Friday, December 2, 2011

Pleasent surprises

During the last 7 days we have continued to eat out. Two of the meals have been really very pleasant surprises.

Last Sunday morning we went, as usual with another couple, to "Cumin Eclectic Cuisine" 3520 Erie Ave. 45208 (513) 871-8714 to sample their new (about a month), Sunday Brunch. We were all very pleasantly surprised. "Cumin" serves from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM. The menu contains about a dozen offerings and all are served individually to the table. We had our favorite server, Mung, and of course were off on a lovely adventure. I chose Shrimp and Grits which is topped with an "over easy" egg and is plated with a tasty mushroom gravy. It was a wonderful, unusual Sunday morning taste treat. Marilyn had the "eggs ur way" which features up to 3 eggs, any style, with meat, starch and croissant. Since Marilyn only wanted one egg the platter arrived with both bacon and turkey sausage. The other two had waffle with shaved pancetta and a Korean stone bowl, with scrambled eggs instead of poached or fired. Both looked very inviting.
I'm sure we will revisit many times.

The other surprise was at "Tano Bistro" 204 West Loveland Ave Loveland, OH 45140 (513-683-8266). Again with two others, the age of our children, we enjoyed a somewhat new experience at a restaurant to which we had been introduced a year or so ago. It's a long haul from our domicile but this time the trip was certainly worth the drive. The service at "Tano" has always been uniformly good and that night was no exception.
The table ordered a "Bear Boat" Pinot which turned out to be perfect for the entrees. I started with an arranged roasted beet salad, layered with goat cheese on a bed of torn romaine, lightly dressed. Marilyn had not only a cup of rich mushroom soup and she followed with a chopped iceberg wedge. To my surprise she ate both.
Our main courses were Short Rib Bolognese, for me, and Fried Chicken, for her. The Short Rib presentation was something new to me with the rib meat serving as the protein in a tomato vodka sauce to which peas and a few chopped mushrooms had been added. The pasta was a large helping of excellent Gnocchi which made the whole dish outstanding. Marilyn's fried chicken turned out to be just a fully crusted, sauteed chicken breast made crisp with bread crumbs and butter topping. The other couple started with mussels in a tomato and ground Andouille sauce. They had as their main courses, grilled, stuffed salmon and a pumpkin blackened swordfish.
For dessert we ordered Apple Tarte Tatin witch came as two sizable, star shaped pieces with a scoop of Cinnamon ice cream in the center of each. The other chose pumpkin Creme Brulee. Marilyn's decaf finished the meal.
Twenty some miles but worth every one.

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