rev:text
| - During my life I have seen people quote the Bible to hurt, bring guilt or prove their own superiority over others. Thus, I do not source the Bible when I need inspiration or support. Today I find to review Sterle's, St. Paul best said it. Test all things and retain what is best.
The Cleveland area has done just that with food. Michael and Jane Stern wrote in Saveur magazine that our area has managed to retain an Eastern European heritage and named northeast Ohio one of the best road food trips in America.
Try to find a Slovenian restaurant in Los Angeles or a Croation dinner in New York City. One could find home made Hungarian dinners at any of four Hungarian churches had the Catholic bishop not been allowed to play with an axe.
Rather than lament what Cleveland lacks celebrate what we have. Forget bubble tea, pop beer, cup cakes, and wimpy foods. Go to Sterle's and eat the food that steelworkers ate. Eat the food that women with seven children fed their families. The stuffed cabbage, the goulash and the paprikash fed those who built our bridges, made cars and tires for the world, worshiped at our many churches, and made sure you have a better life.
I go here several times a year and my usual dinner is the combination plate. On my last visit I went with a couple where she is local and he is from Boston. She had not been to Sterle's before but just felt she was in Cleveland eating Cleveland food. He was enthralled. Long after we had finished eating we had to drag him away from the table and the polka band to go home.
I once met a man who is from the glitter of LA and NYC. He says when his friends who doubt his sanity for moving here visit, he takes them to Sterle's. He told me they admit Cleveland has a unique identity.
Sterle's and many other places in our area followed St. Paul by retaining Eastern European food. So should you.
|