Coke-Fueled Akron Man Steals Car, Asks Police to Follow Him to Station
For most criminals, the real score of a heist is not only the object involved in said crime, but getting away cleanly afterward. Sure, the thrill of the moment, the adrenaline, whatever jollies they may get in committing the act — those have something to do with the crime, but none of that really matters…
Eastlake North Fans Chant Anti-Gay Slur
Take one mass spectacle; add in competitive spirit and callow insensitivity; shake: under the Friday night lights last week, a cross-town rivalry reportedly turned into large-scale homophobia. According to the Plain Dealer, when Eastlake North High School faced-off against Willoughby South, the northerners had a little “fun” regarding the baby blues worn by their southern…
Michael Symon Closing Bar Symon in Avon Lake
By Douglas Trattner For one of the first times in his modern professional career, Michael Symon has the unenviable task of shutting down a restaurant. At 3 p.m. today, the staff of Bar Symon in Avon Lake learned that their restaurant — and their jobs — will close for good on October 30. “This is…
This Just In: Cleveland Concert Announcements
The Cult, back when they had awesome hair Bears/Harriet the Spy/Kill the Hippies: Beachland Home For the Holidays, Ballroom, $8, Thu., Dec. 23, 8:30 p.m. Beachland. Big Gigantic: Wed., Dec. 1, 9 p.m., $10. Grog Shop. The Cult/the Black Riders: Mon., Nov. 15, $32.50 ADV (LiveNation.com). House of Blues. Danielle Ate the Sandwich: Tue., Nov.…
Video: Elephants March Through Cleveland
Best to be on the lookout for elephant dung on the streets of downtown Cleveland today. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey folks marched their elephants from the Muni-Lot to The Q this morning around 6:30 a.m., a mass movement of bewildered animals the likes of which are usually only witnessed in Cleveland on…
Bicycling on the Rise in Cleveland
You might see this bike at Edison’s. The latest figures from a local group charged with monitoring transportation patterns suggest that bicycles are gradually assuming a role of dominance on our area streets. Since 2006, the average number of bicyclists across Cuyahoga County has increased by 50 percent, according to the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating…
Tom Ganley Facing Another Lawsuit
Everyone wants a piece of Tom Ganley. It’s been a painful stretch run on the campaign trail for car dealer Tom Ganley, who is vying to unseat Betty Sutton in Ohio’s House of Representatives. It started when news broke of a lawsuit filed several weeks ago by a former Ganley supporter. Robin Cupredo Saccany, who…
Pair in Custody Over Flats Stabbing Death
Things got ugly outside Earth Nightclub in the Flats early Sunday morning around 4 a.m. Police say 25-year-old Kevin Ghee was stabbed to death after arguing with a couple inside the bar. 33-year-old Clifton Robinson and 31-year-old Lydia Nord were arrested in Oberlin after police found their Chevy Tahoe, which witnesses saw at the scene…
Expect to Wait Awhile If You Call 911
You’ll see this… eventually. The Cleveland Clinic plans on closing trauma centers at Lakewood and Huron hospitals and Mayor Frank Jackson is none too happy about it. He held a press conference this morning warning that wait times for 911 calls were bound to be up with two of the city’s trauma centers shutting down.…
Concert Review: Lubriphonic at Beachland Tavern
Swinging for the cheap seats The bluesy, soulful, and funky Lubriphonic brought the heart and soul of Chicago to the Beachland Tavern last night. The band that is usually a septet was rolling as a sextet and didn’t miss a beat — even though it was missing a horn. Still, the group had no problem…
Harvey Pekar Died of Prescription Overdose
According to the coroner, venerable Cleveland crank and cult comic hero Harvey Pekar died of an accidental overdose of Prozac and a smoking cessation med. Sad. (Via 19 Action News)
Jimmy Dimora Can’t Pay His Lawyer
The tab for the legal defense of Jimmy Dimora in the federal corruption proceedings is going to be hefty. Super hefty. (Go ahead and insert your own Jimmy Dimora fat joke here.) There’s mountains of paperwork and countless hours of FBI wiretaps to listen to, and all told, from the moment Richard Lillie, Dimora’s lawyer,…
Pic of the Day: Old Cleveland Breweries
It’s Cleveland Beer Week and the shores of Lake Erie are certainly blessed these days with fine breweries and purveyors of zymurgy. But what about days past? What about before Great Lakes Brewery and Indigo Imp and Thirsty Dog and the rest? Take a trip through Cleveland’s tasty past with this page from the Cleveland…
Concert Review: SF Jazz Collective at Nighttown
So big, they barely fit in the same picture It was a tight fit, as the eight-piece SF Jazz Collective squeezed into the confines of Nighttown for two packed sets at Nighttown Saturday evening. The ensemble formed in 2004 by the West Coast jazz organization SF Jazz has changed lineups over the past few years,…
