:: Hodge's Cleveland ::

Show Mom Some Love!

anne — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:04:14 +0000

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 13th.

Join us at Hodge’s for an all day Brunch – 10 am to 6 pm.

Reservations recommended: 216.771.4000

Hurry to Hodge’s in Downtown Cleveland

anne — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:22:32 +0000

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Jennifer Kiko

Nothing floats my boat and trips my trigger like spectacular food and awesome interior design. When those elements combine with urban vibes, rustic flair, down-home hospitality and the charisma of local community … I’m pleased as punch.

I had the pleasure of attending an evening open house at the new Hodge’s restaurant in downtown Cleveland. If you’re in the area, I suggest you make plans to get there — quick.

It’s fabulous!

You might recognize Chef Chris Hodgson from last season’s The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network. Chef Hodge and his team traveled across the country in the Hodge Podge food truck, serving comfort food on wheels and street snacks with heart. To quote a patron, “Sooo freaking good!”

Hodgson’s first food truck venture, Dim & Den Sum, continues to troll the Cleveland Streets with Hodge Podge. It’s the vehicle that started it all — transforming Hodgson from road warrior to Food Network celebrity to brick-and-mortar restaurateur.

Hodge’s oozes energy. The atmosphere is charged with contrasts of smooth red leather and aged rough edges. It’s both elegant and rustic, modern and timeless. It’s sure to be one of those favorite places where everybody knows your name.

There’s plenty of cheer to go ’round, too, but what you should focus on at Hodge’s is the cuisine. It’s the stuff of foodie fantasies. It’ll knock your socks off and curl your toes.

We enjoyed a sampling of menu favorites, beginning with a food truck classic — Hodge’s tater tots. Yum! A sizzling cast iron skillet of the world’s best cornbread was delivered to the table next. And now I have a new favorite phrase: whipped maple bourbon butter.

Seriously good, folks.

The bite-sized samples of main dish entrees continued to arrive at the table. We tasted Hodge’s pork and beans — house braised bacon, pinenut baked beans with a cabbage and parsley salad; tuna poppers — ahi tuna on a crispy rice cake with ponzu; peas and carrots served Hodge-style — a lovely scallop served on a bed of smashed peas and garlic, topped with a grapefruit slice and served with a cumin-roasted carrot. And for dessert: fried apple pie with cinnamon and sugar.

Now you know we love beef around here. I don’t settle for anything less than the world’s best Angus beef … and neither does Hodge’s. The star of the sampling show for me was the Certified Angus Beef ^® hanger steak with salsa verde, tomato creamed heirloom beans and potato shards.

Are you familiar with hanger steak? Chef Chris marinates the beef, serves it with a zesty salsa verde and olive oil, and works his magic. It slices like butta, baby! And in a word … mouthwatering. Hodge’s offers several other Certified Angus Beef ^® options including a tender, juicy ribeye steak and a luscious burger with bacon, dill havarti and rosemary parmesan aioli.

There’s a fabulous bar with its own intriguing menu featuring cocktails, wines, beers and scotch. And you can order inside or in warmer weather, outside on the patio.

Hodge’s Downtown Cleveland is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday, and serves dinner on Sundays. If you’re in the area or planning to visit Northeast Ohio in the future, be sure to stop by.

Folks have been chasing his food truck around town for ages, and now Chef Chris brings his hodge podge of fabulous flavors to a permanent parking space. Ode to joy!

P.S. You can forget your blue suede shoes, too. Red is the name of the game in this restaurant.

Hodges – A Dream Come True

anne — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:18:55 +0000

Published 4/4/12 – Eat Drink Cleveland

Chris Hodgson is a local celebrity thanks to his very entertaining run on The Great Food Truck Race.

As he was bringing food trucks to Cleveland, he was dreaming of one day opening his own brick and mortar restaurant. Last week, his dream came true. The much anticipated Hodge’s Cleveland opened in the former Zinc on Euclid Ave. Now he starts a new adventure with partner Scott Kuhn of Washington Place Bistro.

