Happy Dog

Going out after work on a Friday night can be hard. The absolute last thing you want to do is go out to dinner and wait a long time for your table and/or food to arrive (not that tables "arrive"...you know what I mean) because you are soo tired from working all day.

So, when we decide to go out on a Friday night, we make excellent choices, such as Happy Dog! It's a fabulous place to go for an incredible inexpensive meal that is wicked fast!

Happy Dog takes the idea of "Fast Food" and turns it into "Gourmet Fast Food" with a selection of high-quality, mouth-watering toppings for their delicious quarter pound hot dogs. All hot dogs come on a tasty poppy seed roll and you can add as many toppings as you want for only $5!

Happy Dog also provides a menu of "Suggestive Weiners" (hehehehehe suggestive weiners... lol) that lists the Chef's favorite topping combos.

These "Suggestive Weiners" include such ideas as:

"Cucumbers, Thai Chile/Garlic Sauce, Wasabi Peas and Korean Kim Chee"

"Tilamook Cheddar, Nueske Farms Bacon, Fried Egg, and Chipotle Hollandaise" (My Favorite!)

Every time we've made an appearance at Happy Dog, I've tried a different "Suggestive Weiner" combo dog. All of them have been delicious, but I keep coming back to my super favorite "Tilamook Cheddar, Nueske Farms Bacon, Fried Egg and Chipotle Hollandaise". I just LOVE it! Amazingly delicious inexpensive comfort food! The Hollandaise is what takes it over the top for me...so creamy with just hint of spicy...yumm!! Perfect for a chilly winter evening. I usually "side dish" one of these bad boys with an order of French Fries (only $2.50!) and 3-4 sauces to dip (as you can order as many sauces as you want-no charge!). You can also order Tater Tots for the same price, which most of my buddies prefer, but I'm a French Fry girl! My favorite dipping sauces are: Black Truffle Honey Mustard, Raspberry Crunch Mustard and Saffron Aioli. Sounds tasty eh? :)

If all this wasn't fabulous enough, Happy Dog is also...wait for it....a fantastic BAR! With over 75 beers and 20 on tap! If you're a microbrew beer snoot like me, this is the perfect place for you! I usually pair my dog with a few bottles of Ommegang Hennipen Farmhouse Ale (Cooperstown, NY). It is a warm and snuggly beer and I love it!

Happy Dog also boasts some great live music. When we went for Amy's birthday, we ended up listening to "The Saddest Happy Hour...Ever (Seriously. That was the title on the poster)" featuring an extremely "Emo" piano player. Needless to say, we forced him to play Billy Joel's "Piano Man". "Hiliariousness Ensued" LOL.

All in all the Happy Dog is an FFF and Din Din Club ultimate hot spot. And, a my favorite place in Cleveland for Cheap Eats.

Check it out soon!

Krista

Amy and her fiance, Nick enjoying tasty Weiners LOL:

Table 45 and bringing the FFF Back to Life

Well it has been over a year since any of the FFF have posted a blog. Yes, shame on us!

Due to some requests for an FFF revival, I am going to do my darnedest to start this blog back up again.

Thank you to all the readers that continue to check this page for updates. I hope to in the future, no longer let you down.

Chow Time!

Krista Beyer

And now onto the actual review...


I've been dying to try Table 45 for some time now. Being an avid fan of Chef Zack Bruell and having enjoyed excellent meals at Parallax, Chinato and L'Albatros, it was only a matter of time before I ventured to the Cleveland Clinic's Intercontinental Hotel for this tasty time!

I decided to head there on a Friday night with my new foodie buddie, Shannon. It is a rare opportunity to meet someone that is just as enthusiastic about food as much as the FFF or the Din Din Club (blog posts relating to what the Din Din Club is coming soon!). In fact, I think we drove our waiter crazy waiting while we chatted away about our favorite foods etc that I think he had to check back 3 times before we were ready to order! Sorry about that dude! However, we had abosolutely no problem cranking out our wine orders quickly....hmmm...lol

Once we buttoned up our "Chatty Cathies" we were able to decide on some excellent dishes. We split the Polenta Cake with Pork appetizer: braised pork on top of a hazlenut polenta cake with foie butter. Oh My God did it "knock my socks off"! It was absolutely amazing! So much flavor! It was loaded with tender juicy pork and a perfectly executed polenta cake (not mushy, just perfect!). Shannon and I were in absolute Heaven! We were also particularly impressed that they served it in individual sized portions on two separate plates. I've never been served an appetizer in that fashion before, and it was awesome! Absolutely no fighting over the last bites (which is good bc I would have "thrown down" for an extra bite of that pork lol)! Excellent touch, Table 45, excellent touch.

We then moved onto our second glasses of wine and dinner arrived. Shannon was enjoying a delicious Malbec and I was enjoying Beringer Stone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon which was really wonderful! I really can't stand it when I shell out $7-$12 a glass for a Cab and then it doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy and so freakin happy I could dance a bit in my chair (which is what good Cabs do for me). I call it "dance", but it mostly involves chair bouncing and publicly embarrassing the FFF or Din Din Club in some way (For a list of my "Dancing in my Chair" Cabs, see below at the end of the blog).

Anyways, as I was saying, dinner arrived:

I ordered the Braised Pork because well I didn't get enough with the app/it sounded sooo good. The entree consisted of Braised Pork, Bacon and Chihuahua Cheese Stuffed Potato Croquette, Haricot Vertes and Charred Tomato Sauce. I enjoyed it very much, but it didn't really "hold a candle" to the Pork appetizer. The Potato Croquette was yummy, but lacked the crispiness I was looking for and it needed a bit more flavor. The Charred Tomato sauce was pleasant, but the flavors were not my favorite.

Shannon ordered the Butternut Squash and Truffle Ravioli with Sage Creamed Spinach and Toasted Hazelnuts, drizzled with Balsamic Reduction and White Truffle Oil. Basically, I just chose the wrong entree because I got a bite of this and it was fantastic! The flavors all blended together exceptionally well, the pasta was cooked to the perfect level (just a bit shy of al dente) and it wasn't overly rich or bland if that makes sense. I dunno, I just loved it (and so did Shannon)!

We enjoyed the rest of our dining experience, complete with "drinking" dessert; another glass (who's counting?) of Malbec for Shannon and a decent glass of Port for me.

Overall, we had a fantastic time complete with great service, atmosphere and food. I will definitely be making a repeat appearance.

Cheers!

Krista


Krista's "Dancin in my Chair" Cab list:

J Lohr Cabernet Sauvignon
Joel Gott Cabernet Sauvignon
Root 1 Cabernet Sauvignon
337 Cabernet Sauvignon
Paso Creek Cabernet Sauvignon
Beringer Stone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon