Restaurants in Bowling Green

Carrying on the tradition of his father Labib Hajjar, a restaurateur who opened the original Poco Piatti location on Monroe Street, Elias Hajjar and his wife Joy have created a welcoming new space where locals can experience Mediterranean cuisine. Diners choose from Greek classics including moussaka, Italian-inspired dishes such as prosciutto crepes with basil and homemade sundried-tomato sauce, or Middle Eastern-style kabobs with swordfish or beef tenderloin. The owners have designed the interior to resemble a Spanish villa—the mural above the bar colorfully depicts rolling Mediterranean hills, and a stone oven churns out freshly baked pita bread or lights the miniature Olympic torches of waiters jogging by.

Since 1996, Labib has given back to the community as the co-chairperson of Share our Strength's Taste of the Nation Toledo, an annual food and wine event that, according to The Toledo Blade, raised more than $100,000 to help fight childhood hunger in 2011. Elias also follows in his father's community-minded footsteps by electing to source his ingredients from local suppliers.

The culinary staff at Super Suppers strives to breathe life back into the American tradition of sitting down to a home-cooked meal. The handcrafted take ‘n’ bake items, which include entrees, sides, appetizers, and desserts, conveniently last in freezers for up to three months or until evicted to make room for hibernating snowmen. Ready-to-heat marmalade-glazed pork chops or stuffed chicken breasts save time on prep, and a variety of gluten-free, dairy-free, and heart-healthy items offer tasty meals that meet all sorts of dietary restrictions. Instructors also supply ingredients, gear, and know-how during Kids in the Kitchen and Taste of Super Suppers classes that teach participants how to create simple and tasty meals at home.

Fat Fish Blue warmly welcomes diners of all stripes and polka dots to kick back with live entertainment, cold drinks, and New Orleans style comfort fare. The eatery's kitchen blends Louisianan staples such as gumbo and Cajun burgers with steadfast American favorites such as fried chicken and pasta. Five nights a week, live musicians and entertainers regale the audience with on-stage showmanship, and on the other two nights, the microphone belts out "Born on the Bayou" all on its own.

Pioneer and entrepreneur Smedlap Effingtas famously forged a trail into the West, brewed his own secret moonshine, drove a general mad, and won a fair maiden’s heart as a stowaway. But his most memorable contribution to the world turned out to be his descendants. Generations after Smedlap's heyday, his kin opened a restaurant to honor the memory of their infamous ancestor, instead of conducting a seance. After nearly 30 years in business, ownership was passed to John Favorite and his family, who had blazed a trail West in the footsteps of Smedlap.

After years of working in the steak-house business, Favorite snatched up the opportunity to transform a local institution into his dream restaurant. Though he and his chefs changed the menu a bit, he made sure to preserve some of the beloved traditions, such as the two-story slide behind the hostess stand. The overhauled menu includes a varied blend of dishes, from lake perch to lean bison burgers decked out with a dozen possible cheeses. Though broad, the menu's focus remains the steak, with choice cuts served on a plank and drizzled in peppercorn sauce.

Over the course of its 176-year history, The Commercial Building has purportedly been a stop on the Underground Railroad, a route for bootleggers during Prohibition, and a watering hole for Abraham Lincoln, who prosecuted cases at the nearby courthouse. Situated on the first floor of the building, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Dégagé Jazz Café draws contemporary crowds with its combination of live music and French-inspired cuisine.

Chef Jacob Jacobsen, a Toledo native and French Culinary Institute grad, crafts seasonal menus inspired by French and New American cooking. Dishes range from salads with locally grown apples and pears to slow-braised baby-back ribs and wet-aged rib-eye steaks. Other entrees incorporate sustainable seafood, including wild, line-caught Atlantic king salmon and local walleye from Port Clinton Fisheries. Servers carry dishes to weathered wooden booths inside the club-like dining room or float them onto its outdoor patio via attached mini-parachutes.

In the 1930s, a glimpse inside the brick building at 2350 Cleveland Road might have revealed Al Capone and his associates sipping coffee in the midst of a tense conversation. These days, though, the atmosphere inside Red Gables Mesquite Grill is relaxed and intimate, with white tablecloths and the scent of a mesquite fire drifting through the air. Over that fire, chef Jamie Pribanic grills Certified Black Angus steaks that he claims are the finest in the world. The Plain Dealer writer Debbi Snook stopped by to taste them herself, and came away impressed: “The medium-cooked rib-eye instantly became one of my all-time favorites”, she wrote. “Hearty structure but tender chew, pepper-rubbed, vaguely charred and whispering of cowboy terrain.”

The seafood at this grill is no afterthought. Diners can slurp oysters flown in fresh from Cape Cod, dip steamed Alaskan King Crab legs into drawn butter, or slice into the crimson flesh of wild Chinook salmon. Pours of wine or beer and a slew of house-made desserts complete the dining experience.