11 mocktails to try at Greater Cleveland bars this Dry January Dry January has become an extremely popular trend, with participants abstaining from alcohol for the first month of the year. Several restaurants and bars in Northeast Ohio offer dynamic mocktail lists for those still looking to go out while partaking in Dry January. Check out 11 alcohol-free options from Greater Cleveland bars and restaurants that provide all of the flavor of a craft cocktail without the booze. READ MORE Dry January’s zero-proof alternative beverages are improving After the excesses of the holidays, New Year’s resolutions are abuzz. For some that includes a commitment to Dry January, a month of voluntary separation from drinking alcohol. Whatever the reason, going sober doesn’t mean going somber. While examining your relationship with alcohol, you can explore new beverage alternatives. As these grow increasingly creative, they’re tasting better and better. READ MORE Beerhead Bar & Eatery closes in Cleveland Beerhead Bar & Eatery in Cleveland has closed. The company was founded in 2012 but began franchising in 2015, when the craft-beer centric bar opened in the Flats East Bank. It was part of the area’s resurgence a decade ago of bars, restaurants, hotel and development. READ MORE 15 top food, drink trends for 2024 in Greater Cleveland At the end of 2024, we took a look back on cleveland.com’s dining coverage to determine last year’s most popular trends in Northeast Ohio’s dining scene. Steakhouses, pop-up concepts and non-alcoholic options are a few stand outs from last year. READ MORE We tried Bibibop’s 9 new menu items, you should too Last week, cleveland.com reporter Paris Wolfe ate at Bibibop in Mentor, one of eight in the chain scattered around Greater Cleveland. Her mission was to try the nine new ingredients added to the Bibibop menu. She was pleasantly surprised by the new options and the food overall. READ MORE Monven takes over Ohio Brewing Co. Monven, which owns Burntwood Tavern and other restaurants, is taking over Ohio Brewing Co. In Cuyahoga Falls. Chris Verich, owner of Ohio Brewing Co., will retain rights to the brewery's name and beer, but after almost 28 years he says it’s the right time to leave. He and his brother Michael founded the brewery in 1997. READ MORE Summit Brew Path now open The Summit Brew Path, which encompasses 17 breweries in Akron and surrounding areas, is open again. The brewery-passport program offers a digital component this year. It’s a way for folks to get out and experience the breweries in the region. READ MORE We tested Trader Joe’s appetizers, here’s what we liked The holidays were busy, so Paris Wolfe gave herself a break. She hit the Trader Joe’s freezer case for a Christmas Eve party, buying 10 different, frozen appetizers for a gathering of 15. This was, in part, research to see if consumers can count on the alternative grocer to “cater” a low-key party. The experiment was a success. You can. Here’s what we liked and didn’t like. READ MORE |
|
|
Last Melt closes It's been a long road for Matt Fish, whose grilled-cheese and craft-beer restaurant company grew to more than a dozen restaurants over the years. But this month Fish announced the sole location, in Lakewood, would close. A combination of pandemic struggles, financial challenges and family health issues led Fish to make the decision. READ MORE Melt to host garage sale, memorial sendoff Melt Bar and Grilled will host a garage sale/memorial celebration at its Lakewood location this month after announcing its permanent closure. The flagship at 14718 Detroit Avenue will host a garage sale/memorial from noon to 6 p.m. on Jan. 17-19. During the final weekend, customers will be able to purchase decorative items, apparel, merch and more. The bar will be open for beer and cocktails to cheer to Melt one last time. READ MORE Mac ‘n’ Cheese Throwdown set The annual Mac ‘n’ Cheese Throwdown, a tasting event of the classic comfort food, is coming up Saturday, March 1, in Cleveland. Restaurants put their spin on mac and cheese, and attendees get a chance to vote for their favorites, too. It’s also a benefit for charity. READ MORE LJ Shanghai lands on Yelp’s 2024 Top Chinese Restaurants list LJ Shanghai in Cleveland’s Asiatown neighborhood was recognized as one of the best Chinese restaurants in the U.S. Yelp recently published a list of the Top 100 Chinese Restaurants of 2024. The Shanghainese restaurant, 3142 Superior Avenue, is the only establishment in Ohio to land on the list. Its menu features items like xi long bao (soup dumplings), spicy Chaoshou dumplings, pan-fried noodles and hearty soups. READ MORE How joining a wine club can help you save money on wine If you drink wine regularly and you’re not a member of a wine