Sergio's steps away from Brazil and into wonderful new flavors.

By Elaine T. Cicora

Article Published Cleveland Scene Jul 26, 2006

Like the dining room itself, the summer menu at Sergio's in University Circle is small yet stylish, filled with colorful, creative touches that elevate it far above its size. For that, credit goes to owner and well-seasoned chef Sergio Abramof, who founded his namesake salon near Severance Hall in 1995.

Since then, the Brazilian-born Abramof, formerly executive chef at Beachwood's upscale Ristorante Giovanni's, has gone on to found a second restaurant, the lovely Saravá, which opened on Shaker Square in 2005. Among other things, the empire-building gave Abramof an opportunity to specialize: He infused the considerably larger Saravá with a full-tilt Brazilian vibe and turned the formerly South American-influenced menu at Sergio's into a broader exploration of global delights.

While a few Brazilian dishes still linger, Sergio's current lunch and dinner menus are a celebration of world fare, ranging from a midday platter of penne in a lush, veal-rich Bolognese sauce to a dinner of Thai chicken served with lemongrass broth, scallion rice, and baby bok choy. Fish and seafood are the house specialty, offered as a handful of daily specials. And ample cheese platters (with a choice of one or more of the day's available cheeses) prove equally enticing as starters, desserts, or even as main events.

Personally, we've always been pushovers for a well-appointed cheese plate, and Sergio's version is among the best around. The daily dairy retinue typically includes 10 to 15 varieties of artisanal cheese, including possibilities like Spanish Manchego, Italian Pantaleo, creamy French Boucheron, and pungent Buttermilk Blue, an aged, raw-milk cheese from Wisconsin. Then there are the bountiful go-withs -- shelled pistachios or toasted pine nuts, plump dried cherries, sliced dried apricots, fig and almond paste, fresh raspberries, droplets of balsamic syrup, and perhaps five different types of crackers, ranging from thin water wafers to thick, sweet whole-grain varieties.

Paired with a crisp, organic Sauvignon Blanc ($35, from Napa Wine Co.), chosen from Sergio's annotated international wine list, the plate is a palate's playground, with plenty of opportunities to mix and match sweet with salty, crisp with creamy, and pungency with mellow richness. And not only are the offerings delicious; at a mere $5 per cheese, the platters seem particularly well priced. We only wish management would include a rundown of the available varieties and some tasting notes, on the list of daily specials, to ease decision-making. In comparison to the sassy cheeses, one evening's starter of gazpacho, with a sort of muddled flavor and a texture akin to grocery-store salsa, barely budged the needle on the taste-o-meter. And at lunch, a ho-hum mixed-greens salad, topped with greasy "São Paulo spring rolls" and a flat, oily sesame vinaigrette, seemed like a bore. Happily, the kitchen bounced back with two delightful dinnertime entrées. The first was a special of gently grilled wild Alaskan king salmon, vibrating beneath a touch of piquant watercress vinaigrette. On the side, a juicy tomato, yellow pepper, and cucumber salad, in a sheer Asian-style rice-vinegar dressing, expanded the summery theme; a bit of white rice stroked with a sweet-tart tomato vinaigrette was the third complementary flavor note in this light yet savory composition.

And yet, as playfully full-flavored as the salmon proved, it paled beside a trio of plump crab cakes, crisply fried and served with homemade cabbage slaw and thick lemon aïoli, as rich and light as whipped cream. A combo of crab, shrimp, and lobster, bound with a modicum of egg and fresh bread crumbs, and zapped with thyme, basil, and a blast of cayenne, the cakes embodied a blend of focused, high-test flavors that nearly took our breath away. On the side, we added an à la carte portion of well-seasoned home fries, garnished with fresh parsley, butter, and deeply caramelized bits of onion; like a grown-up version of nursery food, they provided warm, melodious companionship to both the crab cakes and the salmon. To complement the cuisine, Sergio's offers live music each Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday evening (details are available at www.sergioscleveland.com).

