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THE BEST THINGS WE ATE
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IN CLEVELAND IN 2021
By Douglas Trattner
I, LIKE MANY PEOPLE, abstained from indoor dining between March 2020 and spring of this year, when I made a couple visits to the Wolstein Center. Looking back over the past year of dining, a theme emerged: all of my favorite meals were enjoyed inside a restaurant (except for barbecue, naturally), proving that take-out is no substitute for the dinein experience.
Mare Seafood Platter at Acqua di Luca
Even the tallest, priciest seafood towers never manage to live up to our expectations. A few raw oysters, a couple chewy clams, some watery boiled shrimp – all of it tepid, none of it worth the tariff. Acqua di Luca scraps the predictable tiered tower of chilled seafood in favor of a resplendent platter of buttery, wine-steamed shellfish. Roll up your sleeves and celebrate with a mountain of king crab legs, shrimp, mussels, clams, calamari, scallops and a whole lobster.
Gujarati Thali at Annapurna
Indian food fans in Cleveland don’t come across many thalis, those large circular platters containing myriad small vessels of food. Annapurna in Parma offers two different versions, both more than worth the drive. But the Gujarati edges out the Punjabi thanks to a more exciting blend of breads, curries, pickles, chutneys and dessert. And like everything served at this mom-and-pop shop, it’s vegetarian.
Sunday Gravy at Cent’s Pizza
2021 than in any previous year (save for those thrifty undergrad ones). But I also managed to enjoy better slices than ever thanks to new entries like Chatty’s, Pizzeria DiLauro, Boom’s, ETalian and Cornerspot. But the best pizza award goes out to Cent’s, which opened last summer in Ohio City. Vincent Morelli not only is making some of the best Neapolitan-ish pies in town, he’s dishing them up in a festive tangerine-colored dream world.
Chicken Chow Mein at Cafe Everest
I can’t recall the last time I ordered chow mein, but it likely was decades ago. Ruined in childhood by plates of soggy, soupy, salty adaptations, why would I. Café Everest, a Nepalese and Indian restaurant in the Bellaire-Puritas neighborhood, opened my eyes to a whole new world. The version prepared here stars firm, not soft or flabby, noodles that are just barely coated in sauce. The predominant flavors are garlic, ginger, cumin and chile, with only a few dashes of soy sauce.
Brisket at Joe’s Barbecue
I have only one issue with Joe’s Barbecue: it’s located 45 miles from home in rural Brimfield Township. Joe Menendez works magic out of a wood-sided trailer parked on a small gravel lot. Inside that wagon sits a 1,000-pound offset smoker turning out whole racks of ribs, half chickens, sliced turkey and pulled pork. But it’s the bark-blistered brisket, seasoned with nothing more than salt and pepper and smoked over wood for 14 hours, that bothers my dreams. Succulent, drippy, bendy beef pudding it is.
Biscuits and Gravy at Sleepy Rooster
Craig Fitzgerald is wise enough to know when and how to play the chef card. Most of his culinary school chops are reserved for ingredient selection, technique and execution in the kitchen rather than wild creativity on the plate. It’s breakfast after all. In the stellar biscuits and gravy, those flaky house-baked comfort cakes are smothered in peppery sausage gravy, which seeps into the crispy home fries, which also are exemplary.
Combination Platter at Habesha
Some cuisines demand to be enjoyed in a restaurant, preferably with friends, and Ethiopian certainly is one of them. The experience of sitting around a colorful platter of food – literally breaking bread together – elevates the food to new heights. Habesha allowed us to once again savor that feeling as we devoured a doro wot combination dotted with berbere-spiced chicken, lentil stews and refreshing mixed salads, all scooped up with injera.
Literally Everything at Arthur Treacher’s
In an odd twist of fate, I visited Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips in Garfield Heights one week before it closed, thus making the Cuyahoga Falls location the last man standing. I went knowing that time was running out for the fabled brand, which peaked at 825 stores. The one on Mayfield Road was a family favorite growing up in the `70s. I shared the experience in real time with my brothers over the phone as I (we) dunked crispy pie-shaped fish fillets in tartar sauce, inhaled squiggly fried clams and disappeared one too many hush puppies.
Omakase at Bar Oni
Bar Oni is the amusement park version of a restaurant, where chefowner Matthew Spinner (the carnival barker) inveigles passersby into his concessions tent for a night of chow, rowdiness and hijinks. Simply put, it’s a blast. While boozing is a main draw, it’s the izakaya-style small plates that provide the base. Get the omakase and let Spinner and team prepare a steady stream of grilled vegetable and meat kebabs like blistered peppers, glazed pork belly and every blessed part of the yardbird.
