Luscious Foodie: Melt Mania

[Today is the first installment of Luscious Foodie, a new regular feature by L.V. estimator/all-around stylish gal Megan. She'll be giving us the lowdown on area hotspots where all the hip kids are going nowadays. And when I say "local," I mean Cleveland. If you don't live here, well, would it hurt you to visit us for your summer vacation? We totally have couches you can sleep on.]

Hey all you fashion forward foodies! I recently visited a favorite restaurant of mine, Melt Bar and Grilled, and happily ate a wonderful grilled cheese sandwich. Now, this place is not your Wonder-bread-and-American-cheese kind of eatery. They offer amazing choices of sandwiches served by the hippest of indie guys and gals around.

Being a "Big Cheese" member allows me into the secret Melt society. Yes, that means free refills of their amazing blue cheese and delicious draft beer choices. I chose a tasty Oberon draft by Bell's Brewery to compliment my half-combo dinner, which consisted of half of a smoked gouda grilled cheese, red pepper, cucumber and mixed green salad, and a mug of steamy white bean tomato soup, and, of course, a small side of fresh cut seasoned French fries with a spicy chipotle dipping sauce. (My stomach is extremely happy merely writing about my dinner last night.)

My eating partner moseyed on up to the sandwich of the month which is a tuna steak melt. Rare tuna, with a spicy aioli sauce, and your cheese of choice went into this treat. If you’re still hungry after visiting the Melt Bar and Grilled, then you can easily enjoy a sampling of fried Twinkies in a berry compote or their locally homemade cheesecake. So, if you happen to be in the Cleveland area check out Melt – you’ll be extremely excited and full.


RANDOM FOOD NOTES

Interesting food fact: Lindsay, our assistant operations manager, gave up chocolate for New Year’s, but I just caught her in the back licking our chocolate envelopes with chocolate return “icing” address.

What I am currently eating right now: a large Tupperware container filled with watermelon and blueberries. If I could fit my tiny body in a whole watermelon my life would be happier and moister…

For Art's Sake

We recently got a pretty cool package in the mail from local school Mosdos Ohr Hatorah, located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. It was from L.V. friend Dodi Schwab, who teaches sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade art. "You cannot imagine what an exciting windfall this paper is for our art program with its tiny budget," she says. We think the paper we gave is a small investment with a huge return, that is, these cool thank-you notes we got. We have a feeling these kids would make good Luscious Verde employees, but we aren't in the mood to violate any child-labor laws.

Hot Card of the Day (Keys Edition)

Today's hot card comes to us from Susan Gildea Personalized Printing in lovely Berkeley, California. It's a lovely card as well -- the only problem with the picture is that I (Rob) took it. The keyboard is there to remind me that I have to write a jingle for the winner of our jingle contest.

Watching the Clock

Odds are, you're at work right now. Well, so are we. And unless you're a super-duper, 110-percent-all-the-time sort, you probably take a little time out during the day to check what's going on in the outside world. In that vein, we invite you to check out (and possibly join) our new Facebook group. Hey, it beats writing that report or calling back what's-her-face.

Hot Card of the Day (Long Long Weekend Edition)

This hot card comes to us from D.Y. Ink in the lovely town of Briarcliff Manor, New York. It's a refreshing twist on a design available in our second Bar/Bat album. And, hey, if we don't talk before then, have a great Memorial Day weekend. We'll be closed on Monday, probably off having a great deal of fun.