Of course if you have not been to this area I highly recommend it. It really makes you feel like you are in another time period, the houses and store fronts are old and very beautiful, there are little antique shops, tea and ice cream places and unique restaurants. Also located within walking distance, the Metroparks, which surround the area with trees, streams of water and walking trails. The parks alone are worth the trip, although why wouldn't you stop for something to eat afterwards?
Walking past the store front of Quince you would never assume that the menu inside was so stylish. Even more exciting, the fact that the menu changes with season, which is not expected of most places. When you step inside, you will feel like you are stepping into Grandmas dinning room, with big family style dark wood tables, hard wood floors, walls covered in little Italian chefs decorations and old celling fans. At first I was thrown off. The decoration, though comfortable, does not match the updated menu. The crowd, definitely local, may not be ready for a change, but if updated could open the door to some younger and larger business. Also, the concern of not offering a bar menu concerned me at first, but then I was relieved to see that they offered a decent size wine menu as well as some bottled beers.
Now for the menu, everything on the menu was in season. It was a good size for always changing, very Vegetarian friendly, with 5 seafood specials that made your mouth water as they were explained by the knowledgeable and polite server.
I started with the fall squash bisque, apple fennel slaw and apple tempura chips.
The soup was sweet and creamy, it had small peices of squash that I would catch with every other bite and it just made me want more. The apple chips were outstanding. It reminded me of refined fair food, "I could have ordered a pound of them to go!" The apple fennel slaw was good, very fresh, a good side dish for Thanksgiving dinner.
Hannah started with the composed chopped salad
The salad consisted of cauliflower, bacon, lentils, pear, gorgonzola on a bed of spinach with a roasted onion sweet and sour vinaigrette. She seemed to enjoy this, description alone sounds fantastic and full of flavor. The dressing for this salad was only one of the several unique dressing combos that they offered that were above and beyond your basic Italian or ranch.
Lesile started with the beets, beets, beets app.
This is one of the most intriguing starters that I have come across. For only $8 dollars you get to experience beets in 4 different ways. First the beet borscht, a cold beet soup, with a tarragon bite at the end. Yummy! Next the honey glazed beet doughnut, which was similar in taste to a glazed doughnut with the earthy end of the beet and the chew similar to a protein bar. I enjoyed the taste, it fit well into my need to experience food in a new form. Then we tried the pickled beet with the apple pear basil salad. Again, a yummy creation. Last, was the roasted beet with the cinnamon aioli apple slaw, which again really entertained my taste buds. The dish as a whole really worked and left us talking about it in rounds to come.
Next I ordered another starter, the sweet potato pierogi
This was a fantastic dish. The pierogi was filled with fresh sweet potato, toped with caramalized carrots and parsnips, that sat on top of a pear and apple puree and paired with an herbed riccota. The dish worked deliciously as one peice. Separately the puree was similar to a modern, sexy applesauce.
Both of the dishes I had, with the cream and potato were very heavy, so the two starters left me satisfied, as well as my glass of pinot that married well with my dinner.
Hannah ordered the pork bolognese for her entree
We read somewhere that the entrees were very big, and this was no let down in that area. The dish was allspice roasted pork, sweet and sour cabbage, pears, sweet potato gnocchi, and a sherry ricotta cream. She said that the pork was seriously tender and the gnocchi was pleasing. We believe it was toped with shaved squash but not sure that we ever concluded that this was true. Overall, she enjoyed her entree.
Lesile ordered a shrimp special as her entree
This dish consisted of blackened shrimp atop apple fritters surrounded by cranberries and two maybe three lovely sauces that we could not confirm origin of, but complemented the dish well. As sad as I am to say, based upon my overall feeling of the night, the shrimp really failed. It was overcooked, but worse than that the fishy after taste was so over powering it was hard to swallow. The fritters underneath paired with the sauce and cranberries really worked. Sort of wish the dish all fritters and no shrimp at that point.
We made our way through the menu with the idea of dessert completing the meal. We listened to the list of specials that had lots of chocolate and again paired with seasonal options. We even looked around the room to see the presentation of the last course, looking just as stunning as the others. But, sadly we did pass, as we were entertaining the idea of dessert consisting of a holiday beverage at another spot instead.
I would of course recommend this restaurant to those that are willing to think outside of the box, and I will return as I see the unveiling of the next seasons menu!
As for our dessert we stoped up the street for a new restaurant to the area, Taqueria Junction, formaly known as Agave from Crocker Park. The bartender Randy, or as he wanted to be called Animal, was very hospitable. We started with newly taped Great Lakes Christmas Ale with a cinnamon sugar rim.
Then as we were enjoying our Christmas Ale, Animal encouraged us to try The Explosive Elf, a shot created using Christmas Ale, Kahlua as well as a few other liquors.
Other than throwing it back, we sipped to experience the flavors of this exciting holiday shot, now one of my favorites! After the shot, we walked down the road to explore another gem in the area, to find out it was closed. So we had no choice but to take a trip right back to Taqueria for our Explosive Elf night cap.
The night was a success, we are now planning Taste of Olmsted Falls 2. We will see you there!
