Need Help Planning a Midwest Roadtrip

My girlfriend and I are looking to get out of the city for a 4-day road trip in late December. We are very open in terms of destination as long as it is within a 6-hour drive from Chicago. Our hope is to plan our trip based on GNR-like establishments. We are wondering if there are specific Midwestern cities with a plethora of great food options, or perhaps a scenic route with multiple 'must-try' restaurants along the way? We attempted an LTH and Google search but came up empty handed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Are you planning to come to Cleveland?

We are certainly open to the possibility, do you think its worth the trip from chicago in terms of food? If so, we would love some recommendations.

Thanks so much.

Cleveland's probably worth it for the West Side Market alone, probably the best food landmark in the Midwest. I believe if you look around the board, ReneG and Pigmon have documented some other fine finds in Cleveland.

On the way to Cleveland would be the Amish area in NE Indiana. I think that's worth a day of bopping around. The restaurants are no great shake, but the shopping can lead to many finds.

Then, you have Tony Packo's, also very, very much worth a stop, just for the pickles and cherry strudel! No, I also happened to like the hot dogs too. At this moment, I happened to be wearing a Tony Packo t-shirt if that means anything.

And if it cannot be Cleveland, what about Detroit--do we sound like a Talking Heads song? Between Elvinc and BTB every place between Chicago and Detroit, off of 94 has been covered (perhaps). If you like a certain old school type of restaurant, you can do no worse than Schulers in the (very) pretty town of Marshall. I was telling MikeG the other day, that Detroit is the closest thing to stepping in a time machine. If you stay IN the city of Detroit, it is mostly like you never left 1958*. I mean in the Eastern Market, there is a shop that sells burlap sacks. Who buys burlap sacks anymore? The Eastern market area is not quite as well done or, I don't know, complete, as Cleveland's market, but it's helter skelter market, I find, for produce at least, much better.

Detroit is also Dearborn and Dearborn is a great source for Middle Eastern food. Some of the divey places on Warren (I wish I could remember the name of "our" falafal place) are as good as any of the grander looking places. Still, make time for a meal at New Yaseem Bakery and also dessert at Shatila.

We reserve a good part of our time towards Detroit for Ann Arbor, Zingerman's and also, especially smoked fish at Tracklements.

Of course, we always love a trip to Madison...

*If the MGM had someone really smart building its Detroit casino, they would have gone for a classic 50's Dunes/Sahara/Sands look.

HI,

JimInLoganSquare and Rene G have documented a number of interesting places in Indianapolis. I could see doing a southern tier beginning in St. Louis, through Champaign-Urbana for BBQ and pizza, then on the Indy and Cincinnati. Once you have headed south, these cities are just a few hours apart.

Now if real winter storms are about to erupt, which causes I55, I57 and I65 to slow due to snow drifts, then I would keep north.

Regards,

Abe Froman wrote:We are certainly open to the possibility, do you think its worth the trip from chicago in terms of food? If so, we would love some recommendations.

Thanks so much.

Abe, I do think Cleveland is well worth your while for food. I was a life-long New Yorker before I moved to Cleveland 13 years ago, and I've grown to really love the food scene here. In addition to Michael Symon's two restaurants (Lola and Lolita - Matt Harlan, who is chef at Lolita, is a certified Neapolitan Pizza maker and the Tuesday pig roasts are killer), we have all kinds of wonderful places.

Crop Bistro [http://www.cropbistro.com/] features wonderful locally sourced and creative food.

Ohio City has a number of things worth visiting, in addition to the West Side Market. Great Lakes Brewing Co. is right down the street and while I wouldn't eat there, I'd definitely have a beer and enjoy the historic decor. Across the street from Great Lakes is The Flying Fig [http://www.theflyingfig.com/index2.html] features the fabulous creations of Chef Karen Small. Around the corner from these places is Light Bistro http://www.lightbistro.com/, where Chef Matt Mathlage dabbles in molecular gastronomy while offering wonderful eats.

On the other side of the West Side Market is Phnom Penn, which serves excellent Cambodian food (one of my favorite cuisines - I believe you have at least one in Chicago, but when I tried it a few years ago I didn't think it was that great). Across the street from Phnom Penn is Bar Cento http://www.barcento.com/, where Chef Jonathan Sawyer creates inexpensive, delicious food in Roman Enoteca style, with a huge wine menu by bottle and glass. Bar Cento shares space with the Bier Garden, which features numerous Belgians on tap. Also in Ohio City (sort of around the corner from these places) is Momocho http://www.momocho.com/, which features Nuevo Latino cuisine that is very original and delicious. Finally, Cleveland is home to the one and only Velvet Tango Room, http://www.velvettangoroom.com/, where cocktails are crafted from special recipes, house made mixers and top shelf ingredients for an unparalleled experience.

Tremont is where Lolita is located, and is a "happening" food neighborhood. Favorite Chef-owner places there include Parallax http://www.parallaxtremont.com/, Fahrenheit http://fahrenheittremont.com/, and Lucky's Cafe, where Chef Heather Haviland turns out amazing breakfasts, brunches and baked goods http://www.luckyscafe.com/. Tremont is also the home of the "A Christmas Story" House and Museum.

Once you get away from the city, there are still some fabulous choices - Moxie http://www.moxietherestaurant.com/ in Beachwood (and its sister, Red the Steakhouse), fire http://www.firefoodanddrink.com/ on Shaker Square, Dante http://www.restaurantdante.us/ in Valley View (south of the city).

Cleveland has both an Asiatown and a Little Italy, but of course you have those in Chicago.

I'm sure there are many other places here that you would enjoy; I'll post again as I think of more! Hope we see you here.