Cleveland tips?

traveling there soon for a quick weekend trip. wondering if anyone had recs for restaurants? Would be ideal if close to Severance Hall/downtown Cleveland, but open to anything within a reasonable distance of the city proper. Also would appreciate any tips on interesting wine shops. I’ve been to the Heinen’s in downtown Cleveland before and the wine tasting bar was a lot of fun to try, but their overall selection seemed just OK.

Jonathan Sawyer is the best chef in Ohio. His flagship is Northern Italian style food and he has a full time forager on staff: http://www.restauranttrentina.com/

Greenhouse Tavern is also great and downtown. Lakeview Cemetery (John D. Rockefeller is buried there, President Garfield, and a chapel where every tile and piece of glass was hand made by Tiffany. Little Italy/University Circle, Tremont, Ohio City, and Coventry are hip neighborhoods worth a stop. All the museums are right next to one another in University Circle. Westside Market in Ohio City is pretty decent.

LJ Shanghai for amazing soup dumplings and spicy beef soup
Bloom bakery for amazing croissants

Loren Sonkin would be your local resource.

If you want old original Cleveland, this is the place.

Bring your own wine, unless your from one of the Dakota’s there isn’t a wine store worth driving to here. If you must I’d go to WineSpot, they don’t have the largest selection, but they usually have some interesting things not found elsewhere. You can open a bottle there for retail + $10 or drink a beer and look around.

I’m actually going to Trentina tonight (been about 2 yrs) but I’m sometimes mixed on Sawyers food. Greenhouse is a fun place on the weekends though. (Tonight at trentina was some what of a let down…again)

Symon’s bbq place Mabel’s maybe wouldn’t stand up to the south’s best, but the 2 lb beef rib has been crazy good everytime I’ve had it (skip the other ribs)

L’albatros is good for a bit under radar place (ie: not Symon/Sawyer) but admittedly I haven’t been in awhile.

Also under radar a bit, Crop (although original chef left and I haven’t been there since) is a fun place to grab appetizers and a drink if in Ohio city. It’s also in an old bank (like heinens) so it’s atmospheric but very noisy for dinner and food just ok.

If you enjoy architecture and are downtown on 4th st. make sure to walk through the Arcade if you haven’t yet.

If you want to wind down with a good drink in one of the original “speakeasy” type places. Velvet Tango Room

Lunch: Slymans Deli

Edited to add:

Assuming you know/been to Lola, but since it not been mentioned, there’s worse you could do than bellying up to the bar and ordering beef cheek perogies until full.

A couple of more extremely local places to research

Nightown - check to see who is playing as they can get good jazz coming through. You can sit at the bar and hear it, but not see while enjoying the Dublin lawyer.

Banter - Gordon square neighborhood, which is good for walking/window shopping. Also close to Edgewater & whisky island lakefront parks if the weather permits. This place has zero atmosphere, but if you like poutine and wine after taking a stroll it’s a go. They have some decent lower dollar bottles and all at retail + $10 I think, and the poutine is killer.

thanks for all the tips! Robert, thanks on the update on Trentina. It was actually booked for a Saturday dinner but I think we’ll try Greenhouse Tavern, and will try some of the other recs as able, too. I realized I’ve actually been to Sokolowski’s, the last time I went which was a few years ago. Low key spot and great food if somewhat heavy/rib-sticking… the pierogies were a highlight, though. Will report back after our trip.

Yeah something must be going on at Trentina. My waiter came out the door 3 times with food only to turn around and go back in the kitchen with it (only once was it ours). He also came out of the kitchen with the dishwasher rack a couple of times. Gnocchi was over cooked and the Risotto (which was one that went back before it reached us) was under. The bread appetizer with beef fat was wonderful, ours came out baked perfect and plump like a huge football. The next table saw ours immediately ordered one and it came out like a frisbee and under cooked. Also there is no wine list to speak of, just several selections from Italy of which I’m admittedly ignorant. Just browsing online it seems like he has had chefs come and go a bit recently. He’s often at Greenhouse so, Unless you really want a more intimate experience I’d go there too if you want to try his food, or l’albatros is very close by.

Josh’s recommendation of Lakeview cemetery is a good one too, if you have a nice day and a car.

Totally OT, but I’m looking for some Cleveland are sales reps to do some presales for an assisted living we are building. PM if you have dome suggestions. Thanks.

I PM you of course, but one other suggestion is Edwin’s. Really cool story which was up for an academy award last night. it didn’t win. About 15 minutes by car from where you are staying. Watch "Knife Skills," the Oscar-Nominated Documentary that Follows Students from Prisons to Fine Dining | Bon Appétit

The quick story is that it is a top notch French restaurant (an amazing cheese cart) staffed mostly by formerly incarcerated people who go thru rigorous training to learn life skills. You get a fantastic meal and are doing a great thing. Your tip is even a 501(c)(3) deduction!

Johnathon sawyer is a friend of mine. He is often stretched a bit thin with turnover but usually gets staff up and running quickly. i helped put the wine list together when trentina opened but I haven’t been involved with that for years. They had a great Sommelier but he went to SF. Not sure they ever really replaced him. The list is heavily Italian that is true. They do usually have Pappy of some type if you like Bourbon.

BTW, you are on the eastern edge of the City. There is excellent public transportation downtown (the Rapid is a train system). Driving is easy and takes about 20 minutes. Parking is not bad for a larger city.

