My Town

Local Sunday brunch restaurant offers special fare

A Blade coworker has started a new trend: Sunday brunch at Bar 145.

For $15, the buffet-style brunch includes all of the regular breakfast food items, including waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit and an omelet station. An assortment of pastries is also included. But what makes the restaurant's brunch truly unique is the mac-and-cheese station, where you can choose from several different mix-ins and flavorings.

Bar 145 is located at 5305 Monroe Street. Photo courtesy of The Blade.

For drinks on the alcohol side, they have Bloody Marys and mimosas. And of course, regular coffee and hot tea. 

Being total fans of breakfast, a fellow Blade coworker and I have been searching for a local place that serves mimosas for a long time, so we were happily surprised to find that Bar 145 does.

Sunday brunch is served up from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Last week, since my coworkers and I were there from about 11:00-1:30 p.m., I was able to see that more people seem to show up around noon. A diverse group of people attend, from families with children, to groups of college students.

Other impressive elements of the visit included good, attentive service, and also an excellent selection of premium hot teas.

Visit www.bar145toledo.com for more information about their Sunday brunch offerings.

 

This week's news around town...

Two quick Sylvania news items (okay, one news item and one food/drink item) to mention: 

The Olander Park System will soon bring two water fountains for dogs to the city. Sandy Gratop, naturalist from the park system said “our doggie water fountain has arrived.” Ms. Gratop said the first one will be installed near a solar powered bathroom at Fossil Park and potentially a second one may be set up later out at Pacesetter Park. The first will be installed this spring.

I think this addition will be well-received by pet owners in the community.

Martini Spot:

I enjoy a good martini. A few weeks ago, a few co-workers and I went to B. Gump's Restaurant & Lounge in Sylvania for their $4 martini night. The bar atmosphere is great and the waitstaff was friendly and attentive, without being overbearing. One co-worker had an Irish Car Bomb Martini, while I opted for a fruit martini (can't remember exactly what was in it, but it did include passion fruit vodka). B. Gump's is located at 5147 Main St. 

Above: The martini I ordered.

Contact Kelly McLendon at

kmclendon@theblade.com

or 419-206-0356 or on Twitter at @MyTownSylvania.

A Year in Review

2012 was maybe the best year yet. Here are a few of the highlights:

1. APRIL: Moved to Sylvania 

In early spring, I packed up my bags and moved from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Sylvania.

2. SUMMER- Discovered a love of breakfast foods, especially pancakes and bacon. And then awhile later, omelets. 

3. OCTOBER- Participated in Toledo's Zombie Bar Crawl downtown. Followed by Del Taco, of course.

Creepy? Not one of my best pictures...

4. NOVEMBER- Vacationed in Arizona and Nevada. Saw the Grand Canyon for the first time.

THIS YEAR-

I haven't set any firm intentions for how I want 2013 to go, yet, but I've thought about a few things. I know it's going to be another great year in Sylvania!

Syd's Bakery at Mayberry offers wide selection of donuts, cakes & cookies

I had too much coffee this morning, which made me shaky and in turn, left me craving something sugary. So I headed out to the Mayberry Shoppes near Centennial Road, to Syd's Bakery. Donuts are my weakness. I can never just have one and I try to avoid them because they aren't the healthiest things in the world. Once at Syd's, I picked out a holiday themed sprinkle donut and an apple fritter.

The entrance to Syd's at the Mayberry Shoppes in Sylvania. 

Embarrassingly, I consumed the sprinkled variety on the drive back home and then had the apple one while I looked over emails. Yes, today I had a donut and a fritter for lunch. (Estimated caloric intake: roughly 1,000 calories)....yikes!

An apple fritter and a iced, holiday-themed sprinkled donut. 

The sprinkled one was exactly how I expected it to be and the icing was delicious. But the fritter left something to be desired. It was a little dry inside and it was really light on apple flavor. It didn't stop me from eating it all, though, so obviously it wasn't horrendously terrible.

I first visited Syd's back in April or May, when I moved to Sylvania and while I can't remember what I picked up back then, going there reminded me of moving to the city. Today, it still looks the same. Recently, I heard they offer donut cakes, which is apparently a newer trend in the baking world. 

