Debt of Gratitude

Photo courtesy This Is Cleveland

This was the headline and subhead of a recent piece posted on citylab.com: "Restaurants Really Can Determine the Fate of Cities and Neighborhoods — A new survey shows how much food influences the vibrance of urban centers." We've experienced this firsthand in Cleveland. Just think about what's happened over the past few years in Ohio City, Tremont, Gordon Square, Flats East Bank, East Fourth Street, and Shaker Square and Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. And I think it would be appropriate to offer a loud, energetic communal thanks to all the visionary chefs, entrepreneurs and investors who made commitments to these areas that helped bring about their revival and resurgence.

 
Turns out, this is just the right moment to show appreciation. Cleveland Independents, an association of locally owned and operated non-chain, non-franchise restaurants — the true drivers of the culinary renaissance that has brought so much energy to both our food scene and and our communities — is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Now 90 members strong and spanning a geography that goes from Sandusky to Mentor and Canton, the organization sponsors year round efforts to get people's attention. There's Restaurant Week, the deck of discount cards for food purchases, and gift cards redeemable at any member restaurant. Promotions such as these are good for business and good for the neighborhood.

Almost half of those urban residents questioned for the above mentioned study revealed that new restaurants are a top reason for exploring different parts of their city. A whopping 82 percent included restaurants among the main things they appreciate about where they live and a majority cited food and restaurants when talking about the cities they love to visit. These numbers confirm what we've been learning here ever since Carl Quagliata brought dining to the Warehouse District and Michael Symon made it trendy to go to Professor Street to eat.

Cleveland's on the upswing and I believe a large portion of credit should go to our culinary community. A round of social media applause would be nice. Showing support by going out to their restaurants — even better.

Coop Tour Unscrambles Negative Connotations about Owning Chickens

Live in Cleveland Heights? Your neighbor may have a secret: a feathery, egg-laying friend. Normally, the cluckers would stay cooped up from the public eye, but on June 21 10 poultry enthusiasts opened their backyards for the 2nd Annual Cleveland Heights Coop Tour.

  In 2012, the city of Cleveland Heights hatched a plan to accommodate the birds by lifting a ban on raising chickens, as long as owners keep no roosters and don’t have more than four hens at a time — bringing both support and opposition.

“When they made it legal, I just wanted to get people out to see it,” says Matt Wilson, one of the founding members of the Heights Chickeneers, an online group and blog for Cleveland Heights chicken keepers. “A poorly run poultry farm is disgusting,” he says. “It’s tragic.”

The coop tour set out to show how quiet, clean, and charming chickens can be. For folks worried about ethical treatment of animals? Well ... some of these hens lived in coops nicer than my apartment. The coops' architecture was as unique and diverse as the houses they stood behind. Some owners bought theirs ready-to-go from a farm store,while others had theirs made by local woodworkers (Timothy Riffle and Tim McLoughlin both build custom coops in the Heights) and one couple won theirs in a raffle at the Cleveland Garlic Festival. Maggie Schaffer and her husband built theirs  — an $1,000-plus adobe complete with an electric sliding door, a tall run in the back, an electrical cord to heat water in freezing weather, and Plexiglas covering the windows for protection against winter winds.

If watching chickens gallivant and flutter around urban backyards wasn’t enough, the tour offered an incentive: Each destination handed out a sticker, and at the end of the tour, the Bottlehouse Brewery on Lee Road entered everyone with four or more stickers in a raffle to win a themed gift basket or backyard eggs. If you flashed your stickers at the table, you’d get $2 off of an order for a croque madame: a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on top.

“One of the reasons we wanted to do this was to dispel the idea that chickens are bad or noisy or stinky,” says Culey. The hens were nothing of the sort; they were fluffy and clean, social and whimsical. Minus the fluffy part, so were their owners: friendly, engaging people just looking to unscramble unfair negative notions of chicken farming.

Toasty Treats

Ice cream can be a tough sell in Cleveland this time of year. Spooning up a frozen treat doesn't seem so appealing after an hour spent shoveling snow that leaves you with numb fingers and toes. But Sweetie Fry, a Cleveland Heights ice cream shop that opened in 2011, had a plan from the start to keep customers coming even in the coldest months. Hot, crisp, deep fried potatoes are the shop's winter attraction.

