A long time ago in a state far, far away, I fell in love with a little something called Umami Burger. As “umami” is a Japanese word and not exactly trademark-able, it was inevitable that I would run across a restaurant using the same name at some point, but was still surprised to find a place called Umami in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Why was I in such a place? Oh, to please my wife who likes a little something called Jeni’s Ice Cream. But that is neither here nor there. What really matters is Umami.
On a short little day trip to Cleveland, we made our way to Cleveland Heights to grab some Mexican food at Lopez. Not surprisingly, this wasn’t traditional Mexican food, but rather than try to hide behind an auspice of authenticity, Lopez had some unique offerings that I was eager to try. The only trouble was that almost everything seemed to have some sort of vegetable inside.