Russo’s in Cuyahoga Falls – food

We weren’t expecting much when we walked in the door, but when I saw the owner in a picture with Julia Child and Emeril Lagasse I thought this might be a fine surprise.

With a combination of Italian Creole we had lots of choices. We started off with a little bubbly a half of Moet which was just right to start. Over the years, I’ve become more and more fond of a champagne or sparkling white before dinner.

bubbles to start – crisp and fresh, dry – not sweet

The Italian and Creole ( Louisiana Cajun style ) made the menu really worth looking over. We started with steamed clams and a pasta with crawfish. This was especially fun, as a boy I would go play down in the river and catch crawfish.. only to let them go. Now they were what’s for dinner.

Pasta a creamy Creole sauce and crawfish – like little bitesized shrimp

Then the clams arrived…. steamed in a white wine sauce that had us dipping our bread to get all the juice. These were outstanding.

so good we tried to get a second order, but we had got the last one!

We were torn for the wine, I was thinking a Chianti would be good, he even brought the bottle to the table, but at the last minute my sister blurted out “I want the cab, I visited that vinyard when I was in California.” Off went the waiter, back he came with a Silver Oak 2009 cab.

The perfect cab

It was a wonderful choice, dry with a clear finish – it perfectly complemented the spice of the food. Truly, one of the best cabs I have sampled. If you want a bottle for that special occasion – you could do far worse.

We decided to split one main course and an appetizer so we picked the crawfish claws – deep fried with a tangy dipping sauce. They are much like crab, with a clean, sweet flavor.

sweet and juicy – yumm

Then we split a pork chop with rice and collard greens. The collard greens had big flavorful chunks of barbequed brisket, that’s how to make your veggies stick to the ribs!

Port chop, collard greens, and rice and beans

With the main course we tried a side of Mac and cheese –

mac and cheese and bacon! Three times good ( my english translation of the French )

A great meal – the service was a little spotty, but who cares when the food is a home run!