Immediately, Hodge’s was garnering praise from diners hungry to enjoy Hodgson’s food in a restaurant setting. The website describes the food as “modernized takes on global comfort food with a handful of favorites from the popular food trucks Hodge Podge and Dim and Den Sum.” My food loving blogger friends and I wasted no time to getting to Hodge’s to see for ourselves what Chef Hodson was cooking up in a full-sized kitchen.

We all loved the simple decor of wood and red leather. And we were all smiles as we chatted and made the difficult decision about what to order. Don’t you love it when so many things sound good on a menu that you really struggle to choose?

First came the amuse bouche – tator tots! Crispy and cheesy with just a hint of bacon they were a great way to start our meal.

Next up was the item I most looking forward to – our very own skillet of corn bread! I had been hearing about this since the friend and family opening and couldn’t wait to try it. To say I’m a corn bread lover is a major understatement. This little skillet of golden goodness did not disappoint! Moist and hot out of the oven, I could have eaten the whole pan.

The ladies decided to share a couple of apps:
big dipper — duck, lobster &lamb corn dogs; smoked apple + red pepper jam, tarragon aioli, banana ketchup 12
I loved the meatballs. They were tender and flavorful. The jam added just the right sweetness to the creamy sauce. I only wish I had some bread to sop it all up with. The corn dogs looked awesome – such a fun presentation! – but were not as tasty as I hoped for. I think we all agreed that the lobster was the best of the bunch.

I decided to order snacks and apps as my entree because so many of them sounded great! I started off with spring pea soup. It was listed on the menu as asparagus but I was thrilled with the switch! It was so fresh and creamy. Loved the pea tendrils as garnish – so yummy! If you go while this is in season, you must try this bright colored taste of spring in a bowl.

I couldn’t resist trying the honey ribs. They weren’t very meaty but they sure packed a lot of flavor! I loved the slight smokiness that wasn’t overwhelming. And the slaw was incredible! The honey mustard thyme dressed red cabbage also contained a tasty surprise – golden raisins. Sooo good!

Instead of a salad I opted for the pickle jar. It was a mixture of fennel, baby turnips, onions, green and yellow beans and radishes. Though it was very pretty to look at, I was disappointed because it was just too vinegary. I hold all pickled veggies up to the very high standard of Tsukemono Pickle Sampler perfection at Noodlecat so I’m a little spoiled. The best of the bunch were the turnips.I rounded out my meal with the carpaccio. It was wafer thin and nicely marbled wagyu beefy goodness. More pea tendrils, a drizzle of delicious EVOO and horseradish cream complimented the beef. I love a little crunch with my carpaccio and asked for bread. I was very happy to receive 2 nice slices of toasted bread dressed with olive oil – perfect!

Everyone else was happy with their choices as well. Sarah ordered the hangar steak that I almost ordered and sweetly shared a bite. LOVED the salsa verde! The steak was not hot, but was very tasty. This is what I’m going to order next time.

Julie and Kimberly both order the other entree I was contemplating – the unfried chicken. The sides of asparagus and mac & cheese sounded really good. As I’m writing this I realize I forgot to snag a bite of that chicken.

Since Amanda was at the other end of the table, I didn’t get pics of her sweetbread sliders, cumin roasted carrots or lobster whipped potatoes. Jen ordered the french onion ravioli and they were gone in a flash. She shared a bite and I know why they disappeared so easily – the broth was superb and the ricotta and gruyere ravioli weren’t too creamy. She also got a nice toasted slice of bread in her bowl to soak up every last drop of the luscious broth.

It was a great night! I’m looking forward to returning when the weather is warmer because the patio is outstanding. They are having an Opening Day Patio Bash on 4/5 featuring Disco Inferno and the food trucks -don’t miss it!

The restaurant will be offering a super sweet deal in the near future: dinner for 2 for $40 including an app to share and a bottle of wine! We were hoping to take advantage of that last night but found it wasn’t being offered just yet.

A private dining room off of the kitchen will be home to a chef’s whim dinner called The Hodge Podge. This 5-7 course, private meal will feature fresh daily offerings from Chef Hodgson and Sous Chef Adam Bostwick. The Hodge Podge will be available by reservation only for groups of 6-12 and must be booked 48 hours in advance.

