Trending Best of Cleveland: Crobar, New Entertain…
Subscribe / Renew
Cleveland’s dining scene is like a jungle growing, shifting and devouring the landscape around it. As soon as you think you’ve conquered the terrain, a new spot opens, necessitating another expedition into Ohio City, Cleveland Heights or Lakewood.
Can Goma’s downtown sushi play ball with sister restaurant Ginko? Is Acqua di Luca’s revamped patio experience all show? Can Chatty’s Pizzeria really be as special as every single person in Bay Village swears it is?
But after two years of takeout, even stalwarts like Zack Bruell’s L’Albatros, the epic Marble Room and funky Fat Cats needed reevaluation. Who emerged from the pandemic unscathed — or maybe even better off? We set out to answer those questions — and we haven’t been alone.
“There’s been a resurgence,” says Tessa Rolleston of The Last Page, readers’ pick for 2022’s Best New Restaurant. “People are making up for the last two years.”
So if you haven’t joined us, what are you waiting for? Open your calendar and ditch the summer diet. It’s time to eat, Cleveland.
Acqua Di Luca
I thought I’d fallen in love with meals in Styrofoam and foil, with swiping up burger sauce off my car seat. But Acqua di Luca, a sleek downtown coliseum of seafood in a 147-year-old brick space, shocked me out of that pandemic-induced Stockholm syndrome. Damnit, I deserve a little elegance! I don’t go to the spa or drive a sports car. For me, pampering is chef Luca Sema’s opulent lemon-stuffed sole ($38), an afternoon on the bustling West Sixth Street corner patio, a pricey bottle of wine and a waiter who won’t let me pour it. “All we care about is that the people who come here to spend money have a great experience,” says co-owner Lola Sema. acquadiluca.com
Astoria Cafe and Market
Cleveland Bagel Co.
Cleveland could never have New York-quality bagels, right? We’re missing the key ingredient: New York City water. “That’s a load of horse shit,” says owner Dan Herbst. “I don’t know how they got away with pretending like the bagels are magic, but they’re not.” So it’s no surprise that Herbst, who started the Detroit Shoreway bagel joint along with Geoff Hardman as part of the LeBron James-produced CNBC show Cleveland Hustles, has his own style, boiling hand-rolled bagels in a malt solution for a sweeter flavor profile. Herbst opts for an everything bagel with chorizo chipotle cream cheese ($4), but no matter what you order, you’ll find a level of care seen in very few places. “Most people don’t do it this way because you need a lot of people and you need a lot of time,” says Herbst. “But I believe we make bagels the right way.” clebagelco.com
Cloak and Dagger
Edwins Restaurant and Leadership Institute
Yes, we know Brandon Chrostowski is a good guy. His restaurant group gives former prisoners and recovering addicts a second chance. The dude even flew to Poland to cook meals for Ukrainian refugees. But none of that alone gets you nominated for the James Beard Awards’ Outstanding Restaurateur. “It’s about hospitality, man,” says the chef, who gained his appreciation for service in the kitchens of Paris, New York and Chicago. And there may be no better display of service than his Shaker Square French brasserie. More than 20 artisan cheeses, ranging from a fudgy, spicy dark blue to a mild cheddar with thick veins of black truffle, are served tableside on a rolling cart. Wine lists and plats principaux are navigated expertly. Suggestions land perfectly. My bread plate never sat empty, thankfully, as I ate about a loaf sopping up the braised rabbit’s ($36) luxurious mustard cream sauce and the shallot beurre blanc with the grilled seafood sausage ($15). Service is something you don’t notice unless it’s really good or really bad. As the maitre d helped my wife slip her coat on and urgently hailed the valet, we definitely noticed. edwinsrestaurant.org
Fat Cats
Habesha Ethiopian and Eritrean
Despite owner Jamas Munsa’s soft-spoken demeanor, there might be no eatery more rebellious than his West Park African spot. After all, the refugee from Eritrea launched a menu based on shareable plates meant to be eaten by hand in the middle of a pandemic. Dishes such as the Doro Wat ($20) come out as a massive platter covered with sour, fermented bread and topped with stewed greens, lentils, fresh salads and spicy, slow-roasted chicken. Equally defiant, the bread, or injera, is a spongy mixture of teff flour and barley that ferments for days and then hits only a griddle before it’s served. “People enjoy sharing the food,” Munsa says. “Everybody who comes leaves Habesha happy.” habeshacle.com
Il Rione
La Plaza Supermarket and Taqueria
The world gets more complicated every day. In times like these, La Plaza Supermarket and Taqueria’s Adrian Ortega, educated in seminaries in Mexico as a child, turns to Jesus. When I’m feeling wayward and down, maybe because I couldn’t decide where to eat lunch, I find guidance in a paper tray of tacos at his west Cleveland taqueria. Sitting alone, eagerly waiting, the sizzle of the exposed grill soothes my soul. In 10 minutes, chorizo, carne asada and al pastor — cooked in the Michoacán style — are in hand. A little pickled onions, spicy salsa (Ortega’s specialty) and avocado crema from the serve-yourself topping bar, and I’m gone. Happy again, whole again, thanks to a meal steeped in love and tradition. Truly a religious experience. “Why I like tacos?” says Ortega. “They’re simple.” plazataqueria.com
Honorable Mention: Senors Mexican Restaurant at La Mexicana — East Siders don’t have to cross the Cuyahoga River to find stellar tacos ($1.75). This supermarket stall in Painesville rivals any taco dealer north of the Rio Grande.
