Bell & Flower is what you end up with when operators get their hands on a prime piece of real estate but have run out of good ideas for a restaurant concept. Those owners are Shawn Monday and Michael Schwartz, the team behind the fine dining bistro One Red Door, gourmet burger bar Flip Side, and Neapolitan-style pizza parlor 3 Palms. All told, their holdings span 10 locations spread across the region and beyond.
That real estate is the iconic Rick’s Cafe building in the heart of Chagrin Falls, a coveted spot dripping with fond memories and nostalgia. All that ended last summer, when the business was sold after 40 years, shuttered and retooled. Few would disagree that Rick’s Cafe had run its course, going the way of other august but unfashionable dinosaurs like Gamekeeper’s and Raintree in the very same neighborhood. But just as many people likely would agree that there was no pressing need to replace it.
After stripping down the walls, opening up the façade and fumigating the kitchen, the owners unveiled a freshened up dining room that looks and feels like a genuine upgrade. On warm evenings, the glassy front opens up to the storybook village, and the charming alley patio quickly fills with couples, families and groups all trying to wring the last good bits out of summer.
Bell & Flower is not the kind of restaurant that a chef would be particularly proud of, if he or she was being perfectly honest. And it’s not the type of place that diners will be overly enthusiastic about returning to. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a decent meal here. I was never blown away by any particular dish, but I was usually satisfied with its preparation and quality. Like any unfocused, shotgun-style menu, this one has its floaters and sinkers. How could it not, when it careens from French onion soup to tacos to lasagna to lobster rolls?
Who can argue with the appeal of warm biscuits served with fluffy butter and silky jam? If those sound delicious (and they are), consider ordering them as an appetizer rather than a side because they are priced at $4 rather than $5 for the same portion. They always say that eating shishito peppers ($7) is akin to hot-pepper Russian roulette because one in 10 is spicy. Said differently, that equates to 90-percent boring.
Two other starters get good marks for flavor and execution if not originality and panache. In the ahi tuna lettuce wraps ($14), chunks of raw fish are marinated in citrusy ponzu and presented in clean (mostly unblemished) lettuce leaves with guacamole, radish batons and sesame seeds. Dipped in a gingery sauce, the wraps exhibit an appealing contrast of tastes and textures. You can’t get more unimaginative than fried chicken tenders ($9), but at least the ones served here approach perfection. They are crunchy and plush in all the right places, and we could have burned through a gallon of the creamy buttermilk ranch dipping sauce if given a bucket and two straws.
It’s rare for the grits to outshine the shrimp, but that’s definitely the case here, where decadent white grits form a satiny base for large overcooked shrimp ($18). The seafood is joined by savory chunks of ground sausage and a sweet, thin barbecue glaze.
If the goal was to recreate the famous ribs that were an indispensable menu item at Rick’s Cafe, I’d say the kitchen succeeded. If the goal is to make real barbecue, the opposite is true. These ribs ($14/half) are “fall-off-the-bone tender” in the way that slow-baked ribs often are, and they have zero smoke flavor. Too little time on the grill left the exterior pale and featureless.
“This is the opposite of a dive bar — and not in a good way,” says a friend who I was meeting for dinner one night. Apparently, he had been ignored for 10 minutes at the bar while waiting for my arrival. It was an omen of things to come.
The bartender was kind enough to offer a sample taste of a draft beer, but he never bothered to remove the empty glass. Appetizers were served with no accompanying side plates. And when a fly landed five inches away from our food, the bartender turned it to goo with his palm before returning to the task of polishing glassware. When our entrees had not arrived after 30 minutes, we queried the very same bartender, whose face went slack with the realization that he never put in the order.
You never really did go to Rick’s for the food or service; you went for the atmosphere and camaraderie. Perhaps the same will be true of Bell & Flower.
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2018.
translation: doug isn’t buddies with the owner and this restaurant didn’t hook him up when he was in there.
