Ohio Wine Trail

A few friends and I spent a weekend in Ohio wine country this past summer. We went on a tour of the wineries on the Lake Erie Vines and Wines Trail, which is east of Cleveland. I wasn't fastidious about taking pictures of every place we stopped but took enough to give the flavor of the trip.





Grape vines outside of our first stop, Tarsitano Winery and Cafe.





The place was cute inside and out. The cafe wasn't open since we got there kind of early, but we sampled some wine. Like a lot of Ohio wineries, the sweet ones were better than the dry.





Covered bridges dot the trail and are tourist attractions in their own right.





The next stop was the Old Firehouse Winery, which is in the resort town of Geneva-on-the-Lake. There was a wine festival going on in the park next to the winery so we had the benefit of being entertained while we drank. I got their Pink Crush Cooler, which is described as "a refreshing blend of wine, soda and cherry juice served in a souvenir pitcher with ice." It was a sweet delicious concoction that I would order again in a heartbeat. The ultimate girly drink.








Fun resort town tourist traps!





Authentic Hawaiian Shave Ice on the shores of Lake Erie!

Views from the deck of our next stop, The Lakehouse Inn and Winery.

Even on a cloudy day, the view was beautiful. The wine sampler here came with a souvenir glass.

We stopped for ice cream at Mr. C's, which was near our hotel. Then we ended the night at Laurello Vineyards & Winery, where some older patrons were in their cups. It was a decent place to hear live music and had fairly good wine.

The next day, we headed back to Geneva-on-the-Lake and wandered around a little. We stopped at Madsen Donuts where I personally purchased too many doughnuts.

We happened to drive through the quaint town of Ashtabula, which was holding their 3rd Annual Harbor Beach Glass Festival on the weekend we visited. The Harbor's Lift Bridge went up just for us!

I bought of bunch of jewelry at the festival, mostly necklaces made with the many colors of beach glass.

After lunch we hit a few more wineries. Here is the fountain on one of the outside patios of Ferrante Winery and Ristorante.

For a change of pace, we sampled beers at the Cellar Rats Brewery at Chalet Debonne Vineyards. The darker beers were my favorites.

Our last stop was Grand River Cellars Winery & Restaurant where we had dinner and more wine. We ate on the deck where we caught the end of a jazz band's set. I got the dry to semi-dry sampler because I wanted to get a glass of ice wine for dessert. It was really the perfect end of a great girls' weekend.

Heart and Soul

Tomorrow night, Rozi's Wine House in Lakewood is hosting a Charity Wine Tasting to raise awareness for congenital heart disease. It's $25 and no reservations are required.

A friend and I went last year, and it was incredible. But, we made the mistake of getting there an hour or two after it began and didn't get to sample all of the wines. We did get to taste all of the food that was prepared by Lolita executive chef Matt Harlan, which was great. We talked to the chef for a while too, and he's a really nice guy.

So, if you are in the area and have the money and time, come out and drink with us. If you have lots of money you can bid on the silent auction items. Last year they were auctioning off a chance to ride a Zamboni. Who doesn't love a Zamboni?

Three Reviews

I've decided to start writing restaurant reviews since I love to eat out. But, I'm only going to put good reviews here because, while I have no problem recommending a restaurant, I don't want to discourage anyone from trying a new restaurant just because I didn't like it. I'm going back a bit for the first round.

Don's Lighthouse
8905 Lake Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44102
216-961-6700
Dinner; April 22, 2008
Party of Two

Diner 1
Escargot
Bay of Fundy Salmon
Cheesecake

Diner 2
P.E.I. Mussels
Great Lakes Walleye
Bread Pudding

My dinner companion and I both chose to order from the $29 three course offer menu, which is still available. There were so many tasty looking choices that it was hard to choose. The snails were topped with a puff pastry that melted in your mouth (although the seasoning was mild compared to the garlicky mussels). My salmon came on a cute wooden plank and was accompanied by sweet potato hash and sauteed spinach. Although the salmon was a bit on the well-done side, the flavor made up for the texture issues. The sugariness of the sweet potatoes married well with the natural sweetness of the fish and the slight bitterness of the spinach was a great counterpoint. The cheesecake was standard but good. I sampled the other dinner and would recommend those choices as well. We paired our meals with a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio. Overall a great meal.


