Category Archives: Reviews

Back to Slyman’s

There’s no doubt that Slyman’s Restaurant holds the region’s imagination for Corned Beef. From being “the place the president visited” (President Bush dropped by in 2007) to serving the “biggest” Corned Beef, nothing about Slyman’s is disappointing.

My colleague and I chose a Friday during Lent to avoid the massive crowds that on a normal day threaten to swamp this little “hole in the wall” (video). The takeout line (call, don’t email) was long but running quickly and yet there were a few tables to spare at 12:30 when we arrived.

If you’re here for the Corned Beef (and who isn’t!), a quick glance at the menu should be all that’s needed. My friend chose his traditional Reuben (hold the Sauerkraut) and I got the Corned Beef.

The first thing we do is pull out our phones to take pictures (his and mine). I didn’t have a ruler or measuring tape, but it was high, probably the tallest I’ve had yet.

We guessed about the weight, figuring about eight or nine ounces. Our waitress (she was friendly, attentive and yes, very busy) shattered our estimate by telling us that each one is eleven-point-five ounces.

Eleven-point-five ounces

No matter how you slice it, stack it or compress it, that’s an awful lot of sandwich.

I’m not going to get into “size matters” arguments mostly because no matter how big you make your sandwich, someone else can always add another ounce. You may be trying to lift a slice of rye bread the size of a hubcap, but the place down the road will trot out one the size of a spare tire.

On a personal note, a Corned Beef sandwich needs to have at least a 2:1 Corned Beef-to-bread ratio in order to be truly enjoyable. Less than that and you’d be better off eating tuna fish. On the upper side, there’s something about 16 ounces—an entire pound—that sounds like a good place to stop. As it is, one calorie calculator I visited put that 11.5 oz sandwich at 980 calories (sans pickle)!

Get on with it!

How was it? It was truly great. A real Cleveland classic. Without a doubt, a great Corned Beef sandwich. My friend would argue that it is Cleveland’s Best Corned Beef. As for me, I’m a bit more empirical: ask me when I’ve tried them all.

Until then, when I’m tired of sampling sub-Best fare, I’ll come back to Slyman’s to reset my expectations.

Yes, it was that good.

Corned Beef Cafe in Broadview Heights

Seth Golias is a guest writer and sandwich eater for Best Corned Beef in Cleveland. He recently visited the Corned Beef Cafe and tells us about his experience. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

While making my rounds at work, I spied the Corned Beef Cafe in Broadview Heights. Now being a lover of corned beef sandwiches, it didn’t take much contemplation to decide where I was going for lunch.

I walked in and promptly ordered a standard corned beef sandwich on rye with swiss to go. The staff seemed friendly and I left feeling very excited at the thought of devouring this new delicious smelling sandwich.

After a drive that seemed to never end, I arrived at my office and eagerly unwrapped my lunch. The sandwich was definitely big enough, after all, a proper corned beef sandwich is not made to fit in your mouth. I must say the taste was fairly good, but I was disappointed in the quality of the meat. I prefer a more lean sandwich, one that tends to “crumble” and is not too chewy. This sandwich was a little more on the fatty side and the meat was sliced a little too thick. I think good corned beef should be sliced as thin as possible. I know many people don’t agree with me, but the thickness of the slice does wonders for the texture.

I personally can’t say that the Corned Beef Cafe has the best corned beef in Cleveland as their window signs would suggest, but I can say that despite the opposition to my preferred style, the overall experience was agreeable.

-Seth Golias, March 11, 2011

$140 worth of Slyman’s

Our combined bill came to $140.70 and $109.25 of that was all beef, glorious beef!

We had Corned Beef sandwiches, Pastrami sandwiches, take-home boxes of Corned Beef, sides of various kinds and (of course) deli pickles. It was an all-out Corned Beef fest.

First, a bit of background.

The Corned Beef idea was gaining some traction at the office and there were several folks who wanted to make the pilgrimage to Slyman’s to prove, once and for all, that they have the best Corned Beef in Cleveland. The original plan was for the group to trek out there, grab a table and sit down to sample and enjoy, but once the full invitation list was fully counted, we concluded that a group that large would be quite unwieldy and that we should do take-out instead.

Oh, did I mention that this was a Friday during Lent? Fridays during Lent may be a great time to visit a Corned Beef restaurant famous for its Corned Beef and also its long lines.

Then again, for some people, it may not be.

For us, it worked though, since the drivers were able to get there, pick everything up and drive on back in a very short amount of time.

My job was to get us some place to eat all this Corned Beef goodness. Some of the less-pretentious and more-functional conference rooms were booked so I called in a favor and got the Situation Room with its fancy table and chairs.

And truthfully, we needed it since a total of ten folks showed up for lunch.

I would love to say that I enjoyed my sandwich, took the full pound home and made that last for the next two days’ lunches. The truth is that I thoroughly enjoyed every morsel of my very large Corned Beef sandwich, snatched a few slices from the pound that was headed home and then later watched as my wife and children devoured it for dinner a few hours later. (On rye, of course!)

And that, I’m beginning to understand, is how Corned Beef should be enjoyed.

Fully.

Thickly.

Soon after slicing.

On Rye.

With friends.