I have spent many nights in many of the restaurants on doug’s recent “30 essential Cleveland restaurants” list. all of the bad things mentioned above happen in those places regularly. but why are they on a “best of” list, while this restaurant is being dragged through the mud? why do some places get a pass (“maybe things will improve after they have been open for a while”), whereas this restaurant is written off completely?
the answer: it all boils down to this writer’s relationship with the restaurant operators. he has literally zero credibility.
Pretty entertaining to read.
I agree the place is pretty bland but not bad and bit without an identity. Oh, but popular.
The review and headkine far harsher than they should be, especially with some tasty bites in the mix. And “no microwaves” right, Doug.
I also agree that when your Instagram is full of pics with bestish friend Sam McNulty – you wonder a bit how impartial one is.
My family has been going to Rick’s for years — and while my dad might argue that their ribs were “epic,” (out of habit perhaps, moreso than fact) his first visit to Bell & Flower was definitely a disappointment. The items that aim to continue/replicate Ricks’ tradition (ribs) were actually a downgrade from the old, while the new items failed to add interest or a compelling reason to return. And for the naysayers out there, Doug’s job is to be a food critic, so to report his actual POV on restaurants is not being ‘harsh,’ it’s doing his job. And he’s far more forgiving than most of the food critics out there, if you ever read the nationals.
@foodie8707 @CLESpree Seems a bit silly to attack the credibility and partiality of someone in the food industry because they spend time with other people in the food industry… Isn’t that, like, his job?
Not only is his “bestish friend”(?) not featured in the “30 essential Cleveland restaurants” article you mentioned (he doesn’t cover the guy at all actually) — but implying that all the talented chefs on that list are only there because they’re “buddies” with Doug is completely ludicrous — and an insult to their talent. Most of these folks are widely acknowledged as Cleveland’s top chefs, and have been for some time.
hey doug, how long have you been commenting under the name “cle foodie” ?
a bit of a rant, to be fair, but perhaps I just think people who comment on articles should comment on the article — not get all up in the personal business of the writer. All that “I see you on IG” stuff is super-creepy. and saying zack bruell, doug katz, dante, symon, etc., are on the list because they’re ‘buds’ is just dumb.
another trattner hit piece. Keep them coming. There’s a reservation waiting for you in a place that’s really really hot.
I happened to be there and sitting at the bar that very night. I witnessed the fly being turned to goo – it was Na Na ass-ty! Didnt even wash his hands afterwards- just wiped on a rag. That alone is enough for me to bail, but just imagine a good critic going to review the food and leaving without even getting dinner!!!??? Really? Who among us would take their family to dinner – come home hungry – no dinner – then rave about the place… Im darn surprised there were so many nice things said. My review would have been one sentence…. I went, I didnt eat, saw fly guts….I left. The END.
A “tired” restaurant (biased headline) or an establishment becoming a “dinosaur” (personal bias of the writer) is all in the eye of the beholder. There are old-school places like Gene’s in West Park and Sokolowski’s in Tremont that have not changed in 25 years…one has to wonder if Doug has ever bothered to visit them. Probably not…they are not yuppie foodie places…the kind where “ordinary” Clevelanders have been chowing down for decades.
Doug has always been uneven and unpredictable in his reviews. He will give rave reviews about a down-to-earth, old-school place like George’s Kitchen, and heap long-winded praise for the “upgrading” of the Red Lantern, where his foodie pals from hipster hoods turned a West Park institution into just another upscale, overpriced disaster area. Go figure. Doug prefers the new and the shiny to the tried and the true.
If it ain’t broke, but it’s old…it needs fixing. Better yet, gut the joint and replace it with tiny portions and lousy service and double the menu prices. He loves to see places close, get spiffed up, fail, and close again. Rinse and repeat. Keeps him busy and hopping all over town. It’s his job, dammit! it’s what he does!
I don’t go to most of the places Doug writes about, so it’s all mostly moot anyway.
But I do read his reviews, and have for many years, because of the snark he serves up
I love snark! Nothing like a nice, hot dish of grilled snark!