Downtown I don't think you can beat Grumpy's for lunch
posted by stukerr at 11:44 A.M. EST on Wed Jun 07, 2006 #
I went to Mano's once and i really wasn't very happy with it, they didn't make anything that my grandmother used to make. 8-)
And the maumee bay brewing company makes great pizza's. i like them with onion and green peppers..
posted by tm at 11:48 A.M. EST on Wed Jun 07, 2006 #
Foccaccia's for breakfast and lunch. Big cups of coffee, traditional 'deli' style foods.
posted by MaggieThurber at 12:13 P.M. EST on Wed Jun 07, 2006 #
There's a new restaurant going in on St. Clair called Home Slice (next to the ice cream place) grand opening July 1, just in time for summer festivities! We're looking forward to checking it out.
I don't have a favorite downtown. Eddy B's is great for a quick bite on a lunch hour.
posted by gotoledogo at 01:02 P.M. EST on Wed Jun 07, 2006 #
Summit Diner - good food, good prices and friendly folks.
Gumbo's - for that Cajun flair. The Crawfish Etouffe' is awesome! Like sitting out on the patio and watching the water.
Zia's - makes the best Lasagne Bolognese. Also provides that patio for river watching.
Grumpy's - good food, but a little pricey for a sandwich and a pop. Couldn't do that weekly for lunch without taking out a loan. ;)
posted by DoknowDocare at 02:23 P.M. EST on Wed Jun 07, 2006 #
Real Seafood is flat out my favorite restaurant in the area altogether- not just the downtown area. Zia's is good too.
I would also agree with tm, about Maumee Bay's pizza. That is the best thing on their menu.
posted by nick44 at 07:18 P.M. EST on Wed Jun 07, 2006 #
Tony Packo's at the park has really good food it is a fun atmosphere. They have a perch dinner there but it isn't very good. I would suggest the chile mac, or any of the homemade soups. Also the potato skins are a really good starter.
posted by SteveLeggett at 10:24 P.M. EST on Wed Jun 07, 2006 #
My favorite restaurants are Georgio's and Manhattans.Georgio has excellant seafood and one of the best wait staff in the area.
posted by buckeye277 at 11:10 A.M. EST on Thu Jun 08, 2006 #
I don't go downtown any more unless I have to, so can't come up w/any. I can say that in the past, I ate at Mano's once. And only once. I got the 'sampler' dinner, which was presumably made up of a little of each main dish on the menu. I say presumably , because everything tasted exactly the same(no doubt due to using the same spices). And I didn't like the taste at all, so I'll never go back.
posted by Darkseid at 01:33 P.M. EST on Thu Jun 08, 2006 #
There is nothing better on a cold winter day than Georgio's fresh bread, butter and a large bowl of cream of mushroom soup. Best meal in the city and you can usually get it and a soda for around $5.
posted by MaggieThurber at 04:40 P.M. EST on Thu Jun 08, 2006 #
this isnt downtown, but Im bummed! A restaurant I was led to thru posters out here is closed!!
My wife and I went over to the Point after church on sunday to eat at Gloria's Tex Mex, and there's a sign on the door that says "Closed until further notice"!!!
Bummer!! Posters out here recommneded it to us - do any of you know whats up?
posted by billy at 08:49 A.M. EST on Mon Jun 12, 2006 #
Billy - I sent you there and I'm as baffled as you are. I went to go there a couple weeks ago and saw the same thing. I apologize for not posting that they were closed. Please forgive.
On a positive note - there is a new place that opened for take-out right next door. Scordo's Italian Deli & Market. If you want an unusual pizza that is far from the ordinary tomato sauce saturated fare, try one of their Neapolitan pizzas. The Vesuvio is incredible! Consists of olive oil and cheeses, eggplant, roasted red peppers and prosciutto. I can't remember when I've had a pizza that authentic and that tasty.
Neapolitan pizzas are sans the tomato sauce, but he also makes traditional pizzas. Give it a try if you're up this way.
posted by DoknowDocare at 10:18 A.M. EST on Mon Jun 12, 2006 #
Billy and DoKnowDoCare --
Tony Scordo said he plans to open up a restaurant next door -- I can't wait! I am quickly becoming addicted to Scordo's!
Regarding eating downtown -- I enjoyed the lasagna at Murphy's. Have been back there a few more times and tried other things on the menu, would go back again.
- TK
posted by Tony_K at 01:30 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 06, 2006 #
Thanks Tony K! Glad to hear that! Scordo's offers some absolutely delicious foods.
