Bruell's Bringing Restaurant Week Back

If you missed our Cleveland Independents Restaurant Week post back in November, it's your lucky month. Beginning on Monday, Jan. 18, and running through Sunday, Feb. 7, Zack Bruell is reprising his own annual restaurant "week" — actually four weeks — with $33 three-course meals at each and every one of his six fine-dining establishments: Parallax, L'Albatros Brasserie & Bar, Table 45, Chinato, Cowell & Hubbard and Alley Cat Oyster Bar.

While we're firmly of the opinion that you can't go wrong with a Bruell meal — the restaurateur is known for his keen attention to detail and for visiting his restaurants every day to maintain his high standards — you'll find us at Table 45 in MidTown during this cold weather due to the approachable comfort-food-type special menu.

"I keep the menu designed with our most popular sellers and simple apps," says chef de cuisine Donna Chriszt, "let the flavors do all the talking."

Here's what she'll be cooking up for the rest of the month, plus a simple recipe to really stretch that bang for buck.

First course: Choose from a daily chef-prepared soup or a salad of mixed garden greens, fresh vegetables, aged balsamic and Bruell's own olive oil.

Second course: Choice of chicken schnitzel with spaetzle and lemon-butter sauce or a classic lo mein with Asian greens, carrots, bean sprouts, edamame and a ginger-garlic sauce.

Courtesy Donna Chriszt

Courtesy Donna Criszt

 Third course: Assorted ice cream and sorbets with berries and mint, or chocolate lava cake served with creme anglaise.

Lo Mein Broth
Serves 4-6

1 quart vegetable stock
1/4 cup pickled ginger juice
1 ounce fresh ginger root
1/4 cup black bean paste
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
1/2 cups soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced shallot
1 tablespoon minced garlic

In a saucepot, bring to a boil the vegetable stock, ginger juice and ginger root.
Reduce heat to a simmer and add remaining ingredients, stirring to combine.
Remove from heat immediately and serve with noodles and assorted vegetables.

Tour de Course

There's no stopping Zack Bruell. 

As part of his sixth annual Tour de Bruell — an epicurean adventure where guests visit all five of his fine-dining restaurants between Memorial Day and Labor Day, collecting stamps along the way — the culinary pioneer hosted 10 guests who were the first to finish the journey.

While he shared his impressive story on how he's successfully opened Parallax, Table 45, L'Albatros, Chinato and Cowell & Hubbard throughout the night, each dish reminded us why he's one of the best chefs in the city. It also got us excited about the opening of his new spot, Alley Cat. Located on the east bank of the Flats, Bruell thinks the seafood spot will be ready in about two weeks. 

Until then, let one of these Bruell dishes tide you over.

Parallax's chili-orange marinated shrimp paired with a roasted beet and watermelon salad and avocado mousse makes great uses of seasonal ingredients for a cool, refreshing dish. Pro tip: Make sure to snag a table on the Tremont spot's patio. 

Get a double dose of vegetables in this Chinato pasta. A rich roasted cauliflower puree complements carrot fettuccine and ricotta salata. Pro tip: Sip on Chateau Campuget rose, known for its fruity notes of raspberries and black currants. 

The French-inspired Cowell & Hubbard crosses borders with a serving of chili-rubbed Latin braised pork paired with anasazi beans, fresh avocado and cilantro. Pro tip: End the night with a meringue ice cream sandwich. 

Flights of Fancy

Tonight is the third and final class in the Zack Bruell Wine School: Tour de France series at Cowell & Hubbard. Exploring the Rhone and southern regions, the tasting dinner promises a true French experience: bouillabaisse, braised lamb shoulder, canapes, cheeses and, of course, tiny chocolate mignardises (which means "cute" in Old French). The wines will be served and explained by Bruell's sommelier, Robert LaBuda, while the menu is created by chef de cuisine Andy Dombrowski (along with the chefs at Cowell & Hubbard).

Dombrowski says each class presents at least three courses with three wines each, which allows participants to more fully experience subtle variations in wines within a single region.

That way, he says, guests get to "have some fun and play around with it, as opposed to just saying, 'Here, this is a Bordeaux, and this is what you should taste, and this is what it goes with. Would you like to buy a bottle?'" 

Featured wines will range from run-of-the-mill bottles to higher-end or lesser-known makers for a more robust exploration of the Rhone and Southern regions of France. "We’re showing our guests the difference in taste not only from a quality [perspective], but educating them on the regions," he says. "It’s kind of a neat and different way to do a wine dinner."

(We'll be live Tweeting our thoughts and tastes along the way, so stay tuned, and send us any questions along the way.)

"You don’t have to be bashful about asking questions," promises Dombrowski. "It’s a very welcoming environment ... an open forum, and that’s kind of how we treat our restaurants as well."

If you're already asking, 'When's the next one?" check out the Giro di Italia series focusing on Italian vintners at Chinato in October, or January's New World series at Parallax, which will explore wines from North and South America and the Australian continents. Call 216-298-9080 to make a reservation for the Italian series or 216-583-9999 for the New World. Classes are $90 each or $250 for the entire series. One participant from each series will win dinner with Bruell and a guest.

Zack Attack

"There's a joke in the food business," says Zack Bruell, as we climb into a limo bus. "What did they do? Just let a bus out in front of here?"

That's exactly what the chef of Parallax, Table 45, L'Albatros, Chinato and Cowell & Hubbard had on the menu for last night.

As part of his third Tour de Bruell, a contest encouraging customers to visit all five of his restaurants from Memorial Day through Labor Day, Bruell hosted a progressive dinner, with one course at each of his restaurants for five winners who completed the tour early. I was lucky enough to score a seat on the bus.

We started off at Table 45 for a first course of sushi, including the popular Table 45 Roll made with tempura shrimp, tuna, cucumber mayo, scallions and a spicy sauce inside, all topped with red tip clams.

While the limo bus chauffeured us around, Bruell shared tales of his culinary journey (for more, read our October 2011 feature: "Does Zack Bruell Finally Have Your Attention?"). He says Cowell & Hubbard has been the hardest restaurant to open due to the size of the space (it's the largest of the five) and menu (it's the biggest and most ambitious). But you'd never notice any of that struggle based on the entree served as part of the tour's second stop — a stuffed poblano pepper filled with shrimp and ricotta cheese. The lime butter sauce was so delicious that even Bruell used his bread to soak up his extra sauce.

"Cowell & Hubbard's menu is reminiscent of what I did in my last life," he says of his first restaurant, Z Contemporary Cuisine. "That restaurant sort of changed the dining scene. People who ate there never forgot it."

While we enjoyed fusilli with oxtail and beef tongue at Chinato and ended the night with cheese and wine pairings at L'Albatros, it was Parallax that offered up my favorite dish. The roasted peaches topped with ricotta were light and refreshing. The arugula salad of pickled red onions, candied walnuts and lemon balsamic vinaigrette were delicate and sweet.

"This place is a little more free-wheeling," he says of his oldest restaurant. "We have a little more fun here."

I joked with my fellow diners about how this dish seems so simple that I might even be able to re-create it at home, but then I realized it's easier (and probably safer) for me to just enjoy whatever Bruell creates. I will be back to have this dish again. And that, at the end of the day, is all the man is after.

"The goal is to make people feel good when they leave," he says.

Mission accomplished.