Jefferson 150
150 Jefferson Street
Amherst, OH 44001
440-988-0330
Dinner, May 18, 2008
Party of Three

Diner 1
Shared Appetizer of Sweet Potato Fries
Low-Country Red Rice with White Fish and Shrimp

Diner 2
Beef Goulash over Homemade Spaetzles

Diner 3
Southern-Fried (boneless) Chicken with Smashed Potatoes

A beautifully converted house with cozy seating and a fun, eclectic vibe. The sweet potato fries were chunky and not overly crispy. They were almost too large to be called fries. The dinners are best described as comfort food; large, soul-warming and delicious. The rice dish had fresh herbs and crisp vegetables mixed in with the shrimp and fish with a rich red broth that was tomato-y without being saucy. The bread was fresh and crusty and perfect when dipped in the accompanying olive oil. We were too full for dessert, but the choices sounded yummy.

The Town Fryer
3859 E. Superior Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114
216-426-9235
Lunch; May 22, 2008
Party of Two

Lunch-er 1
Shared Appetizer of Fried Dill Pickle Spears with a Homemade Remoulade
Grilled Cheese with Crawfish, Collard Green and Rice soup
Shared Desserts -- Deep-Fried Twinkie and Deep-Fried Oreos

Lunch-er 2
Chicago Hot Dog (with all the trimmings)
Fried Mac 'n Cheese

I had been dying to go to The Town Fryer for years, and my friend's birthday provided a suitable excuse. The fried pickles were sprinkled with what looked like kosher salt, which would seem unnecessary but actually added a nice punch on first bite. The breading was slightly sweet and worked great with the pickles and desserts. I didn't love it with the mac 'n cheese, though. The grilled cheese was just like mom's (or sister's as the case may be) and the soup was nearly too incredible to describe. The broth was so flavorful that it must have been simmering for hours (no doubt due to it being leftover from the lunch special from the day before), the greens had a tang that was neither sour nor bitter and the rice, well, was rice. The crawfish (and a few shrimp) were better than the bar-like setting would suggest.

The desserts deserve their own paragraph. It was hard to tell where the breading ended and the sponge cake began in the Twinkie, but the cream filling was barely warm. Dipping the Twinkie in the strawberry sauce was pure bliss. The Oreos may not have cooked enough since they retained their integrity and didn't blend into the coating. However, since I'm not a huge non-fried Oreo fan it didn't really bother me. I enjoyed the half I ate enough to eat another one if the chance presents.

Rereading my dining choices makes me think I'm in a rut. I don't cook seafood at home so maybe that's why I order it when I'm out. Or maybe it's just a coincidence that I ordered seafood at these three outings, I don't know.

I'll have a new brunch and lunch review next week! unless they aren't good. However since both are repeat experiences, I have faith they will be excellent! I'll try to have pictures for those.

Bottle of Red, Bottle of White

Here are two wines I've drunk and enjoyed recently:


At India Garden, I enjoyed this red from the Sahyadri Valley in Maharashtra, India. I had my usual, Palak Paneer (which I ordered off-menu and medium spicy). Our waiter/owner of the restaurant said he wasn't a wine drinker and couldn't recommend a wine to go with dinner, but I thought this Cab went well with the spice and heat of the dish.




This white I bought at Trader Joe's as part of my splurge of buying a case of wine after I found out I was being laid-off. It's very light and summery and tastes great by itself. I tried to pair it with a chicken pasta salad I made, but the vinaigrette was way too strong for this Pinot. Maybe something with less acidity would have complimented it better.


I was very excited to order the wine at India Garden because there were just two of us and I knew we'd get to take advantage of Ohio's "Merlot to go" law. I gotta remember to do that more often.