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I'm gonna be in Cleveland, OH a couple of nights next week and would appreciate any recommendations of interesting places to eat, especially local fare.

I go to Cleveland every couple of months so if I can't make it to your spot next week chances are I'll make it in the future.

Also, I spend a fair amount of time east of the city, around Mentor and Painesville so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Check out

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4203


in which Mike G has some nice talk + pix re: Cleveland.

Geo

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Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

Additional discussions in the earlier post

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=29558#29558

I recommended the smelt at Hunan East in that thread, which is, surprise, east of Cleveland..

In addition, for east side recommendations, let me urge you not to miss an excellent deli, Corky and Lenny's

Corky and Lenny's
27091 Chagrin Blvd.
Woodmere, Ohio 44122

Hunan East
724 Richmond Rd.
Richmond Heights, Ohio 44143

Thanks for the replies. I did search for Cleveland and didn't come up with much. I'm at a loss as how to find these earlier threads, but thanks for your responses.

I lived there for five years and after about two years, my wife would complain when we HAD to go out to eat.

Not sure when/where in Cleveland you were, jlawrence01, but my experience was much different than your wife's.

My then fiancee and I were in Cleveland for approximately 5 years before moving to Chicago 2 years ago, and there's no shortage of good places to eat. At the time, there were a lot of new, interesting restaurants in the Ohio City/Tremont area (and high turnover), but lots of solid neighborhood fare throughout the city.

Do check out Mike G's thread esp re: West Side Market, which shouldn't be missed.

Some of our favorite places at the time were Heck's, Fulton Bar and Grill, Marotta's, Players on Madison, Lola, and Lopez. If you'll be in Cleveland frequently, it might be useful for you to peek in at the dining section of these sites:

http://www.cleveland.com (Metromix-like)
http://www.clevescene.com (Reader-like -- has many menus posted)
http://www.freetimes.com (Reader-like)

It would be great if you could report back on your findings...

Cleveland rocks.

Zee

From what Ive read on many food forums "Graeter's ice cream" is a big hit in Ohio and a cant miss ice cream spot.

http://www.graeters.com/index.cfm

and search for locations:
LINK

Hi,

I have been to Graeter's once and its' reputation is well deserved. I checked the link for locations, unfortunately not in Cleveland.

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

On a trip earlier this month, I had a decent meal at

Lozada's Restaurant
1909 W 25TH St
Cleveland, OH 44113-3418 View Map
(216) 621-2954

Lozada's serves pretty high quality Puerto Rican food, which is not my favorite cuisine but I do enjoy it at times. I had some emapanadas and Mofongo with fish broth (very fishy, very garlicky and downright intense). Service was lackadaisical, if that matters, and prices are very, very low. My companion had some nice fried pork chops.

There was a middle eastern place next door that looked interesting, and a few more places down the block that looked worth exploring.

My travels to Cleveland apparently took me to a different planet than the other posters here - in general, I have been happy eating there. There is that chi-chi neighborhood just south of downtown with a few very acceptable yuppie spots, the west side with a good selection of ethnic places, and it all made me happy. Unfortunately it has been a couple of years and I do not have any other notes.

Spend a few weeks in Independence, Kansas, say, or maybe Tulsa if you want to experience genuine food wasteland. I used to eat at Subway in Independence because it really was the best food around. Heck, I actually enjoy visiting Cleveland in every way, tho I cannot say I would want to live there (now, Pittsburgh is a possibility - there is a wonderful city).

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d
Retired, gone fishing, and exploring my curmudgeon within

Speaking of ice cream...

I was there over the past weekend and among other things had some really good gelato at La Gelateria on the 13000 block of Cedar (Cleveland Heights?).

Also, tried the pizza at Mama Santas which was pretty good, sort of a thicker East Coast stye. Usually I'm just a cheese pizza person but somethign told me to get pepperoni on half and I'm glad I did. Cool old-school red sauce place in Little Italy, too. Beyond cheap.

Lemme see, we went to a place called Number One Pho on the 3000 block of Superior. This wasn't planned, we just happened to drive by when we were going to La Gelateria (for the second time) from the ballgame and figured actual food would be nice before gelato. It was quite good though. I'm not expert in Vientamese food but it didn't seem that much different from the places we have on Argyle.