8 Things I'm Thankful For... (Sylvania edition)

Photo from: http://childhood101.com/2011/09/an-attitude-of-gratitude/

When I visited the Sylvania branch library yesterday, I noticed they had paper leaves sitting out, with a sign next to them that told patrons they could write something down that they were thankful for.The leaves were then posted up on the glass wall near the book checkout desk. Seeing the display had me thinking about what I'm thankful and appreciative for, this holiday season.

 

8 Things I'm Thankful For... (in/near Sylvania edition):

1. Doughnut cake from Brieschke's in downtown Sylvania

2. Gingersnap lattes from Biggby on McCord

3. The Sylvania branch library, for having a variety of good books

3. The beautiful campus of Lourdes University/the Sisters of St. Francis

4. Kyoto Ka on Central for having soup bowls that remind me of a restaurant back home

5. Black Swamp CrossFit, for pushing me to the max (I can deadlift 130 pounds now!) I can shoulder press 55 pounds, but by the end of the year, I'm going to be doing 60. Because they are that good. Motivation is key.

6. Mayberry Diner, for their Western and Irish omelets. Sitting at the bar at lunchtime is fun!

7. All of the terrific Sylvania managers, directors and community relations coordinators, who have made covering stories in Sylvania the past 8 months, incredibly fun. Most of you have been friendly and accommodating since day one and I really appreciate the kindness you've shown.

8. All of the green space in the City of Trees!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lunch stop special

Blade photographer Katie Rausch and I have a new place we like to stop at for lunch when we're working on stories near Sylvania: Kyoto Ka. It's a sushi bar at heart, but they also serve salads (avocado, house, seaweed --- the list is endless), soup and entrees like teriyaki chicken.

My recommendations:

• Miso vegetable soup (includes mushroom, spinach, green onion, and carrot). Here it is:

Taking photos of food is probably one of my favorite things. Photo by: Kelly McLendon

• The vegetable udon, which is fresh vegetable soup with lots of noodles.
• I'm also a huge fan of the plum roll, which is a vegetarian roll with cucumber and plum. It's actually a weird fusion of flavor -- it seems like eating vegetables and dessert at the same time, since the plum sauce adds a sweet kick. 

Katie ordered the lunch special bento box, which makes it cheaper to try a lot of different things at Kyoto Ka. For the bento box, you get salad and soup, in addition to your sushi choice and your entree choice. Lunch time there is less expensive than dinner, and there are separate menus. 

Service always seems to be great, making it a good place for a business lunch probably.

Kyoto Ka is located at 6801 W. Central Ave. Visit www.kyotoka.com for more information and for hours.

 

Awesome Avocado: Finding the perfect omelet

I've been to many great breakfast restaurants in Toledo and Sylvania in the past few months. But last Sunday, my co-worker Ashley Sepanski and I headed out to a breakfast spot that is close to where we both live (Sylvania). 

We found Scrambler Marie's -- 6819 W. Central Ave. 

The new "Fall Fantastic Flavors" menu was enough to make us think we chose the right place. The Pumpkin Stuffed Pancakes (filled with pumpkin spice cream cheese and topped with powdered sugar and whipped cream) were enticing. 

But in the end, we both chose the Awesome Avocado. The neat thing about Scrambler Marie's is that they feature half sizes. I was able to order a "mini" omelet. It was the right amount of food. 

The Awesome Avocado, complete with a side of fruit (healthy) and a biscuit with whipped butter (unhealthy, but worth it). Photo by: Kelly McLendon.

Ashley, eating toast and looking off into the distance. (Hopefully she doesn't kill me for posting this photo.... ;)  Photo by: Kelly McLendon.

Scrambler Marie's has a few other locations throughout the area. Check them out online at  www.scramblermaries.com. 

Dinner at J&G Pizza Palace

My parents came to visit me over the weekend, which was just terrific. In celebration of my dad's 45th birthday, we spent the day together and had dinner. My dad is a huge fan of pizza, so I was more than happy to suggest J&G Pizza Palace, located in downtown Sylvania. I'd been there only once before, so I was eager to check it out again. On my first visit, I thought it was neat that the restaurant also serves gyros. 

