Before moving to Cleveland in 2013, Helen Qin and her husband, Jesse Mason, made homemade ice cream. Now, their Ohio City shop is a local staple. Expecting their first child, the couple dines out about twice a week. Here's where you might find them when they do.
Pizza Night. “We go to Cent’s and Il Rione [in Ohio City] the most. From Il Rione, the Diavolo ($17) with chilies, spicy salami, red onions. At Cent’s, we get the plain tomato ($14). It’s just pasta sauce and breadcrumbs, and then you can get anchovies on it. Very good.”
Cheap and Easy. “Irie Jamaican Kitchen [in Euclid, Old Brooklyn and Akron] is really fast, and the food very flavorful. The jerk chicken bowl ($8.99), and then they also have a plantain bowl ($9.75) that’s just like plantains with different toppings. It’s sweet, almost like a dessert meal.”
Longtime favorite. “I would go with Momocho [in Ohio City]. The nice thing is [chef Eric Williams] really is always switching up their menu. So there are always different kinds of taco iterations — we always try to try something new. But I mean, the tacos and everything are all really great."
Go-To Sushi. “There’s a place in Mentor-On-The Lake called Ninja Sushi and Hibachi, and the chef actually does a really nice Omakase menu, which is like a tasty menu of sushi, and that’s been really great to go-to. It’s always a surprise, which is nice.”
Chef Who Inspires her. “Doug Katz just does a really wonderful job with managing and operating all of his restaurants. Amba, which opened in Ohio City a few months ago, is the one we've been to most recently. They have crispy puris ($13), which is kind of like a very typical Indian street food, kind of like these crispy bread balls.”
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