Mango Salmon at Lulo Kitchen
One of the nicest surprises of 2021 was stumbling into Lulo Kitchen in the Warehouse District, which has the feel of a boho-chic juice bar on Tulum’s famous beach road. There, chef Stefhanie Montoya lovingly prepares pan-Latin dishes morning, noon and night. Like a rainbow on a plate, the mango salmon features a flank of flaky seared salmon atop a bed of rice that is topped with finely diced fruits and veggies and ringed by vibrant wheels of watermelon radish. I caught up with enthusiastic chef Jose Melendez before he relocated his Latin hotspot from a stall at the Sauce the City Galley to a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Parma. I’m assuming his vibrant, creative, satisfying food has only improved since the move. In dishes like Margie’s Barrel, his stellar mofongo is stuffed with garlic shrimp, guajillo-roasted pork or crispy chicharron before getting sauced and garnished with fried potato sticks.
Birria Tacos at Cloak & Dagger
The owners of Cloak & Dagger indeed are making magic in Tremont. They so thoroughly have transformed the interior of a revolving-door property that memories grow short and evenings stretch on. The cocktail program is second to none, with illustrated menus ticking off dreamy elixirs. To eat, there are vegan birria tacos made from mushrooms that prove the perfect partner to drinks like the bourbon-based King of the Dead.
The Trends We Love, and Could Do Without, Right Now in Cleveland Dining
SELL: Disposable Everything
Raise your hand if you happen to be appalled by the amount of garbage generated by restaurants over the past two years. Whether you label it compostable, disposable or single use, the truth of the matter is that most of it winds up in a landfill. Obviously, carry-out and delivery requires it, and inexpensive fast-casual restaurants rely on it, but let’s try and draw the line there. If we’re sitting down to eat, and forking over more than $10, maybe we can eat on a real dish, drink out of a proper glass and cut our food with something other than a spork.
BUY: Tinned Fish
Thanks go out to places like Alea, Astoria and Cent’s, who recognize the beauty of tinned fish. We’re not taking about a can of mushy tuna fish here, but rather meticulously packed tins of preserved fish and seafood, much of it hailing from Spain and Portugal. Sure, delicacies like anchovies in vinegar, sardines in olive oil, cockles in brine and mussels in escabeche are great on a picnic, but more and more restaurants are making a meal out of them by adding bread and accompaniments.
HOLD: Batched Cocktails
place for batched cocktails. Visitors to busy establishments doubtless appreciate the efficiency and consistency that pre-made cocktails provide. But that same consistency also prevents imbibers from getting exactly what they desire. I’ve never met a margarita that wasn’t too sweet or too weak or too tart. What if you love negronis, but only when made with Tanqueray? And where’s the pomp in pouring a cocktail from a gallon jug?
BUY: Restaurant Tech
We’re in for another long, stressful, Covid-filled winter. That means embracing any sort of restaurant technology that makes it safer for staff and diners, allows fewer employees to manage the room, and helps deal with the inevitable product shortages. From QR codes that conjure digital menus that can be edited on the fly to apps that allow diners to control their own order and pay experience, tech is the new normal everywhere but in the finest of fine-dining places.
BUY: Outdoor Dining
If you’ve ever traveled to Toronto or Montreal in the fall, you’ve likely seen people dining outdoors regardless the temperature. They’re bundled up in puffers, legs swaddled in woolen blankets, and warmed by the occasional heat lamp. Here, it’s only the crazy-ass smokers and Browns fans who step outside post Labor Day. Cleveland has made incredible progress when it comes to restaurant patios (you should have seen us in 2000), but there’s much room for improvement. Not only do we need better places to perch, but we also need braver souls to do so.
SELL: Fried Chicken Joints
Stick a fork in it, they’re done. I’d say that we crested the wave and have reached peak crispiness, but unfortunately, I write a restaurant news column so I know better. In addition to admittedly amazing joints like Angie’s, Soho, Chicken Ranch and V’s, not to mention countless restaurants that offer killer chicken sammies, Cleveland is next in line for deep-pocketed (and typically franchised) national chains like Dave’s Hot Chicken and Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken.
BUY: Late-Night Dining
Hats off to Will Hollingsworth, who recently moved heaven and earth to extend the kitchen hours at Prosperity to midnight. It’s always been a challenge to secure late-night eats in this town – unless we’re talking Crunchwrap Supremes – but thanks to Covid it’s practically impossible. Staff already are stretched so thin that maintaining even regular hours is wishful thinking. Here’s hoping that in the near future, we night owls get some love.
BUY: Food Halls
We were supposed to be swimming in food halls by now. In cities like Chicago and New York they seem to be popping up on every block, but here in Cleveland we’ve been staring at the same two for years – and one of them, the Sauce the City Galley, only has a few stalls and zero booze. The other, Van Aken District’s Market Hall, is bustling, proof that when done well, they benefit diner, operator and landlord alike.
HOLD: Seafood Boil Joints
A few years back, in a review of Cleveland’s first “boiling seafood” concept, I predicted that the trend would take off. Boy howdy has it ever. Not even donut, barbecue and fried chicken places have managed to keep pace with the number of joints around town that specialize in boiled, sauced and bagged seafood. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a super-fun dining experience and, assuming the fish and seafood are fresh, delicious too. But variety is the real spice of life.
SELL: Brussels Sprouts
Seriously. What is up with all the Brussels sprouts?