Normally I hold off visiting a new restaurant until they have some time to work out the kinks. I’m so glad I didn’t waste anytime going to Hodge’s. While it was just their first full week of being open to the public, you would never have known it – everything was great! Our server was sweet and knowledgeable, the food rocked and the space was so inviting.

Check it out – you’ll be happy you did!

Food-truck owner Chris Hodgson opening brick-and-mortar Hodge’s Thursday, on Euclid Avenue

anne — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:30:58 +0000

By Joe Crea, The Plain Dealer

Energy radiates from the street-level corner at 668 Euclid Ave. in downtown Cleveland. That’s because Hodge’s opens Thursday.

Scratching your head, wondering where you’ve heard that name before? Think Hodge Podge, the Cleveland-based food truck that made it to the final showdown on last year’s “The Great Food Truck Race” on the Food Network. The series made the truck’s owner, Chris Hodgson, who also operates the Dim and Den Sum food truck, one of the most popular contestants to have appeared on the cable network — and brought plenty of pride to his hometown.

“I can’t tell you how excited I feel,” Hodgson says, as he gazes around his first brick-and-mortar restaurant. “This is what I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid, and I really can’t believe it’s come together so beautiful.”

Excitement has burst from that space before with the short-lived Zinc Bistro, Bar and Bakery, which closed a little over a year after it opened in 2010. Founding chef Tom Quick left, later opening Match Works Tavern in Mentor. The Euclid Avenue spot, in the once grand William Taylor & Son Co. department store, lay fallow, failing to live up to the promise it held.

But when Hodgson partnered with successful young restaurateur Scott David Kuhn, the odds of a successful rebirth surged dramatically.

Kuhn successfully transformed the former Baricelli Inn in Cleveland’s Little Italy into a next-generation destination, Washington Place Bistro and Inn. He did the same thing with the historic Welshfield Inn in Burton. If he and Hodgson conjure the same kind of magic downtown, Hodge’s promises to help draw some of the vitality of nearby East Fourth Street’s restaurant row out onto Euclid Avenue.

“We want to bring our kind of hospitality downtown,” says Kuhn. “Chris is an amazing talent in the kitchen, and we want to pair it with amazing service and a sense of fun in front of the house.”

“I want this to be your home away from home,” adds Hodgson. “You know, comfortable.”

Hodge’s holds that promise. The restaurant has a nice, open feeling and an easy flow, brightened by massive windows revealing one of downtown’s loveliest outdoor patios.

The compact, 126-seat space, on two levels, centers around a long, curving bar over which the restaurant’s name glows, lit in amber. The mezzanine seating affords a fine view of the action below. Reclaimed barn wood plays against walls finished in a tawny shade of creamy pale gold. Vivid candy-apple red, tufted seats, some of the most comfortable chairs in town, liven the rooms.

Hodgson’s playful approach to food is in full evidence on his concise menu. It’s populated by dishes such as house-smoked honey ribs, Korean-spiced boiled peanuts, “Swedish” meatballs au poivre with blackberry jam, and the Big Dipper, a trio of tasty “corn dogs” — one from lobster mousseline, another from lamb, the third an emulsified duck sausage. (Less adventurous diners will find plenty of more familiar fare, including wagyu beef carpaccio, asparagus soup, a pork chop with whipped potatoes, seared tuna with lobster whipped potatoes and a fine burger with tater tots.)

“Already I’m anxious to try some new things,” Hodgson says. Backed by chef de cuisine Adam Bostwick (former co-executive chef at the defunct Melange in Beachwood), his kitchen has potential for solid evolution.

Playfulness extends even to the presentation of the check. When your bill arrives, it’s tucked into a bright red envelope stamped with “The Damage.”

Youthful whimsy is the key to what will set Hodge’s apart, Hodgson and Kuhn say. Nearby neighbors like Lola Bistro and Greenhouse Tavern have proven that constants like solid service and imaginative, consistent food will draw a diverse clientele.

“You make good food. You smile. And you treat people kindly,” Kuhn says. “Those are the things that make people want to come back.”

The restaurant opens for dinner only starting on Thursday. Lunch service starts Monday. It then will be open 11 a.m to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and dinner 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays.