Edwardsville Scene

Bin 51 Grand Opening Brings Wine, Cheese and Style

Editor — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:26:06 +0000

by Andrew Doty

Filling one of the recently constructed storefronts on South Buchanan Street near Global Brew is an exciting, new wine shop.Bin 51 is the brainchild of Edwardsville entrepreneurs Walter Osika and Brian Kuchta. With a warm, comforting aesthetic, the store immediately welcomes visitors to peruse its extensive selection of drinks from choice locations worldwide. Kuchta’s discerning palate offers customers a comprehensive catalogue of suggestions to accompany any occasion. Wines, liquors, beers, meats, artisan cheeses, and accessories are all available—and intelligently arranged—on the gorgeous, restored, hardwood pine shelves (from Missouri’s Elmwood Reclaimed Timber) inside.

For the timid consumer, Bin 51 offers regular tastings (weekly, when possible) and opens wine and liquor for sampling every Saturday, all day, beginning at noon. Kuchta and Osika are dedicated to making wine accessible to the average person and have a driving focus on the community. Classes, private events, tastings, and music nights are only the beginnings of Bin 51’s efforts to reach out to the Edwardsville area and make accessible what can often be an intimidating and cliqued niche in the world of beverages.

Customers are welcome to enjoy any of the store’s selections at one of the many comfortable table seats or at a stool at the bar. The shop is modeled after a high-end restaurant and adapted for a retail space, where the owners and staff always stand ready with advice and suggestions for anyone who needs a guiding hand to find what they’re looking for. Many wines in the store are readily affordable on any budget, but those looking to indulge in a more extravagant glass will certainly not be disappointed with the options.

Bin 51 is one of many new, exciting things in Edwardsville and promises not to disappoint. With a top-shelf selection rivaled only by warehouse liquor stores and an atmosphere that encourages conversation, laughter, and comfort, visitors will find themselves spending hours relaxing with friends in what is sure to be one of the city’s most enjoyable hotspots.

Check out Bin 51 at 200 South Buchanan Street—directly across the street from the city park at the Edwardsville Public Library—and be sure to meet friendly owners Osika and Kuchta at the store’s official grand opening on Saturday, January 21 at 6 pm, featuring hors d’oeuvres from Grace Manor and a bountiful selection of drinks!

Please help us spread the word on this great new place by sharing on Facebook and Twitter!

Cleveland Heath

Editor — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:41:03 +0000

Publishers note: Edwardsville Scene is an online events, news, and reviews magazine. About a year ago we decided to take a break and concentrate on other projects. Over the next few weeks and months we are going to try and get this site back up and running. Also we are going to launch a new product on Edwardsville Scene called Scene Deals. It is a group buying website that will concentrate heavily on local businesses. Hope to see everyone out soon. Enjoy the story!

by Jesse Gernigin

It is Sunday night and I am out for the soft opening for Cleveland Heath the newest edition to Edwardsville’s downtown dining scene. Cleveland Heath is owned and operated by Jennifer Cleveland & Edward Heath two warm and well trained restraunteours. Cleveland Heath is located downtown next to Township Grocer. Its grand opening will be on Monday, November 28.

Inside you are met with a warm interior, a long copper topped bar and an inviting dining room where the music is as fresh as the food you are served. With me I’ve brought my editor and a good friend, they are both well traveled and know enough about food for me to value their opinions and input. We show up early and grab a seat at the bar. I take in a few cocktails, and while their prices are very reasonable, they offer nothing new to the curious cocktail drinker. They make up for this by stocking a full soda fountain with vintage lines ranging from Ski Soda to Frosty’s Root Beer. Their beer and wine selection is very good, offering high quality for every taste at great prices. Their bottle selection is also fair and is obviously put together by an individual who pairs bottles of wine with their meals.

The bar is great and we pass an hour talking to both the staff and Jennifer Cleveland. I ask her about how the soft weekend went.

“It was a busy weekend.” Jennifer says.

I mention my amazement at how fast the restaurant was put together and opened. Jennifer and Edward both agree it was amazing.

“The space was there and the time was just right.” Edward said.

So they took the chance and bought into the space. Cleveland Heath went up quickly as I’m sure you’ve seen driving by these past weeks as Jennifer and Edward worked diligently inside. And the work they have done is amazing. Jennifer and Edward took the space and made it a warm and inviting place using soft browns and warm copper colors.

After a few drinks we grab a seat in the corner and proceed to order half the menu. Our starters come out quickly assuaging any worries about slow service. The food is friendly, simple and delicious. We start our meal with brussels sprouts that were cooked to a crisp but delightful finish with capers, ham and cheese sliders served on fresh baked rolls topped with fruit compote and this was finished with a simple deviled egg. Each of these are great starters but the brussel sprouts were my favorite. Their fresh green taste was perfectly balanced by the salty fresh finish of the capers. The ham and cheese sliders were a close second with their sweet and savory flavors balanced so finely together. It was the sprouts freshness that won me over.

We skipped the salads (which I regretted because the Kale salad looked amazing) and went straight to the entrees. First up was the grass fed hamburger which was served on a grilled pretzel bun with fresh arugala, a horseradish aioli and grated cheddar. The hamburger was cooked to perfection (which I was worried about because they didn’t ask us how we wanted our burger, but it didn’t matter because it turns out they only cook burgers one way at Cleveland Heath, and that’s awesome) and the usual chewiness that comes from the low fat content of grass fed burgers wasn’t present. The burger was also served with the best fries I’ve been served in Edwardsville, crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, thin but not crunchy and served with a great dipping sauce. The whole thing came out on a large wooden tray looking as good as it tasted.

Next up was the pork chop. I am not a pork fan but my buddies enjoyed it thoroughly and suggest ordering it if you are a fan. I did try the sides that came with it and I was surprised by how good the grits with cheese and potatoes were and I am sure its rich flavor balanced well with the traditional lean flavor of pork. The last entrée was beer can chicken street tacos. The tacos were served with a slaw and grilled onion mixture that brought texture and pop to the flavor of the taco. The tacos were filling without being heavy and flavorful without being overly dense from sauces or salsa. The chicken was what made the tacos rock. The meat was moist and fresh and obviously just cooked (unlike some restaurants which cook enough chicken for three days and serve accordingly). Alongside the tacos was a mixed greens salad which sat awkwardly beside the tacos on those large white plates restaurants seem to enjoy serving people on. Awkward or not the mixed greens did a great job of balancing the savory flavor of the tacos with a slightly tart and fresh lemon dressing making the overall experience of the entrée delightful and not flavor drab.

After dinner we all split a bread pudding. This was a tough decision on my part as I am not a bread pudding fan. The mushy and overly sweet dessert often goes well past the comfort stage of comfort food substituting excess for excellence. So you can imagine my surprise when out comes two cake cut squares that changed my opinion of bread pudding. The dessert was served with a charred top that had caramelized the sugar locking in the flavor of bread’s natural sweetness. The bread pudding was dense and moist but not overly so (a mistake bread pudding often suffers from) and served besides a ribbon of chocolate dipping sauce. I loved it and it was the perfect after dinner finish.

The service at Cleveland Heath was great. Jennifer and Edward have worked hard on making a restaurant that is as much about the quality of the food as it is about the quality of its service. Their restaurant should become a local favorite for Edwardsville and Madison County. So after we had paid my friends and I had a long walk. During our walk we had a serious but sincere discussion at the end of which we all agreed that Cleveland Heath stands to become the best restaurant in Edwardsville.

WHAT?! I can hear you crying. We have so many good restaurants, why is this the best? You are just excited for the new guy. You may say. And you would be right. Edwardsville does have a great many awesome restaurants. You want great pizza hit up the 222 Bakery on Friday, you want a great cheap brunch hit up Mr. Curry’s. And yes, I am excited for the new guy, how can you not be? They moved into a historic building, made their space beautiful and brought jobs and good food into downtown. Cleveland Heath does great food that is fresh, well prepared and served professionally by a courteous staff. They do this without cutting corners or passing the price along too you. Jennifer and Edward are people trained in the art of details and it shows. Hands down, no question, best restaurant in Edwardsville. Four stars.

A Series of Wonderful Events at the Wildey

Editor — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:37:10 +0000

Jesse Gernigin will be presenting his show ‘A Series of Wonderful Events’ this Saturday September 3rd at the Wildey theater. The show starts at 7:00 and runs to 8:45 p.m, tickets are twelve dollars and can be purchased at the box office out front of the Wildey starting at 6:30 on September 3rd. Jesse has been a full time performer since he graduated college and his show ‘A Series of Wonderful Events’ is his first fully produced show.
Jesse promises that, “A Series of Wonderful Event’s will be unlike any show you have seen before.” I ask him why, “The show merges different mediums of media. I use music, images, ideas and if possible video to create a full entertainment experience.” I ask him what the difference will be between ‘A Series of Wonderful Events’ and another magic show like David Copperfield’s. He laughs, “Well for one

Jesse Gernigin. Bolla Photography photo.