On St Claire (40th Street approximately) we had breakfast at Shay's just based on the people we saw walking in--essentially one of those amazing mixes where the entire world comes together. We knew we found an interesting place when breakfast could come with halal meat, grits and greens. Very old-school diner atmosphere where waitresses seemed to know almost every customer by name. Pretty good standard diner food for very low prices.

The most important place to hit, though, is the West Side Market (and the East Side market I assume too although it was closed the day we tried to go). If we only had something like this in Chicago. In addition to it being a true public market that 100% takes the place of a grocery store (outisde of non-food items) and being open 4 times week, you can get a great lunch there. We tried a falafel sandwhich which rivaled the best I've had. There were Thai, Italian, Mexican and othe options as well. Desert? Oh there's just like 20 bakeries. There is no way you can leave there disappointed--not too mention being envious as hell that we have nothing like this here.

Two other places that we wanted to try but were closed were Slyman's Deli for supposedly the greatest corned beef in the world and Junipers for breakfast. Walked by Junipers twice going to the games and it looked like an unpretentious Bongo-Room type place (but the grass is usually greener so who knows for sure on that part).

All in all I was favorably impressed with Cleveland. The public market really did it,though. If only we had one here...

On a vist to Case Western last year, I had a very nice dinner at Sergio's (Brazilian influenced). A little pricey, but I wasn't paying.

If you like cheese, definitely stop by at the Baricelli Inn. They age a lot of fantastic cheese, especially goat cheeses. I never ate at the ("critically acclaimed") restaurant, but simply bought a few cheeses (including an excellent Jacquin Rond ash) before leaving Cleveland.


Sergio's
1903 Ford Dr
Cleveland, OH
216/231-1234

The Baricelli Inn
2203 Cornell Road
Cleveland, OH 44106
Phone: 216.791.6500
http://www.baricelli.com

Thank you all for your responses. I used to consider Cleveland my second home but I don't get there nearly as often as I used to, or as often as I'd like. Cleveland, to me, is a mini version of Chicago.

I'll pass along a few of my own choices for you to consider on your next visit:

www.slymans.com

www.fatfishblue.com

Fat Fish is a must for anyone who professes to like Blues. The most famous bluesman alive lives in Cleveland, Robert Lockwood Jr. 90 years old and still plays every Wed night for free. he was taught the guitar by Robert Johnson and was one of the founders of the King Biscuit Flower Hour and knew every famous blues person at some point in his life.

Slymans is a really good deli, but Chicago probably has 50 just like it.

West Side Market is a gem.

You've given me some new places to investigate and I can hardly wait.

As a former citizen I second Mama Santa for pizza in little italy and the West Side Market for food shopping. Even with so many great markets in Chi.

Some others

Tommys 1824 Coventry, Cleveland Hts.

Outstanding Falafel and more healthful fare.

Hunan Coventry, Cleveland Hts.

One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the country. Very awesome food. The three blessings which has delightful honey walnuts is one of my favorite chinese dishes of all time. You probably won't make it as far south as Aurora, but if so Hunan Aurora has my second favorite General Tso's chicken in the country.

As far as more gourmet fare goes, Circo Zibibo on 1300 W. 9th is a great upscale italian place near the warehouse district. Very french gourmet technique, italian fusion place.

My absolute favorite restaurant in all of Cleveland is/was Lola Bistro in Tremont. Michael Symon the chef was profiled in the Michael Ruhlman book, The Soul of a Chef. And soul he does have. Mac and Cheese, Crab Pierogies etc...such good fare. European hearty midwest meets french gourmet. Paczki meets Beignet. Basically like if your polish grandmother had a food love child with charlie trotter.

That being said Symon has decided to open a new restaurant or move Lola to Cleveland downtown I think, and has reopend Lola as Lolita in the old space. My guess is you won't be disappointed, but have not seen the new incarnation.

Fat Cat's on west 10th st also in Tremont is also pretty tasty, very neighborhood gourmet. I remember the foie gras like it was yesterday.

