...Chicken in Bread

Last night D and I had dinner with our good friends T and P. Destination? The Greenhouse Tavern on 4th St in Downtown Cleveland.This restaurant is part of the farm to table Slow Food movement, that means that the chefs create their menus using ingredients from the local lands. The result is a fresher menu that is more sustainable and less bio-costly than shipping in food items from around the world. And let me tell you - it is delicious!

Our first trip to this eatery was the week we landed in town back in June. We were staying at a hotel right down the street and after perusing the Yelp! listings settled on this place for a bite to eat after one of D's orientation days. All the reviews kept commenting on how amazing their chicken was: .  however, they had run out of birds by the time we came to order (hey, they get em locally and when they're out...that's it. No running down the street to pick up one at the local supermarket). If memory serves me correctly we shared a fabulous grass-fed beef burger but we left wondering what all the hubbub on the chicken was all about. Well last night we found out!

More on that in a bit. The rest of the meal deserves a discussion too. The restaraunt also prides itself on a seasonal craftbeer selection and well chosen wine list. D had a can of the Tallgrass IPA and I had a near-perfect Sangiovese.

After putting in an order for the chicken (the menu warns to order early as this bird needs a good 40+ minutes in its 40 cloves of garlic), we split two "firsts": Pickled Beets and Beans and Whole Grilled Padron Peppers. Both were very well done. We had some sauteed shiseido peppers at a french bistro in Cape Cod last week that I prefer in flavor to the padron, but the garlic-cilantro sauce that was on the padron peppers was a great addition. We sopped up the remaining bits with slices of bread. Yum!

And then came the chicken. This 1/2 of a bird (T and P joined us by sharing the other half) was wrapped in brioche bread, rosemary and 40 cloves of garlic before being baked in the oven. The result was heavenly. The meat was so incredibly moist and flavorful from cooking within the dough. And the bread was probably the best garlic bread I have ever tasted. T and P were in agreement. I totally applaud Jonathon and Amelia Sawyer's tavern! We'll definitely be back. 
We left very full and happy. Who knew chicken in bread could be so tasty?!?