Cleveland Yums

Is there anyone who doesn’t love to eat breakfast for lunch or dinner? My love for breakfast is just as much as my love for potato-based dishes. There’s a good number of brunch options in the Cleveland area, but there’s one in particular that has yet to disappoint us.

If you have an appetite for brunch, you need to check out The Feve. Not only are their dishes amazingly delicious but it’s very affordable. We’ve been to some “nicer” brunch places that have seriously disappointed us and cost us double of what we would play at The Feve.

The Feve is located in Oberlin, Ohio. There’s a nice liberal arts college, along with a little main street area that not only houses The Feve, but also galleries, local restaurants, hardware shops, and bakeries. In addition to the restaurant, it’s the diversity in a small town that attracts us to Oberlin.

So…The Feve. If it was up to my husband, we would be there every weekend. But sometimes we fall into the suburban life of toting our son to soccer games, swim class, play dates, etc. But we are there pretty often. We’ve been going there for a couple of years now and we have yet to eat off their non-brunch menu. I’m sure it will happen some day. There brunch menu includes a few “regular” items like the Classic Cakes. My son gets them every time and I completely understand why. My in-laws have said that it reminds them of Czech pancakes. They are flatter and thinner, but they are still really fluffy. My husband regularly asks my son for a bite because it’s so damn delicious and my son refuses to share. One of the first brunch dishes I tried was the French Toast, it was delicious! French Toast is one of the items that is always on the menu but the toppings differ every weekend. So far, my favorite has been the vanilla bean custard with fresh berries. YUM! In addition to french toast, there are a few other “rotational” items like the hash n’ eggs, pancakes, soup & sandwich, quiche, and many more. And let me tell you, none have disappointed us. Now, there are few stand outs. I can’t wait till I see biscuits and gravy on the menu again, along with the ham and cheese sandwich with the nice creamy soup. Just thinking about this is making my mouth water!

One more thing about The Feve – the staff. They are great! They are really friendly, fast, and we can always count on them to help us when there are too many good options on the menu.

When you are in Oberlin, there’s a few other places that I highly recommend. If you want, you can use our itinerary which is to eat brunch at The Feve, then head over to the Blue Rooster Bakehouse (I highly recommend their lemon curd croissant, salted caramel cookie, pepperoni rolls, and their blueberry muffins), and Cowhaus Creamery for some ice cream. Oh and don’t forget to stop at the Ginko Gallery & Studio.

Getting good ramen in Cleveland is tough. To get a decent bowl, you have to take a roadtrip to Columbus. Now, I don’t necessarily mind the roadtrip, since I can stop at the Japanese grocery store and bakery, and now Ikea. But every now and then, I wouldn’t mind going down the street instead of driving for 2 hours. So, when I heard about a ramen pop-up, I sent my husband to stand in line.

The origins of the ramen is questionable. I was always under the impression that it came from China, but there are those who believe it originated in Japan. Around the 1950s, the name ramen became more widely used. At the same time, instant ramen noodles became readily available, allowing families to eat it at home. Although, there’s a wide variety of ramen these days, the main ingredients remains the same – broth and noodles.

Now let me tell you about this delicious ramen pop-up. Back in December 2017, we tried Mason’s Creamery Ramen Pop-up for the first time and it was delicious! My son and I waited in our warm house, while my husband stood in line, outside in the cold. But I’m pretty sure he thought it was worth it. I had never had ramen from a pop-up, so I was really curious to see how we were going to get it. It’s actually pretty cool. They give you one container that includes the noodles, egg, sprouts, etc. And another container that includes the broth. Then all you have to do is combine it!

So first, the broth (the backbone of every ramen). Their broth was salty, fatty, and full of flavor. “Fattiness” may be a odd description for broth, but it’s so necessary when it comes to ramen. It’s the type of fattiness where your lips shine like you just applied lip gloss after your slurp up the noodles. For those that have never eaten ramen or have never had good ramen, that description may seem gross, but it’s not. It’s kind of like your fingers getting shiny/buttery after you eat a nice flaky croissant and I’m sure that doesn’t gross you out. Nonetheless, Mason’s broth had good flavor.

Next, the noodles. Noodles are actually a lot trickier than people realize.  And in the case of this pop-up there’s the added factor that it may not be eaten right away. For us it takes 20 minutes to get to/from Mason’s Creamery. I think they have actually done a pretty good job with their noodles. It had a nice firmness that allowed the broth to seep in just enough and we were able to make that nice slurping sound as we ate it. It’s the fabulous slurp that you will hear in every ramen joint in Japan, but would be definitely be frowned upon here in the US.

Each of the toppings in our tonkotsu ramen added a nice touch. The pork was sliced just thick enough. And although, I’m generally not a fan of fatty meat, the fat on the pork melted in my mouth as I ate it. The egg white portion of the medium-boiled egg nicely soaked in the broth. When the egg was cut open, the yolk was just runny enough where some ran into the broth while the slightly firmer portion added a bit of sweetness to the egg.

My husband, son, and I are all looking forward to the next pop-up. We may even try the vegetarian version and get some of their ice cream!