Guest Blog: Gordo's Pub & Grill

My sister once again has offered to share her opinion about food.  This time, instead of a recipe, she is sharing her experience at Gordo's Pub in Norwood.  They are known for their burgers but offer lots more.  Kelley did not choose to get burgers for this visit; however, the rest sounds great.  Thanks to Kel for sharing!
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One of the perks to living in Norwood is having Gordo's within walking distance.  Owner Raymond Gordo, a Norwood native, previously worked under famous chef Jean Robert de Cavel and has over sixteen years of restaurant experience.  Gordo's is a great little bar and grill on Montgomery Rd. with a fantastic atmosphere.  It's perfect for a dinner date or to watch a game with friends.  It's small, so I recommend going a bit early to get a table.

My friend Andrea and I walked up to Gordo's for an early dinner last night around 5:00 PM.  There were about five tables occupied at the time, but that quickly changed in the next hour.  My favorite thing about Gordo's is the extensive beer selection, and during happy hour, all beers are $1 off.  So upon arriving, I began perusing the beer menu and decided to start with a Belgian beer, Fruili Fruit Beer. 

I liked it a lot, so the server gave me some suggestions for other fruit beers to try throughout dinner.  I was really impressed with her knowledge of the beer selection, so I went with her choices and had a Unibroue Ephemere, which had an apple flavor, and St. Ambrois Apricot.  I was very happy with all three, and Andrea liked them all too.  So I would definitely recommend taking your server's suggestions! 

For an appetizer, we ordered the Saratoga chips.  We were given a heaping portion, and they were very light and crispy and not too salty.  They were served with barbeque sauce, and it was delicious.  We asked our server if they made their own barbeque sauce and found out that it was from Cisco!  We couldn't believe our ears.  The chips were addicting...I could eat an order of them by myself!

The menu at Gordo's centers around their burger selection and has been named as "one of the best hamburgers in the region" by Cincinnati Magazine.  Each burger is a half pound of lean ground beef mixed with bacon, onion compote, and mixed herbs, and there are nine burgers to choose from.  The selection ranges from the Pub burger, which has your traditional toppings, to the BPJ, which is topped with fried bananas, peanut butter cream cheese, jam, and bacon.

Despite the rave reviews of the burgers, Andrea and I both opted to go for a salad.  We have to be in bathing suits next weekend!  Andrea chose the spinach salad with salmon.  It had a warm bacon dressing which tasted good but was a bit too vinegary for our tastes.  The salmon was cooked to perfection, so no complaints there.

I ordered the pear and blue cheese salad with chicken.  The chicken was tender and juicy, and it was served atop a bed of spinach and cabbage.  In addition to the pear and blue cheese, the salad included walnuts and raspberry vinegarette dressing.  All of the flavors worked fabulously together.  Both salads were a perfect dinner portion but would probably be a bit too large for lunch.

In addition to our server's outstanding knowledge of the beer selection, she was very friendly and kept on top of us, even when it started to get crowded.  At no point did we have to remind her of something we asked for or wait for a long period of time.  I will definitely go to Gordo's again!

~Kelley

Food: 4
Service: 5
Overall: 4.5

Recipe: Ancho-Glazed Salmon With Sweet Potato Fries

This is one of my husband and mine’s favorite recipes.  It’s pretty quick, easy, and low in calories.  I got this recipe from Ladies Home Journal (May ’09) about a year or two ago and am still making it pretty regularly.  Here are the ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cumin                                                                          

1 tsp. ground ancho chile or chili powder

4 (5 oz. each) skinless salmon fillets

1 tbsp olive oil

Cilantro sprigs

I have never made this for four people before, so I just get two salmon fillets and two smaller sweet potatoes.  I also have never put the cilantro sprigs on it because I rarely have it on hand, and I’m not one to buy a whole thing of cilantro just for garnish!  So here is what you do:

1.       Heat broiler to high and cut potatoes lengthwise into ¼ inch-thick slices. Combine sugar, salt, cumin, and ancho chile. Place sweet potatoes on the greased rack of an unheated broiler pan. Coat both sides of potato slices with cooking spray; sprinkle both sides with about half the sugar mixture. Broil for about 10 minutes or until tender, turning once.  (If you don’t have a broiler pan, I have baked sweet potatoes on 450 degrees for about 20 minutes and they are just as good). 

2.       Rinse salmon and pat dry.  Sprinkle with the remaining sugar mixture.  In large skillet, cook salmon in hot oil over medium heat turning once halfway through cooking, 8-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. 

You don’t have to get the salmon skinless, but if you ask the butcher they will take the skin off for you, and that way, you can season both sides of the salmon.  I ordered it this way the other day, and this older lady looked at me like I was crazy and said, “SKINLESS?  Why would you do that, it just comes off after you cook it!”  But I told her that I like to have the seasoning on both sides of the salmon….she proceeded to tell me all about this cleansing diet she is doing with her husband and how they are eating fish every night……

Anyways, I also like to serve some sautéed or grilled asparagus with this meal.  This time, I just sautéed asparagus in a pan over medium heat with EVOO, salt, pepper and garlic.  (I swear, every time I cook asparagus, it turns out different! I still need to figure out the best way, but this turned out pretty good!)

All in all, this is a really quick (about 20 min) and easy meal, especially if you have never cooked salmon before.   Plus, there is only 363 calories, but watch out, there is a lot of sodium! (710 mg). 

~Katy