Couple others (I could go all day). Moxie is decent and Charlies Crab for the biggest king crab legs you have ever seen.

Made a quick trip to Cleveland last weekend (sorry to miss the festivities at Klas) ... a few brief reactions to two very different places I tried:

Giovanni's - On the ground floor of a suburban office building, this restaurant bills itself as "A five star Italian Ristorante" that welcomes you with a wall of its awards ... on none of which could I count more than four stars, diamonds, or other accoutrements. Even given the hyperbole, it was an impressive, old-school Italian restaurant. The interior looks like it could date back to the 1930s or 1940s, although I doubt the office building was more than 30-35 years old, at most.

Strengths seemed to be meats ... my lamb chops were perfectly done, as was one dining companion's large veal chop. Both were nicely, but not creatively, presented - consistent with the old-style theme. But the cavatelli with veal rago reminded me of a nicely chewy pasta in a sauce that Chef Boyardee would approve of, but that Tony Mantuano would not.

Appetizer of crab/shrimp cake with crisped leeks and a sauce that claimed to have been visited by a lobster at one point in its life was good/adequate, but not what I'd expect of a restaurant that strives to be of such caliber.

I'm arguably proud to say my presence reduced the average age of diners by at least a half-decade.

Prices were probably comparable to Spiaggia, but considering it was suburban Cleveland, well ...


In the famed words of Monty Python ... and now for something completely different ...

Parallax is in the trendy, Wicker Park/Bucktown-like Tremont of Cleveland, and has that kind of vibe. It's seafood focused, even down to (what looks like from the menu) a reasonably adventurous sushi bar.

We started with calamari fritti - certainly not unusual, but well-prepared, with three dipping sauces. A salad of poached lobster over mixed greens and several other ingredients that my memory fails to bring up now was excellent - the soft, unctuous quality of the lobster played off well with the crispness of the greens.

My roast monkfish over mashed potatoes with crispy artichokes was a delectable combination of toothsome fish, creamy potato, and crispy ... am I going overboard on adjectives? The companion had miso-glazed black cod over bok choy - textures weren't as diverse as my dish, but flavor meld was probably even a little better.

Apparently the chef - he's referred to as "Z" - has had other restaurants in Cleveland, and is well revered there.

Giovanni's Ristorante
25550 Chagrin Blvd.
Beachwood, Ohio

Parallax
2179 West 11th St.
Cleveland, Ohio[/b]

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Chicago Craft Beer Week!

On taking one for the Board:

Had occasion to lunch this week in Guarino's in Cleveland's Little Italy. Before I rip this place - can someone explain to me why apparently authentic-looking Italian places in the Midwest can serve such awful food? I have had truly terrible meals in Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor and now Cleveland in places that appeared quite promising in their way, but what they served Lord help me.

Back to Guarino's - old dark place, front half is a bar. Back half has a bit of the Victorian whore house look - dangly, crystal lights, dark red, flocked wallpaper, black tablecloths with lace on top. You get it. Dark room on a sunny, beautiful spring day, and we were really hungry.

Settled on the Veal Piccata, and the son ordered the "Tri-pasta" three tiny servings of pasta on a plate. Gnocchi with Pesto, Fettucine Alfredo and Penne with meat sauce. Hey he is an adult, and reponsible for himself. I suppose I should have known when I saw this. He deemed this acceptable, and I deigned to sample it.

Mediocre bread arrived with butter pats - the son requested olive oil, and they brought him the oil and vinegar (another clue).

But wait, it gets better.

Veal Piccata is a frozen, breaded, deep-fried veal cutlet (I take it on faith that the meat was veal, but since they checked twice to assure I wanted the veal and not chicken, who knows - I sure could not tell), in a pool of gloppy sauce (lots of corn starch here) studded with capers. At least there was real caper flavor. It came with a side of Penne in "Marinara" sauce. Hunt's tomato sauce, I reckon, with the slightest touch of seasoning.

I am ashamed to say I ate it all, but in my defense, it was 2pm and this was the first food I had all day.

A question to you all - is this what all of Cleveland's Little Italy is like, or did I just pick really, really badly?

