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. 

Bonjour French Friends

 
Cleveland has a sister city in France (news to me) - Rouen, the capital of Normandy which is Jaques Pepin's home turf. We're hosting some special guests from our sibling metropolis next week for a culinary exchange organized by the French American Chamber of Commerce. Two are open to the public and anyone interested in attending should hurry to make reservations. Both promise an authentic experience and an entertaining few hours. No guidebooks, passports, or pocket dictionaries required.

On Tuesday, November 27 there's an intimate dinner for just 25 people at L'Albatros in University Circle. Two chefs from Rouen, Alexis Caquelars and Anthony Coufourier will partner with the restaurant's Chef de Cuisine Jack Ahern to prepare six courses. Brandon Chrostowski, staff sommelier, is in charge of the French wine pairings. The evening beings at 6 PM.  Price is $100 per person (plus tax and gratuity). Call 216-791-7880 to book your seat.

The new 2012 bottling of Beaujolais is in the spotlight along with other French reds and whites on Wednesday, November 28 downtown at Pura Vida, from 5:30-9 PM. The wines will be accompanied by a three course meal made by the same two visiting chefs, who will also do a cooking demo. They'll be working side by side with students from Tri-C's culinary program, under the supervision of their instructor Chef Ky-wai Wong and restaurant owner Chef Brandt Evans.  Price is $80 per person and you must register in advance.

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.

A Cheesy Gift Idea

What do you buy for the cheese lover who has everything? Brandon Chrostowski, sommelier and fromager at L’Albatros, recommends sending your friend on a trip to cheese heaven via the restaurant’s new Cheese of the Month program.

Club membership (available on a monthly basis) provides a delivery of seasonal cheeses, each hand-selected by Chrostowski. The package includes three half-pound pieces of cheese, accompanied by hand-written descriptions of the selection and suggested wine pairings.

Chrostowski’s established relationships with cheese mongers across the United States ensure that his clients get the best of the best.

“They’re giving me top wheels,” he says. “I’ve been working with these people five or ten years, some of them.”

The fromager is not new to the cheese scene himself, having worked in restaurants in Chicago, Paris and New York before accepting Zack Bruell’s offer to develop a cheese board at L’Albatros.

The club’s cheeses come from across the homeland and abroad. Recently featured were Rush Creek Reserve from Wisconsin and Mimolette from France, both of which were delectable enough that Chrostowski sent them to club members without a second thought.

The selection offered through Cheese of the Month is at times similar to the restaurant’s cheese board but often features unique and hard-to-get wheels. Discerning members can request a specific type of cheese, but less certain members can rest assured that they’re in good hands.

“You’re going to get three great pieces of cheese that are seasonally perfect and ripe,” Chrostowski says. “It’s a little taste of heaven every 30 days.”

The Cheese of the Month club is $60 per month plus shipping. To sign up or send a membership as a gift, call L’Albatros: 216-791-7880.

Zack Attack

It’s Tour De Bruell time again. No need to pack a suitcase or dig out your passport for this trip. All you need is a wallet stocked with cash or credit card. A promotional project dreamed up by chef and restaurateur Zack Bruell, it’s an invitation to dine competitively, eating out for a chance to win three fantastic culinary prizes.

food at Parallax photo by Dale Caldwell, Jamestown Group

Here’s how it works:

Have a fabulous dinner at any Zack Bruell restaurant — Parallax, Table 45, L'Albatros or Chinato — between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Ask for a Tour de Bruell ticket and get it stamped. Then get busy and do the same at his three other spots. Turn in your ticket when you pay the bill at your final stop. This gets you a commemorative t-shirt, featuring the 2011 Tour theme: “Get Your Zack On,” and puts you in the running for the more serious swag.

The first person at each restaurant to turn in a completed Tour de Bruell ticket earns a chauffeured progressive dinner for two, with one course at each of the four Zack Bruell restaurants. This happens at the midway point of the Tour, so there’s definitely an incentive to make reservations starting Right Now. That Zack’s no fool.