club, you may be missing specialty wine releases and wine events as well as spending more than you need to on wine. Wine clubs are basically subscription services organized by the winery of origin or a wine retailer. Membership is usually free, but members must purchase an agreed upon number of bottles at specific intervals. READ MORE Gervasi Spirits' new distillery club offers hands-on bourbon making Gervasi Spirits is launching a distillery club with an uncommon twist. With the 2025 Distillers Circle, club members spend four Friday evenings in the distillery participating in bourbon production. These Barrel & Bond quarterly meetings start in March. READ MORE Learn how to make Abundance Culinary’s famous buns, dumplings At the end of December, cleveland.com food reporters Alex Darus and Paris Wolfe took a bun-making class at Abundance Culinary in Cleveland Heights. Chef Liu Fang, owner of Abundance, regularly hosts classes at her restaurant at 1975 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. They learned the difference between buns and dumplings, the techniques for folding and how to customize the filling to accommodate any flavor palate. READ MORE Mitchell’s Homemade Ice Cream announces top-selling flavors of 2024 -- and temporary closure of one store Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup and Cookie Dough were the three most popular flavors of Mitchell’s Homemade Ice Cream sold by the pint in grocery stores last year. The list doesn’t include the most popular flavors sold over the counter at Mitchell’s ice cream scoop shops, but still offers a glimpse of Greater Cleveland’s taste for ice cream. Along with the roundup, Mitchell’s announced that its Rocky River shop will be temporarily closed for a few months for renovations. READ MORE Spirited Women Ohio picks best bottle from every distillery in Northeast Ohio If the 2024 Spirited Women Ohio series at cleveland.com taught us anything, it’s that Northeast Ohio has no shortage of delicious, locally made spirits. For those looking for guidance as to what spirits to try first, check out the best bottles from each of the Northeast Ohio distilleries we stopped at. While the list is a great place to start, each distillery offers more than one release worth trying. READ MORE Beer, beer, more beer! Our first monthly beer review of 2025 focuses on a trio of non-alcoholic beers available on the market. If you’re in the mood for Dry January and like beer, you have a lot of choices. READ MORE |
|
|
OPENINGS/CLOSINGS Birdietown in Lakewood combines indoor mini golf with Jill Vedaa dining menu Birdietown is teed up to bring an elevated indoor mini-golf experience alongside a high-quality restaurant in collaboration with a renowned local chef. Birdietown, 12501 Madison Avenue, is aptly located in Lakewood’s Birdtown neighborhood. The massive venue is home to two 9-hole mini golf courses, two full bars and a restaurant menu from James Beard nominated chef Jill Vedaa. Cleveland.com’s Alex Darus paid a visit and has a full report. READ MORE Cleveland’s newest coffee shop is a must-visit for java nerds (photos) On New Year’s Day, while many folks were sleeping off a hangover, Matt Ashton opened a second Lekko Coffee shop. A sister shop to three-year-old Lekko Coffee in Ohio City, the new location is in Cleveland’s Warehouse District. It occupies the storefront abandoned by Phoenix Coffee in March 2024. To find the shop, look for the address – 826 West St. Clair Ave., Cleveland – because the signage is not yet in place. While the original Lekko is 2,000 square feet and serves as a workspace for many people, the new Lekko is a 630-square-foot grab-and-go spot. The Warehouse District location has a different menu than Ohio City. READ MORE Pace Café opens in Tremont Ameen Khadair and Sabrina Quinones are bringing a new organic kitchen concept to Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. Pace Café, which launched in late 2024, is open for breakfast and lunch, serving organic, locally sourced options. The menu revolves around its handmade bagels and Middle Eastern-inspired items. READ MORE Riff’s Libations & Creations replaces Kaiser Gallery in Tremont Kaiser Gallery in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood is becoming Riff’s Libations & Creations. The new iteration of the art gallery/bar opened in November then closed in late December for renovations. New owner Sam Skelton plans to introduce a freshly painted Riff’s with a larger bar and more seating in February. READ MORE Burntwood Tavern closes Crocker Park location Burntwood Tavern in Crocker Park in Westlake is closing. The owners said they will hold a special guest-appreciation farewell Thursday, Jan. 16, with music as well as special pricing and menu offerings. Monven, the restaurant group that owns the chain, also announced renovations scheduled for its other locations. READ MORE |