And for alfresco fans, seating on the snug 50-seat patio is available at both lunch and dinner. While the outdoor space is bound by a street, a driveway, and a parking lot, traffic is light and mostly slow-moving; and thanks to abundant greenery, cheery red umbrellas, and a fantastic view of architect Frank Gehry's undulating Peter B. Lewis Building, the patio turns out to be an especially charming spot for a midday recharge. In fact, tucked into a pool of shade, sipping robust iced Brazilian coffee and sharing a taste of Ambrosia (a sweet, refreshing ending of vanilla-bean ice cream topped with pineapple, lime zest, ginger syrup, and a chewy coconut tuille), we hardly could have felt more energized.

After all, we had just conquered the flavors of the world; just how hard could it be to get out of our chair and back to the office?

Friday, March 23, 2007

Debbi Snook Plain Dealer Reporter

When Sergio Abramof made the big expansion to Shaker Square more than a year ago, he kept the original location in University Circle but transplanted his deepest Brazilian culinary roots to the sultry, seductive second home he now calls Sergio's Sarava.

It was the kind of move that makes us worry when it comes to one-of-a-kind restaurants. Is the chef-owner taking on too much? Will his original spot lose luster? Will the public respond to both ambitious locations?

Order a glass of Passion (fruit) Bubbles and kick back, my friend. The original Sergio's, now called Sergio's in University Circle, is still on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, but it has successfully moved its menu to the Mediterranean coast.

The sunny, petite spot now speaks Spanish, French, Greek and Italian. Not exclusively, of course. Abramof -- along with his on-site chef Ryan Alabaugh -- is still skilled at plucking something noticeably authentic from another cuisine and delivering it voluptuously to the American plate. Almost every dish has the kind of added intrigue that makes you stop, fork midair, and wonder how he got the shading of that particular flavor.

Some flavors, especially in the appetizers, simply come with the ingredients: diagonal-cut baby Spanish sausage slices with a winelike cure ($6.50), chorizo sausage coins simmered in wine, sherry and brandy ($5.50) and a simple dish of cream-colored Spanish almonds ($4).

But give the kitchen a plate of sliced beef filet, and a Madiera sauce will appear as if it were raised with it, so full of meat-enhancing richness ($15.50 at lunch; $28 at dinner). Without mercy, it is paired with a pearly pasta decadently folded into melted Italian piave cheese.

The frequent veal shank special had all the fork tenderness you'd want, but its lamp-black exterior made it seem flash-roasted over a fire ($23). Tear open a parchment paper package to find a tilefish both magically browned and flaky tender ($18). Transformation is a prime entertainment here.

Veal medallions here are divinely creamy ($28.50). Chicken avoids predictability, smoked and bathed in a four-cheese sauce with orechiette pasta ($18) or grilled in the Caesar salad ($12 at lunch). While the dressing on the salad was a bit wispy for my taste, the wash of seasonings on the freshly grilled chicken breast hinted that it had been cooked outdoors over a wood fire.

The sorbet dessert was a bit gluey ($6), and our Savarin pear with ginger cake was too subtle to be fun ($7.50). But two other desserts fell in line with the other fetching meals. Imagine a brownie as light and crispy as a cookie, dense with pecans, and you have the "chocolate pecan tart" ($7.50). Or imagine taking a small dish of ricotta cheese and dressing it up with honey and almonds so that it tastes as decadent as a baked cheesecake ($6.50).

With about 50 seats, the restaurant is as snug as it gets in fine dining. Yet the seating arrangement is skillful, service swift and the acoustics keenly arranged so that conversations seem at least semi-private. Daylight is especially reflective in the small, bright space.

Our only struggles were deciding on a bottle of wine, and parking (this is an extremely tight area, and it is well worth it to valet park -- $5 at lunch or dinner). When we asked for advice on wine, we got it from the chef, but second hand from the server. There was no chance for a dialogue with the expert, and we ended up disappointed with a wine that didn't have enough depth for our richer dishes. It was a missing piece that we would have otherwise found in four-star restaurants where the food is comparable, or not as good.

Still, the first Sergio's is not only going strong, it has a reach to another part of the globe. And it grasps very well the concept of food as a cosmopolitan delight.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: dsnook@plaind.com, 216-999-4357