Lunching at One Red Door

Getting together for lunch with my friend Cindy always proves to be an exercise in delicious.  Rarely do we ever end up at a place where I think, "no way, never again" and this was no exception.  We decided on one of the newer places at First and Main in Hudson, Ohio called One Red Door. 

It's a really nice looking place, somewhat masculine with all the wood and brick, but really nice.

 
Dare I say, when we started looking at the menu, we went a little crazy!   There was so much on it we both wanted.  So for starters we settled on the Warm Marinated Olives for $4.00 (I had these at a restaurant in Philadelphia last month and went crazy for them!) and the Butternut Squash Soup for $7.00. 

Warm olives.  Who would of thunk it!   I love olives anyway, and they aren't much different tasting when they are warmed but they are soft and warm and oh so lovely.   And the soup.... are you kidding me?   The Butternut Squash Soup had just the right amount of sweetness with some smokiness from the bacon that was cooked in it.  And then it had these sort of gingerbread croutons on top.  Delish!  In fact, we ordered one bowl and had them split it in half so we could share it and it was just the right amount that way.

Cindy couldn't decide between a pizza and a salad so she got both!  The salad of poached Bartlett pears with field greens, blue cheese, spiced hazelnuts and a hazelnut vinaigrette had me at spiced hazelnuts.   I'm not generally a fan of blue cheese, and they certainly did not skimp on it in this salad, made me a believer.  The salad was a very generous size for $7.00

And then the pizza.   Cindy chose a Lobster pizza... butter poached lobster with wilted spinach, pearl onion confit, fontina cheese and tarragon for $14. 

I'm not a seafood person and I really hate tarragon, but look at that!  I had to try it.  I just took one little bite because I have an entree coming too and we'd already had bread, olives, soup and salad.  The pizza was out of this world!!!   The crust was perfect, the balance of flavors insane and happily I didn't even taste the tarragon.   

And now, my lunch... Chef's Burger for $11.  I love a burger.  I can eat a good burger anytime, anywhere.  And the best burger I have had to date was from Michael Symon's B-Spot.  It's still the best burger, but this one is not to be dismissed!   The Chef's Burger is Ohio grass fed beef cooked however you want it (I always chose medium) with crispy shallots, melted brie cheese with date and applewood smoked bacon aioli on the side.  It's served with house made chips and has lettuce and tomato on the side.  

This burger was a thing of beauty.  I cannot say one bad thing about it.  The meat was juicy and flavorful, the brie and crispy shallots were just different enough from regular old onions and American cheese to make this burger different and that date and bacon aioli!  Fuggedaboutit!!   I've died and gone to burger heaven!   I would so go back for that burger.  Even though there is so much more on the menu I want to try, I might not be able to resist the allure of this, the only burger on the menu.  Honestly, they don't need another. 

 

Can you stand it!?   Damn, when am I going to be in Hudson again?    One Red Door is located at 49 Village Way, Hudson Ohio.  The phone number is (330) 342-DOOR.  

Buon Cibo mia Amici.