Cleveland Eats

This weekend we made the trip up to Cleveland for my husband’s uncle’s Celebration of Life. His uncle passed a few months before the wedding and was cremated. The family was waiting until we all could be together in Ohio to celebrate him and spread his ashes. In true Mazzolini family tradition, we had a free for all of good food, grilling out, and a few cocktails during Happy Hour. Nick and I stayed an extra day to pass the time quietly together before returning to the mayhem of life in Atlanta.

On our family-less day, Nick and I ventured into Cleveland. We wandered Little Italy (nothing was really open on Monday), then drove forever to the area just out of the eastern part of the city. I really wanted to try this new Latin cuisine at Paladar. Paladar has two locations, one in Cleveland and one in Maryland. They host a large menu of various Latin flavors, spanning form the Caribbean to Brazil, have a rum bar, and a GF menu. We both selected our meals form the GF menu. To start, we had the garlic mango guacamole. As an antree, I chose tacos; Nick enjoyed a traditional Brazilian stew. My tacos were perfect. I chose to leave off the aioli sauce (I find it messy and distracting), and enjoy the flavors of the shaved potato circles, cabbage, sausage, and goat balance, enhanced by a squeeze of lime. The Cuban rice on the side was amazingly good. The guac was served with the mélange of dippers. While I dipped jicama, carrots, and corn tortilla wedges, Nick was served a basket of tortilla chips, plantain chips, and sweet potato chips. (Despite them being fried in the communal fryer, I did break off a tiny taste of each dipped in guac for “quality control” purposes.)

I think the next time I make guac, I will for sure use the mango-garlic inspiration served with a mix of chips and veggies. I also discovered last week that Whole Foods has hand made chorizo sausage, GF, that won’t break the bank. (Up until this week, Nick and I have been unable to find chorizo that is for sure GF.) Maybe sooner or later we’ll get around to having tapas for dinner again, along side of a tall glass of malbec. Until we make our next pretend escape to Latin America, it’s back to the grind in Atlanta. This coming weekend: Lily & Sung’s wedding. Next weekend: Melissa & Brian’s wedding in Savannah.