The Fireside Lounge
 Medina, Ohio        Date of Visit  01/07/13        http://www.fireside-lounge.net/ 

We were invited to brunch at an undisclosed location and were driven to Medina. We pulled into The Rustic Hills Country Club (I have been by it on the road but didn’t really “know” it was there). The rolling hills of the golf course are covered in snow but they are still open with the flags protruding from the greens. I hear tale that when the snow melts there are some hard core links-folk swinging clubs regardless of the temperature. The pool is officially closed though.
 

Two Egg Breakfast Looks Complete
 

We strolled the interior of the whole structure a bit and found a place that is certainly dated in some ways but appears clean and ready for hospitality. There wasn’t much going on when we arrived at opening on a Sunday morning in the middle of the way, way off season. The Fireside Lounge is better kept with a loungey feel and a fire place. Ahhh, the name makes sense. There are a number of tables, leather couches in front of the fire, a fair sized bar and windows that would provide nice vistas in the summer.

There appeared to be only two people working, I didn’t see inside the kitchen but the two of them may well have been manning that alone as well. Our server turned out to be top notch. Often when you are at the only sat table in the place you have a server who is busy distracting themselves with anything but you or the creepy sensation that your every chew is being monitored by a stalker. This guy was on top of everything without ever becoming overbearing.
 

Everyone else ordered breakfast just after I heard the roast beef sandwich was really good so I bucked the trend. The two egg breakfast looked fine with bacon, sausage, hash browns and toast to accompany the eggs. There were also two omelets on the table. The omelets are triple eggers stuffed with your choice of any of the following three…Green Peppers, Spinach, Onions, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Ham, Bacon, Sausage, American Cheese, Swiss Cheese, Provolone Cheese or Salsa. The omelet I tried was probably on the heat about a minute too long but was stuffed with the ordered ham and cheese. The thick toast is lightly browned and just kissed with butter which needed a spread of jam for moisture. The potatoes are cut into a pretty uniform small dice, like a classic Potato O’Brien, but aren’t accessorized with peppers, onions, pimento or salt n pepper. I like stuff on my taters but Steph prefers them unadorned. They were fried to a nice dark brown and did just fine.
 

My expectations of golf course food are not particularly high, country club or not. The breakfast was solid, I expected less of the sandwich. I was surprised. The base layer was a slice of toasted marbled rye bread topped with shaved roast beef, caramelized onions and melted provolone. Then the whole mess was covered with gravy and served with a pickle spear and chips. The chips were house made and thick, crunchy and delicious but the quality of the sandwich was where the surprise really came from. Great bread, cheese, sweet brown onions and layers of roast beef. Nothing new or extravagant, just really tasty. The roast beef. I don’t know if you might or might not know what I mean when I say I have had a lost of roast beef that doesn’t taste beefy or roasted. Actually, most of the roast beef I have had doesn’t really taste much like roast beef. This really did. Shaved thin, well cleaned and a good pile of it. Add the rest and it was much better than I had expected. There wasn’t much more business during our stay. I don’t know if they are well accustomed to waiting out the winters or we were just at an off peak hour of the day but the website seems to be on the mark when they call the whole place a hidden gem. I know there aren’t many pictures but we will rectify that before too long…Steph saw Beef Wellington on the dinner menu so we will be back.