Lola - Cleveland - 2nd Night

Chef Symon, Chef Burning Chix and Mrs. Burning Chix (Judy)


Yes, this time I remembered the camera. Chef Symon was very gracious and was willing to show us around the restaurant and explained a little about his cooking techniques. (Judy: Chef gave us a signed menu. We had a nice conversation about the Next Iron Chef [without giving us any clues about the outcome], Rocco DiSpirito and their friendship (they had a TV show together). He walked us over to his open kitchen...very nice and expensive kitchen with an army of young kitchen staff.)

As we stated in the previous post, we went to Lola for a 2nd night in a row so we could try out more of the items on the menu. We really wanted to try more of the appetizers and the cheese course. Since we were just having a light meal, we decided to sit a the bar. The bar top was very interesting. It appeared to be alabaster, with lighting from underneath so that the whole bar top glowed.

First, we ordered a bottle of Catalina Sounds Sauvignon Blanc for $34. We really enjoyed the wine's passion fruit, herb and grass notes. (Judy: Very nice on the nose.)

We started with crab gnocchi for $13. Personally, I'm not a big gnocchi fan. There is something about the texture and mouth feel of gnocchi that I don't like. Judy, on the other hand, loves good gnocchi. The gnocchi were served with butternut squash, brussels sprouts and parsley. The butternut squash helped to contrast the slight bitterness of the brussels sprouts. The taste of crab was evident, but not strong. The gnocchi were a little drier than most gnocchi that I've had and I actually enjoyed these. The flavor combinations worked well together. The wine, although very nice, didn't really go well with this dish, most likely because of the brussels sprouts. (Judy: This dish does not have the WOW factor, however, depends on what elements that you have on the fork. Every bite tasted different.)

We also ordered the crispy sweetbreads for $13. Sweetbreads are the thymus glands of veal or lamb. I've had them once before at the Culinary Institute of America, when I was a student there. At that time I thought that they were alright, but nothing spectacular. Chef Symon's version of sweetbreads are served with creamy leeks with a delicate blue cheese and wild mushrooms. I have to say that these were fantastic. The delicate texture of the sweetbreads, leeks and mushrooms worked very well together. The wine really worked well with this dish. I think that the balance of the acid in the wine and the creaminess of the cheese were a hit. (Judy: This is a WOW dish. A nice reward for the brave and adventurous eater. Chef said he does sell about 15 -20 dishes a night for this dish.)

Next we had the apple and pear salad, served with greens, slivered almonds and blue cheese for $8. The apples and pears were thinly sliced cross sections of the fruit. While I thought that the salad was a slightly overdressed, the flavors were very nice. Another hit with the wine.

We also had the beet salad for $9.00 The salad was composed of thick slices of red and golden beets, arugula, goat cheese and pecans. I've been a fan of fresh beets (as opposed to canned beets) for a long time. These were excellent. A very nice salad. By this time, we were running out of wine. (Judy: Ahhh! Beets!!!)

Finally, we had the cheese course. This course can be ordered with 3, 4 or 5 cheeses. We had the 5 cheese course plate for $15. We were actually presented with a plate of 6 cheeses and quenelle of a fruit compote. The standard 5 cheese plate consist of 3 cows' milk cheese, 1 goats' milk cheese and one sheeps' milk cheese. The extra cheese was a nice cheddar cheese. The goat cheese was a nice humboldt fog which was a little less "goaty" than most goats' milk cheeses that I've had. It was my favorite cheese of the plate. We enjoyed the cheese course with glasses of Old Codget Tawny port for $7 per glass. (Judy: I love cheese course (not very Chinese), the only thing I do not like high end restaurants' cheese courses is that they give you thin slices of cheeses. Ken said it's because some of the cheeses can be very expensive.)