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| - Look, I'll just come out and admit it. I'm a bit of a food snob. I have boy-band level intense crushes on some chefs, I take far too many pictures of my food, and I have had at least three dreams about making panna cotta in my life. It's rare indeed when I find an establishment (especially a fine dining one) where I do not have small factors to nitpick about. But Thyme Squared, located in sleepy adorable Medina, is one of those establishments I have not yet found fault with. It's a true diamond in the rough, or in this case diamond in the Cleveland suburbs.
This restaurant is large, with a Downton Abbey setup. By that I mean fine dining room upstairs for you upper crust nobles, and a more casual pub downstairs for those who can let their hair down a bit more. I would recommend dressing up and enjoying the fine dining room, because with a chef like the one here you should go big or go home. The room is airy, with nice space to stretch out between the tables. Unlike much fine dining in the Cleveland suburbs, the room here does not feel overly gilded or tacky. The interior decorator chose bold colors to paint the walls, like orange and burnt red, and I like it. A touch I love is the ceiling has black paneling with buttons in it, which resembles a plush cushion from a nice leather chair. It really is an extra touch of class that a restaurant goes to the trouble to "design" their ceiling, instead of leaving up those porous square panels that remind everyone of cubicles or the stuff you'd throw and stick pencils in when bored in the back of social studies class. You know what type of ceilings I'm taking about.
The menu is the perfect Goldilocks length. There's stuff to please everyone here, with not too many choices to weed through. The menu changes occasionally. I ordered a duck confit appetizer with delicious and slightly sweet pulled duck wrapped in flaky pastry dough, baked till golden, and then plated with some strawberry compote and peppery greens. The plating was visually beautiful, and the meat was perfectly prepared.
For my entrée I had the pork chop with sautéed Brussel sprouts with bacon, cherry jam, and a butternut squash flan. The best descriptor that I have for this dish is sexy and it knows it. The chop was tender, salted perfectly, complimented with the sweeter jam, and rounded out by the substantial sprouts. But the part of the dish that convinced me this restaurant is on a different level than the rest was the savory flan on the plate. That flan was creamy, savory, a different take on a familiar taste, and exciting enough it could have comprised a whole dish instead of just a side to the meat. I'm normally a vegetarian leaning fish eater, so the fact that a pork chop has my mouth watering right now is quite an accomplishment.
Summary:
This establishment exemplifies fine dining without the pretension, and unique ideas without the hype. I would say if you live in Cleveland this restaurant is worth the drive out just to dine here. All aspects of the dining experience, from the atmosphere, to the service, and of course the food are exceptionally good.
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