That Vesuvio pizza is incredible, and the lasagne...............Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
posted by DoknowDocare at 02:59 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 06, 2006 #
And, though not downtown, try the Java Mill for a relaxing English Toffee Capuccino. They are absolutely yummy.
And if you're hungry, try one of the Java Mill's egg salad sandwiches. Awesome!
posted by DoknowDocare at 03:38 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 06, 2006 #
Have the chicken salad and an iced caramel macchiatto from the Java Mill too!
If you are in the mood for a great, no I take that back, the best sub-grinder sandwich you have ver had, go to Scordo's. Yes the pizza is fantastic but the grinders are just as good.
Plus he has some wonderful Italian wine that you can't find locally for sale. If you ask him to sample anything, wine too, he gladly will let you try it all!
By far, the best food we have found in Toledo yet. Cant wait for his restaraunt to open!
posted by KrisP at 09:10 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 06, 2006 #
Andre's Lounge on Summitt and Magnolia for the soups---clam chowder, Mexican corn, cream of mushroom, black bean and chicken noodle are just some of the outstanding choices. Chili is also outstanding. Call ahead, because the selection depends on the day of the week.
posted by McCaskey at 10:06 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 06, 2006 #
My favorite is the Downtown Latte. Soups, sandwiches, salads, desserts, coffee, tea, beer, wine, WiFi, events, hip, relaxing, and the occasional Carty sighting.
They serve great soups. I like their panini sandwich, and they have a good cafe mocha for us pretend coffee drinkers. And I can't resist the coffee cake they have sitting right by the checkout register.
The Downtown Latte is located on S. St. Clair in the warehouse district.
posted by jr at 11:13 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 06, 2006 #
Fair Trade Coffee. That's huge. That means this is coffee from a company that pays fair wages and benefits in areas NOBODY does this.
HA!!! Good for you jr. You get big BIG kudos
posted by katie82640 at 12:31 A.M. EST on Fri Jul 07, 2006 #
Well, the key is shade-grown coffee, since that's better for the environment, and it tastes better than "normal" coffee. Even I can drink organic, shade-grown coffee black. That's good stuff. You can get it from the Phoenix Food Co-op and Wild Birds Unlimited. And it's also fair trade.
But I don't think that Fair Trade thing is all that it's cracked up to be, according to another coffee shop owner I've spoken to about this and according to a feature on NPR from a couple years ago.
Fair Trade sounds noble, and I'm certain it does help some farmers. Apparently, some of the best tasting coffee in the world is grown by small farmers, but some of these farmers are too small to be a part of the group or co-op that participates in the fair trade gizmo. Maybe that's different now, I don't know.
The best tasting, highest quality coffee should command the highest prices like other products do, but it doesn't work that way in the coffee industry.
The whole coffee industry and its impact on the environment and the farmers is another topic all on its own for another day.
posted by jr at 11:38 A.M. EST on Fri Jul 07, 2006 #
well the Downtown Latte' got a new customer. (two - daughter is a coffee lover also - she's the one who told me about the 'fair trade' market)
posted by katie82640 at 11:59 A.M. EST on Fri Jul 07, 2006 #
Good, Katie. The Downtown Latte is a great place. Did you pick up their schedule of events? Their website isn't updated with July info yet. They have something going on just about every evening. They do have some "summer hours" this month, so they're not open as much for some reason.
Anyway, I believe local historian Fred Folger is giving a presentation at the Latte next week. Not sure of the topic, but I think it's a continuation of last month's topic, which was: "Toledo Now n Then" - "An ongoing presentation, continuing with the "middlegrounds"." Folger is excellent.
Sidenote: For coffee lovers, check out the Daily Grind in downtown Perrysburg. The Daily Grind also has the best hot chocolate. The chocolate powder is specially made for the Grind. The coffee is delivered to the store the same day it's roasted.
The fair trade concept is a good idea, and I will base purchase decisions on that. If the product says fair trade, I'll buy it. But I'm not certain fair trade is benefiting all the groups that it's advertised to be helping. Maybe it just takes time for all those concerned to be enrolled.
Americans are fanatics about coffee. Threaten it with a tax like Seattle tried back in 2003 with the Espresso Tax that would have helped kids, and just watch the public galvanize against the idea. Not surprisingly, the tax got voted down. But what about the kids?
"... dime-a-cup tax proposed for espresso drinks on the Sept. 16 primary election ballot. The espresso-tax initiative which would raise millions of dollars to go toward preschool and day-care programs has attracted national attention, much of it incredulous."