Trentina has a flight of Pappy on the list for 135 which seemed incredibly reasonable 10-12-15-18-23 although I forgot to ask what the pour size was (it seemed too cheap!)

Loren, the wine list was small but I certainly didn’t mean to comment on the quality. It may well be incredibly curated, but this guy unfortunately wouldn’t even know it, as My wine path hasn’t yet traveled Italy. I tried to get them to send me a list by email, so I could ask for help here, but couldn’t seem to get one. We did just fine with a nice Soave though, no complaints.

thanks for all the tips! Will definitely report back. As of now, we have a dinner booked at L’albatros but I do want to try either Greenhouse Tavern or Trentina for brunch, hopefully. Edwin’s sounds like a great story, I’ll have to check out the documentary.

Not in Cleveland but has anybody been to Cru Uncorked?

If you are doing brunch look into Crop in Ohio City. It’s a high end buffet style and right across from West Side Market which is now open on Sundays and would be a lot less hectic than a Sat visit. If you don’t want to go that big another option is Soho just a couple of blocks away. Chicken/waffles/southern food ect. On the west side of city would be Piew W, it’s Another high end buffet style in a cool location, all windows restaurant hanging over the lakefront.

If you go to market/Ohio City - Townhall is a cool spot and probably the most beer taps in the city (skip the food)

I’d skip Great Lakes Brewery, but if you do want to go to check it out get the Dortmunder cheese soup…best soup in the city.

Michael, I live only a few miles from the restaurant and I’ve never even heard about it? I guess I need to get my head out of the sand and get there on a Wednesday for 1/2 price bottles. Since your not here, what puts it on your radar?

Robert, I have another friend who lives about 5-10 minutes away as well. Unsure if he’s been yet or not but he’s mentioned it multiple times. Let me know how it is if you make it over there.

I live about 5 minutes from there. Cru is VERY expensive especially by CLE standards. Nice wine list but way over priced. They are starting to have some nice wine tastings at a bit more reasonable prices. The place is well financed and they are going after a particular market. Not sure that exists in enough quantities. Already they have relaxed some of the rules to bring more people in.

BTW, the half price bottles only go up to $100 (unless they changed that). Most of the list is 3 or 4 times retail. So a $100 bottle for $50 is still only a $30 or $35 bottle (which means their cost in Ohio is $20). Not much of a bargain especially when considering the cost of food. JM2C.

reporting back, thanks to all of you guys for all the suggestions.

–we stayed at Glidden House in University Circle, basically across the street from the Case Western campus. I’d highly recommend it if you’re planning on going to a concert at Severance Hall or checking out a museum since it seems like a cultural center for the city. I heard great things about their breakfast buffet. It’s also literally right next door to Trentina; couldn’t get reservations there, but I could see and smell the smoke/char from their pizza oven behind the restaurant as I was wheeling my suitcase out haha.

–had a forgettable meal at Map of Thailand. Had dinner at L’Albatros which is walking distance from Glidden House and Severance Hall. They allow corkage at a reasonable rate of $5 per person per bottle (so for a party of 4, 1 bottle corkage was $20). Competently done French cuisine with a nice cheese course, and their wine list was interesting to browse. Service was very friendly.

–brunch at Greenhouse Tavern in downtown Cleveland was pretty good. Cocktails were well balanced and $12 each, and food was satisfying. It’s a big space with plenty of seating. I would go back. Mabel’s BBQ is next door and I’d like to try that, as well, though you’d have to be with meat eaters.

–highlight was meeting up with our very own Loren Sonkin and his wife at Chuck’s Wine in Chagrin Falls, about a 30 min drive from downtown Cleveland. Saturday afternoon wine tasting had a broad mix of Cali/Spanish wines, but Loren was extremely generous in sharing tastes from a mag of a 2011 Saxum James Berry, which was a treat. The store itself had a pretty broad selection, the most interesting thing was that they apparently buy old cellars and had some older bottles/vintages in bin ends. Was pretty sure I saw a Mouton from the early 70s for $100, unsure of the provenance/condition though. It was pretty awesome to meet Loren after reading many of his posts/tasting notes.

–didn’t have much time to do much else during the trip, but one thing I’d recommend to anyone visiting Cleveland who has a remote interest in classical music is seeing the Cleveland Orchestra. Truly world class performances, a level above that of the LA Phil to me. The day after the CO performance, we were lucky enough to see a free recital by the Orchestra’s principal cellist, Mark Kosolow, with an insane performance of 2 of Bach’s violin sonatas/partitas in his own transcription for the cello, including the Chaconne. Amazing. Only in Cleveland…

Sounds like a nice visit Fred. You are absolutely right on the orchestra, we are very fortunate to have them here.

Great to meet you and your friends. It was a fun afternoon. The Orchestra is truly special as is its Severance Hall home. Glad you got to enjoy it.

Posting a plug for Hook and Hoof in Willoughby. Very solid food and a nicely curated wine list with almost 2x retail markups.

Got a bottle of Baumard savenniere for $60 and a bottle of Tomassi amarone for $120.

Not sure if anyone is still paying attention to this thread, but we’re heading to Cleveland for the first time at the beginning of May. Seems like a number of places mentioned have closed or are closing imminently.

We’re staying at an AirBnB in Ohio City (at least that’s what Google Maps calls the neighborhood). Probably only one proper dinner since we’ll have evening at the Indians and then R&R HoF induction. Any recommendations or tips of any sort for a first timer would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers.

Al