Larder Delicatessen and Bakery
LJ Shanghai
Honorable Mention: Wonton Gourmet & BBQ —
Just like with his now-defunct flagship Lola Bistro, Michael Symon created “Cleveland-style” barbecue to fill a hole he saw in our city’s dining scene. “For us, opening Mabel’s was more about Can someone please make good f***ing barbecue?” says the celebrity chef. “Can someone source the right products, treat them with respect and then cook them with real natural wood and not in an oven?” Since Mabel’s opened in 2016, Northeast Ohio has seen a BBQ boom, but Symon’s East Fourth Street spot is still the prime choice. A la carte platters feature pulled pork ($15), hot collard greens ($6.50) and all the classics. Kielbasa ($13), instead of hot link sausage, and a barbecue sauce with a base of Cleveland-made Bertman Ballpark Mustard offer a Cleveland spin. Best of all, beef brisket ($17), perhaps BBQ’s most divisive cut, is offered lean or fatty, the latter being our preference due to the buttery pocket of liquid gold between the tender, stringy meat and the dark, crusty bark. Symon’s Lola and B Spot may be gone, but with a new location in Eton Chagrin Boulevard, Mabel’s BBQ remains a delicious interaction with Cleveland’s culinary son. mabelsbbq.com
Mason’s Creamery
An editor once told me to give readers moments of delight. Maybe then, we should hire Mason’s Creamery owners Jesse Mason and Helen Qin, who have been doing just that since 2013 when the couple moved from Los Angeles to Cleveland and opened their small-batch outdoor ice cream parlor in Ohio City. Nearly 10 years later, the corner of Bridge Avenue and West 44th Street defines Cleveland summers. There’s always a new whimsical flavor to cool you down thanks to a one-gallon-at-a-time approach, which produces eclectic, often-Asian-leaning flavors such as the sweet-and-nutty taro made from purple sweet potatoes or the swirled vegan black vanilla and pumpkin. Last summer, a cone of Ohio sweet corn offered one of my favorite bites of the year. And when the mosquitos turn to snowflakes and the shore freezes over, Mason’s focus shifts to Korean corndogs and bowls of traditional ramen with more moment-of-delight touches such as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, pastrami and raclette. masonscreamery.com
Mia Bella
In a world of food made to be Instagrammed, Mia Bella is an old-school hold out in Little Italy. It’s not that the food isn’t worthy of the post. The spicy cheese tortellini ($21.95) is gorgeous, piled up in a luxuriously rich sauce and adorned with green peas and fresh herbs. You are simply not allowed. Just ask my wife, who was eviscerated by owner Emigert Memeti for taking a Snapchat video of the dining room. Something about a hypothetical customer being there with a mistress. After cooling off with a hot plate of eggplant parmesan ($10.95), perhaps Mia Bella’s most beloved dish with the thinly sliced veggie topped with ricotta and served in marinara, we laughed about how her grandfather would’ve reacted similarly to phones at the dinner table. Just like at grandpa’s, we’re happy to put our phones down and soak up the charm found along Mayfield Road. mblittleitaly.com
Superior Pho
Chris Nguyen has learned a lot from his father, Manh, who founded Superior Pho in 2002. A Vietnamese immigrant, Manh deeply appreciates the exacting techniques of French cooking, which he exposed to Nguyen through travel. The cuisines’ overlaps are best experienced in the banh mi ($6.50), an explosion of spicy jalapenos, lush roast pork, super soft baguette, and house-made pate and mayo. Manh once set a benchmark for excellence by throwing away an entire 16-quart pot of beef bone broth — the result of a 24-hour simmering process — because one ingredient was off. At the time, that could feed two days’ worth of customers. Finally, he taught Nguyen to treat each bowl ($12.50) like fine wine. The father encouraged his son to examine the pho’s nose, body and finish and then smell each spice to examine slight flavor variations. Today, he credits that exploration of subtlety for Superior’s superiority. “A lot of restaurants overwhelm you with cinnamon, cardamom and other spices,” Nguyen says. “For us, the trick has been to be very subtle. That’s where the sense of comfort comes in.” superiorpho.com
