Happy New Year! This is normally the day of the year that I announce a fresh To Dine Challenge list. Well, this time comes in almost every blogger's life here on the interweb. This is goodbye. When I started this blog in 2009, I was freshly moved to Cleveland and quickly becoming immersed in the local restaurant scene thanks to my role at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. I was building relationships with chefs and restaurant owners, learning the stories of this city's makers in the culinary world, and getting to taste and experience all kinds of fabulous things. For that (and many other reason ..read more

It was a race to the finish, but with 3 days to spare...we completed the 2021 To Dine Challenge list! This involved a snowy drive down to Akron on a Tuesday night, but just one restaurant left to check off the list...it was a must. We headed to The Square Scullery. With the COVID numbers rising and more and more people that we know with breakthrough cases, we had planned on just getting takeout. The restaurant announced that starting that same day, they were switching back over to carry-out orders only. Wild times out there, folks. Luckily, you can order on their website and schedule a pick-up ..read more

Two more to go as the year nears an end! I'm racing to complete my 2021 To Dine Challenge list of 10 restaurants that YOU helped select. Next up was Battiste and Dupree Cajun Grill in South Euclid.  A very small little place, immediately with a lot of character and charm. We had placed a takeout order in advance (reasonable 60-minute wait on Saturday evening), so Mr. H just picked up our food at the bar and chatted with the owner for a few minutes about supply chain issues and the impact the pandemic continues to have on our local restaurants. He was so nice! We wanted to try a little ..read more

I previously shared our experience with the mouth-watering Detroit-style pizza from Good Meal Jane.  While they no longer have a stand in the building on the corner of West 25th and Detroit, they are still slingin' some pies for pre-order pickup in the parking lot of a convenience store in Old Brooklyn. Because the good news is that they've secured a new brick-and-mortar spot on Memphis Avenue, and plan to open after some renovations.  They'll be introducing new menu items as well, like the Sheesh Burger.  Two 5oz smash patties, pickles, Flaming Hot Cheetos brioche bun, nacho ..read more

The countdown is on. The holidays are here, the end of the year is looming, and it's a race for me to finish my 2021 To Dine Challenge list! With three to go in December, can we get it done? Let's go! First up, we hit Black Box Fix for a Saturday takeout lunch. Located in Legacy Village (second location in Columbus, OH), it can be a great option as you're shopping or there for services. But the parking around there doesn't make it ideal for a single stop on its own. After some circling, we did manage to time it right to slide into the Pick-up meter spot across the street.  Since it was ju ..read more

After buying a gift certificate for ourselves when we purchase one for my in-laws in December 2019, we finally made it in to Thyme Table Restaurant and Bar in Bay Village. The pandemic really delayed us getting there, but this certainly won't be our last visit there! We immediately loved the cozy and chic atmosphere. It kind of reminded us of our favorite place that closed, The Black Pig. A great craft cocktail, beer, and wine list also won us over easily.  We let our server select our appetizer from the couple that we had narrowed it down to. I could have made a meal from them alone! Bu ..read more

Things are quiet over here these days. My new small business, Evy Lena Vintage, is keeping me busy during every spare minute that I have. I'm learning a ton, finding such joy in running my shop, and achieving goals that I set for myself. To put it simply...life is good. Like real good. But that doesn't mean that Mr. H and I aren't still having some dining adventures. Now they just might include a thrift store stop or center around picking up winnings from an estate sale auction. Which is how we found ourselves in Sandusky one Saturday afternoon.  I went to Twitter for your recommendations ..read more

The owner of Happy Cows Group Share reached out to me to share a little about her business and asked if I'd be willing to come in to check out their retail location in Seven Hills. It is exactly the type of local business that I like to bring to you guys. They offer locally raised meat in convenient, affordable, and customizable shares. They have bulk pricing, so you buy by the share, instead of by the cut.  They also have an extensive line of locally produced pantry goods. Including some of our favorite brands... ...and several that we hadn't heard of yet. We were gifted a pou ..read more

This post I'm catching up on from July (whoops), but we headed to the newly opened Aqua di Luca in Downtown Cleveland. Normally, we don't head right in when a new spot opens up. We like to give them time to settle in and fix any opening issues. But this was opened by the folks behind one of our very favorite restaurants in the city, Luca (and Luca West). So we made an exception.  Plus, we wanted to celebrate a successful first month of my small business! That meant delicious cocktails from their bar.  Sappy moment...this guy has been so supportive, encouraging, and involved in my st ..read more

 Well, that was an unexpected two-month hiatus from the blog. But not surprising. I have NEWS! I started my own small business, selling vintage housewares on Etsy and Instagram. It's called Evy Lena Vintage, after my grandmother and great-grandmother, and it's been an "if money was no object, what would your dream job be" for a while. This pandemic and other recent big life events really put things into perspective for me, and I decided to stop holding myself back from chasing that dream. But it leaves very little time, energy, and interest for this space of the internet. So the posts wil ..read more