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Mrs. 87 & I celebrated our 17th anniversary with a train ride into the city for dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.

Linky: Pic of the happy couple

No Bobby sighting, but the food was awesome.

Apps - we went with the blue corn tortilla w/barbecued duck and the crispy quail. Both very tasty, surprisingly, there wasn't a ton of heat.

Meals: Mrs. 87 went with the pork tenderloin, which was quite spicy and I ordered the "plate of the day," which on Saturday's is bison filet. Melt-in-your mouth tender with a lot of flavor. Couldn't resist the collard greens with chiles, which was a great side dish.

Dessert: Mrs. 87 opted for the toasted coconut cake and I went with the Mexican chocolate pudding (with gingersnap crumbles). Both were above average, but not outstanding.

All in all, a great meal in a really comfortable setting. We've been to several places featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives, but this is our first trip to a restaurant owned by an Iron Chef!

We did Mesa in 1998 when Flay was still doing Grillin' and Chillin' with Jack McDavid, and we did have a Bobby sighting.

He came in and we asked the waitress to send him over. He stopped by the table and was very accomodating. I thanked him for having a coupld of Finger Lakes wine selections on the menu and we talked a little about upstate.

He asked me if I had seen his new show yet (I don't remember what it was called) I said, "Yes, I saw when you had Nick Buonoconti on as a guest."

He started laughing and said: "You're probably the only guy watching who knew who he is!"

All in all, he was very personable, but that was well before his current celebrity status.

Ironically, we also had the blue-corn duck and thought it was excellent.

I've found that some of the DDD places we've been to have been a little dissappointing.

1987alum wrote:Mrs. 87 & I celebrated our 17th anniversary with a train ride into the city for dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.

Linky: Pic of the happy couple

No Bobby sighting, but the food was awesome.

Apps - we went with the blue corn tortilla w/barbecued duck and the crispy quail. Both very tasty, surprisingly, there wasn't a ton of heat.

Meals: Mrs. 87 went with the pork tenderloin, which was quite spicy and I ordered the "plate of the day," which on Saturday's is bison filet. Melt-in-your mouth tender with a lot of flavor. Couldn't resist the collard greens with chiles, which was a great side dish.

Dessert: Mrs. 87 opted for the toasted coconut cake and I went with the Mexican chocolate pudding (with gingersnap crumbles). Both were above average, but not outstanding.

All in all, a great meal in a really comfortable setting. We've been to several places featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives, but this is our first trip to a restaurant owned by an Iron Chef!

You clean up quite nicely. I'm not wild about your wife's beard, though.

My brother & I ate at the Mesa Grill in Caesar's Palace when we were in Vegas 4-5 years ago. Had a pretty good run at the poker tables so we figured we'd eat a good meal. I remember the food being pretty darn good, but no Bobby Flay sightings for us either.

I really wanna get to check out one or all of Symon's restaurants in Cleveland. The Menus look awesome.

I've been to two DDD places. The Blimpy Burger place in Ann Arbor I thought was terrible. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Went to Melt last weekend in Cleveland (was on DDD, but more known for being on Man-vs-Food). Unfortunately, my taster was off (stupid head cold), but from what I could taste it was pretty damn good (and great beer selection/prices as well).

hammb wrote:I really wanna get to check out one or all of Symon's restaurants in Cleveland. The Menus look awesome.

I also want to make it to one of his restuarants one day, its great having an Iron Chef from our state

BGFalconfromCincy wrote:

hammb wrote:I really wanna get to check out one or all of Symon's restaurants in Cleveland. The Menus look awesome.

I also want to make it to one of his restuarants one day, its great having an Iron Chef from our state

It is cool that we've got an Iron Chef from Ohio.

Cleveland is loaded with great food. I'm still saddened by the fact that I have a bunch of friends that drive to Cleveland to eat at the freakin' Cheesecake Factory. So many awesome local restaurants in that city and they're eating at the Cheesecake factory...


*note: I have never eaten at the Cheesecake factory and unless I'm dragged their by aforementioned friends I don't anticipate eating at their any time soon.

A friend of mine has been to Symon's restaurant and gives it an enthusiastic thumbs up!

The place I most want to go to in Cleveland at this time is Brasa. It's an all you can eat meat coma waiting to happen. They have all different types of meat and they bring it around on swords. They also have a salad bar that includes crab legs. Sounds awesome. Should be heading there sometime in the near future.

Melt: What can I say about Melt other than it is freaking awesome! If you have a chance to get there before October is over, you have to go and get the Mom's Meatloaf Melt. It is phenomenal. It's got the meatloaf, some redskin mashed potatoes, "meatloaf glaze" and Muenster cheese. So good. I've also had the Municipal Stadium Magic, the Hot Italian, the Chorizo and Potato, the Firecracker Chicken (July special), the North Coast Shores and the Parmageddon. November's sandwich of the month is going to be the Turkey Dinner Melt, not too interested in it. The next Special I'm looking forward to is January...the Chicken Paprikash Melt. I love Melt!

White Castle hamburgers and SouthSide 6 gyros.

Mexican Lovers Pizza at Myle's.

What more can you want?

VDub26Falcon wrote:The place I most want to go to in Cleveland at this time is Brasa. It's an all you can eat meat coma waiting to happen. They have all different types of meat and they bring it around on swords. They also have a salad bar that includes crab legs. Sounds awesome. Should be heading there sometime in the near future.

Melt: What can I say about Melt other than it is freaking awesome! If you have a chance to get there before October is over, you have to go and get the Mom's Meatloaf Melt. It is phenomenal. It's got the meatloaf, some redskin mashed potatoes, "meatloaf glaze" and Muenster cheese. So good. I've also had the Municipal Stadium Magic, the Hot Italian, the Chorizo and Potato, the Firecracker Chicken (July special), the North Coast Shores and the Parmageddon. November's sandwich of the month is going to be the Turkey Dinner Melt, not too interested in it. The next Special I'm looking forward to is January...the Chicken Paprikash Melt. I love Melt!

I almost opted for the meatloaf melt when we were there...it certainly does sound goood! I definitely wanna get back there when my head isn't as stuffy so I can truly enjoy it. I definitely enjoyed the $3.50 Nosferatu on tap, I can tell ya that! Great beer and a GREAT price!

I got the Mushroom Melt (Sauteed portabellas and carmelized onions with provolone), and had them add bacon to it. Tasted pretty good from what I could tell.

I have not had Brasa but I've heard too that it's pretty good. I've only been to one of those Brazilian BBQ type places, and was terribly disappointed. I went to the one that was in the Mirage in Vegas. I really had my hopes up...I mean what's not to love about all you can eat meat delivered to your table on a sword? Well, that place everything I had was dry and overcooked...I really didn't care for it. Reading online after the fact it seems that the particular restaurant I went to is one of the worst examples of that style...Brasa is supposed to be VERY good. It's another one of those places in Cleveland that I just wanna get to...so much good food in that city.

This place is amazing, and sounds like the same style as Brasa. I definitely recommend this type of place if you can find a good one.

http://www.greenforestcafe.com

Bar Symon in Avon Lake is closing but Micheal is opening another one of his other restaurants and moving the employees over there. Unfortunately, I don't think enough people realized or wanted to go to Avon Lake for gourmet bar food.