The wood-fired salmon topped with pumpkin-seed-and-cilantro pesto comes with farro risotto and root-vegetable hash – a wonderful fall dish.If you go• Where: Bald Headed Bistro, 201 Keith St. SW, Cleveland, Tenn.• Phone: 423-472 -6000• Hours: 5-9 p.m. Monday, 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday• Entree price range: $19-$64• Alcohol: Yes
Whoever said “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” may have been talking about Bald Headed Bistro in Cleveland, Tenn. I mean that in a good way.
THE SPACE
I was a little perplexed about how such a seemingly nice restaurant – I’ve been Internet stalking this place for years – could be housed in a strip mall … in Cleveland. The restaurant sits off the main-facing part of the strip mall, which looks exactly as you’d expect. But after passing the bakery at the front corner, I started to see traces that were more in line with what I’d expected: boxes from which firewood peeked out, flickering gas lanterns, contemporary high-top tables tucked under towering space heaters.
Once we rounded the corner, I gasped.