Cowell & Hubbard

I guess you might consider us Zack Bruell groupies. We eat often at his assortment of restaurants and have enjoyed every meal. We collectively believe Parallax is the best restaurant in Cleveland and think L’Albatros may soon overtake it. Michele always feels a certain “elegance” upon entering Table 45 and Jeff loves the rustic selection at Chinato. With these expectations, we entered his fifth and latest eating establishment, Cowell and Hubbard and we were not disappointed. We expected nothing less.

Michele started with the Romaine Salad, featuring a fennel anchovy vinaigrette, but most interesting, tomato dust. She forgot the tomato dust was mentioned on the menu and could not place the flavor. Michele told Jeff that it tasted like tomato, but looked like paprika. She asked the waitress for an explanation. The waitress indicated that they dry and make their own dust in-house. It may have been the defining element of the salad. Jeff ordered the Escargot appetizer. It was a delightfully rich crock of tender escargot, rounds of fingerling potatoes, cherry tomatoes and crispy rice in a buttery-cream sauce that forced Jeff to borrow Michele’s tea spoon to finish (Hint to Zack – send a spoon along with this dish, we noticed the next table doing the same thing! No one wants to waste a drop of this broth!)

Jeff’s entrée was the Sweetbreads, a thicker slice than is typically served, but ever so tasty. It was accompanied by a tart collection of artichokes, lemon, caper berries and potato rounds. A lemon aioli waited on the side to gently touch each slice of the tender sweetbread. It was a winner. Michele had the Pacific Rock Fish. It was gone in a flash…after the second plate arrived. The initial piece was cool and undercooked and the staff graciously replaced her first plate. It is important to understand that this restaurant has been opened only a few weeks and the reason little advertisement exists is to work through just these types of issues. She was told that the menu is typically presented medium-rare and the replacement was medium-well. We suspect that this will be one of the things mentioned by the wait staff in the future, again, part of the start up process. While not mentioned on the menu, the fish was served atop a bed of tart greens and dumplings or light gnocchi. Michele proclaimed she would order it again, always a winning endorsement.

Dessert was a dense Mocha Pot de Crème. Rich and flavorful, it was a microcosm of the entire dinner, full flavors, perfect execution and beautifully presented.

Clevelanders of a certain age will recognize Cowell & Hubbard as the name of the chic-chic jeweler that occupied this corner of Euclid Avenue and E 13th Street for decades. The building is still formidable and the clean white and rich red added by Bruell’s design team complement the stunning interior. The space matches the food that matches the history. With this perfect symbiosis, maintaining the name makes so much sense…but then again, with Chef Bruell at the helm, would you expect anything else? We didn’t, but then again, we are predisposed to enjoyment, being Zack junkies, and all.

http://cowellhubbard.com/  1305 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44115 216-479-0555