Idahos and orange sweet potatoes are served with sides of chipotle mayo, honey mustard or barbecue sauce. They're wonderful on their own — but owner and culinary inventor Keith Logan has expanded the concept, and the shop's menu now includes entree fries. Get them topped with chicken tenders or chicken Parmesan, bacon and melted cheddar or a Chicago dog. There are even reuben fries, pepperoni pizza fries and chili fries. It's a great idea, like nachos reinvented. Logan also pairs the potatoes with his recreation of the locally loved Mawby's cheeseburger, complete with grilled onions and thin slices of pickle.

No matter what the temperature is outside, it's warm and cozy in Logan's little Lee Road shop. So you might be tempted to follow-up with a scoop of Brown Butter Walnut, Turkish Coffee — a personal favorite — or Mango sorbet. Or perhaps you'll crave something more seasonal, such as a chili chocolate or candy cane cone that will make you forget what awaits on the other side of the door.
 
Gift cards are available and there's still a week to score some before Christmas. Who wouldn't want to find that in their stocking?

Minus the Bear celebrate Grog Shop

Minus the Bear gave the Grog Shop an anniversary gift last night worthy of the music venue’s 20-year history.  Returning to play the music club for the first time since 2008, the Seattle-hailing indie rockers are just one of the bands venturing back to Cleveland Heights this month in celebration of the establishment’s past two decades. (We spoke with Minus the Bear lead singer Jake Snider and Grog Shop owner Kathy Blackman to preview the anniversary in our September issue, available online here.)

Caspian and Cursive both opened the sold-out show, which filled up nicely before Minus the Bear took the stage at around 10:30 p.m. The group roared into a 17-song set that touched on all five of their full-length albums, opening with the haunting-yet-catchy “Steel and Blood” and thumping “Lies and Eyes,” both from the newly released Infinity Overhead, which dropped Aug. 28. They followed that with a string of past hits, starting with “The Game Needed Me” off of 2005’s Menos El Oso and “Throwin’ Shapes” from 2007’s Planet of Ice, before transitioning into “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse” from the band's 2002 debut, Highly Refined Pirates, and “Into the Mirror” off 2010's excellent Omni.

Minus the Bear wrapped their initial set with Omni opener (and a personal favorite) “My Time," proceeded by a spirited rendition of “Cold Company” from their newest record. Cheers of “One more song!” from the lively crowd elicited a three-track encore, though no one seemed to mind getting more than they asked for. Planet of Ice’s “Dr. L’Ling,” Infinity Overhead’s “Lonely Gun” and Pachua Sunrise from Menos El Oso closed the show, which by that point had stretched into early Thursday morning.

The band was extremely grateful to both the Grog Shop venue and Cleveland crowd throughout the evening, with Snider hollering out, “Thanks Cleveland, you guys rock,” before ducking backstage. The feeling was certainly mutual.

Only the Best

Rising Star Coffee. Vero – a wood fired bistro. Remember these names. They represent two new places on different sides of town with something important in common. The first, in the former firehouse at 29th and Church Street in Ohio City, is a specialty roaster and craft coffeemaker. The second, on Cedar Road in Cleveland Heights in what used to La Gelateria, turns out true pizza Napoletana. The proprietors of both are passionate and serious about authenticity, quality, and doing things the right way. Their products are for connoisseurs and those who appreciate excellence.
Kim Jenkins, a former engineer and corporate executive, is the man behind Rising Star. He’s been roasting in this location since February and started brewing retail cups in mid July. He uses only high grade, single origin beans most bought directly from growers- and does his own blending. Beans are roasted often and in small batches and the process is a science and an art. Every order is prepared fresh, one cup at a time. There are three brewing choices: the pour over (paper filter in a holder); the aeropress (French press with a paper filter); and the vacuum pot (an old method featuring a 2-chamber method that forces the water through the coffee all at once and keeps the two in continuous contact). You have to try them all to find your favorite. And then of course there’s espresso, and the variations on that. The daily menu of coffees available has tasting notes like a wine list: Rwanda Ruli Mountain- sweet, caramel, and citrus; El Salvador Cosecha Honey Natural- sweet, fruit, and chocolate. Milk comes from Hartzler’s a local dairy. The cappuccino I had made with it and the Church Street Espresso (smoky, malt, cocoa reads the description) was utterly and uniquely delicious. In fact, I’d have to say- it was a impeccable expression of what this drink can be. Don’t head there expecting to hang out. The small café space doesn’t really have seating, though some benches and stools are in the works. For now it’s just counters to lean on and set a cup to cool.