We ordered the House Special, which is seen here: 

The cheese is what separates the pizza at J&G's from anywhere else. Also, from what I've heard from reviews and others in the community, they are known for their Greek salads, which have a lot of cheese, too:

The atmosphere of J&G is dimly-lit -- pretty much dark, but that doesn't really matter, because the windows in the front bring in a fair amount of light. When you walk by the restaurant during the evening hours, you can usually see someone in the window making up the pizza crust, which makes a neat sight for a few moments. 

J&G is open seven days a week, from 4 p.m.-midnight. It is located at 5692 Main St.

Contact Kelly McLendon at

kmclendon@theblade.com

or 419-206-0356 or on Twitter at @MyTownSylvania.

 

Busy weekend includes a stop at Chandler Cafe

My weekend was busy and didn't include much sleep. I woke up extra early on Saturday and met up at Olander Park for the Partners for Clean Streams organization's 16^th annual “Clean Your Streams” event. I got to spend the morning out following a group of Lourdes students who were giving back to the community by picking up garbage and other items from the Ottawa River watershed. That being said, after the morning was over, I was tired. Going underneath the bridge that spans into Harroun Park included a lot of walking and while I'm no stranger to exercise, the event really seemed to exhaust me.  

However, the view below was totally worth it. Who knew it could look so serene underneath the bridge that crosses Harroun Road?

The rest of the weekend was equally busy and tiring. When things get busy, it's hard to cook. Actually, it's hard to even make it to the grocery to buy things to actually put together and make. So by Sunday afternoon, I needed to eat something of substance (something more than Raisin Bran, carrots and BBQ sauce, which were the only three items in my place). 

I headed out to downtown Sylvania and chose Chandler Cafe. I've been there a few times and it always seems to be the lunch place I take my out-of-town guests to try. There's just something nice about it, right in the middle of downtown. Nine times out of 10 when I go to Chandler Cafe, I order the Greek Goddess salad. But after I had a few bites of the Southwest Chicken and Lime salad from a friend's plate a few weeks earlier, I knew that it was the day to try something new. So that's what I tried:

What's in it? From the Chandler Cafe menu: "Greens, shredded cheddar, black bean & corn salsa, cherry tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, grilled chicken breast, & tortilla chips drizzled with low-fat lime vinaigrette."

The cafe also serves up breakfast and even has a drive-thru window. The salad was enough to revive me from my busy weekend and it was also sufficient to give me fuel for a run later in the day. Success.

Contact Kelly McLendon at

kmclendon@theblade.com

or 419-206-0356 or on Twitter at @MyTownSylvania.

 

Pumpkin drinks and desserts signal the switch to fall

Rumor has it that the Pumpkin Spice Latte is back at Starbucks.

Pumpkin scones and pumpkin cream cheese muffins are also back.

That only means one thing -- it's nearly the fall season.

Nothing says "it's about to be fall," like the Pumpkin Spice Latte, which is "espresso, pumpkin-flavored syrup and steamed milk...topped with sweetened whipped cream and pumpkin pie spices," according to the coffee company. 

When I was younger, it always seemed like shopping for school clothes marked the start of the fall season. Now that I'm older, the return of the only seasonally offered Pumpkin Spice Latte marks the beginning of the cooler months. (Okay, so it's still warm right now...) 

I was reminded of all things pumpkin when I met with Linda Phillips, the owner of Sylvania's newest bakery, Sugar Plum Sweets, this morning. Before the interview, I looked at the glass cases full of desserts and saw these pumpkin cheesecake bars:

I enjoyed Linda's philosophy on her new business. She said sometimes customers feel guilty when they order sweet treats. To this, she replied, "Check your guilt at the door, there's no reason to feel guilty. If you feel really guilty, park a little further away from the door." 

FYI- The first day of fall is officially September 22. I'm hoping for cooler temperatures by then...

Contact Kelly McLendon at

kmclendon@theblade.com

or 419-206-0356 or on Twitter at @MyTownSylvania.