Moe's Restaurant (Second Visit)
Barberton, Ohio    Date of Visit:  03/16/17     http://www.moesrestaurant.com/
 Click Here for Original Visit

It’s been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lo…okay, so not lonely but it has been a long time since we stopped into Moe’s Restaurant for lunch. The prices on the dinner menu are pretty stiff for the area but were sounding good enough we officially learned they are not available for lunch. Boo.

Instead our friendly server, who managed the entire floor and the bar alone during our stay, hooked us up with a cup of soup, an appetizer, a sandwich and a salad. The soup arrived first and it was a superb start. Cauliflower/Gruyere. Thickly creamy, smoothly puréed cauliflower, floret nuggets with just a hint of texture and charred edges from roasting, all set off with the salty, nutty, and lightly sweet cheese from the Swiss. Stealing that one.

The appetizer was a pastry wrapped wheel of Brie with sticky sweet apricot chutney along with fresh grapes, strawberries and wee toast. The pastry was a nice dark brown and while the cheese could have been consistently a little warmer throughout, everything worked well. Soft oozy dairy, fresh or cooked down sweet fruits and an option of flaky or crispy bread, I’d do it again.

Steph went with the chicken salad plate, accompanied by pineapple, strawberries, greens and a little fig muffin. Pretty sure there were walnuts in the chicken salad, past that it wasn’t all that inventive and really relied on the fruit and greenery to give it a hint of interesting.
 

Yes, Yes
 

Chicken Salad Needed The Fruit
 

Looks Healthier Than It Is

Pastry & Cheese Hide Beneath

I went with the grilled kielbasa sandwich with local gnar gnar & brown mustard which is supposed to come on a sub bun…must have been out of those as it arrived on a round bun which made keeping everything together for a bite like holding a fist-full of rain. So what. The bun was grilled, the kielbasa was also grilled to a smoking hot but runningly juicy punch of lightly spicy and smoky sausage. Love mustard with a bit of bite, especially on sausage like this and it works really well with the gnar gnar. Oh, yeah, the gnar gnar. If you haven’t encountered it yet it’s a vestige of the burgeoning craft ingredient producers in Cleveland. Cleveland Kraut is making yes, kraut. They are old school fermenting all kinds of things and the gnar gnar is described as their spicy and gnarly raw sauerkraut which isn’t as harsh as you might think but plays really well with the fatty sausage. It’s the second time I’ve had one of their products…both times it’s been the gnar gnar…it’s making me curious about their other offerings, maybe whiskey dill or curry or beet. Nonetheless, you can find some on a really tasty sandwich at Moe’s, along with some other upscale fare. Maybe we will get there for dinner someday.
 

Really Nice Sandwich & Tater Salad
 

If You Can Get It In Your Mouth
 

Moe's Restaurant
Cuyahoga Falls, OH      Date of Visit: 11/13/10            http://www.moesrestaurant.com/

We met some long standing going out to eat comrades in the Falls to have some fun and grab some lunch. I suppose I have driven past this building a dozen times and never had any idea that it housed a restaurant. Before going we had checked online to see if it was a franchise of the burrito place that goes by the same name, but no, Moe’s is its own little place. While online we checked out the menu and found the appetizers much more interesting than the entrees so we thought we would try a few of those and split a couple of sandwiches which we did end up doing. In a nondescript brick building, if it weren’t for the little foldy sign out front I would have driven right past, and we were looking for it. It is dark and mature inside which gave me pause as we were lucky enough to have a tiny being with us on the trip. The server was well versed, outgoing, quick, and she went out of her way to take care of us and our littlest companion, where some places would spend the day frowning at him and us, she made us feel welcome from beginning to end.
 

Bread and Spiced Butter
 

Starting with the apps we ordered five…the zucchini fritters with garlic, cucumber and dill sauce, homemade parmesan peppercorn chips and dip, rice-fried calamari with green papaya salad and somtom dressing, lobster, shitake mushrooms and potato pierogies, and braised short rib sliders with  white sharp cheddar, horseradish cream and crispy fried onions. The zucchini fritters were really very good but the cucumber and dill sauce was a lackluster non starter that really didn’t add anything to the dish. The chips were outstanding, well seasoned with a dark crisp, we would have been pleased with them alone but the dip advanced the cause and really took the chips over the top.
 

Zucchini Fritters
 

The sliders were fall apart tender and loaded with flavor although they would have been helped by adding some extra horseradish cream which the server had recommended. The somtom dressing on the calamari was new to me with a sweet with a dusky umami undertone which echoed of dark sesame oil. Some pieces of the squid were perfectly cooked, but I did get a couple that had some serious tooth to them, nearing gum. The rice flour had trouble standing up to the dressing and was mostly soggy by the time the plate hit the table. Likely the biggest disappointment of the appetizers was the pierogie mélange that actually tasted spot-on. The pierogies were nothing overly special but hey, pasta and potatoes, hard to go wrong. The shitake shrooms were outstanding and there were big chunks of lobster meat sitting right on top, show me the money! Well, the money is where the problem resided. The lobster had been tragically over cooked or held too long and was dry and rubbery, destroying an otherwise nice dish.

Well, we had chewed quite a bit at this point but we still ordered a couple of sandwiches between the four and a half of us. The roasted vegetable, portobello and provolone on house foccacia bread was well done with a bread that allowed you to bite without box grating the top of your mouth and gums. The sandwich wasn’t extraordinary but nice and light, in a good way.
 

Calamari
 

Wonderful Pastrami Sandwich
 

The Veggie Sammy with Sweet Tater Fries
 

The House Provides for Our Littlest Member
 

The pastrami with sauerkraut, gruyere cheese and a whole grain mustard sauce on rye was anything but light, also in a good way. Well balanced with each ingredient contributing to an excellent sandwich. The sandwiches at Moe’s are overall, very good. The appetizers for the most part are the same. Maybe the best part of the meal was the first appetizer, which I don’t think we ordered. Grapes, crackers, gummy treats, and crayons, all for our booster seated diner. Nutrition and fun on the house. Well above average food, great service and a nice place to boot. I’m really glad someone suggested this place, we will be back.

Warning...
Following our visit one of our more meticulous diners noticed we had been charged for an appetizer we did not receive. If our server had come back from the kitchen to let us know we were out it might have been because she had learned they were out and had just forgotten to remove it from the check. To the best of our recollection, she told us they were out right at the table...a little more suspicious. I would still recommend Moe's; be sure to check your check before heading out the door.