Thyme Table
The mural on the front of chef and owner Mike Smith’s Westlake restaurant reads “Good things take Thyme.” Opening just before the pandemic will give you that kind of patience. In 2020, we named Thyme Table our Best New Restaurant. These days, lobster-topped tots ($14) offer a fun high-low appetizer, while the BBQ braised short ribs ($34) with creamy cheddar grits warmed me up on a January day. The seared lobster shrimp cakes ($27) arrived atop attractive jet-black noodles made from infused vegetable ash and a thick, tomato-based sauce. Still, the craft cocktail menu from barkeep Eric Scott steals the show with drinks like the Earl Boss ($13), which uses oleo, a margarine made in house by soaking spiced orange peels in sugar and extracting their oils. With time, Thyme Table has come into its own. thymextable.com
Vero
Even before the abstract paintings that dominate the 40-seat dining room or the sleek maple bar, you see it: the 6,000-pound Italian-imported, wood-burning oven with Vero tiled in navy above its mouth. Flames lick three pies at a time, as pizzaiolo Marc-Aurele Buholzer feeds the beast one by one at a pace of 100 a day. The dance looks like something from one of those food documentaries with slick, epic cinematography. If it were, the episode would focus on the dough, which spends just 90 seconds in the oven. The result is a stout crust that’s kissed by char, yet sweet and chewy — by far Cleveland’s best. The contemporary Napoletana menu is simple but stuns, especially the Margherita DOP ($20), which stars buffalo mozzarella imported weekly from Italy. Simplicity also reigns supreme in such appetizers as the 36-month-aged prosciutto with grated cured egg yolk and olive oil poured over buffalo mozzarella ($14). Yet, the Milk ‘n’ Honey ($20) with egg and hot honey shows the shop’s willingness not to take itself too seriously. verocleveland.com
Zhug
These days, I get a lot of requests for restaurant recommendations from friends and family. Lately, no matter what style of food or neighborhood they ask for, they’re all getting the same answer: Go to Zhug. Douglas Katz’s exploration of Middle Eastern cuisine just might be Cleveland’s most important dining experience right now. Still, not enough people have cozied up in its pillowed banquette seating, snapchatted envious friends pictures of their sumac-speckled nigella seed and burnt onion hummus ($13) or polished off the Yemenite curry fried chicken ($17) with harissa honey. The small plates menu features an exciting blend of influences from Katz’s travels and his 20-year run at Fire Food & Drink. I know parking is a hassle in Cleveland Heights. I don’t care if you’re picky. Don’t let the no-reservation policy’s potential wait scare you. Get to Zhug now. zhugcle.com
best restaurants
9:00 AM EST
April 28, 2022
Sharing feels radical at this African spot in West Park, known for its injera-covered platters.
Owners Brian Moss and Brian Holleran have built a restaurant out of all our favorite things: good drinks, good music, a cool space and, of course, pizza.
It's all about the dough at this beloved Cleveland Heights pizza parlor.
Cleveland Magazine @ClevelandMag
KWAN!!!!
14 hours ago
Cleveland Magazine @ClevelandMag
It’s not too late to plan for a night out on the town this week. Pick up your tickets for our #BestofCLE party at t… https://t.co/YN2hc84MjG
22 hours ago
Cleveland Magazine @ClevelandMag
RT @LisaSandsCle: Tix available for #bestofcle — all the things you ❤️ at one great party by @ClevelandMag! https://t.co/sRWjd995px https:/…
22 hours ago
Cleveland Magazine @ClevelandMag
Urban Kitchen started because Mohamed Sadek was hungry. “I hated the food inside the Cleveland Clinic,” says Sadek,… https://t.co/U67Ieiddcj
22 hours ago
Check Also
Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes mit Schokolade & Karamell GraciaAfrika News
Weicher Teig mit Kürbis & Schokoalde, Samtige Kaffeecreme, goldenes Karamell & die süßesten Deko Kürbisse …