Fostoria Review Times

Food and I have a complicated relationship. I love it, but I hate it. I love the taste of a handful of bridge mix, the smooth feel of spray cheese on my tongue, the smell of a good cup of coffee.

Unfortunately, this love has meant extra inches around my waistline and rolls of belly fat. It means I work out twice a day, every day and still don’t manage to get out of the double-digit pant sizes.

For the last three years, thanks to the dictums of Weight Watchers and suggestions from many a diet expert, I have written down every bite that has passed my lips (well, mostly). I have elaborate spreadsheets that can pinpoint exactly what I ate July 4, 2005 or April 14, 2006.

But last weekend I have no idea how many calories or grams of fat went into my body. I do, however, know they were all delicious. Those calories came in a delectable three-course meal at Revolver Restaurant at 110 E. Sandusky St. in Findlay.

I went to do an interview for our farm pages and fell in love with the place. This column may read like a commercial, but it’s really a love song.

Finding a place like this is like sorting through my junk drawer and discovering a wayward $20 bill. There’s no reason something that valuable and fun should be there, but now that I know it’s there, I’m going to enjoy it.

One of the biggest complaints I hear around Fostoria is about finding some place good to eat. I’m telling every reader: Go here. This place is beyond good. A completely accessible place with both corporate types in suits and college kids in jeans, with couples eating out and foodies reveling in the fact that a restaurant like this even exists in Northwest Ohio.

The menu is basic Midwestern cuisine — steak, chicken, pork, pasta — with an extra boost of flavor. This is not frozen food heated up like at most chain restaurants. Every dish is blended to make a symphony in my mouth, though a friend who was also eating there used a different, more sexual noun describing what was happening in her mouth.

I’m the type of person who eats methodically — first the vegetables, then the meat, etc. This was a mistake at Revolver. All the ingredients — the puff pastry piled with spinach, artichokes, goat seasoned with sea salt, then dipped in a white wine foam — combined to taste perfect together.

Did you catch that I tried goat? Yes, the girl who refuses to eat most meats went out on a limb and ate pork and goat in one sitting, because the place is so good, you’re willing to gamble a bit. As far as I can tell, nothing leaves that kitchen tasting bad.

Plus, all the food is locally and organically grown. That goat that turned out so well came from Dickman Farms. Nothing was shipped in from Chile or Brazil or Mexico. The foods come from Dickman Farms, Luginbill Farms in Pandora, Garden Spirit Farms in Mount Blanchard, Miller’s Meats in Findlay.

The chef and owner, Michael Bulkowski, a 1990 Arcadia High School graduate, worked in the kitchens of celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck and it shows. The dishes are plated as though they’re bound for a TV show, not a customer’s table.

But the food was still accessible. Unlike Olive Garden, I could pronounce just about everything on the menu and when I couldn’t, our waiter knew exactly which dish I meant. We ordered the cod and braised pork. Next time, I’m planning to try the fettucini that Michael hand-rolls.

There’s no chance of getting bored with the food either. Revolver regularly rotates its menu to expose customers to new and different foods.

For dessert we had a lemon-vanilla crème brulee with pistachio cookies. It came with a marigold on it (they’re one of those edible flowers — just ask Carol Hall), which my boyfriend promptly popped into his mouth when I told him he could. It wasn’t his favorite part of the meal, but it made for a cute memory.

Michael and his wife and co-owner, Debi Bulkowski, have transplanted their most treasured possessions from their ranch home in Findlay to the surfaces of Revolver. Vintage 1950s decanters accent the bar and original artwork hangs on the walls.

With Tito Puente piping through that week (each week features a different group or artist), the atmosphere was fun and sophisticated.

The prices may appear a little intimidating, but I can easily afford it on my quite modest salary. Of course, my boyfriend paid, ‘cause he’s handy like that. But I could have paid for it myself had I felt the inclination. It’s totally possible to leave there eating a substantial entree with a bill under $25.

By the time I was finished with dinner, even though I was stuffed, I wanted to start all over again.

I already have reservations next Saturday, then my birthday two weeks later. The real question is, why don’t you?

Mariah Mercer is the lifestyles editor for the Review Times.