A friend described something recently that I thought applied to our quest for great Corned Beef:
A really great Corned Beef sandwich exceeds your ability to anticipate the flavor, texture and delight being revealed in the next bite.
Each bite, while still familiar, is a first bite. That’s a great Corned Beef sandwich.
What’s your definition?
I was out and about today, first in Tremont, then downtown and finally a lunch-time event on the west bank of the Flats. The Meetup page for this event was screwed up and I thought I was saving money by bringing my own lunch, but alas, that wasn’t the case.
In any event, I took advantage of being downtown to call up Ontario Street Cafe and order a Corned Beef on rye with mustard and swiss cheese, chips and a pickle for eight bucks even (a little steep).
When I arrived, Carl (he spells it with a “C”) remembered me, thanked me for remembering them and packaged an awesome sandwich for me to take to my meeting.
When I arrived, I sat next to a fellow who commented that since he was downtown, he’d have to stop by Slyman’s for a Corned Beef sandwich before heading back to the eastside.
Now how could I let that sort of a comment go?!! So I asked him how he likes Corned Beef and he tells me. I ask him about lean and crumbly and swiss cheese and what type of mustard, etc.
By his answers, I could tell we were kindred spirits of sorts.
When I proceeded to open my bag and pull out what he had just described as a perfect sandwich, I thought he might jump me and take away my lunch.
But he resisted.
So of course, after the meeting ended I scribbled “Need Sandwich Writers” on the back of one of my Best Corned Beef in Cleveland dot com cards and handed it to him.
He’s going to think about it. Maybe we’ll see his name on these pages soon.
And who is Carl? He’s the guy at Ontario Street Deli who makes these awesome sandwiches. Drop by and tell him I sent you.
Note: As of late 2019, Ontario Street Cafe has closed.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported earlier this week that The Sportsman Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge will close at the end of this week.
We ate there a while back and found their sandwich “excellent”. Passions run high about the place as seen in one of the comments.
While taking pictures of the outside, I was accosted by someone who really did think theirs is the best.
I’m going to try to slip over there myself tomorrow and grab one for home. I’ll miss it.
I haven’t had any amazing Corned Beef recently and I’ve been wondering if that’s because of serving size. And bread. And temperature. But mostly serving size.
Yes, the quality of Corned Beef makes a difference, I won’t argue with you there. And the leanness also impacts one’s joy.
But more than that, I don’t think it’s possible to have truly “Best” Corned Beef by sampling a few slices.
Somewhere between a quarter pound and a half pound is where the bliss lies.
Oh, and it must also be:
I’ll let you know if I have any revelations surrounding mustard.
Imagine my surprise when Dagwood, king of the mile-high sandwich (that bears his name), forgoes leftover Corned Beef for a pizza! Someone should check his temperature to make certain he’s not sick.
On second thought, perhaps this is part of a joke. The one that goes like this:
Question: Why did Dagwood not eat the leftover Corned Beef?
Answer: Who ever has “leftover” Corned Beef?
Those bright orange ‘”Hot” Corned Beef’ signs are hard to miss, so I stopped by Eat on Broadway to see what they had to offer.
It’s a cute little restaurant, right in the middle of Bedford’s downtown area (at 692 Broadway Avenue). I found easy parking, walked right in and ordered their Corned Beef sandwich (what else?!!) to go.
Open about a year, they seem to be part of the revitalization that this part of Bedford is experiencing.
They were doing a brisk business when I arrived and yet there was plenty of time for the banter between those on both sides of the counter. There are seats for about eight and a variety of choices for you if you’re not into Corned Beef (anathema, I know). If I can find my menu, I’ll scan it and post it here.
As far as the sandwich goes, I’m going to have to give Janine and Larry the benefit of the doubt and presume I had an unusual, bad cut of meat. It was not lean (gristle is more like it) and I was unable to finish a portion of it. On the other hand, I saw the Corned Beef come out of the container (6.5 ounces, I was told at the time) and perhaps it could have been caught at that point.
I’ll just have to come back again and try another one! I’ll let you know how that goes.
6/29/2010 – Update: Here’s a scan of the Eat on Broadway Menu in PDF.
A funny thing happened this week.
While asking permission to take a picture at a Corned Beef site, I was asked “Why, are you planning on opening a restaurant?” Of course the answer was “no”, but I felt like I owed a further explanation. Like who I was and why I was taking these pictures.
So, believing that honesty is the best policy, I explained that I’m one of the writers* over at Best Corned Beef in Cleveland dot com and that I’d be posting something later this week.
And that got me to thinking. When I was anonymous, no one would ever think of giving me free stuff to influence my writing. But they might if they knew I was going to review them.
So here’s the policy:
There, how’s that?
*Regarding “Writers”: Three people signed up for this project. Currently, two of them are slackers.
