Twisted Olive

Today I had the pleasure of having a business meeting at The Twisted Olive in Canton, OH. The decor and layout is stunning and the food is also an explosion of flavors. 

While the service was a bit slower then normal considering the amount of customer at the time. It was acceptible. The server apologized continually about the slow service.

The food was great or should I say awesome. Below are a few pictures. The only complaint I have on the food is that the dinner rolls should have been served with the appetizers and salads instead of with entrées.

This won't be the last time I am at The Twisted Olive. I'll be back.

Mama Santas Pizza

Little Italy in Cleveland offered so much but there is a place on the main street that offers authentic Italian food and they are really great at it. Mama Santas is the real deal. My wife and I along with good friends Matt & Rosetta Weaver (by the way they where in southern Italy in July) had the pleasure of enjoying a meal here. The pastas, sauces and mozzarella sticks where undoubtedly all homemade and awesome. I highly recommend this place to anyone who's taste buds are craving Italian food.

Nick n Jims BBQ

Awesome BBQ. This place is great. Cole slaw is sweet and tangy and creamy all in one bite. The brisket is tender and smoked to perfection. The BBQ chicken is the best BBQ chicken I have ever had. It's juicing and awesome, wow. The bread is great and cheesy. I would recommend this place anytime and I will be back whenever I am within driving distance of a Nick n Jims.

Ohio Swiss Festival

Must eat items at the Ohio Swiss Festival.

The Ohio Swiss Festival has many food options to offer but there are some must have items that one just needs to try when attending.

1) Swiss cheese on a stick. It's gooey Swiss cheese deep fried like a corn dog. It's an elevated reinvented awesome version of a mozzarella stick.

2) Apple fritter from the First Mennonite Church in front of the drug store. Real fresh slices of apple hand dipped in light batter and fried to perfection. Showered with powdered sugar, they are best when they almost burn your mouth when you eat them.

3) Stromboli from the Italian Eatery on the back side of the pavillion. They are hot fresh and topped with a decadent garlic butter and an awesome sauce on the side. This is perfect for walking and dipping. 

4) Last but not least the Amish Country Donuts. Huge Donuts the size of one's face. Fresh made on site and glazed right in front of you. 

There are so many other foods to eat but these are go to favorites. The best of the best from someone that grew up in Sugarcreek and has been eating festival food for many years. (Sorry that I don't have pictures of all these items but I did enjoy most of these night already)

Tres Leches Cake

So here's the recipe for the tres Leches cake I posted. This recipe requires an overnight period.

Take a vanilla cake mix and make as instructed however substitute water with milk and add 2 extra eggs. 

Once baked set aside and cool. 

Once the cake is cooled poke the top full of holes. Mix together 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk, 1 12oz can evaporated milk, and 1 cup half and half pour the mixture over the cake and let it sit over night refrigerated. 

Just before you are ready to serve, top it with whip-n-ice frosting or other frosting with a whipped topping consistency. Making sure it's not too sweet. Serve cake with fresh fruit such as strawberries or bluberries.

Easy Pesto Chicken

Place 4 raw boneless skinless chicken breasts in a pan top a pinch of salt, basil pesto and fresh tomato, then cover with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400 for approx 30-40 min or until chicken is done and cheese is crunchy on top. 

Mean while make your spaghetti. Do not over cook the noodles and be sure to salt your pasta water. Once pasta is cooked drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking process. Set aside.

Melt one stick of butter in your empty pasta pan and add one small baby zucchini diced  (large dice) lightly brown butter and cook zucchini then once zucchini starts to get tender add 1 tablespoon pesto. Add your cooked pasta Turn off and cover, you may need to slightly warm this up once the chicken is removed from the over. 

Let the chicken dish rest for about 5-7 minutes then serve with your pasta.

Kabobs- Fresh, Healthy, Farm to Fork Food

It doesn't get much fresher and healthier then  kabobs made with filet tips from Sugar Valley Meats and fresh veggies from the local produce department. Sweet onions, crisp colorful peppers and button mushrooms. Seasoned with salt and pepper then grill on a Solaire grill at approx 800 degrees. Yum.

Cupcake Display

A cupcake display we set up last weekend at the beautiful Edgewater Inn & Riverside Grill in Alexandria, PA. We are very honored to be part of Jonathan & Taylor's wedding.

Interesting fact the inn was built in 1762.

Casa Roja

Octopus Dish

We recently went to Casa Roja for dinner. Casa Roja was formerly West End Bistro until Executive Chef Alex got ahold of the menu and put together an awesome Spanish Tapas menu. The above dish is just one of the nine we had. We enjoyed Ensalada Verde, Ensalada Rojas, Croquetas, La Pimento De Chorizo, Alas de Pollo, Valenciana Paella, Citrus Sour Pork Sandwich Special, Mushrooms, Octopus and Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse with Salted Dulcet de Lecher. There were four of us by the way. We enjoyed a great meal on the patio. Service and the atmosphere was great. The food was awesome, if I had one critique would the Octopus and the Ensalada Verde could have used a bit more seasoning, that however could have been my personal preference. All of this was for a very good fair price.

I am looking forward to the fall menu, according to Chef Alex he will change up the menu in October sometime bringing out local fall ingredients such as squash. I say bring on those comforting fall flavors with cream and butter, yum.

If your looking form a nice place within a few hours of home. I would recommend taking a drive to Chagrin Falls. Its a quite village with shops and restaurants plus great picture opportunities since the falls are actually in downtown Chagrin Falls just a pleasant walk from Casa Roja.

I would recommend you make a reservation before you go on Open Table.

I'm Back . . .

Good Evening Everyone,

Sorry I have been gone for so long. Life got busy and I neglected blogging. A lot has happened my food world since my last post. In a nutshell here is to catching you up:


 December of 2014 My wife and I started Catering here and there for friends and family. We did a number jobs from December to February. We like to do fresh farm to fork style cooking using as little processed products as possible.

After that my day job went crazy with a huge expansion that I was spearheading. This was finally completed and all done by July of 2015. We added 9k square foot to our showroom at Weaver Furniture, in Sugarcreek. Stop in and check us out.

In May Jamie Yoder and I took a food trip and furniture delivery to Washington DC, Where we enjoyed from Lobster Rolls from Will T's Lobster Shack, Burgers from Good Stuff Eatery, and Pizza from We the Pizza. We also had to stop in at Matchbox and The Hamilton. We had Pho, a first for me, from Pho75 and Pizza from the District of Pi. We finished out the weekend with an amazing meal at Jaleo by Jose Andres, so good, so awesome. The best dish all weekend was the Olive Oil Ice Cream at Jaleo. I actually recreated later at home. Maybe later I will share the receipt.

We went to Banff, AB, Canada for 10 days in July 2015 mostly for business but some pleasure as well. Unfortunately the Banff area isn't really know for its food. The food was good but nothing out of the ordinary expect some awesome poutine that we had. Poutine is crispy French fries with cheese curbs and gravy. So yummy.

I am sorry for the lack of pictures however I just did a Windows 10 update and I am having a hard time uploading pictures right now. Pictures of all of the above items can be found on my Instagram page. Look me up at kevinyoder or/and hash tags #smalltownboldflavors. Banff pictures are on my facebook page.

I am planning on posting more regularly starting now. My plans are to share with you food thoughts, recipes, great restaurants and other food related topics. Come back tomorrow to hear about a great tapas restaurant in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

Good Night and Thanks for visiting my blog.
Kevin Yoder