Bourbon, Sweets and Eats

Cleveland Whiskey, a locally bottled spirit that get's age on it in a super fast, ultra-secret process that I wrote about last February, has its fans and its critics. Fortune came in on the enthusiastic side including the distillery's Christmas Bourbon in the magazine's list of 11gifts for alcohol drinkers for 2014. If you don't have an opinion yet, try it for yourself Saturday, December 6 at Cleveland Whiskey's Holiday Open House, from noon to 6 PM.

 It's an opportunity to sample (and buy) all three versions of their product and cocktails made with them, and indulge in bourbon infused goodies: chocolates from Fear's Confections; ice cream from Mason's Creamery; cupcakes made by A Cupcake a Day; and brownies from Wasted! Bakery. The Nosh Box Food Truck will be stationed outside from 1-4 PM, offering sandwiches and tater tots with an optional splash of Bent Bourbon Sauce made with Cleveland Whiskey.

 There will be a free-to-enter raffle, gifts for purchases of $100 and $120 (while supplies last ), and a complimentary pulled pork slider from the truck for those who pony up for a bottle of Cleveland Christmas Bourbon or Black Reserve Bourbon.

The party's inside the Magnet Building (1768 East 25th Street) with parking available at no charge in Lot #56 on East 24th. Cheers!

Give A Warm Welcome to a Cool Couple

Photo by Barney Taxel, Taxel Image Group

I can't get enough ice cream when the weather's hot. Those days are behind us for the next eight or nine months, but some ice cream is just too good to be merely a seasonal pleasure. The luscious stuff Jesse Mason makes falls into that category. And Mason's Creamery now has a brand new home, open year round, in the former Ohio City Ice Cream on Bridge Avenue. Neither snow nor sleet nor cold temperatures will keep me from enjoying it.

Photo by Barney Taxel, Taxel Image Group

I wrote about this quickly successful and wildly popular upstart business in July 2013. After breaking into Cleveland market as nomads, peddling their frozen wares at farmer markets and special events like the Cleveland Flea, Mason, a local man returned from the West Coast, and Helen Qin, his partner in ice cream and all things, took over the shuttered stand earlier this year. They put in a lot of time and sweat into remodeling the place and have done a bang-up job. It looks great, but like many such undertakings, it was harder than they expected and took longer than they thought it would. Instead of opening in the spring as planned, they couldn't officially welcome customers until last week. I was there earlier with my husband for a private, friends and family soft opening. I can say it was worth the wait.

There's a nice roofed-over patio out front (heaters going in soon) and plans for a garden space in back. There's still a walk up ordering window, good for people with dogs, but now you can also walk inside and check out what's in the cooler. They've even managed to fit a few small tables inside.

Photo by Barney Taxel, Taxel Image Group

We sampled an intense and fruity Apple Cider sorbet, two ice creams, a chunky peanut butter smores and coffee and cream — which I just love — made with custom-roasted Rising Star beans. Old City Soda, another local start-up, will supply the necessary fizz for floats

There's still some good weather days left when eating ice cream is a natural. And when the thermometer does read below zero, and the very idea of dipping into a chilly treat makes you shiver, consider this: Mason has created the perfect winter flavor: Hot Chocolate with Marshmallow Fluff.

Taste of the Past

photo by Barney Taxel

Cleveland has become quite the ice cream town. There's Honey Hut, Mitchells and a few new players on the frozen scene I've blogged about — among them Sweetie Fry in Cleveland Heights and Mason's Creamery. But only a handful of shops offer places to sit and savor the sweets indoors. One of my favorite such places is Sweet Moses on Detroit Road in the Gordon Square Arts District.

The shop recreates ice cream parlors of the past. The double storefront space contains a candy case; marble counter lined with tall, round stools; wood polished to a high shine; gleaming silver spigots; round tables surrounded by vintage wrought iron chairs; and a restored work-of-art cash register. The behind-the-counter servers wear white shirts and aprons, and the menu includes classic sundaes made with house-churned flavors and real whipped cream, milk shakes, malts, pies and popcorn. It's hot fudge heaven with a cherry on top.

There used to be more places like this across town, typically inside a pharmacy. Why? That's an interesting tidbit of food history. Allow me to indulge my culinary geekiness for a few sentences. In late 1800s and early 1900s, mixing carbonated mineral water with sweetened flavored syrups was a common way to mask the taste of liquid medicines and render them palatable. By 1911, there were more than 100,000 such "soda fountains" around the country. The fizzy drinks, sans quinine, iron and other "drugs," were incredibly popular with young and old alike, offering an alternative hang out to the corner saloon. Soda jerk became a job title.

photo by Barney Taxel

You can't buy liniment or tooth powder at Sweet Moses, but you can get a traditional phosphate. I was in there recently with my family and had one of the chilled bubbly drinks with a slightly tart, acidic tang. There are 18 syrups to chose from (mostly fruit flavored, but the shop also offers others such as ginger and cinnamon). I went with peach and it was wonderful and refreshing — all the things I like about soda without any of the cloying sweetness that I hate. Just the thing to clear the palate after consuming a tall glass of Salted French Caramel ice cream, an outstanding new addition to the shop's line-up, topped with salted pistachios and pecans. It was a grand way to get out of the heat, while away an hour and slip back in time. The long line snaking past our table suggested others feel the same.

