Forget Cleveland Plus. Forget NEO. Forget Lakewood. Downtown Cleveland is where it's at. And there's no longer a need to sugarcoat it.
For the longest time I hated this city. Seasonal affective disorder takes a toll here. And until recently, nothing was getting done to modernize the landscape of downtown Cleveland.
Scratch that, reverse it.
The new Euclid Avenue kicks ass. East 4th Street is a gold mine. There are actual nightclubs, not Jersey-Shore-trash bars like before. The King's court is here. Celebrities are flocking to Cleveland like it's going out of business.
If you rolled into the Barley House on Thursday night, you could have rubbed elbows with LeBron, Lil' Wayne, Kelly Pavlik, Josh Cribbs and Troy Smith. Who even cares that Kim Kardashian was there.
Melissa and I went out Friday night. There are so many newer restaurants (Encore, Greenhouse Tavern, RJ Bolands ...) that we mulled our options extensively, but decided on dinner at Zach Bruell's new restaurant on East 4th, Chinato. Then we caught a comedian at Hilarities and had dessert at the new Chocolate Bar. Couldn't have had a better time.
First, we found a parking spot on the street. Free. In what city can you park for zero cost?
Chinato by Bruell, who also did L'Albatros and Parallax, is going to be great. Our service was so-so, but I blame that on the fact that it just opened and it would literally take a month to learn that menu. I had no idea what at least 30 percent of the items on the menu were. And the wine list is organized by Italian regions. But the food spoke for itself. I had sausage and peppers, Melissa had swordfish, and both were quality. We shared a bottle of outstanding-yet-inexpensive Corte Alla Flora syrah. The mixed salad, in fact, was the best part of the meal and we both raved about it.
Every city has popular pockets of success--mini neighborhoods--and Cleveland is no different. I've graduated from clubby West 6th to a more relaxed East 4th, but both areas have made drastic improvements. Playhouse Square, the arts district, already has a few cornerstones and reeks of potential. If there are any vacant window fronts on East 4th, they won't be dim for long. People are there, spending money, drinking, having a good time, and I can't imagine the owners of those establishments aren't reaping the benefits.
We saw this fat Greek dude, Basile, at Hilarities and he cracked us up. He's from Cleveland originally and was back in town for a week. Besides his stand-up gig, he does the voice of Bullwinkle for the newly remastered Rocky and Bullwinkle shows. Check out a clip of his stand-up here; it's pretty hilarious. (No joke, we ran into him about two hours after his set, about 1 a.m., when he stumbled into the Chocolate Bar, sweaty, looking for any kitchen still serving food.)
Speaking of Chocolate Bar, shout out to Brandon slinging drinks behind the bar. Real cool dude, and he makes a mean crème brulée martini, according to Melissa.
And then there's LeBron, who singlehandedly put Cleveland back on the map. Forget the Kobe-LeBron-who's better debate. It's over. LeBron takes games over. His supporting cast is JV compared to Kobe's, and he beat the Lakers twice this year. He's so confident. He enjoys the game. Like when he rapped an entire Eminem verse on the court with a two-point lead and 25 seconds on the clock. In the biggest game of the regular season on national TV.
He's even better off the court. He says the right things, never gets into trouble and stays true to his roots. The new debate is LeBron vs. Michael, and when James gets a ring he'll be the best basketball player to have ever played the game. Read this Bill Simmons column, a great summary of LeBron's abilities on and off the court.
So, in summary, it really is time for people to flee to the Cleve. Better yet, let's hope they don't. Let's enjoy it for ourselves a little while longer.
Here's a gift for the LeBron fans--download a pretty cool widescreen desktop wallpaper I designed here.
