2011 Silverspoon Awards Party Recap

On Thursday May 26th my fiancée and I attended the Silverspoon Awards Party at the downtown Cleveland Marriott. I was very excited about this event because it featured the best of the best in terms of restaurants in Cleveland.  I was looking forward to trying some dishes from restaurants that I've not yet had a chance to review.  This recap will be similar to my last Dinner in the Dark recap because we spent a lot of time talking with people and of course eating!  I hope the pictures and the comments give you an idea what a fun event this was!

To start, here are a few pictures I took to give you an idea of what the event looked like as we walked around.

When we walked into the main ballroom we immediately saw Chinato and had to try whatever they were serving! As we walked up, none other than Zach Bruell was plating Calamari alla Primavera.  He took a few seconds between plating to chat with us, and his dish was packed with fresh flavors.   This is one place that you will definitely see me visiting this summer for a review!

As we were walking away from Chinato we noticed the sign for Great Lakes Brewery.  I quickly walked over to see what they brought to the party for the evening.  The options were Doppelrock, Dortmunder, Edmund Fitzgerald, and the Wright Pils.  I am a big fan of both Doppelrock and Edmund Fitzgerald so it was pleasing to see these available. 

Great Lakes also had food available at their station. The choice for the evening was a rich and sweet Bread Pudding with melted butter which paired perfectly with the burnt sugar and sweet caramel flavors of the Doppelrock!

With a Doppelrock in hand we decided to walk around the room for a bit to see what else we could find that was new to us.  We quickly found the Angelo's Pizza which was the award winner for best pizza in Cleveland!  As a pizza lover, I am sad to say I've never been to Angelo's but after having a couple slices of pepperoni pizza this evening we'll be making that trip very soon!

We then made a stop at the AMP150 booth where Chef Ellis Cooley was serving up a sweet onion soup that was velvety smooth and packed with flavor.  I really enjoy how Ellis can take an ingredient and make it stand out in ways I wouldn't think of.

 

 We tried some of Bubba's Q St. Louis BBQ ribs and Beef Brisket.  The ribs were so tender and smokey and the beef brisket was some of the best I've ever had.  The beef brisket really impressed me with how flavorful, moist, and tender it was.  

 Right next to Bubba Q's was Paladar Latin Kitchen.  They were serving up a Blackened Talapia fish Taco that included a little cabbage and fresh mango.  I really enjoyed this taco and I would order it when dinning at Paladar.

Whole Foods Market was dished up a cheese tray with a macadamia nut and dried fruit compote.  The cheeses were Middlefield Grassfed Cheddar, Gabietou, Jasper Hill Cabot, and goat cheese stuffed organic dates.  Everything on this plate was amazing and I wish we would have gone back for seconds!

Deagan's Kitchen had a Spicy Shrimp Taco with guacamole, spicy aioli, tillamoook white cheedar and micro cilantro.  I enjoyed this taco, but the combination of guacamole and aioli left this taco a little too creamy for my liking.  It was nice to see owner Daniel Deagan walking around and sampling food.  He took time to introduce his wife to my fiancee and I and we look forward to visiting Deagan's this summer for a Taco Tuesday night out!

 At Chocolate Bar they had many different items that you could get coated in fresh, warm chocolate.  I opted for the oreos and some pretzels!

 The VIP room had three featured restaurants.  The Greenhouse Tavern, B-Spot Burgers and Dim and Den Sum.  Our first stop was to Greenhouse Tavern to try the handground Beer Tartar.  The crispy bread paired very well with the soft and flavorful beef.  Unfortunately when we went back a little later to get another bite, they had ran out of food.

The line for Dim and Den Sum was pretty long at this point so we opted to head to B-Spot instead.  They were serving up pulled pork over french fries that were drizzled with hot cheese wiz!  I wish I had a picture to show you because this dish was excellent, but when I went back to take a picture they too had run out of food!

We had a couple of plates that we didn't get a chance to take a picture of. We enjoyed the mini Tuscan burger sliders & homemade potato chips from Buckeye Beer Engine along with a sample of Buckeye Brewing Redhead Irish Red Beer. 

We also had Tucky's hot dogs and fried bolgna.

Overall this event was a blast.  There were so many food options we would have needed 6 hours instead of 3 in order to sample them all!  Our wait time in most lines was minimal and the food at each station was fresh and very tasty.  We also liked that there were tables set up throughout the event to stand and eat at, and there were also some sit down table options as well.  We were happy to see some of the chefs and owners representing their restaurants and hope to see even more there in the future.

Disclosure: For helping to promote this event I was given two passes to attend the event along with two passes to giveaway to a reader on my site.  The thoughts and opinions expressed in this recap are 100% my own.