I immediately like the interior of the restaurant. It had a great "lounge" vibe with the modern furniture, lighting, and bar decor, but also had exposed brick (which I love) and sunlight streaming in through the front windows.
Luckily, my friend and I almost always just "share" our meal by splitting a couple of small plates. We decided to start with the Crispy Lobster Pot Stickers with avocado, pomelo, and Indonesian sweet soy ($12.5).
The pot stickers were decent, but the lobster flavor wasn't as prominent as I think we both had hoped. Next up was the Dragonfly sushi roll with crab, bok choy, cucumber, avocado, mango mustard, and char su glaze ($13.5).
As you can (sort of) see, they playfully arranged the sushi roll to look like a dragonfly on the plate. Bonus points here! I always enjoy a good sushi roll, and this was pretty good. Everything tasted fresh, and I liked the crispy outer coating. But I did wish that the roll was slightly thinner. It was impossible to eat in one bite, and cutting the pieces resulted in the ingredients spilling out.Last up, we split the Dragonfly Paella with mussels, calamari, snapper, shrimp, and forbidden rice in a coconut curry broth ($22).
I appreciated that they split the dish for us (so what you see is only a half portion) for no additional fee. This was my favorite dish of the evening- packed with curry and coconut flavors and fresh seafood. I don't usually enjoy steamed fish in dishes such as this, but even the fish was prepared well and complimented the overall dish. I was happy to end on this note.So, overall we enjoyed the atmosphere and food- with some dishes being better than others. Several more on the menu sounded tempting, and I always love it when sushi is on the menu! I think we'll both be back, and I'll even bring "R" this time. He gets a little salty when I have these fun dining adventures without him. Hehehe.
Dragonfly Lounge
1859 West 25th Street
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 696-7774
We arrived around 7PM, and the restaurant was mostly full. It was a nice mix of ages and type of groups dining, and appeared to be family-friendly as well. We settled in and each ordered a drink as we looked at 
I didn't find the "heat" in this dish, but the notes of coconut milk sung through and I really enjoyed this dish. We also had a chance to hear from the Executive Kitchen Manager, who has been with Sarava since it opened. He shared with us that his favorite dish on the menu is their Xim Xim- a slow braised stew. Then we enjoyed a demonstration on how to make the cocktail that was paired with the dish- a traditional Brazilian Caipirinha. It was strong, but tart and tasty!
Next, we wandered across Shaker Square (led by our guide, Todd) to Japanese restaurant SaSa Matsu.
Here we enjoyed a Lamb Mini Burger on homemade sesame buns with SaSa fries. The dish was paired with two kinds of sake.
The spices in the lamb burger left my tongue dancing, and I really enjoyed the kimcee slaw that topped the burger.
we were served a 4 oz. Tandoor Roasted Hanger Steak with leek bread pudding, crumbled bleu, sauteed spinach and porcino jus paired with a red wine.
This was my favorite dish of the evening, overall. The steak was cooked perfectly, and the flavors of the rich bread pudding, sharp bleu cheese, and earthy spinach all worked very well together. We also really enjoyed listening to Katz talk about his love affair with Shaker Square, and his passion for our area's restaurant community and their friendly competition. And it's true, our independent restaurant community is unique if you look across the country. Todd, our guide, compared our restaurant owners to siblings- "You'll push them in the puddle, tease them, but if they fall- you're there to pick them up." Katz also told us about his partnership with the museum and their new restaurant in the works, and a new addition to the fire location- an "underground", almost speakeasy, restaurant next door to the current restaurant. This should open up in the next few months.
It included fresh mozzarella and shaved parmesan, but my favorites were the gorgonzola and the cranberry stilton. We also enjoyed a wonderful Syrah at this stop.
Now, my opinion of this event is a little biased because I used to work at the Cleveland Foodbank and planning this event was one of my big projects...but this does not change the fact that this is a fun and unique event, and truly one of the season's best food events. Now that I no longer work there, I get to actually attend as a guest and I can't wait!
I immediately liked the atmosphere, except for the orange bulbs in the chandeliers that hang from the ceiling. That just gave them a "Halloween" glow that caught the eye of several of us. We were seated in the main bar area, so I didn't have a chance to check out the outdoor seating, but I hear that it is very nice and a welcomed addition to the area. I didn't feel like drinking a beer with dinner (a sin at a brewery, I know), so I started with a glass of white wine. MGB offers a few different wine options, and several unique cocktails (more on that later).
I also ordered the Pretzel, which was soft baked with mustard and garlic cheese spread ($6).
You can't really screw up a soft pretzel, so I enjoyed it thoroughly. The salad itself was a little bland. I know that sounds weird to say about a salad, but the dressing didn't offer the usual punch that a good bleu cheese typically has. It all tasted a little "watery", and while the tomatoes were an interesting addition- they didn't add much to the dish overall.