Weekend of Exploration

I felt like Christopher Columbus last weekend. We were all over Cleveland, poking our heads (and tummies) into different restaurants and bars. It was fun, and delicious! It all started with Touch Supper Club in Ohio City on Friday night. I admit that I was a wee leery to try out this spot. This place has evolved over time, and while they still boast to have some of the best live music and dancing in Cleveland, they are quickly becoming well-known for their happy hour specials and growing menu items. If you are going to check them out, and I suggest that you do, hit it up on a Friday night for FREE SUSHI during happy hour. It was delicious, and the platters didn't stop coming out of the kitchen while we dined.

We started with the Delirium Mussels- Delirium tremens steamed jumbo mussels, bacon, garlic, and herbs served with belgian frites ($9). The mussels were swimming in a tasty garlic broth, with a small drizzle of creamy sauce that had just a little kick to it. The belgian frites are best eaten after letting them soak in the broth for a while! I then moved on to the Mac and Cheese- Cottswold, vermont cheddar, port salut, taso ham with petite peas ($11). When I took my first bite, I didn't like the dish. Oddly enough, it grew on me as I continued. One thing to note is that the kitchen staff forgot to include the petite peas, which is never a good sign. Their attention to detail and presentation is obviously lacking. "R" had the Lamb Ravioli– Arugula and tomato feta salsa ($16). The dish was served cold (still not sure if that was on purpose or not) and lacked flavor. I took one bite and turned down his offer of more. The dish was quite disappointing. The shining star of the meal was the Berries Foster dessert. The warm puff pastry was smothered in raspberries, black berries, and blue berries and topped with two mounds of melting vanilla ice cream. It was quite a way to end the meal. The only other thing worth mentioning is that the restaurant serves cucumber water. The slight hint of cucumber is refreshing and left us wanting more!

After leaving Touch, we headed over to West 25th Street. I wanted to check out Bar Cento's new bar called Speakeasy. They opened this new establishment in their basement, and I was curious to see what they had done. We walked through the packed house of Bar Cento/Bier Markt and wandered down the staircase. We turned the corner and were sadly disappointed. "R" exclaimed that it felt like a dark dungeony basement, and apparently we weren't the only ones who felt this way because there was only about eight people at the very large bar. We turned on our heels and headed back out to the street.

We ended up at Market Avenue Wine Bar's new location across from the Great Lakes Brewing Company. It's cozy atmosphere and extensive wine list was a perfect end to the evening. The exploring did not end on Friday night, so stay tuned for another blog post later this week!

Touch Supper Club
2710 Lorain Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44113-3470
(216) 631-5200

Bar Cento
1948 W 25th Street
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 274-1010

Market Avenue Wine Bar
2526 Market Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44113-3434
(216) 696-9463

Celebrating Bar Cento's Success

Bar Cento in Ohio City celebrated serving its 50,000 pizza last night by offering a FREE pizza for any purchase of a carafe of beer or wine. What a fantastic deal! Three of us headed over there after work, and I'm so glad that we did. We started off with two carafes of Stella Artois and Blue Moon, and the Arugula Pizza w/ pine nuts, onion, garlic & mozzarella and the Salsiccia Pizza w/ tomato sauce, provolone & sweet Italian sausage. The beers are two of my favorites, and both of the pizzas were very good (both thin crust). The arugula pizza had just the right amount of spice, and the caramelized onions were a nice touch. The salsiccia pizza was a little salty, but overall very interesting and tasty. We finished the evening with another carafe of stella and the Sunnyside Pizza w/ eggs, provolone, pancetta & lots of black pepper, which our waiter boasted was the most popular pizza on the menu. It was certainly creative with its over-medium egg and strips of bacon. I would order it again. The pizzas run from $6-$13, so to get three pizzas for free was one hell of a deal. Congratulations to Bar Cento for serving over 50,000 pizzas, and now I can see why after sampling three delicious versions!

Bar Cento & McNulty's Bier Markt
1948 West 25th Street
Cleveland, Ohio, 44113
216-274-1010