A house classic “The Cleveland” has a long history of my dining in Jewish Delis and reveling in the potato cakes which they made. They were thin and crispy and as big as a plate. What I remember was they came with sour cream and applesauce. That memory stayed with me when we opened Rifugio’s and choose to have brunch. I thought how do we make it our own? Well combined with corned beef and our house-made mustard sauce and eggs any style, I prefer crispy and sunny side, they become a savory delight. The tangy corn beef, the crispy fried eggs, and potato supporting it all is a favorite I enjoy.The first photo is the Classic Cleveland the second photo is a Crunchy Creamy Potato Cake.

Potato cakes – everyone has their own way of making them. To make them Italian-ish I added mozzarella and sauteed onions to ours. Recently I have put them into a 3″ springform pan and put them on the griddle with a pad of butter underneath. Nothing like the taste of butter. What I found is that the height of the cake about 2″ high remains creamy while the bottom and top are crunchy.  A different experience from our standard cake.