thing my show is just me. I have no assistants. But my show is unlike other magic shows because my show was created around a premise. Most magicians just put tricks one after another and focus too much on fooling the audience. I know how to fool audiences so I wanted to do something more. So I wrote an entire show around the premise that I can bend and effect people’s perceptions and choices. And the entire show, the magic, the humor, everything reflects that premise.” I found the idea of exploring perception through magic interesting. I asked him what influenced him to choose perception over other large ideas like randomness, luck or conciousness. “I found that perception was the easiest to relate too. We all perceive the world in our own private way. So perception is the largest privately held and publicly shared human experience. I liked that idea and it is what drew me to the premise.” I was struck by the clarity of Jesse’s thinking but I wondered if he did the same magic other magician’s do or if he created his own magic.”I create my own magic.” He said. “I wanted the show to be entirely mine. I wanted it to be a unique experience that you would remember.” But Jesse goes on to make an interesting point, “A lot of the things magician’s do the same tricks because there are only so many magical things you can do. You can vanish something, you can make things teleport and change places, you can make someone forget something, you can destroy something and put it back together, etc. So even though I do an entirely original act the themes of the magic are the same. Things vanish, things change place, etc.” I mention he seems very artistic along with intelligent and I ask if he sees these reoccuring themes in magic as a handicap.
“Yes and no. Yes because there are things you can never do in a show. You could never actually hurt someone to heal them. The audience wouldn’t like that just as much as they wouldn’t like me making ghosts appear and doing as I say. Real magic, as far as the audience is concerned, is off limits. But at the same time I don’t find these themes restrictive because they all have so much room to explore within them. Sure I may make something vanish, but how did I do it? Where does it go? Did I vanish it or hide it, and if I did hide it would I reveal where it was, and if I did would it be any less amazing if you knew where it was when it shouldn’t have been able to get there?”
I thank Jesse for his time but before he goes he offers to do something for me, “That I do in my show live every night.” He asks for the loan of a key and a ring. I retrieve his request and hand them over. “Ready?” He asks balancing one on top of the other. I nod. He clicks his fingers and the ring falls off the key and I realize that the two have linked together. “How the hell!” I cry and he laughs. I tug to make sure they are joined together. They are. Jesse tells me to re-balance the key and the ring. I do. He tells me to lift the ring slowly, I do. The ring melts right off the key, right in front of my eyes. He never touched them, I stare. “That,” he says, “Is a part of A Series of Wonderful Events.” And it will be again on Saturday night September 3rd at the Wildey theater starting at 7:00 p.m. Make sure to get your tickets and i’ll see you there!

Farshid Etniko at Edwardville’s Winter Music Concert Series

Muireann — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:00:54 +0000

Latin-jazz infused World Music ensemble, Farshid Etniko, play Edwardsville’s Winter Music Concert Series on March 18, 2011. The event will take place at the Lewis & Clark College/N.O. Nelson Complex.

Doors open to the public at 6 pm and free appetizers catered by Bella Milano are served at 6.30pm. Tickets are available for an $8 suggested donation at City Hall and the Public Library during regular business hours.

Richard Smith and Julie Adams at Log House Concerts

Muireann — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:00:00 +0000

World class guitar/cello duo Richard Smith and Julie Adams stop by Log House Concerts in Glen Carbon on February, 26 2011.

Doors open at 7 pm. Music starts at 8 pm.

There is a suggested donation of $15-20 which goes to the performers.

Diz Strohman at Edwardsville’s Winter Music Concert Series

Muireann — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:00:16 +0000

Diz Strohman, big band maestro, plays The City of Edwardsville’s Winter Music Concert, on February 18, 2011.The event will take place at The Lewis & Clark College/N.O. Nelson Complex.

Doors are open to the public at 6 pm and free appetizers catered by Bella Milano are served at 6.30pm. Tickets are available for an $8 suggested donation at City Hall and the Public Library during regular business hours.

Parents Night Out at YMCA Edwardsville

Muireann — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 03:00:37 +0000

Let your child enjoy sports like gymnastics, skating and much more in YMCA Edwardsville’s winter overnighter for kids from 5-12 years. The event takes place on Januray 29 starting at 8 pm.

Take this time to enjoy an entire night to yourselves while the YMCA staff safely entertains the kids. Dinner will be provided.

Jive & Wail at Edwardsville’s Winter Concert Series

Muireann — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:00:17 +0000

There will be a Jive & Wail a duelling piano session at the City of Edwardsville’s Winter Concert Series on January 14, 2011. The event will take place at the Lewis & Clark College/N.O. Nelson Complex.

Doors open to the public at 6 pm and free appetizers catered by Bella Milano are served at 6. 30pm. Tickets are available for an $8 suggested donation at City Hall and the Public Library during regular business hours.

SIUE Women’s Basketball vs Tennessee State

Muireann — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 02:00:19 +0000

There will be a women’s basketball game at SIUE campus’ Vadalabene Center on January 11 at 7 pm.

The ladies will take on a selection from Tennessee State.

SIUE Women’s Basketball vs South Dakota

Muireann — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:00:42 +0000

There will be a SIUE women’s basketball event at campus’ Vadalabene Center on January 9.

The ladies will take on a selection from South Dakota.

Be there from 1 to 3 pm.