3 minute read
Perrysburg
FARM & TABLE
Comfort Mood
A selection of great handcrafted sausages, burgers, sandwiches and sides make Swig: Charcuterie & Suds for the Curious a must-visit spot.
COURTESY OF MASS MEDIA DESIGNS Heat Check: After experimenting with serving ramen during the winter months, Mason’s Creamery in Cleveland has now made it an annual tradition. Van Buren Room: Belle of Dayton’s cozy bar serves a variety of signature and classic cocktails crafted from the distillery’s lineup of spirits.
Tony Bilancini and Jim Hodulik grew up eating homemade traditional Eastern European and Italian foods, from sausages and hot dogs to the condiments that went on them. When the friends were starting their own bar, they decided to make it a restaurant that served handcrafted favorites, like the charcuterie their parents and grandparents made.
“We started throwing all these things together and coming up with our own recipes for sausages,” says Bilancini, a trained chef and Vermilion native. “Our goal was to make fine food accessible, to keep our humble upbringing about us, but still offer top-notch food. It’s elevated comfort food that gets funky.”
Their vision became Swig: Charcuterie & Suds for the Curious, a popular gastropub and mainstay in downtown Perrysburg since 2008.
“Back then, America had no idea what charcuterie was,” Bilancini says. “That’s
Pierogi Fundido: potato and onion pierogies topped with chorizo fundido, tomatoes, pickled onion and crema why we do the ‘curious’ in there.”
From great craft beers and specialty mixed drinks to gourmet hot dogs, sausages and sides, Swig is a place where anyone can enjoy a favorite dish with the drink of their choice inside a cozy restaurant and bar.
Nearly every item that comes out of Swig’s kitchen is made from scratch. The restaurant regularly offers weekly specials that have included sausages made from elk, rabbit and even lobster. Customers love the sausages, hot dogs, burgers and sandwiches as well as sides that include pierogies, garlic fries and sweet potato tots. The Cleveland hot dog is one of Swig’s most popular items. The beef hot dog is smothered in all-beef coney sauce then topped with bacon, shredded cheddar and Cleveland’s own Stadium Mustard. Twenty-one taps line the bar. Most are craft beers, but Pabst Blue Ribbon has been on tap since the restaurant opened. Swig prides itself on its openness to all.
“They like our genuineness,” Bilancini says of his customers. “People feel comfortable here. It’s got some soul in it.” — Kristina Smith
Heat Check
After experimenting with serving ramen during the winter months, Cleveland’s Mason’s Creamery has made it a tradition.
Jesse Mason and Helen Qin really use their noodle to make Mason’s Creamery a year-round experience. After their Cleveland small-batch ice cream shop opened in 2014, the couple wanted more ways to treat their customers during the winter. The answer? Steaming bowls of house-made ramen.
They took it slow at first, only offering ramen one weekend a month from November to April. “We’d be sold out in an hour,” says Qin. “We saw the excitement it generated, and we knew we were on to something.”
Since 2018, the couple has converted their tiny ice cream shop into a full-fledged ramen operation during the winter months (available through mid-April this year). Customers can slurp up versions of ramen such as the pork tonkotsu made with pork broth, char-siu (Chinese barbecue pork), soft-boiled egg, corn, nori and pickled radish.
“If you’re doing it the traditional way, it can take upwards of 12 hours at a roiling boil to get the broth going,” says Mason. “We’ve come up with a couple of different methods to trim that time down, but not sacrifice any of the richness of the broth.”
Inspired by how other countries embrace eating outside year-round, you’ll find an outdoor tent with picnic tables and heaters. “There’s a sense of community of being out there ... having a nice warm bowl of broth,” says Mason. “It’s such a fun experience.” — Kim Schneider
4401 Bridge Ave., Cleveland 44113, 216/762-1095, masonscreamery.com
