56 West

Review by Joel Kirk

16300 DETROIT AVE
LAKEWOOD OHIO 44107
(p) 216-226-0056

www.fiftysixwest.com

The place/atmosphere:

56 West is a new restaurant on Detroit Avenue in Lakewood Ohio. It’s a small, trendy place designed with a contemporary feel. Their menu is fun to order from with items like “Friends with Benefits” and “French Kiss” on it. You may giggle a bit as you order but then get ready to eat some really good food. It’s by no means a fancy place but it is a nice place with just enough changes to traditional food items to really get us food geeks excited. Check out their menu at http://www.fiftysixwest.com/menu.html

As the atmosphere suggests, I recommend this as a good place to possibly take a date to or maybe even a small business lunch. Trendy yet comfortable, the wait staff was very friendly and attentive too. We had our drinks checked often and items were brought to our table promptly.

What was ordered:

Joel: We started our lunch with Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken Wings. SAY WHAT??? Well, think about it. Everyone loves Chicken Wings. Everyone loves PB&J. Right?!? Well, at 56 West, they’ve combined these two phenomenons and created “MAKING SWEET MUSIC” which are French boned chicken drumsticks with Thai peanut sauce and raspberry BBQ jam for dipping.

This is a really fun appetizer. At $7, it could even be a lunch if you wanted it to be. I really enjoyed the Thai Peanut sauce with sweetness with the saltiness of the Chicken. It creates a symphony of taste in your mouth and I highly recommend trying this when you stop over.

For the main dish, I ordered the “Beautiful Sunrise” burger. This is a chargrilled burger with crisp Pancetta, fried egg, American cheese, lettuce, and tomato for $8.00. You get to choose whether or not you want it on a White or Wheat bun or a French Baguette. I ordered mine on the French Baguette and after eating it wished I would’ve gotten one of the buns. The Baguette was a bit hard to cut through for the sake of eating the burger. So I had to apply the “Stuff it down your face” method so often used when not able to cut a sandwich into halves. However, this was a really good burger. In my opinion, the beef at Heck’s cafe was a bit better but this wasn’t as expensive AND was still a really good burger.

One thing that slightly irritates me is that you had to order fries as a side dish. My burger was $8 and served with a pickle. Don’t make me have to order a side dish. At least serve it with housemade chips or something.

For $1.56 (56 cents…oh I see what you did there) more I ordered the fries so I could taste them. Now, I do have to say this: These fries are EXCELLENT. Very tasty and served with an Ancho-Chili ketchup…which…as you know…I love anything with spice! Very good fries. A place that’s even worth dropping into just to order the fries, if you ask me.

Chris:

He ordered the “Friends with Benefits” which is a Burger topped with our chipotle sauce, applesmoked bacon, Vermont cheddar cheese, fried onion straws for $7.56 (56 cents…get it?)

Chris said the burger kept getting better with each bite. He really liked the chipotle sauce they added to the burger which gave it a sweet smoky taste. He said it was a bit greasy but that it was a very good burger, worth the $7.56.

Hour Later Review:

A bit greasy but nothing too bad to note.

Would we go back:

That’s a positive. This is a good fun local spot to grab a burger and enjoy a small local eatery. Chris is very close to this location and said he’ll start to make this a more regular spot to take friends to when they’re in town. It’s a good burger and fry joint but they also serve chicken sandwiches, salads, etc. I stated earlier to check out their menu. It’s pretty diverse and they also have daily specials. This is a place we recommend! It’s worth a drive even if you’re coming from one of the surrounding suburbs. Enjoy!

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