Cream of the Crop

  
July is National Ice Cream Month, so this seems like an auspicious moment to post my rave about  Mason's Creamery and the two utterly likable people behind it. Jesse Mason and Helen Qin just started showing up at farmers markets and other local public gatherings to sell scoops of their small batch ice creams in May. I had my first taste last month. I tried Vietnamese Coffee, which they cleverly serve with a drizzle of condensed milk, and knew that I'd come upon something special.

  The young couple relocated here from Los Angeles, and the move was a homecoming for Jesse. The timing was auspicious. The Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen which I wrote about in May, had recently opened, providing a licensed space where Jesse, who's skill set also includes graphic design and animation, could make their ice creams, using organic milk and cream, and local ingredients like eggs and seasonal fruits. He's in charge of production and Helen is the official taster, as well as social media manager and encourager-in-chief.

Deciding what kind of ice cream they want to offer is a joint project. And they're definitely on the cutting edge and coloring outside the lines when it comes to flavors, their latest include Nutella, tangerine and mimosa. I was wowed by Raspberry Lambic, one of the regular vegan versions. "Life is too short to stop at vanilla and chocolate," says Helen.

"We have those, but we want people to live a little, experiment too," Jesse adds. According to my food world news feeds what they're doing reflects a trend sweeping the country for getting all funky and fearless with ice cream. Andrew Knowlton of Bon Appetit has observed that people are putting in whatever they can think of, no matter how crazy or oddball it sounds, from avocado to foie gras.

  Ideas come from many sources:  Helen's Chinese heritage, their years in LA's vibrant international culinary scene, travels in Columbia and Italy, plus stuff they eat, like and read, and suggestions from customers and  Facebook fans.  A recent tweet of mine commenting on how messy it was to peel fresh mangoes prompted the creation of mango lime chili. It was a knockout combination. The tastes really pop, thanks to the spice —  almost undetectable except for a kind of extra brightness — and because they use less fat, 9 to 10 percent compared to the typical 14 percent (yet, you still get a rich creamy consistency).


This week  Mason's is debuting a really off-the-wall  flavor: chicken and waffles. It starts with bits of crispy fried bird folded into batter. Jesse, who told me he tries to maintain strict control over how much of his own product he consumes, confessed that he couldn't help himself and overindulged in a great big bowl of it. I can't wait to give it a try. Find it today at Walnut Wednesday food truck Chow Down and Saturday during the Cleveland Flea, this Saturday, July 13, at Sterle's. 

 Mason's Creamery has no permanent storefront home ... yet. But the pair are looking at different neighborhoods and properties. Meanwhile, they're living the carny life, moving from place to place every day, toting around the freezer, setting up their tent and table, and making people happy wherever they go.
 

Local Eating Connections

   Conversations about local food typically focus on fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs and cheese from nearby farms. But there's more to building a local, sustainable, integrated food system. One important idea is to create a supportive economic community that keeps dollars circulating close to home. To do that we need to utilize and consume more of what's produced in the region where we live and work. And these days Cleveland is blessed with a wealth of amazing culinary and beverage entrepreneurs. I have blogged about two of them — Cleveland Whiskey  last February and Luna Bakery Cafe in September, 2011 — and this past weekend they came together in an unexpected and delicious way.

photo by Barney Taxel

   We're fans of the whiskey and try our best — demand is intense — to have a bottle of it in the house at all times. And, truth be told, we like to indulge in a bit of after dinner sweetness, especially on the weekends. Bridget Thibeault, pastry chef and Luna's co-owner,  decided to make a special batch of her signature macarons spiked with the brown spirit distilled downtown (and aged at warp speed in a patented process) for Father's Day. When I saw an announcement about this on Facebook, I immediately emailed the husband suggesting he might want to pick some up on the way home from the studio.

   As the still life arranged on our kitchen counter reveals, he did. One bite of the light, crisp, airy cookie sandwiches-two rounds of meringue united by the alcohol-spiked butter cream filling- confirmed this was an inspired synergy. Tom Lix, Cleveland Whiskey founder and CEO, take note. This is a whole other delivery system for your product. Planned as a limited edition treat through the end of June, I hope we don't have to wait a year for more. Perhaps, if customer demand is strong,  Thibeault will consider baking them with some regularity.

  Meanwhile, Thibeault has been busy authoring a new book. Cupcake Decorating Lab: 52 Techniques, Recipes, and Inspiring Designs for Your Favorite Sweet Treats is now available on Amazon.

   In another expression of local and successful symbiosis, startup ice cream makers Jesse Mason and Helen Qin of Mason's Creamery, have a Cleveland Whiskey version. It's one of their many unique and unusual flavors. Spoonable spirits, great concept that totally worked for me.  Try some for yourself- they're scooping this week at the Downtown Farmers Market in Public Square Friday and the Kamm's Corners  Farmers Market Sunday.

 Also, Accent, Scott Kim's University Circle restaurant (my rave review appeared in the magazine last month) is hosting a blind taste test between Cleveland Whiskey’s Black Bourbon and a competitor's. Take the Cleveland Challenge at 6:30 p.m. July11. Stay for dinner; there are lots of exciting dishes on the summer menu.