I forced the son to stop at Beirut in Toledo on the drive home, and am all better, now, thanks for your concern. Still great food, there. Maybe I need to stick with Middle Eastern food on these trips and avoid Italian?

Guarino's Restaurant (so you know what to avoid)
(216) 231-3100
(216) 721-6289
12309 Mayfield Rd
Cleveland, OH 44106

Beirut - It does not get a lot better - Kibbe in all its forms!
(419) 473-0885
4082 Monroe St
Toledo, OH 43606

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d
Retired, gone fishing, and exploring my curmudgeon within

In the five years I lived in Cleveland, I was advised that the Little Italy eateries were not all that good by co-workers who lived in the area. There were a couple of bakeries that were very good and at least one of them - the name excapes me - served some top rate subs.

OTOH, there were several Italian stored on the east side that were excellent -

The Gust Gallucci Company
6610 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44103

http://www.gusgallucci.com/

Phenomenal bakery, great sandwiches and the widest selection of Italian wines and olive oils.

Thanks for the tip-off about Cleveland's Little Italy. We've made annual business trips there for the last ten years or so, and only last year discovered this neighborhood by accident. While we didn't have occasion to eat at any of the neighborhood spots then, we did have our sights set on them for this year. Thanks to you all, we will now make other plans.

We have found many other wonderful restaurants in and around Cleveland over the years. For Thai, we've been to Lemon Grass and our new favorite, Phnom Penh, a combination of Thai, VietNamese, and Cambodian. They serve wonderful, affordable food in plentiful quantities.

We try to get to the Flat Iron Grill down in The Flats whenever we're in town. Admittedly, both The Flats and Flat Iron aren't what they used to be, but Flat Iron still serves a pretty good clam chowder and fried fish platter, and with fewer people in The Flats, parking is way easier.

We've also enjoyed the Middle Eastern fare at Sinbad's in Cleveland Heights. I know, they're a chain, but they're a small chain and I think they serve up a quality product.

Another chain that we enjoyed was FatFishBlue right in downtown. It was a little pricy and noisy, but we made a fine and affordable meal by going with a variety of appetizers.

Our traditional final stop before leaving town is Harry Buffalo, a neat little bar in Rocky River serving a very good buffalo burger.

We're going to try Sokolowski's University Inn this year, and we've heard good things about Flannery's Pub. I'll let you know how it is.

Buddy

bump for this thread. going back next week. so far, Cleveland is proving itself significantly worse than Omaha.

first meal wasted at Slyman's due to my VP's urging. glad he wrote it off for me as an expense cuz if i actually had to pay for it...
dropped unnecessary dough at Parallax only to be greeted by lousy bread and lackadaisical mussels, etc.
let's not even get started on Sakura in Brecksville, OH - hibachi house in a Cleveland suburb.

basically i struck out last time around except for the fabulous time @ XO's happy hour replete with free booze. glad my fave pancakes are still around but it's not new to me. do i have no choice but to hit up a celebrity chef (Lolita)? Does eating at such a restaurant make one's pedophilic tendencies surface?

I grew up in Cleveland, but didn't learn anything about eating until I came to Chicago. That said, I havea few that haven't come up in this thread that are worth a visit when you're in town, if not a trip in-and-of-themselves.

Bearden's is a good burger joint in Rocky River. They have excellent onion rings, if you like the big battery kind, as opposed to the Burger King small breaded style. They also serve a distinctive peanut butter burger, perhaps not unlike the one from the Wheel Inn in Sedalia, MO immortalized in Hamburger America. (Note, the onion rings pictured on the Wheel Inn review are exactly what Bearden's onion rings are NOT.) (Also note, despite the bear imagery on the Bearden's website and menu, it is pronounced "beer-dehnz".

While it won't knock the socks off of Argyle regulars, Ohio City's Minh Anh is a very respectable Vietnamese place with a nice attached market. I've only been once, but I enjoyed both the meal and the shopping.

Honey Hut is a good place for ice cream. I was told that their "gimmick" is that all the ice cream is sweetened with honey. I don't see that on their web site, but I recall thinking that I tasted it the first time I had it. I've only had it a few times, but they recently opened a stand at Huntington Beach Park in my home town of Bay Village.


