Win/Fail Fridays: Yay for Clio, Nay for Mike & Patty's

Welcome to Win/Fail Fridays, where food editor Donna Garlough mouths off about her latest dining-out adventures.

This week’s WIN: Thoughtful top-offs at Clio:

Dinner at Clio on Wednesday could have been a full-out fail. It began pleasantly enough, with great cocktails from Todd Maul’s killer drink list, an amuse-bouche, and first courses (a salad of heirloom tomatoes and pata cabra cheese for my dining companion; Ward’s Farm corn soup with coconut and peanut brittle for me). But when it came time for the entrees to arrive, we waited … and waited … and waited. My best guess was that there had been an ordering snafu since one of our chosen dishes had been sold out and we had had to select an alternate, which led to a little confusion. But by the time dinner arrived, bellies were a-rumblin’, and we polished off our food in about three seconds. Whether our server sensed our disappointment, I don’t know, but as we inhaled our (lovingly presented) plates — a sugarcane water-poached Scottish salmon and a black-licorice laced muscovy duck breast — he wordlessly returned to our table and deposited a few extra splashes in our wine glasses. “Can’t leave this bottle open all night,” he murmured before disappearing. Was he fibbing? Just being nice? Who knows. While we certainly would have preferred to get our dinner on time, the gesture went a long way in improving a less-than-perfect experience.

This week’s FAIL: Closed call at Mike & Patty’s:

Damn you, Orange Line. How many mysterious “medical emergencies” can there be in one week? When my train was delayed for the third time in as many days this morning, I decided to make the best of the situation and hop off my stopped train at Tufts Medical Center. I made a beeline for Mike & Patty’s in Bay Village with every intent of scarfing down a breakfast torta — eggs, cheese, roasted poblanos, turkey chorizo, mmm — on my way into the office. Problem was, I arrived to find it dark, a sign on the door explaining they were closed for vacation until September 14. What is this, France? It’s not enough that I can’t get your grilled banana sandwiches with cinnamon honey butter — swoon — on Mondays, Tuesdays, or any day after 3 p.m.? Yeah, I’m a little bitter. You would be, too, if your breakfast was two stale meringues stolen from a coworker’s desk. Sigh.

Stay tuned for next week’s Win/Fail!