Detroit:

Roast

Cleveland Rocks!

So I finally bit the bullet this summer and started writing a novel. I have no idea where this is going to take me, or whether I'll even finish, but I like the idea that I finally have a story living inside my head that is ready to be written down.

In one particular scene that I have envisioned, the main character visits the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since I live less than three hours from Cleveland, I decided that in order for my story to be authentic, a day trip to Cleveland was in order.

So last Saturday that's what I did. My husband and I jumped in the car and drove to Cleveland.

 

As we walked through the museum, part of me wondered what took us so long to visit this place. My husband and I are both big music-lovers, and with it being so close to where we live, there really was no excuse. We need to give ourselves permission to take day trips more often. We did it all the time when we lived in Germany. Why did we stop doing it when we moved back home? The sense of urgency to see and do everything before we leave was no longer compelling us to see and do new things.

What struck me most about visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was how much it brought back some of the pride I had lost at being an American. In today's climate of 24 hour news networks always feeding us a heavy dose political propaganda and where Americans are starting to get the sense that we are the most hated nation on earth, it's easy to become disillusioned with our country and want to be one of those people who puts a Canadian flag on the back of their backpack while visiting another country just so people will treat you more kindly.

But visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did something to me. It reminded me of the fact that despite all our flaws, and there are many, we are a nation capable of great things. We created the greatest, most influential music on earth.

I loved seeing all of the memorabilia that is part of rock and roll history. I was especially struck by things like the ratty old family couch Jimi Hendrix used to practice his guitar on, all of the song lyrics by so many artists that were written on scraggly sheets of notebook paper (what a great lesson for teachers about the importance of rough drafts!), John Lennon's upright Yamaha piano that had candlewax spilled on it. I also loved seeing all the glamorous show outfits for artists like Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and the Rolling Stones.

The problem with visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? The intense desire to rack up a huge iTunes bill with all the music you realize you love but don't already have on your iPod. Like, how could I go this long without having any Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix anywhere on my iTunes account? Or Al Green, Ottis Redding, Run DMC? I must remedy this and soon!

Have you visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? If so, what are your thoughts?