After hearing about Paul Martin’s through the local Sacramento blogger grapevine, imagine my excitement when my husband and I were invited to try out Paul Martin’s American Bistro, located just outside Sacramento in Roseville. First, there was the organic thing, but almost more importantly, it isn’t a chain. Roseville is all about big box stores and chain restaurants, so we’re always looking for something different. If a restaurant like this can make it here, there’s a good chance they can make it anywhere. (Although, it could be a California thing, I guess.)

We started with Bloomsdale Spinach Dip, which consists of “creamy white cheddar sauce and sundried tomatoes.” It was served with thin, crispy, crostini sprinkled with cheese and I think I could have eaten a pound of it. The sundried tomatoes were all on one side, but once I found them, I enjoyed them! We also started with the Castroville Artichoke, which is mesquite grilled, with lemon-tarragon aioli and pesto. Castroville is a few hours away, and I always appreciate knowing where produce comes from. I’d never had a grilled artichoke and have now been inspired to learn how to do it myself, since it had such a unique flavor.

Next up (I told you we ate a ton) was the soup. Oh, the soup. I had the Butternut Squash Soup with sage pesto and croutons, while my husband had the Clam Chowder with fresh top necks, Neuske’s bacon, and a touch of thyme. We were huge fans of both soups, since they tasted exactly what you would want them to taste like - the ingredients listed on the menu. My husband was especially pleased by the chunks of clams.

You would think we would be full by now, but no. Not yet. I went for the “Brick” Chicken with mashed potatoes and fresh herb jus. The chicken was deboned except for the wing bone and butterflied so that it laid flat when baked and placed under a heavy skillet. It even had crispy skin and, wait for it, wait for it, thin sliced pieces of crispy garlic. Mmmmm…… My husband had Sole that was pan-fried, with autumn root vegetable hash, and brown butter. Since it was on his plate for a total of about 4 minutes, I think he liked it.

After unbuttoning the top buttons of our pants (I kid!), we were persuaded to try the Huckleberry and Red Pear Crisp, which was served with homemae vanilla ice cream. After eating this dessert, we decided that we are officially fans of the huckleberry (we already knew we were ice cream fans, of course). It wasn’t too sweet, was even a little tart, and was covered in the perfect crispy topping. Sigh. If I’d had room, I would have had two of them.

So, overall I was really impressed that is restaurant was complemented by its organic and local spin rather than being taken over by it. Each dish arrived to the table with a proud story regarding its source, which was certainly refreshing and welcomed. It was all about simple, clean food that was prepeared with style, with an emphasis on fresh, high quality, local and organic ingredients that were clearly selected with great care.

Now, I am pretty sure that Rachael must have a friend there or was “hosted” by the Cleveland Tourism Board, because (please don’t yell at me) I was not very impressed by Cleveland. I guess I should be more specific and say I was not impressed by Downtown Cleveland. I understand that it is a city in transition and I read that it has improved a ton in recent years, but many stores on major streets in the downtown area were abandoned and boarded up. And the streets themselves were a disaster. They were either in disrepair or under construction. The place just was not very visitor-friendly.

But, that being said, I loved Rachael’s picks for Cleveland. They inspired us to venture out into areas we otherwise might not have visited. And the outlying areas were much nicer than Downtown Cleveland. So, here goes:

Our first Rachael Ray stop was in the Little Italy area of town, to the East of Downtown Cleveland. It was about a 15 minute drive (construction delays) that leads you past the lovely University Circle neighborhood (at least the parts I saw were lovely). We went to lunch at the Trattoria on the Hill (or Trattoria Roman Gardens, depending on which sign you read). The place was outstanding! The interior felt like San Francisco to me, with dim lighting and a sort of blast from the past feel. And the food was to die for. Husband ordered linguine with white clam sauce and I ordered three cheese and spinach ravioli. We just don’t get Italian food this good at home, so we savored every single bite. The total cost, including a soda (I guess they would call it pop) and tax, was $25.99 for two.

Next, we went to dinner at the Great Lakes Brewing Company in the Ohio City neighborhood, located across the Cuyahoga River from Downtown. It was a very cute revitalized neighborhood.

Is it just me, or do you find that breweries with great beer usually have crappy food? Such is not the case with this restaurant/brewery. We sat down next to a group of people playing Irish music around a table. Nice way to start, huh? There were a confusing number of options for places to sit: in the bar, in the pub, in the beer garden and in the dining room. I just looked at the server and said I wanted to eat outside. She said that was the Beer Garden. I smiled and nodded.

Rachael only had a beer sampler at Great Lakes and she missed out! Although, the beer was fabulous, too. My favorite was the Holy Moses and Husband liked the IPA best. I had the dish pictured above, Pretzel Crusted Chicken. Dear Lord, was it ever good! The dark sauce was mustardy and spicy and the pretzels made the skin just a bit crispy. It was simply amazing. Husband had Bratwurst and Pierogi. Even though mine was soooo good, his was better. Luckily, he was willing to share. Our total bill was around 50 bucks, but that included three beers and the two entrees. I would definitely go back.

After all that heavy food (and a stop at White Castle) we decided to end our trip in Cleveland at Tommy’s. Located in the Coventry neighborhood even further East of Downtown than Little Italy, this was our favorite of all of Rachael’s picks.

We loved Tommy’s in part because we NEVER would have found it but for Rachael’s recommendation. And they had darn good food that was healthy and cheap. That is a tough combination to find while traveling. I ordered the Zeke (only after resisting the temptation to order the Rachael omelet). It was like a toasted pita bread sammy, with scrambled eggs, green bell peppers and onions inside. Husband got the Tee-Jay, which was the same except it had ham and cheese instead of peppers and onions. They give you two individual pitas on each plate, so we traded and were able to sample both. With our pita sammies and two coffees, the total was only $13.18 with tax and before tip.

So, despite my disappointment in Downtown Cleveland, I had no disappointment regarding Rachael’s picks. They allowed us to really get a feel for the whole City rather than just the Downtown area. One of these days I am sure one of her picks won’t work out for me - but it hasn’t happened yet!

Photos from restaurants’ own website.

Because I hadn’t seen the episode of $40 a day, I didn’t realize that in addition to being a surfer hangout, Neptune’s Net is also a biker hangout. But, after getting over the initial intimidation factor of walking past all the bikers in my sparkly pink tank top, I was glad we picked this spot. You have two options, the restaurant side and the seafood side. Both serve seafood, so don’t let the names fool you! The difference is that the seafood is deep fried on the restaurant side and steamed on the seafood side. When you go in, the first thing you do is grab your drinks out of a cooler (they have beer too!) and any other snacks that you want. Then you get in line to order.

We got two combos: the crab cakes and the scallops. Have you ever seen deep fried scallops on a menu? Me either. And it was a pleasant surprise. They are outstanding! And the crab cakes were some of the best I have ever had. You could see the chunks of crab and bell peppers and they were nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The fries that come with the combos were extremely average, but not bad.

The best thing about Neptune’s Net, other than the food, is the cool beach hangout atmosphere. The floor is dirty and the windows have a layer of dirt on them, but you can see a Malibu beach just on the other side of the Pacific Coast Highway. And how often do I get to walk through a crowd of bikers?