Scenes From a '90s Cleveland Restaurant and the Recipe for Tastebuds Grilled Portobello Sandwich

Remembering the Clevelanders who helped to create one of the most vibrant food scenes in America, followed by a fair amount of lamenting!

Photo by Nils Stahl on Unsplash

Welcome to my eighth post my friends!

Better late than never, I guess!

Honestly, I just could not bring myself to hit that publish button when I finished writing this 2 days ago. Every time I read through it, my mind would wander, remembering more and more of the past. I kept wishing I could capture it better.

Spoiler Alert: I make a lot of assertions in this piece, that the best days are behind us, as far as food and restaurants are concerned. But I wonder, if the same can be said about everything. Perhaps every generation feels this way about the next, but this isn’t a gripe from an old person that can’t keep up with these new whippersnappers or tolerate their music, dress or hairstyles. I feel there is much more at stake. I fear a retreat, a reversal, the unraveling of everything past generations fought for us to have, and that the next generation is powerless to stop it. I am interested to hear what you think, so please feel free to share your thoughts with me!

Johnnys Downtown (West 6th Street, Cleveland, Ohio)

It might be hard to imagine, but there was a time, not long ago when the entire hospitality industry genuinely wanted customers to feel welcome and happy! Many people of my generation came to work in Cleveland restaurants, as a way to make money while still searching for a way to avoid college, the corporate world, or growing up in general! While most were just passing through, those who stayed, those who endured, helped to create one of the most vibrant food scenes in America!

It would take a lot to convince me that there were any two tougher places to work in Cleveland, than The Baricelli Inn and Johnny’s Downtown in the late 1990s, and yet, I look back on my time in each with great fondness! I am grateful to have endured those difficult experiences, because they taught me so much, sharpened my cooking and coping skills, shaped my work ethic, and inspired me to open a place of my own.

At their worst, I found these restaurants to be soul-sucking, dream-crushing, and horribly abusive. The work was back-breaking, the hours were brutal and there was a lot of anger and hostility. At their best though, these restaurants were glorious and glamorous, a triumph of the human spirit, overcoming great odds to absolutely amaze and astonish guests’ senses with food, drinks and an atmosphere all superbly created by staff that protected and cared for each other like family. Both restaurants were full of passionate lunatics, relentless in their pursuit of perfection that left me in awe every single day!

Guests lucky enough to dine in these restaurants were treated to complimentary valet parking and were greeted by doormen and elegantly dressed hosts and hostesses who expressed delight in seeing them, while helping them off with their coats or jackets, before showing them to their seats. Tables were covered in white linen and set with heavy ornate silverware, china dishes, and crystal glassware, illuminated by a tiny, glowing lamp or candle. Water would be brought to the table with a basket of warm bread, baked earlier that day, served with really good butter often cut into triangles or whipped with fresh herbs and piped into ramekins from a pastry bag. The VIPs at Johnny’s were also given a bottle of herbed olive oil, a dish of imported olives, and a plate of freshly ground Pecorino Romano cheese.

Everything mattered and everything had to be perfect. Specials would be recited from memory from knowledgeable servers in spotless, heavily starched white shirts and ties. Orders were not written down and food was not auctioned off at the table. You knew who ordered what because each seat at the table had a number that you used to place the order. If a dish called for it, fresh ground pepper was offered as well as freshly grated cheese.

It was impossible to imagine leaving a restaurant hungry in those days. Drinks were generous, entrees were substantial and often came with a salad and desserts were made by talented in-house pastry chefs. Savory ice creams, creme brulee, and chocolate flourless cakes were staples, as well as cheese plates, with dates, figs, and dried apricots. Guests’ birthdays, anniversaries, or special requests mattered and were discussed at Q-time, a shift meeting was held prior to service, and every effort was made to give them a truly memorable occasion.

Repositioning a guest’s chair and refolding their linen napkin if they left to go for a smoke or to use the restroom was expected. As was refilling a water glass before it was empty and emptying ashtrays after each and every cigarette. Any extra or unnecessary glassware or dishes were promptly removed and used silverware was replaced with every course. Crumbs were not tolerated and servers carried a special tool to remove them without the guest even noticing.