Chinato photo by Kevin G Reeves

Ten semi-finalists will be randomly selected from among all those who have done the entire tour. Along with a guest of their choice, this group gets a complimentary (yes — as in totally, completely free) wine tasting dinner at Table 45, featuring cuisine by Bruell and offerings by Moët & Chandon, the world’s largest champagne house. I was a media guest at a smaller version of this event — there were only 5 semifinalists chosen — last January. The meal was superb: oysters with Japanese mignonette; sushi; butternut squash ravioli in sage cream spike with truffle essence, Parmesan, and toasted hazelnuts; five-spice scallops with a crispy noodle cake; pulled duck confit and spinach salad; and crème de Bruell for dessert, all with appropriate wine pairings.

I sat next to a couple that described themselves as Zack groupies. Their enthusiasm for his food, they said — clearly proud that they were fans from the beginning — dated back to his days at Z Contemporary Cuisine, his first place, which opened in 1985. The male half of this duo added that he took a cooking class from the chef years ago and still uses what he learned.

The name of the grand prize winner is drawn from this group of semi-finalists and announced during their dinner. That exceptionally lucky person and seven of their bfo’s receive a four-course dinner, custom created and prepared by Chef Bruell in their home.

I’m not the gambling type, so this is my kind of contest. You can’t loose and there’s no risk. To enter and be a contender, all that’s required is four good meals at four good restaurants. If there’s a down side to that, I don’t see it. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that all these dining destinations have very inviting patios.

L'Albatros photo by Kevin G. Reeves

Local Restaurants Earn On Air Praise

Have a listen to a great piece on National Public Radio about the local dining scene. Of course I've been saying the same thing for a few years.

America's Best According to Esquire

I attended a great party at L’Albatros last week. The French bistro with an Ohio heart made it onto Esquire’s annual list of Best New Restaurants for 2009 and a crowd of friends and fans that filled two rooms gathered to celebrate. The twenty picks from around the country are detailed in the November issue and the write-up about Zack Bruell’s brasserie appears on page 83 with a photo of sautéed walleye and lobster quenelles (fluffy dumplings) in a buttery sauce Americaine. Happily, executive sous chef David Uecke was cooking up that the very dish for guests at the shindig while his boss was kept busy enduring a steady stream of hugs, cheek pecks, handshakes and back slaps. John Mariani, the magazine’s longtime columnist and food critic and the guy who decides which places are worthy of a spot in the line-up, came to town for the occasion.

Cleveland hasn’t always been on his radar. In fact the professional eater didn’t see much reason to come here until 1999 when he got an invitation from his colleague Stephen Michaelides to attend the opening of Moxie, which thoroughly impressed him. It was the first step in an ongoing campaign launched by Michelides, who had been editor and then associate publisher of Restaurant Hospitality from 1970 to 1998, and his wife Jeanne to make Mariani aware of all the great local places they thought he should at least consider when assembling his yearly roster of noteworthy new restaurants. He’s returned regularly since then to check out the dining scene, and has put praises in print for 3 Birds; Red, the Steakhouse; Fahrenheit; Lola; and Zack’s other two ventures Parallax and Table 45.

Mariani, who chronicles his dining adventures in a weekly e-newsletter called The Virtual Gourmet, no longer entertains any doubts that this city is home to some very talented chefs making food as good as anything found anywhere in America. It feels good to have him in our corner, and to know that his readers are getting the real story about Cleveland. It feels even better to live here and be able to have dinner at such superb spots every night of the week.

Tableside Service

If Zack Bruell was stuck on a desert island, it’s safe to say the two ingredients he’d bring with him are olive oil (French, of course, it’s got a more flowery taste and smoother finish than its Italian counterparts) and fresh lemon juice. The Table 45 chef topped off nearly every dish of last night's six-course dinner with the two — and the result was a great meal from start to finish.

