Emerging Chefs Take Their Tasty Treats to Tremont

When I envisioned the location of the Emerging Chefs event, “The Last Tango in Tremont,” I thought of a beautifully structured restaurant I’d spot immediately. Turns out, I passed it twice before seeing a small neon sign in the upper-left corner of the tall window that read “The Velvet Tango Room.”

The brick building looked like every other house on the street. I wasn’t positive I was at the right place until I opened the door and was overwhelmed by the vision painted in my head weeks earlier by Michael DeAloia, co-owner of Emerging Chefs, a Cleveland based pop-up restaurant company.

“There’s little black holes everywhere in Cleveland, and this is one of them,” said Jennifer Rome of Willoughby. Her table of five, including husband, Matthew, and Velvet Tango fan Kimberly Morris of Ohio City, are regulars of Emerging Chef events.

The July 2 event, the 17th for Emerging Chefs, featured the culinary skills of Chef Brian Rosander, owner of Rosander Ice Cream Parlour and Sweet Shoppe in Berea.

“He’s an underdog chef,” said DeAloia. “That’s the point of Emerging Chefs, to spot upcoming talent and give them the opportunity to take the next jump.”

There were five small courses, or acts, as the menu called them.

“When people eat smaller courses, they feel more rested,” said Rosander. “It allows you to eat more food.”

Each pairing consisted of a chilled dish with a complementing cocktail. Rosander prepared the dishes while the Velvet Tango Room selected the cocktails.

“We give the chef total creative control,” said Rick Turner, co-founder of Emerging Chefs. “We trust the chefs to take it and run with it.”

Act 1 was a summery pea bisque, served with fresh crab, and a White Lotus cocktail. The hint of honey and lemon in the drink illuminated the light, creamy, smooth mix of sweet taste in the soup.

Morris was in awe of the cherries served in the Manhattan, which accompanied American and Purple Majesty potatoes with Toulouse sausage topped with a blue cheese froth.

“They may be the highlight of the night,” Morris said as her friends nodded in agreement.

It was a great pairing, as long as you like bourbon. If you’re like me, it’s not quite my style, but my taste buds sang when a White Russian was served with a ginger fruit tartare and rosemary ganache to end the evening.

As tantalizing as all the pairings were, there was one act that outshined the rest: The tomato tarte tatin served over chicken mousseline with an Apricot Lady cocktail. I’m not a fan of chicken. It’s usually too dry, tasteless. However, this chicken is something I’ll talk about for years. The juices in the tomato soaked through the meat and created a dish so moist and full of flavor that it left everyone who tasted it feeling on top of the clouds.

This was my first Emerging Chefs event, but definitely not the last. Being of Italian heritage, I’m especially looking forward to the next pop-up restaurant at St. Rocco’s Church on August 3 from 6 to 9 p.m. This event will capture the talents of Chef Jeff Fisher as he prepares large dishes spread out on communal tables to immerse the audience in a genuine Italian family dinner.

My Cleveland

This mini musing on the interesting and exciting things that happen in, and come from, Cleveland begins at a gallery and ends at a bar. Last week the husband and I went to the 78th Street Studios for Third Fridays. The sprawling repurposed industrial building is a hotbed of creative activity, and tenants throw open their doors to welcome visitors one night, every month. The first thing I noticed when we pulled into the parking lot was the new Touch Supper Truck. It’s hard to miss: The vehicle is garishly painted with cartoonish females and red-orange flames. It’s the mobile side of Touch Supper Club and just rolled out in August. There was a guy performing doing DJ duties so folks chowing down on tacos and sliders had some musical entertainment.

We didn’t stop, too full from an excellent dinner at home and in a hurry to get to an opening at Tregoning and Company, an art gallery. The show, called Spiritus, is a collection of compelling black and white photographs made by Elizabeth Sunday in Africa. (It's up through November and shouldn't be missed.) Though she now lives in California, Sunday was born here and has deep Cleveland roots: Her grandfather Paul B. Travis was a painter who taught at CIA for more than 30 years, and her father, Douglas Phillips, a renowned designer of stained-glass windows, had his studio here. We met James Wyman, curator, gallerist and fine arts consultant, who helped organize the show. He’s recently relocated to Northeast Ohio and is brimming with ideas and energy for the local arts community. No doubt we’ll be hearing more about him.

I ran into someone from my book club at the show. She wanted to know if I’d read The Paris Wife , the new novel by Paula McLain about Ernest Hemingway, his first wife Hadley and the six years they lived together among the literary greats who flocked to Europe in the 1920s. I’d just finished it the night before. We’ll be discussing it at our next gathering, and McLain, who lives in Cleveland Heights, will being joining us.

Next stop was the Velvet Tango Room for a nightcap, and there’s no place in this town, or any other, that better evokes the glamour and style of pre-war watering holes. Coincidentally, the last time I had a cocktail here, it was a Hemingway Daiquiri. The temperature was 40 degrees warmer, and it proved to be just the thing for a sweltering summer evening. This visit, we arrived just minutes ahead of a fill-the-house crowd and snagged the last two seats at the bar. The chill in the air prompted me to order an apple brandy sour. As always, it was perfectly made, the delicate balance of alcohol and acid achieved with just a whisper of sweetness. The husband had the potent Widow’s Kiss. We sat and sipped for a pleasant hour, talked about Sunday’s photographs and went home happy. It was a good night in Cleveland.

Cocktail Culture Swap

Reality tv has given us “Wife Swap” and “Trading Spouses.” These shows hold no attraction for me, but there is an upcoming exchange that has me all excited. On Monday and Tuesday nights, Oct 26 and 27, gin slingers from Chicago’s Bar DeVille are taking over at The Velvet Tango Room, Cleveland’s shrine to fine spirits.

They’ll be shaking up some signature cocktails to give us locals a taste of what their guests get back home. I’ve heard they do one with chartreuse called the Songbird, named Best New Cocktail this year by the Chicago Reader. They’ll also give us their take on classics like the Moscow Mule and Dark and Stormy that are VTR staples, (“They take a more interpretative approach than we do,” says Paulius Nasvytis, the man behind the Velvet), and will create a special drink to commemorate the event. Media folk like me get pre-sips at a private reception first. Pouring for the public starts at 8 PM.

Carol makes it happen at the VTR

Next month, on November 9 and 10, VTR bartenders will do the same, plying the liquid arts for the Windy City crowd. No doubt they’ll wow them with a combination of finesse and flair. But this is no mix off. There’s nothing competitive about the switch and everybody wins, especially those who belly up to the bar at either location to buy one of these carefully crafted libations.

The DeVille Pour

The two places, I’m told, share a philosophy – and details of décor- that makes the switch seamless and natural. Both endeavor to return cocktails- and those who enjoy them- to a better time, before shortcuts and cheap imitations became the norm. Every drink embodies a sense of elegance and class, the best ingredients handled with the best intentions. If the bartenders from Chicago are indeed motivated by the same quest for perfection as those I know and admire at the VTR, then the experience they’re bringing to Cleveland promises to be deliciously memorable.