Women were always served first and you weren’t to clear any plates until everyone at the table had finished eating. Anyone wanting a doggie bag would leave with their leftovers securely wrapped in a plastic bag inside a lovely foil swan!

I worked as a server at Johnny’s and as a culinary school intern at The Baricelli Inn. There is not one job in the restaurant business that I don’t take extreme pleasure in, from scrubbing pots and pans and peeling potatoes to sourcing ingredients and creating menus. Wait, that’s not true, there is one job I abhor. I absolutely hate pounding raw chicken or veal to tenderize, but the result is so lovely and satisfying, it must be done.

While I do feel most at home in the back of the house, I found working for tips in the front of the house, incredibly motivating, often going the extra mile and bending over backward for customers who I knew were generous. But, what motivated me even more, was contributing whatever I could and as much as I could to a guest’s experience.

I’ll never forget my first New Year’s Eve working at Johnny’s Downtown. I had a three-table station, near the kitchen door. I had just started working there, so I was a long way from waiting on the VIPs seated up in the front windows!

The general manager kept asking me about a particular table, questions about what course they were on, and what they had ordered. I thought he was asking because he genuinely cared if they were enjoying themselves, not because he had a full reservation book and assumed they would be finished within 2 hours, enabling him to seat the next lucky couple!

I told him that they were so happy and so in love, informing him that we’d been chatting so much, they haven’t even ordered yet. “They love me!” I added.

“We’re not here to make friends. We’re here to turn tables!” He snapped!

I had been in the restaurant business for 9 years at that point, and I had never known this! Perhaps it was because at Ninth Street Grill (where I had worked eight years previously), lunch was the busy time and customers rushed the servers. Being in the Galleria, where shops closed at 6 pm, dinner guests hardly ever had to wait for a table. As a bartender, I felt like I was there to make friends, and to keep them there, ordering drinks as long as possible!

Divorce was just beginning to be fashionable, and there were not many places outside of the flats for newly single, downtown professionals to meet. Ninth Street Grill’s Friday Happy Hour was really one of the first of its kind and it was legendary! While one might run home after work, to change into a pair of khaki shorts and boat shoes to party in the Flats, it was not uncommon to see both men and women pop into the designer clothing stores or the Dino Palmieri Salon to freshen their look, before strutting into Ninth Street Grill! It was a prime meat market and the design of the bar and lounge were custom-made for browsing Cleveland’s most eligible bachelors, bachelorettes, and players!

Being a bartender is completely different from being a server. While guests know that they can treat a server terribly and still expect reasonably good service, a bartender is under no obligation to even acknowledge you. They can decide to cut you off at any time they feel that perhaps you’ve had enough, which is really when they have had enough of you! You cannot have an enjoyable night shaking an empty glass and watching a bartender’s every move, hoping to catch his or her eye.

A great bartender can make introductions between guests, get phone numbers, and listen in on where the action is. Whatever you are looking for, whether it’s a great meal, some good advice, a travel agent, lawyer, mechanic, plumber, electrician, tickets to a show, concert, or sporting event, to get high or to get laid, trust me, the bartender knows a guy or can make it happen!

Being a bartender, at Ninth Street Grill at that time in Cleveland, didn’t just make me popular for the first time in my life, it made me a boss! It was a bit like being in the mob. Loyalty was rewarded, cash was king, and everybody knew to keep their mouth shut or else. You knew who the wives were, who the girlfriends were, and that it was none of your business. Every woman wanted to know me, and every guy wanted to…know me too! What did you think I was gonna say?

“For us, to live any other way was nuts. Anything we wanted was a phone call away. We were treated like movie stars with muscle. We had it all, just for the asking. It was a glorious time!”  

-Scorsese, Martin. Goodfellas. Warner Bros., 1990.

The early ’90s was a glorious time to be in the restaurant business in Cleveland! You knew the chefs by their first names! There was Parker (Bosley), Karen (Small), Doug (Katz), Sergio (Abramof), Ricardo (Sandoval), Terry (Tarantino), Paul (Minillo), Robert (Fatica), Michael (Symon), the other Michael! (Herschman), Doug (Katz), Jonathan (Bennett), Susan (Walters), Brad (Friedlander), Tim (Bando), Gary (Thomas), Vid (Lutz), John (DeJoy), Donna (Chriszt), Zach (Bruell), Michelle (Gaw), John (Kolar), Jim Gillison, Marlin (Kaplan) and Brendt (Evans).