I’ve either lived in or had a business concern in Bedford since 1995 and all that time I’ve never had a chance to set foot into The Doghouse until yesterday.
I say “set foot” since it’s kinda hard to get both in at the same time. The place is really small and parking is somewhat limited (I had to wait for one car to leave before I could slip in.) but if you’re cruising the Bedford Automile and need a bite to eat, this place is worth a try.
I have no idea about the rest of his menu, but the guy (and gal) behind the corner both know a thing or two about Corned Beef.
I learned that I was the sixth person to get a sandwich that day when they explained that I would get the end (and last of) the brisket. (The brisket started out serving sandwiches on Saturday.) They’d just have to cook some more for the next day. I had always assumed that little places like this bought theirs pre-cooked, but that’s just not the case.
He explained that he buys his briskets from Shaker Valley Foods (worthy of a blog post all by itself) and then cooks it with all the right spices the day before slicing and serving it. (Shaker Valley Foods is the company behind the “finest corned beef” signs you see in various windows.)
Since mine was the “heel” and I’d get what was left, he knocked a dollar off the $5.95 price (plus $.25 for cheese). So for $6.20, you can expect a decent-sized sandwich, swiss cheese, a deli pickle (or two) and a small bag of chips. I’d like to see what a full-sized sandwich looks like before I get too excited about the cost/value side of things, but the corned beef was excellent.
The slices I got were lean, crumbly and delicious.
My wife wanted to know more about the place when I told her about the trip. I think the thing she laughed about the most was when I told her about the menu sign. The place is so small and the whiteboard menu is so big and so close to you, that you kinda have to put your head on the wall and crane your neck up to see the top. Seriously, it’s only probably three feet from your nose but it’s a big (4′ by 6′?) whiteboard!
The Doghouse can be found in Bedford, a few miles south of the AutoMile at 589 Broadway, north of downtown and south of Broadway/East Grace. You can call them at 440.786.2260 or just drive over and grab one!
I’ll be heading back to see what the start of the brisket tastes like and see what a full sandwich looks like.
6/22/2010 – Update: I went back for lunch today and had the fresh brisket that was prepared last night. No real change in the quality—still the same lean, delicious Corned Beef—just a lot more of it! While I was there, I learned that this has been a restaurant only since 2002; prior to that, it was a barber shop.
6/29/2010 – Update: Here’s a scan of The Doghouse menu in PDF.
We had an errand to St. Clair this week to the West Marine there for fresh flares since ours expire this month and we intend to do some Lake Erie sailing.
For some silly reason, I’d never figured out just how close that store is to Danny’s Deli. It was too early for a sit-down lunch, but it wasn’t too early for a take-out lunch and so I asked my entourage (never run errands without your children) what they thought. I have an adventurous three year-old and a bold seven year-old and so of course the answer was yes.
I called to make certain they were open and we walked the two-thirds of a block and crossed the street.
We ordered a pound of Corned Beef, cookies for three, paid for our purchases and headed back West Marine where we left the car.
I’m not sure who was more excited, but perhaps the children were.
We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get some Deli Rye, then scooted the rest of the way in anticipation. Imagine my surprise when the other three, who were running late, were still at home! (Translation: We’d have to share. With three others.)
I never did get any pictures taken. That pound fed all six of us and the only things left were a couple of pickles.
I guess I’ll just have to get two pounds next time!
In one sense, a restaurant makes it easy for me when they serve a lousy Corned Beef sandwich. I taste so much high-quality Corned Beef that it’s pretty easy to identify a loser. It doesn’t make it any easier to call their version a loser, though.
Especially when they have a sign in their front window claiming “Best Corned Beef”. That’s an assertion that needed some investigation.
Luna’s is a little diner and luncheonette at 33 West Aurora Road in Northfield, just west of Olde 8 Road (on Route 82). My wife is in this part of town on the occasional Wednesday and since I was going to be in the neighborhood, she suggested we connect up for lunch.
So we did.
She and the kids ordered off the menu (cheeseburger, fish fry, fish sandwich, pizza and club sandwich) and everyone was pleased. I, of course, couldn’t let their claim go unverified and so ordered the Corned Beef sandwich.
The color was excellent, the cheese nicely melted, the bread just the right kind, etc. And as far as grilled sandwiches go, it was a good sandwich. But when you call it a Corned Beef sandwich, standards increase.
And as far as that goes, it was a lousy Corned Beef sandwich.
The Corned Beef was not quite rubbery, but close. Corned Beef should be easily severed when bitten and the rest of the sandwich shouldn’t pull out of your bread when you pull away.
The taste was average but the texture and consistency were both below average. I shudder to think of it, but perhaps this had been sitting a while. Again, as far as grilled sandwiches go, it was acceptable. It just wasn’t a Best Corned Beef sandwich, by any stretch of the imagination.
I hate to say it, but perhaps Luna’s should consider taking down the sign. Or blocking out the “Best” part of it.