Melange for 2

This past Friday we dined at Melange in Beachwood for the first time. They had participated in a food/wine event that I attended this spring, so I was anxious to try their menu. It was a gorgeous evening, so we requested patio seating. The patio is small- seven tables and a full bar, but hey it's patio seating and this time of year I'll take anything that allows me to dine outside.

We decided to just get a couple of appetizers and share so that we could sample several dishes. I'll be honest- the entrees just didn't sound as good as many of the hot and cold starters. We started with the Farmers Market Tomato Salad (local sourced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, kalamata olives, basil, olive oil, aged balsamic). The fresh mozzarella was firm and creamy, but the tomatoes were a little mushy. Overall, the dish was ok but it was probably my least favorite of the evening. We then moved on to two hot starters: Lobster & Lump Crab Cake (local sweet corn and black bean salsa) and the Goat Cheese Fondue (Lake Erie Creamery Goat Cheese, Seasonal Fresh Fruit, Toasted Bread Assortment). The crab cake was good and full of large chucks of lobster and crab meat, but I've had better. Now the fondue was the shining star of this meal. The thick, creamy goat cheese was so tasty and rich that I fully admit I was scraping the bowl. The only complaint that I have about this dish is that they only serve enough bread and fruit for about half of the fondue. We had to order extra bread just to finish the dish. There was no way that I was leaving half of that cheese behind! Finally, we ended the meal by splitting a Cheese Plate (on the cold starters menu) and The "Candy Bar" dessert (pretzel, peanut butter chocolate mousse, caramel, salted peanuts, chocolate covered pretzels). The cheese plate had a nice assortment of artisan cheeses and fruit. The interested aspect of this dish was the sesame seed spread, which our waitress informed us that most people won't even try this. It certainly looked a little odd, but it was a nice addition to the cheese in moderation.

I was not blown away by Melange, but I would dine there again. The atmosphere inside is quite different than the patio. The plush booths and funky lighting was very upscale but almost stuffy.

Melange
2101 Richmond Road
Cleveland, OH
(216) 378-9755