Literary Tavern

In the quest to still work through the restaurants on my 2020 To Dine Challenge list, we ordered carry-out from Literary Tavern in Tremont.

Luckily, we had already experienced their atmosphere when we stopped in for drinks with friends back in January. 

It honors the historic elements of the 150-year-old building, while feeling chic and a bit sexy. The intimate tavern only seats 45 guests, and has some killer craft cocktails in addition to beer and wine. With a chef-driven menu and not far from home, this is exactly the type of place that will be in regular rotation for us. Stupid pandemic.

We're trying to do our part to support our favorite local restaurants through this, so we decided to go ahead and order takeout since we'd already experienced inside of Literary Tavern. At that point, I was still holding out hope that late summer or fall would bring some level of comfort with dining out for us.

We started with the Roasted Mushrooms ($9) of cremini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms with goat cheese, chili oil, and crostini. I'm a sucker for mushrooms, and this was enjoyable even as takeout so I can imagine the good and hot version being excellent.

Then we split the Muffuletta ($8) with olive bread, mortadella, soppressata, porchetta, olive tapenade, provolone, and pesto.

And Charred Corn Carbonara ($12) with charred corn, leeks, crispy ham, pecorino romano, leek ash, and house made linguine.

Both were delicious, but I didn't expect anything less from the same owner as Cantine and D'Agnese's in Broadview Heights, as I've always had good meals at both places. 

I hope this newish tavern makes it through the pandemic, because I foresee many more meals and plenty of cocktail visits in our future. 

Literary Tavern

1031 Literary Road

Cleveland, OH 44113

(216) 862-1916

D'Agnese's Italian

Mr. H and I found ourselves in Brecksville this week for an unexpected evening errand (ongoing saga with my engagement ring/wedding band, but by the way...we love our new jeweler Bookman & Son), so we decided to grab a bite to eat in the area. We had dinner at D'Agnese's Italian for a family private party a few years back and once with Mr. H's grandma. I remember enjoying our meals both visits, but we hadn't been in since.

Located in Broadview Heights on W. Royalton Road, it's on the end of a strip of businesses and could easily be missed from its exterior. However, inside it is classic fine dining Italian with a warm and cozy atmosphere.

We chose to sit at the bar, and several items on the menu were sounding really appealing right away. A good sign. 

Unfortunately, we were both disappointed in the flavor (or lack thereof) in our meal that night. I started with a Caesar Salad ($5 half), and I did enjoy the house made croutons, oven dried tomatoes and shaved prosciutto crisps, but the dressing wasn't what I wanted. It really leaned more towards an oil-based Italian dressing.

Mr. H ordered an entree that I had my eye on as well, the Pan Seared Scallops ($23) over risotto. The scallops were cooked just fine, but overall the dish had absolutely no flavor. It was so bland that he added some salt just to give it something.

I was slightly happier with my Shrimp Carbonara ($21) with shrimp, prosciutto di parma and onions in a Romano cheese cream sauce and served over linguini.

It too, was blander than I would have liked, so some salt went a long way. But the pasta was cooked perfectly, and the shrimp were huge.

I know it's a popular place and people speak highly of it, but for the price-point I certainly expected that the food would have more flavor. Overall, it was just bland and not memorable. We also didn't get great service at the bar, and it left me with the impression that I didn't need to go back.

D'Agnese's
1100 W. Royalton Road
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

440-237-7378