DDD Archives - Queen of the Food Age

Lucky’s Cafe, Cleveland, OH

July 26, 2013

In honor of my cousin Dalton’s graduation, I drove up to Cleveland with Ben, Sean, and Christine (a relationship hasn’t been truly tested until you spend 11 hours in a car with them). Before we left, I did a lot of research on what restaurants in the Cleveland area Guy Fieri has been to on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and found Lucky’s Cafe. After watching a clip from the episode where Guy tries their biscuits and gravy, I was set on going.

Just call me “Queen Fieri”

The space is really cute. It’s a little cafe in a house in Tremont, and our waitress informed us that all of their food is locally sourced. I got coffee, which was served in this big, colorful mug. It was all very homey feeling. To start, I also got a bowl of curry cauliflower soup, which was very yummy. My only complaint was that it came out lukewarm, when I was hoping for it to be hot.

It’s still yummy though.

For my entree, I chose to go with the Baked Mac-n-Cheese (cheddar, brie, parmesan, and mozzarella cheeses baked with pasta and cream topped with brioche bread crumbs served with house-made applesauce, $11.25). I added bacon for an extra $1.50, bringing the total for this dish to $12.75, which is kind of crazy. But the portion was big, and I ended up eating it for 2 meals, so I guess that makes it less bad. The waiter recommended mixing the applesauce with the macaroni, and at first I was hesitant, but let me tell you it was amazing. I highly recommend you try it.

Definitely the best Applesauce Mac and Cheese I’ve ever had.

The rest of the group ordered the Biscuits (cheddar scallion biscuits topped with soft scrambled eggs and sausage gravy served with hash brown potatoes and grapes). Thanks to Lost Dog Cafe, I hold all biscuits and gravy to a very high standard, and although these weren’t better than Lost Dog, they were really good. I liked that the biscuits were cheddar and scallion, which was a nice twist on the usual buttermilk style. The sausage gravy was outstanding, and the eggs were perfectly cooked. The hash browns were definitely more like home fries, but they were delicious, especially with the gravy.

I’ve never really met a plate of Biscuits I didn’t like.

Despite the fact that my meal ended up being $27, I still really enjoyed this cafe and would definitely stop by again.

It’s much prettier on the inside, I promise.

Lucky’s Cafe
777 Starkweather Ave
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 622-7773

2 Comments

Charleston, SC Restaurant Reviews

Tattooed Moose

December 14, 2012

Anyone who knows me knows that “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives” is one of my favorite shows. Every time I travel to a new city, I look to see if Guy Fieri has been to any of the restaurants in that town. Now, I don’t mean to sound like a hipster, but I ate at (and loved) Tattooed Moose long before Guy Fieri ever did. And if any restaurant in Charleston actually deserved to be reviewed by DDD, it’s Tattooed Moose; it’s the very definition of a Dive bar with awesome food.

I just really wish he’d do something with that hair.

My absolute favorite thing at the Moose is the Roasted Garlic and Bleu Cheese fries. You may remember me talking about this amazing nectar of the gods in my Favorite Blue Things post. The fries at the Moose are hand cut and fried in duck fat, which makes them extra delicious. Then they top those delicious fries with blue cheese and a whole bulb of confit garlic. It’s decadent, and delicious, but definitely plan on hitting the gym afterward, for like 6 hours or so.

Man, I really shouldn’t blog while I’m hungry.

Obviously, you have to get the Duck Club. It’s divine. In the words of Josh Campbell, “on a scale of 1 to 5, it’s a TWENTY FIVE!” A triple decker filled with duck confit, apple smoked bacon, and smoked cheddar on sweet Hawaiian bread with garlic aioli, lettuce, tomato, and red onion. Yum, yum, yum. They also serve each of their sandwiches with their house made garlicky dill & spicy sweet green tomato pickles, which are really yummy.

Omigosh, I really shouldn't blog while I'm hungry.

Also, they let you draw on the tables/walls, which is AWESOME

I also recommend the smoked chicken BLT. It’s similar to a traditional chicken salad, except they house smoke their chicken and top it with bacon, romaine, sweet & spicy green and red ripe tomatoes on toasted wheat bread. It’s very, very good. Lots of people think chicken salad is a healthy sandwich alternative, but not at the Moose. If you’re looking for healthy, you should probably just pick a different restaurant. They also have a bacon bleu cheese slaw that, which was really tasty. It had a really creamy consistency (rather than vinegary as you sometimes see), and you could really taste the bleu cheese, which I really liked. It also tasted kind of smoky, like bacon, which we really enjoyed. It was enough that we had leftovers to take home with us.

Man that looks good.

Recently, when we went to the Tattooed Moose for Casey’s birthday, I branched out from my usual Duck Club and ordered the Thanksgiving “Leftovers” Sammy, which is fried turkey breast, stuffing & cranberry mayo on toasted wheat bread, served with duck gravy for dipping. It was really good. The duck club is still my favorite, but this sandwich is definitely a close second. Mike ordered his without the cranberry mayo, because he’s a crazy person who doesn’t like cranberries. But I wouldn’t recommend that, unless you’re a crazy person like Mike.

Not pictured: personal bowl of gravy for dippin’

I love Tattooed Moose, but it’s definitely not a restaurant I’d want to visit more than once or twice a month. It’s very rich, and not even a little bit healthy for you, even though it’s damn delicious. But it’s definitely worth the miles on the treadmill.

The keyword here being “Dive.”

Tattooed Moose
1137 Morrison Drive
Charleston, SC 29403
(843) 277-2990

Restaurant Reviews

Florentine Cafe, Boston, MA

September 15, 2012

When I first found out I was going to Boston, I had one thing on my mind: Lobster Ravioli. Namely, Lobster Ravioli from Rino’s Place as seen on Diners, Drive ins, and Dives. When we landed in Boston, I found out that Rino’s place was closed for renovations, so I’d have to find another venue to satisfy my lobster ravioli craving. Enter the Florentine Café. We started our meal with bruschetta and pomodoro (basically a caprese salad with red and yellow tomatoes). We ate it so fast I barely had time to snap a picture before it was gone.

Aunt Karen got linguini scampi (thin linguini with sautéed shrimp & diced tomatoes in a garlic lemon butter sauce). I didn’t try any of it, but she ate all of it, so I’m assuming it was good.

Tina and Uncle Greg ordered the Lobster ravioli, which consisted of ravioli filled with shallots, crabmeat & ricotta, tossed with lobster meat and porcini truffle oil in a vodka cream sauce. It really, really yummy.

Because I have a thing where I don’t like to order the same thing as anyone else at a table (it really limits my options to try more food from the restaurant if we all order the same thing), I ended up ordering the Chicken Francese (egg battered chicken sautéed with chicken stock, fresh lemon and butter served with penne). It was simple and delicious, but very, very rich.

Florentine Café
333 Hanover St
Boston, MA 02113