Vero opened in June. Marc-Aurele Buholzer is the pie man. He’s young- or looks it- and radiates intensity. I wasn’t surprised to learn that he studied religion and philosophy in college (You’d be amazed by how many chefs did the same). Focusing his energy and intelligence on food, he spent countless hours experimenting to master the mysteries of dough and learn the quirks and moods of his wood burning oven. He’s so committed to the rules and regulations issued by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture that define the method of production for Traditionale Garantita Pizza Napoletana- from the type of flour to the color of the finished crust- that he’s printed them on the menu. But the true measure is in what comes out of the blazing oven (in 90 seconds flat) and to the table- a thin crisped round, bubbled up along the edges and slightly charred, splendid smelling and sublime tasting. And not like what most people are used to. Toppings are applied judiciously and thoughtfully. He’s designed glorious combinations that shouldn’t be monkeyed with- there are only four things you can add anyway. The two I’ve tried this far- one with San Marzano tomatoes, top shelf mozzarella, pancetta, an egg and cracked pepper; and the other a combination of garlic and oil, roasted vegetables, baby arugula and chevre- could not be improved upon in any way.

But the surest sign that Buholzer is taking things to a higher level is the fact that he strongly discourages taking his pies home in a cardboard box. They are best when just baked and so that’s when he wants you to eat them. For a food that’s considered the ideal take-out meal, this is a brave bold stand. I wish him well and plan to support his pursuit of perfection by stopping in for dinner often. The rest of the menu-like the space is small: some salads, an antipasto plate, bruschetta. And gelato. If you want wine, bring it.

Rising Star Coffee. Vero. Synonyms for something extraordinary.

The Right Spot

The Wine Spot is a new place in Cleveland Heights to buy wines not usually found in most supermarkets, craft beers, artisanal cider, sake and port. It’s also where you can go to taste these things, talk about them with owner Adam Fleisher, and even have a private beverage-centric book club meeting, birthday party or a girls-night out.

It opened in December, on Lee Road, in the former Seitz-Agin Hardware store. Walking in, I can’t quite believe it’s the same place I came to for plumbing and electrical supplies, odd sized nails and brass screws, and more than 30 years of home repair advice. The big space is airy, open and modern, outfitted with a six door glass fronted cooler, shelves filled with bottles sorted by continent and country, some hi-top tables, and a couple of couches. The area where guys once mixed paint and fixed broken windows is now a lovely tasting room. It’s also a gallery for work by students from Cleveland Institute of Art.

The building, dating back to 1926, originally housed two separate storefronts. Until the mid ‘40’s, one side was home to Bruder’s, a dairy business. When workers were doing the renovations, they found the original floor with the name spelled out in black and white tiles. It’s now part The Wine Spot’s décor. Fleisher recounts how an elderly woman walked by, saw it through the window, and came in to tell him that as a child she lived down the street and used to walk up the block with her sister to get an ice cream cone here.

Fleisher, who grew up in the neighborhood and is a Heights High alum, likes the idea of preserving this bit of the community’s heritage and keeping alive its tradition of small shops owned by locals that can offer a very personal kind of service. He gave up a corporate job- and lots of time spent on the road- to take this entrepreneurial leap in partnership with his wife Susan and is clearly happy about the changes in his life and livelihood. “I try everything I sell,” he says with a grin, “and enjoy turning people on to the things I discover and the stuff I love.”

The plan going in was to be a friendly unpretentious store where customers would find value priced choices and someone who could answer their questions, share the stories behind everything in stock and help them make choices, in fact the very sort of place he liked to frequent in his travels around the country. But this has morphed into more because people like to be here. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights they pour flights of reds, whites, and brews (per person prices is very reasonable). They bring in distributors for presentations; create private custom tasting events (with food if desired); and host educational and themed sampling events-like 'em on facebook to stay in touch with what's scheduled. It’s a great addition to the street and to my side of town. In fact, I'd like to make a toast to that., but I'll have to ask Adam for a recommendation.