Bearden's
19985 Lake Road
Rocky River, Ohio 44116
(440) 331-7850

Minh Anh
5428 Detroit Rd.
Cleveland, OH 44102
216 961-9671

Honey Hut
Locations in Cleveland, Parma, Strongsville, Brecksville, and Bay Village.

Minh Anh easily makes the worst glass of cafe sua da my tongue has ever encountered. this is extremely surprisingly considering they own their own "grocery store" with all the proper ingredients present.

Minh Anh also had the most expensive bowl of Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio (grilled pork + eggroll) ever @ $10.25. at least it was half decent w/ plenty of grilled pork, peanuts, lettuce, bean sprouts and all the other fixings.

the most delicious meal of the Cleveland I've had so far is at the new(ish) Lolita. After this meal, i hope to catch the original Lola in its new downtown location starting next month.

had some amazing crispy pork w/ marinaded beets and scallop sashimi for apps, pulled duck w/ plum & olive on flat bread, and 2 cute lil desserts (1 chocolate mousse, 1 mint orange custard). the service was still superb deep into the nite (i did not arrive until 10:30pm) with food to match. basically, this is Cleveland's version of Hot Chocolate down to the bathroom shower curtain induced privacy booth.

Lolita
900 Literary Rd
Cleveland, OH 44113
216-771-5652
http://cityguide.aol.com/cleveland/dini ... bid=288341

Love to eat...I'm in Cleveland - so I try to find the solid spots.

I was reading about Guarino's above...I agree - the food is horrendous. I thought that it was always the case...but, a friend of mine recently married someone who is 'Family'. He and Kim went there - he swears he's hard-pressed to recall a better meal. It's a shame, but Guarino's is definately not in the cards for me.

The rest of Little Italy is hit or miss. Primo Vino is, in my experience, a place to be skipped. I had one of the best meals there once - and then 2-3 of the worst. Inconsistent - even the owner's friends have told me that.

On the plus side, Trattoria does do a reasonable Eggplant Parm. Presti's Bakery has some lovely cookies. Corbo's Bakery is home to the best Cassata Cake in Cleveland - it rates quite highly with Cassata Cake I've had anywhere else.

If you're looking for really good Italian food in Cleveland, and don't mind spending a bit to get it, I recommend La Osteria downtown. It's on St. Clair, near W.6th Street. It's a bit hidden away, but the food has been lovely.

There's a Thai restaurant ~30 minutes from Cleveland called Pad Thai. They do actually have 2 locations, on in Hudson, the other in Fairlawn (near Akron). Hudson's the original - Fairlawn just has a nicer interior. They both serve commendable food. I particularly enjoyed their Siam Eggplant and the Avocado Chicken. I haven't really had much there that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. Just to add to the above recommendations to Phnom Penh - great place - I've taken to going there about every 2 weeks now.

My most recent favorite...Fahrenheit. I was tired, hungry, and in need of a good meal. I went to Fahrenheit, started with the Grilled Haloumi and Melons appetizer - amazing. Had a nice Pinot Grigio suggested by the waiter and the scallops. The whole meal was restorative. A companion had the Chicken Spring Roll appetizer - that too was a flavor explosion - highly recommended. Great service, food, and atmosphere. Not cheap, but when it makes you feel that much better, it's worth it. My meal came in ~$40 - for appetizer, wine, and scallops, I didn't feel too bad.

Cleveland is my ancestral homeland and I'm very fond of it. Still, I recognize it's limitations as a food town. There are some good places, that nobody has touched on in this thread, though.

It's been a long time since I've been there, but Corky & Lenny's used to be an excellent deli. It's the type of place that you'd be more likely to find in New York than Chicago. There used to multiple locations, but now there might only be one. It's out on the far East Side. Google it or look it up in the phonebook.

The West Side Market is another Cleveland institution that everybody should visit at least once. It's on or near West 25th, I believe, just on the other side of the flats. We don't have anything exactly like it here in Chicago, either. It's very oldwordish with pigs hanging from hooks and such. (Or at least it used to be this way. They may have yuppified it up lately).

