Strawberry Banana Bliss

I went to Blue Fig again tonight.  Thought I'd let you know the verdict, Strawberry Banana Smoothie.  Worth every cent.  Great Turkish Coffee as well.  Actually, everything I've had there is good.  Thought I'd keep ya'll posted.

This Big Bad Wolf Puts Those Little Piggies to Good Use

I was up in Grand Rapids for this past weekend for a friends wedding, and while I was hanging out with some friends someone brought up that I hadn't posted in awhile, my bad guys.  It was great seeing my friends get hitched, and just catching up with old friends... ahhhh, refreshing.  That's what summer's really about.  Between all the wedding shenanigans hanging out with the groom, catching fireflies and catching up with my friends at the infamous Ball House, and the rest of my friends, it was a busy weekend and I ended up leaving GR hours later than I wanted.  I woke up Monday and before packing up at the ball house and being detained by my good friends for an extra three or four hours (thanks Alex, Jamie and Melissa), I was picked up by my good friends Josh and Luke and taken to a place I'm not sure I had ever seen open.  Wolfgang's Restaurant.  

Now Wolfgang's is my kind of place, it's all about breakfast and it doesn't try to do everything.  In fact it tries to do very little, but begrudgingly has a few lunch options and closes up shop at 4pm.  I had told a couple friends only a few days before that they needed to come visit me and we'd go to Melt (an amazing grilled cheese restaurant which I'll write about sometime), and they proceeded to comment on how thats the new thing.  Niche restaurants.  You do one thing, you do it well.  It's taken off in chains like Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Chipotle Mexican Grill.  And as much as I love a fast food chain that makes food like a sit down restaurant at half the price, my heart belongs to those little corner dinners and hole in the walls.  And that's Wolfgang's.This is not to say Wolfgang's isn't a nice restaurant.  Oh contrare!  Great atmosphere, clean, good service.  But it's no chain, it's cheap and it's in East Town.  

Now I love breakfast but I'm never up that early, so I felt like an early bird walking in even though it was noon. After all, in my three years in Grand Rapids I've never been past the place before 4pm. The menu at Wolfgang's is fairly large and almost all breakfast dishes with pop culture references or inside jokes for names.  My dish was called the Mossad. Why?  Not really sure.  It had pork and cheese in it, so I'm fairly certain no member of Mossad would be eating it (for those unaware, Mossad is the Israeli Intelligence Agency).  

Now this dish was such a mystery we had to ask the waitress how it was made, who was forced to admit she was herself unsure.  However consensus was that the cook scrambled about six to eight eggs in a giant frying pan tossed in peppers, onions, sausage, mushrooms, cheese, you name it.  After everything was mixed in, we suspect the hash browns he'd been cooking on the side were dropped in the middle, followed by a layer of cheese, then a slice of toast.  At this point the entire foot wide pile of yum was flipped over on my plate, leaving a mound of egg literally the size of my face. Of course I smothered it in hot sauce and went to work, but the thing was so big even I couldn't finish it without causing myself considerable bodily harm.  Luke's dish was large in it's own right but nothing like the mossad (which Josh also ordered).

All in all, Wolfgang's is breakfast done East Town style.  It's reasonably priced, delicious, bang for your buck dining.  So if you're in GR and it's too early for hot dogs, gyros, Ethiopian buffets, hooka, or cheap drinks, fret not!  East Town is still the place to be.  

A Tasty Play on Words

It's getting warmer by the day as we move into June and my thermometer outside reads 82. But six months from now you may find yourselves in Cleveland thinking, "Well ain't that lake breeze a bitch" (pardon my French).  Well I'm here to let you in an a fairly well hidden gem in my beloved 216, the Souper Market.

Now before you dismiss this post because it's on soup, and the humidity's at seventy percent outside, let me note they have chilled soup!  Two different types of Gazpacho and a Strawberry Bisque, but thats just for this week.  You see, the Souper Market changes its menu weekly, offering a different variety, and some usual favorites.  One of my friends suggested the Souper Market the other day, we ended up going to a Thai restaurant (with great bubble tea), but it brought back great memories.  My dad drives a lot for work, so knows all the best spots to get grub around town, and one of his favorite foods is good soup.  As he always told me, "Soup is wet food".

So one day a couple years ago I was home sick, or it was Christmas break and I had the day off or something of that sort.  Anyway, I woke up to a call from my dad saying he was bringing home lunch.  When he got home he brought in a bag and pulled out two large chunks of bread and a couple plastic containers of soup.  The menu my father lined up for me is, in my opinion, the two best soups the Souper Market makes, their jambalaya and their lobster bisque.   Lets start with jambalaya.

Their jambalaya is delicious, great for a winter day or summer night.  Spicy enough to keep me coming back for more but not to spicy to stop my mom from eating it (in non familial terms, if you have a cold it will clear out your sinuses, but it won't stop you from tasting or enjoying your meal).  Their jambalaya is chalked full of delicious fresh prepared ingredients, but what makes it special is the meats and the broth.  Now all the Souper Market's broths are prepared with fresh ingredients and hand crafted at their stores, which I just adore.  Meat wise what took me back about the jambalaya was the lack of chorizo. Chorizo is a spicy pork sausage originating in Spain.  I've never had a good jambalaya without it, but the Souper Market's spicy chicken sausage, mixed with more chicken and shrimp absolutely blew my mind.

As for the bisque, I can't really say I've had good lobster bisque that wasn't over priced at an expensive restaurant.  The Souper Market manages to make some great bisque, without remotely over charging.  The bisque is incredibly creamy, but light in cream flavor department, letting the seasoning and the lobster itself take charge.

Now to turn one of these delicious soups into a meal.  You already get a chunk of fresh baked bread from a local bakery with your soup.  If you want a beer to pair with these soups, you'll want something lighter for the bisque.  Probably an altbier or kolsch, lighter slightly hoppy beers, or maybe a white ale (Holy Moses is in season from GLBC).  As for the jambalaya, I'd go with a good IPA (Founders Centennial IPA, Bells Two Hearted Ale, Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA , or even Bessie).

All in all, the Souper Market is a great establishment.  Every soup I've had I've liked, and they switch up the menu often, just to keep me on my toes. I haven't gotten around to trying the cold soups, but I don't have a very good taste for gazpacho. So if you do, try it and let me know.  Also they serve a variety of salads that look pretty good.  So the next time you're in Ohio City or Lakewood, stop in and grab some lunch, and don't forget to check out their website for the weekly menu.

http://www.thesoupermarket.com/menu.html