The reason for the intimate gathering around the kitchen countertop table at Table 45 was two-fold. First, Bruell wanted to give our group of 10 a sampling of his favorite dishes from the recently unveiled spring/summer menu. But he also wanted to fill us in on the newest tableside service he’ll be offering at Table 45, one of this year’s Silver Spoon Award winners featured in the May issue. The action station cooking demo series offers a maximum of 10 guests the chance to watch Bruell and chef Rick Argoso cook, learn techniques, plate dishes and then feast on a prix fix menu.

We started with tuna carpaccio rolled paper thin and garnished with cucumbers, tomato, feta and mint oil. Next, we sampled a crab cake wrapped in crispy rice paper and served with spicy Asian remoulade. The Belgian endive salad offered a great blend of salty and citrus flavors thanks to tender prosciutto and orange and lime slices. 

It was followed by the halibut poached with olive oil, blanched leeks oregano, thyme, orange peel and some salt and white pepper. It was served swimming in roasted garlic and smoked paprika broth with ivory lentils, green beans, crispy croutons and saffron aioli. Next came Bruell’s more sophisticated version of a gyro — a Greek-style braised lamb shank (it fell off the bone perfectly during preparation) with cucumber salad, Tzatziki sauce and orgeno naan freshly made in a Tandoori oven right at the kitchen station.

I was surprised at the simplicity of the dish ingredients — “A little salt and pepper and that’s it,” Bruell repeatedly told us — and the complexity of the flavors that he was able to create. And I even picked up a few pointers along the way to use in my own kitchen: the right way to cut tiny orange slices and how to make sure your lentils don’t end up as a pile of mush (slightly undercook them because they’ll keep cooking even after you take them off the heat).

The plan is for Table 45 to start these weekly demos in June. And Bruell’s hope is to serve single walk-up dinners as well as large parties — just as long as the evenings are kept lighthearted, he says. “Food should be fun, not serious,” he told us. 

Catch Bruell and other top Cleveland chefs in two weeks at our Silver Spoon Awards party on May 14 at the InterContinental Hotel. Bruell will represent his two winning restaurants, Table 45 and L’Albatros. For tickets, visit us here.

Paris in Cleveland

Back in the fall I did a walk through of what had once been That Place on Bellflower. The old restaurant was long gone and what remained was a badly decayed- albeit still charming- shell of two connected brick carriage houses with various add-ons. The structure I saw was gutted and a mess. Even some of the floors were ripped out down to the dirt underneath. It was hard to believe, despite all Zach Bruell told me, that it would soon be transformed into a beautiful French style brasserie. But he did it. I visited a few nights ago and was knocked out by the transformation.

L’Albatros Brasserie and Bar in University Circle, which just opened for business, is lovely. The space manages to retain its vintage feel and still be stylishly contemporary. The candle glow atmosphere was intimate, welcoming, and warm- the fire burning brightly in the hearth in one room didn’t hurt. And the food is terrific. I wanted to eat every single dish on the menu of French comfort food. What I did try- pork rillettes, a frisee salad with bacon lardoons and a poached egg, duck confit, and skate wing- was lick the plate good. I can’t wait to go back to sample his cassoulet and bouillabaisse. Also had some amazing cheeses, a customized selection picked out just for me and the husband by the on-staff fromage expert who can tell you stories about where each cheese comes from and who made it.

Bruell’s timing couldn’t be better. Within days of my meal there I got a dining trend report for 2009 from a food industry magazine. According to these expert forecasters approachable, affordable classic French bistro cuisine is going to make a big comeback in the U.S. Looks like Bruell is on the cutting edge- as he has so often been in his long culinary career- and putting Cleveland right there with him. Better yet, he’s putting wonderful food on the table once again. When you need a break from your own kitchen during this upcoming week of holiday festivities, check out what’s happening in his.