Great Lakes Brewing Company in Ohio City has excellent beer and so-so food. I especially like their Dortmunder Gold. They sell it at Hopleaf here like it's gourmet.

Finally, if you have any old school Cleveland friends, you should try to get yourself invited to a clambake, especially since fall is almost here. Don't ask me why these are popular in Cleveland of all places, but they definitely were when my parents were young adults. My uncles still throw them fairly frequently.

Read more on Ruhlman's blog, and
see also Celebration of the Pig on eGullet

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Joe G.

"Whatever may be wrong with the world, at least it has some good things to eat." -- Cowboy Jack Clement

I'm spending Thanksgiving weekend with my Mom who lives near Cleveland. I decided this was a good opportunity to get back to the West Side Market and pick up something to bring for the gift exchange at the LTH Holiday Party.

I made it an occasion to meet up with some friends who still live in the area. Since they had a couple of young 'uns in tow, we didn't manage to sit down for a full meal, but we had some pretty good snacks. I had a pepperoni roll, which was basically just bread wrapped around a little pile of pepperoni with some sesame seeds on top--quite tasty. I also nibbled on a very good apple fritter that Elaine picked up; it was less glaze-heavy than most and had a nice lightness and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. I also succeeded in acquiring a few slovenian sausages, a mustard produced by one of the stallkeepers, and some fresh pasta (which will have to be frozen until the party but still looks to be pretty good) so hopefully that will be a treat for someone at the holiday party.

Not having eaten much else, I don't have a lot more to say, so I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. There are a few more on Flickr -- click on any of the below to get to my Flickr site if you want to click around further.































No, I didn't manage to try a Johnny Hot Dog. But the purveyor at Ohio City Pasta encouraged me to bring a bunch of you out on a day trip. I had to point out that it would be a little more than a day trip unless we hired a bus or something... but it sounded like fun. Maybe we could turn it into a research trip towards getting a permanent market here in Chicago!

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Joe G.

"Whatever may be wrong with the world, at least it has some good things to eat." -- Cowboy Jack Clement

I was back home in Akron this past weekend and managed a few trips (the 30 miles) up to Cleveland, and the WestSide Market.
This market is maybe my favorite thing about Cleveland. But, the best part, after you do your shopping and stow your goodies in your trunk, is that you can saunter catty-corner from the market over to the Great Lakes Brewery and have a few of the best brewed pints in the country.
Also--if you don't hit the Pierogi Meister in the Market, you should go back just for that. His pierogies are amazing, as is the home-made sour cream he'll likely unload on you (that sounded a little mis-worded for so early in the morning).
cheers,
p

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"Who says I despair?...I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?"--Walker Percy

Is that pig smiling?

I stopped at the West Side Market en route back to Chicago after Thanksgiving. The place looked fairly wiped out after the holiday, and a few of the vendors were closed, but it's a fantastic market. Yet another year-round, established public market that makes me wonder, once again, WHY DOESN'T CHICAGO HAVE ONE??

After perusing, we stopped for lunch at the restaurant in the market. The sign outside said 'Under New Management'--not sure how long, and I can't speak about the previous management, but I had a lovely smoked salmon BLT. It was light on the "smoked", but tasty.

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http://www.ColleenRush.com

The West Side Market is closed due to fire:

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... s_fac.html

The West Side Market did successfully reopen; I will be there this weekend. Any other current intel on the environs will be much appreciated.

Momocho is very much worth trying. Nuevo Latino food, funky interior, imaginative and talented chef (Eric Williams). Everything made fresh and in-house, including the tortillas. The menu is seasonal, so will have changed since I was there last fall. If they have them, the short rib tamales are sublime. The variety of guacamoles is fun, and you can get a trio, to sample them -- but the amounts are generous. The gingersnap and jalapeno bread pudding was awesome. But everything was outstanding.

Small place, but generally packed to the rafters. They do take reservations, however. Wonderful place.

momocho
1835 fulton rd cleveland ohio 44113
216.694.2122

http://www.momocho.com/

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com