Big Coffee said no way.
"Starbucks spokeswoman Audrey Lincoff said the company opposes it because it would be bad tax policy to single out espresso for a special tax."
But I think Cleveland is going ahead with trying get the public to vote on a new tax on cigarretes to raise money for the arts.
In the November 2002 election, Berkley, California residents rejected an issue that would have required every coffee shop in Berkley to sell fair trade, organic, or shade-grown coffee. Like I said before, shade-grown is better for the environment in the coffee growing regions.
"BERKELEY - Local coffee shops won out over small Central American farmers as
voters overwhelmingly rejected the closely watched Fair Trade coffee initiative. Measure O, would have required that all coffee served in Berkeley be organic or certified Fair Trade. With nearly two-thirds of the vote counted, the measure had won only 30 percent of the vote."
"Measure O would have required all brewed coffee served in Berkeley to be certified organic, Fair Trade or shade-grown. The measure would not have affected the sales of ground or whole bean coffee."
You'd think that an allegedly progressive area like Berkley would overwhelmingly support helping the environment and helping farmers in the coffee-growing regions. Doesn't this seem like the kind of thing that would begin in Berkley? But nooo. Berkely has no problem telling the rest of us how to live, but when a good issue directly affects them in the pocketbook, they say no way.
"Fair Trade coffee costs 10 percent more than other coffee. That translates to just pennies per cup, says Rick Young, sponsor of the measure. Coffee sellers argued they would have needed a bigger markup to cover their bulk costs. Proponents of the measure say buying Fair Trade coffee would not have significantly hurt local business owners. However, buying coffee produced by underpaid workers on factory farms hurts the world, say proponents."
The big evil, Starbucks, doesn't brew all their coffee with organic, shade-grown, fair trade coffee because it would hurt their profits.
"If the measure had passed, Berkeley would have been the first city in the country to require stores to sell Fair Trade coffee. Coffee retailers in 42 states, including Starbucks, Pete's and some Safeways, already offer Fair Trade coffee by choice or because of consumer pressure."
"Shade-grown coffee must be grown under a natural forest canopy, minimizing damage to soil and water. Fair Trade certified coffee means farmers have been paid fairly. Only small farms qualify for Fair Trade certification. Coffee is certified as Fair Trade by a nonprofit called Transfair USA."
I'm not advocating espresso taxes and legislation dictating how a business operates, but it's just funny to watch how some groups support taxes and restrictions on some products for the good of the human race but not on others even though such a tax or law would supposedly be helpful.
I've always felt that the most powerful group in the U.S. is coffee drinkers. All demographics drink coffee.
So the Downtown Latte does deserve congratulations for voluntarily deciding to serve Fair Trade, Organic Coffee. I'm not sure it's shade-grown, but like someone said, "Two out three ain't bad."
Well, I said I wouldn't do it, but I got sidetracked on the subject of coffee. Americans love coffee, but few American know much about it because it's grown outside the lower 48 states. A $3.00 cup of fancy coffee is more than some coffee farmers earn in a day.
Three years ago, Toledo's own Clamor Magazine published an article about fair trade coffee.
"Unless your morning latte was a fair trade blend, it probably cost more than what the farmer who picked the beans earns in a day."
And so on. I promise, no more about this for now.
Back to restaurants downtown ...
posted by jr at 01:33 P.M. EST on Fri Jul 07, 2006 #
Lot's of good suggestions. Downtown Latte is my favorite place to take downtown clients. Nice atmosphere for connection. I don't think anybody has mentioned Andres. Long time family owned business that has some of the best soups in town, bar none. Doug makes the soup fresh every morning and they buy their meats fresh daily. (Fantastic Clamdiggers as well. So I'm told)
posted by steiner at 02:33 P.M. EST on Fri Jul 07, 2006 #
from the Clamor link: "In 1997, 45 members of Las Abejas, mostly women and children, were murdered in a prolonged attack by paramilitaries while praying for peace in Acteal, a Chenalho refugee community. The timing of the massacre was obviously planned to coincide with the coffee harvest, says Monika,"
I hadn't any idea. I'll be much more aware of the Fair Trade labels. We went to organic this year and I think most of what I buy has a choice that would belong.
And I have to be downtown Tuesday - I'll get their schedule. Sounds like a nice spot to land downtown.
posted by katie82640 at 02:34 P.M. EST on Fri Jul 07, 2006 #
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