Monday, May 17, 2010

M is for Mussels

The South Side in Tremont has always been one of our favorite happy hour stops close to home. With its funky relaxed vibe, patio seating, and relatively inexpensive food it is a common watering hole for many. Which is why we hadn't been in a while- the wait is sometimes ridiculous and on a nice hot night all you crave is patio seating. But so does everyone else.

Last night, "R" returned from a long boys' weekend at Preakness in Baltimore and we didn't feel like cooking dinner. We weighed our options and decided to head over to South Side. For a Sunday night, it was still hopping. But I'm sure that a lot of this had to do with the marathon being yesterday. Congrats to any runners out there reading this! The wait was only 20 minutes, so we settled into seats at the bar and had a beer. I'm so happy that it is Blue Moon season again!

Shortly after, we were seated in the main bar area and started to look at the menu. I have a hard time not ordering their P.E.I. Mussels (pictured above)- two dozen with shallots, garlic, chorizo, saffron and toasted ciabatta ($9). Luckily, "R" loves them as well so we started with an order of mussels and the Carrot, Snap Pea and Lobster Spring Rolls with sweet Thai chili sauce, and cucumber mint cream sauce ($11). The mussels were great, as usual. The spicy chorizo and diced tomato compliment the shellfish. Of course, the best part is soaking up the garlic saffron broth with the soft ciabatta bread. We were actually surprised at how good the spring rolls were. The contents were bountiful and fresh, and I really enjoyed the sweet Thai chili sauce. The cucumber mint sauce was a little runny and bland for my taste, but "R" seemed to like it. I think he just likes anything that reminds him of a gyro! We then split the Horseradish and Chive Havarti Crusted NY Strip Steak with tri-colored oven roasted potatoes and a veal demi-glaze ($18). The crust was delicious, but I'm pretty much always a happy camper when you combine cheese with things like chives and horseradish! Unfortunately, the steak was very fatty and I was only able to get three good bites off of my half before piling the rest back on his plate.

All in all, another successful meal at The South Side.

The South Side
2207 West 11th Street
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 937-2288

South Side on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love South Side, and your blog! What is their beer selection like?

Lindsay @ http://pancakesnpajamas.blogspot.com/ said...

A NY strip with horseradis, chives, and havarti?? Sounds like Heaven to me!

QuarryLaneFarms said...

Love the ambiance, but found a large plastic wrapper in my meatloaf sandwich. Haven't been back in over a year.

Guess we should give it another chance thanks to your review.