We eagerly awaited hearing about the food and restaurants these chefs were creating from powerhouse journalists, John Long, Joe Crea, Debbie Snook, Wilma Salisbury, and John Petkovic in the Wednesday Food section and Friday Magazine of The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Those who were lured into the kitchen back then were not looking to become famous or even well-known. It was not likely that they would even be understood or appreciated for their contributions to the craft. They had found their calling and they were powerless to resist that remarkable feeling of feeding others and seeing how much they enjoy the taste of something you have created!

These chefs were true culinary trailblazers, taking huge risks in an industry proven to produce much more failure than success. This list is surely incomplete, but these are the chefs that I feel impacted my life directly and deliciously. They are the ones, without whom, my life as a chef and restaurateur, might not have been possible.

But then…

A new decade brought new technology and a new set of priorities. For some chefs, honing their craft, sourcing the best ingredients, and perfecting flavors to please their guests became less important than winning awards, earning stars, or appearing on the Food Network. Restaurants began to hire PR firms and chefs were encouraged to have a social media presence and gain as many likes and followers as possible. The appearance of the chef, the food, the cocktails, and even the dining experience all had to be Instagram worthy and everyone got to be a food critic on Yelp. Suddenly, the restaurant business looked so appealing, that everyone wanted in on the game.

Loyalty was lost in the frenzy of new restaurants and concepts that were popping up everywhere. Servers, bartenders, and guests all began to roam. Those deep bonds that had developed between restaurant staff and patrons, snapped, leaving their roots to whither in the dirt. Well-established restaurants suddenly found themselves scrambling to find staff to replace chefs, cooks, bartenders, and servers that were poached by newcomers with money.

Even the food got weird! While modern diners may get excited about eating gel, foam, and foods cooled with liquid nitrogen, I am nostalgic for the ingredients that made the 90s such an exciting time for restaurants; Watercress, Portobello Mushrooms, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Pesto and Goat Cheese. These items were not commonly found in grocery stores like they are today. Luckily, I knew a guy, (of course!) and if he couldn’t get what I was looking for, he knew someone who could!

Nate Anselmo had a small stand at Cleveland’s West Side Market where, in addition to selling the best quality produce, he kept precious ingredients under the counter for local chefs and food enthusiasts, which is what I would have been considered in the early 90s. He loved to talk about food and was eager to hear what you were going to make and how you were going to use the produce he sold. He’d remember you and follow up, “So how did that meal turn out? Did your guests enjoy the dish?” And then he’d look around, reach under the counter and pull up something else you might wanna try, something he wasn’t offering to just anybody!

When I opened Tastebuds Restaurant, because of my loyalty to Nate, I bought much of my produce, especially those portobello mushrooms that his father introduced me to, from his son, Tony Anselmo, who continued his father’s serious commitment to quality, as the owner of Premier Produce One.

Thankfully, the West Side Market continues to provide innovative Cleveland chefs with the opportunity to buy small quantities of interesting or exotic ingredients cheaply, allowing them to play around and experiment. I would say, it’s no accident that the hottest food scenes in Cleveland, West 6th, East 4th, Tremont, and Ohio City are all within a mile or two of this great market, and I’ve got loads of stories about my experiences there to share in the future!

Preparations for Making the Portobello Mushroom Sandwich

The Recipe for Tastebuds Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich

Balsamic Reduction

1 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 Packed Brown Sugar

Heat vinegar over a medium high heat, until reduced by nearly half. Don’t breathe it in, it can knock the wind out of you or send you into a coughing fit. Reduce heat to low and add brown sugar whisking until fully dissolved. Remove from heat. When completely cool transfer to plastic squeeze bottle with lid and use within a few weeks. This sauce was made for summer’s bounty! Drizzle lightly on salads (especially Caprese), pasta, bruschetta or pizza as a finishing sauce.