|
|
EVENTS/TASTINGS Ritz-Carlton hosts luxury tequila tasting Tequila may be known best as the spirit of the margarita. But it is far more sophisticated than that. Learn more about tequila, especially premium tequila, from 1 to 3 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18, in an immersive tasting experience in Highball Cleveland, the elegant lounge venue at The Ritz-Carlton Cleveland. READ MORE Homestead Summit offers 36 classes in sustainable food production If you’re on social media, especially TikTok and Pinterest, you’ve probably seen the homesteading trend coming at you. Defined as a lifestyle focused on self-sufficiency, it can be as minimal as growing a tomato plant and raising a few chickens or as radical as going completely off-grid. Whatever your interest in sustainability, everyone can learn more at the Western Reserve Homestead Summit from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 18 and 19 at the Lake Metroparks Farmpark, Kirtland. READ MORE Tartine Bistro schedules wine dinner Tartine Bistro in Rocky River is holding a dinner featuring Northern Italian vegan fare and wines. Each of the wines paired with the five-course menu come from a different Italian region. The dinner is Friday, Jan. 17. READ MORE Cask, Corks & Forks is coming up Grand River Valley wineries will showcase their wines Friday, Jan. 17, at Riverbend Hotel, a new hotel in Ashtabula. Each of five wineries will pair a different dish with a different wine. The night will feature the Grand River Valley Cask Red Wine Project, a collaborative winemaking initiative. READ MORE Cleveland restaurant chosen as Pepin Foundation dinner site Edwins Leadership and Restaurant Institute has been selected as one of the host restaurants to participate in the Pepin Foundation’s series of dinners. The campaign supports the foundation’s educational initiatives. The five-course, wine-paired dinner is Wednesday, Jan. 22. READ MORE Gunselman’s plans ‘Spanish Gusto’ wine dinner Gunselman’s Steakhouse & Bar plans a five-course dinner featuring Spanish wines from assorted regions on Monday, Jan. 27. This is the new Gunselman’s, which opened in Olmsted Falls last year. READ MORE |
|
|
PICKS OF THE WEEK Cent’s Pizza + Goods Cent’s Pizza on Cleveland’s West Side is one of those restaurants that you crave to hang out in because it’s so cool. Sure, Cent’s is firing up some of the best pizza in town with toppings like vodka sauce, Luxardo cherries and speck, but that’s just the beginning. Cent’s feels like a modern-day pizza shop that’s easy to linger at. The staff is always playing cool music, there’s usually something entertaining projecting on the massive sheet screen and the vibes are generally relaxing. Plus, Cent’s has some of the most interesting wine options in town, available for dine-in and retail. Cent’s is at 5010 Lorain Avenue in Cleveland. -- Alex Darus DETAILS Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar Even though Fleming’s base is its steaks, sometimes it’s nice to belly up to the bar and enjoy a nosh or two in an elegant setting. We recently nibbled on an ahi tuna poke stack while sipping wine. No drafts, but a few bottles are offered for beer, along with cocktails and friendly service. It’s at 4000 Medina Road, Akron. -- Marc Bona READ MORE Fiammi by Mendel Fiamma by Mendel at Eton Chagrin Boulevard opened last month in the former Mabel’s restaurant space. The kosher Italian restaurant opens into the mall, with a bar that juts into the concourse, making it great for people-watching. It’s a convenient place to stop before, after or during a shopping trip at the upscale collection of shops. Open for lunch and dinner, the menu offers healthy salads, handmade pastas and fresh seafood. Diners can see the imported pizza oven that cooks artisanal wood-fired pizzas. The beverage program features a curated selection of tequilas, whiskies, bourbons as well as wine and craft beer. -- Paris Wolfe DETAILS |
SPOTLIGHT 2024 restaurant, bar, brewery openings ... More than 80 restaurants, bars, breweries and others opened across Greater Cleveland in 2024. Cleveland.com’s Marc Bona, Alex Darus and Paris Wolfe round up the many places that opened. READ MORE ... and 2024 restaurant, bar, brewery closings ... We wrap up more than two dozen places throughout Northeast Ohio that closed its doors over 2024. READ MORE |
|
|
To ensure receipt of our emails, please add [email protected] to your address book or safe sender list. You received this email because you opted-in to the newsletter. Was it forwarded to you? Sign up now! 4800 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn OH 44144 |
|
|
|
