An unexpectedly long server and storage migration left me looking for lunch for my team on Saturday.
Google Maps said there was a Subway nearby and in the course of looking for it, we providentially found the Huron Square Deli at 1150 Huron Road in downtown Cleveland instead.
Providentially, because I didn’t want a Subway, because the Huron Square Deli has of of those ubiquitous ‘”Hot” Corned Beef’ signs in their window and because I’d added it to our Where we’re going list a while back.
We gave them our “ham-and-cheese-without-the-cheese” order first, then got to bantering about their Corned Beef: Do they think they have the best? What kind do they serve, lean and crumbly or fat and juicy? Did we want provolone or american cheese?(!!) Did we want fries with that?
Turns out they do believe they have Cleveland’s best Corned Beef. They claim to serve lean and juicy. And yes, we wanted fries with that.
And we gave them a really tough time about the “provolone or american cheese” question. I suppose one has to cater to client tastes, but the mere mention made me question their Corned Beef credentials.
Well, back at the break room, we opened our parcels and dug in. Very good. Just look at those fries!!
Somewhere in there is buried a deli pickle spear, quite perfect in every way. But look at those fries!
The Corned Beef was quite lean, not crumbly, but just the right amount of juicy. The bread was grilled to perfection and didn’t leave your fingers too greasy. The cheese was an excellent choice, but might have been just as good if it had been swiss. I encountered one large portion of chewy gristle/fat but it didn’t really spoil the sandwich. (Look at those fries!)
It’s perhaps a bit telling that the fries overwhelmed the sandwich. In addition to being plentiful, they were also perfect. Perhaps it was because we caught them at 10-minutes-to-closing and they needed to offload so many fries. Or perhaps they always serve them so deliciously and plentifully.
OK. Enough said. They were good.
And the Corned Beef? Overall, it was very good. A good, every-day sort of Corned Beef sandwich. A daily staple sort of Corned Beef sandwich. Not a Best Corned Beef but a Very Good Corned Beef.
Now I can add it to our Where we’ve been list.
I look forward to visiting again when I’m in that part of town.
Note: Huron Square Deli closed February 26th, 2016.
From Cleveland’s Scene: Playhouse Square’s Huron Square Deli Closes