Roasted Garlic Oil

This recipe is more than you need but if you are going through all the trouble you should enjoy it in a few more dishes. Our Greek Pasta was coated in this immediately after draining and rinsing. Our pizza crusts were brushed with this and we used it to season our green beans. You will love having this on hand! I add it to just about anything thats going on the grill, from meat to veggies.

1 Cup Olive Oil

2 Bulbs Garlic Peeled and Finely Chopped (reserve a small amount to season tomatoes)

1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/2 Stick Salted Butter (Optional)

Heat oven to 400 Degrees. Put Butter in center of small baking dish and surround it with garlic and salt. Pour in olive oil, coating the other ingredients. Roast for 10-15 minutes, carefully stirring periodically (take out of oven to stir, you do not want any spilling inside your oven!) It is done when garlic turns dark blond and has a mellow nutty aroma. Let cool completely and store in refrigerator for up to two weeks.

For the Sandwiches

4 Large Portobello Mushroom Caps (stems removed)

4 Teaspoons Roasted Garlic Oil

1 French Baguette cut into 4 even pieces, then cut open and grilled or toasted on the inside.

4 Roma Tomatoes thinly sliced and seasoned with basil, garlic, olive oil and kosher salt.

1 Cup Mozzarella and Provolone Cheese Mixture or Any Italian Blend

1 Cup Fresh Baby Spinach

Balsamic Reduction to taste

Kosher Salt to taste

Heat oven to 400 Degrees. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel and arrange on nonstick baking tray, gill side up. Spoon 1 Tablespoon Roasted Garlic Oil onto each cap and spread the garlic evenly around. Sprinkle a little extra kosher salt onto the mushrooms and bake for 10-15 minutes, until mushroom is very pliable and garlic is caramelized.

Squeeze balsamic glaze onto the bottoms of the grilled bread in a zigzag pattern and place on large nonstick baking tray. Slice each mushroom into 1/2 inch strips and lay on top of glazed bread. Divide the tomatoes and cheese evenly among the sandwiches. Butter the top slices of baguette and place alongside bottoms face down. Return to oven, just until the cheese is melted and the bread is golden brown. Add spinach on top of melted cheese and drizzle more balsamic reduction on the inside of sandwich lid, then push the sandwich together firmly and enjoy!

Tastebuds Portobello Sandwich with a side of Asparagus

And Finally…

We can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far. I knew I was witnessing something magical in Cleveland restaurants in the ‘90s. What I didn’t know, was just how profoundly, success, new found fame and the internet would change my beloved restaurant industry forever.

Chefs were dazzling us with their creativity. We were all on this journey of discovery together, astonished at every turn! We needed each other. We encouraged and inspired each other; chefs, suppliers, front of the house, back of the house, those who served, and those who ate. Success was built on relationships not algorithms. It was that little window of time, when chefs were finally receiving the recognition they deserved, making them feel happy and proud, before the internet gave them and every one else an inferiority complex by making local success and the love of one’s own clientele, seem so very very small and insignificant.

For too short a time, they were the esteemed captains of a ship, taking us through exciting, uncharted and often rocky waters, in search of something new. They reported to no one but the owner or they were the owner! The only opinions that mattered to them were those of their crew or their customers. The only criticism, that carried any weight, was that of highly trained, seasoned journalists who strived to provide a fair, thorough and unbiassed assessment, based on several visits to their restaurant. Chefs didn’t have to look like rock stars, their food didn’t have to come out of the kitchen ready for a photo shoot and they didn’t have to take criticism from literally anybody and everybody. Then, shortly after video killed the radio star, social media killed everyone else!

To achieve what is now considered success, chefs must leave the helm of the kitchen they created and the motley crew of pirates they assembled. They must leave everything they know and love, board a yacht full of beautiful people, adapt to their corporate style and ways and learn to navigate the very world they had escaped from!

Thank You For Being Here Once Again, My Friend!

In keeping with my reputation for taking my vacations seriously, and allowing myself two weeks off every six months, I will be taking a break from writing for the next two weeks and will return with a fresh newsletter on August 12th. I am incredibly excited to be hosting two of my sisters as they travel to Ireland with their families. Having not seen any of my family for two years, I want to be fully present and fancy-free to enjoy every moment with them! Thank you for allowing me this opportunity!

Cheers!

Bridget