Concert Review: Kim Richey at the Beachland Ballroom
Rocked the Beachland — relatively speaking, of course Kim Richey entranced a packed and seated audience at the Beachland Ballroom Saturday night with a set that’s hard to describe without fear of evoking images of lesser music. She’s a singer-songwriter roaming between Americana, country, and mellow rock— all highly tread musical forms lately, often to…
Concert Review: HIgh on Fire at the Grog Shop
High on Fire, and probably a few other things High on Fire descended upon a packed Grog Shop Friday night on top of a diverse three-band hard-rock bill and staked a powerful claim to the heavy metal throne with an hour-long display of brutally intelligent music. Singer and guitarist extraordinaire Matt Pike is finally starting…
Video: Cute Bear Eats a Pumpkin
Here’s a cute video to take you into the weekend. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s two sloth bears, Sakar and Asia, got pumpkins filled with peanut butter as a Halloween treat. Yummy. Halloween treats for the sloth bears at the zoo
John Falso, Wife and Son, Arrested for Growing Pot
“Everybody now.” Every neighborhood has a family like the Falsos. They’re the super rad ones who all the kids wish they could call their own. It was the house on the block where you loved to spend the night because they’d let you do all the stuff your lame parents wouldn’t, like eat junk food,…
MTV Inscribes “Black Eyed Peas” on Black Keys’ VMA Award
The Black Keys took home an MTV Video Music Award in the “Breakthrough Video” category for “Tighten Up,” off their recent critically acclaimed album Brothers. Unfortunately, MTV inscribed their award with “The Black Eyed Peas.” Whoops. Probably just as well though, we don’t want their heads to get too big anyway. The guys wrote, “We…
Plain Dealer Shut Out of Awards Because It Didn’t Enter (Update)
Update: Clifford Anthony, whose title is “Immediate Past President” of the SPJ’s Cleveland Pro Chapter, writes to let us know that the PD is, like, really really good buds to the SPJ. Enjoy: We write to assure the readers of Scene that The Plain Dealer is a longtime, staunch supporter of the Society for Professional…
Wino and Gold LeBron Jersey Drive Update
You’ll be happy to know that 1) Over 100 items were collected, 2) They are all now in Miami, 3) More specifically, they’ve been given out to Miami’s homeless. The full story about the Wino and Gold LeBron Jersey Drive is being written as we speak. Look for it soon. In the meantime, this photo…
Pic of the Day: Marvel’s “The Unamazing Cavaliers” Comic
Marvel is teaming up with ESPN for a series of NBA-focused comics. At New York Comic Con, Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics CEO, showed two examples, one of which was “The Unamazing Cavaliers.” Thanks, Marvel! Thanks, ESPN!
19 Action News Investigates Sexy Halloween Costumes
Call the Emmy voters, we have a winner. 19 Actions News, in the sort of seasonal fluff piece local television news has trademarked, gives us this joyous little clip on sexy Halloween costumes. How hot is too hot? Skin is in! Tramps! Watch for yourself. We still can’t decide what the funniest part was: the…
Craigslist Missed Connection of the Day
Cleveland: Where suctioning fat from your body doubles as flirting.
Afternoon Brew: Cute Cat, Rush Hour Ratings, Armenian Gangsters, and Putting Your Stamp on Lakewood
No less cute with one less leg. Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while think of your own semi-witty phrase to put in this space . — Who doesn’t love a good cute cat story? No one. Except people who hate cats. A three-legged mute cat had been missing in Concord Township. Thankfully…
Severed LeBron Leg Art is Doubly Symbolic, Or Something
New York-based artist Don Porcella specializes in pipe cleaner art. He’s completed a mini-series focusing on NBA stars and shoes and its… intense. “King James” is the third in a series including “Air Jordan” and “Kobe”. About the New Balance shoe artwork: “The leg is severed because the brand becomes more important than the player…
Pic of the Day: Doubly Symbolic Severed Leg LeBron Art
New York-based artist Don Porcella specializes in pipe cleaner art. He’s completed a mini-series focusing on NBA stars and shoes and it’s… intense. “King James” is the third in a series including “Air Jordan” and “Kobe”. About the New Balance shoe artwork: “The leg is severed because the brand becomes more important than the player…
Democrats, Republicans Use Actor To Inadvertently Dramatize the Wrong Point
After Ohio Republicans committed a party foul in a gubernatorial attack ad, Democrats responded with their own ethical lapse. In early October, an ad for gubernatorial candidate John Kasich featured a man, supposedly an unemployed steel worker, standing in an darkened, empty factory, blaming governor Ted Strickland for 400,000 lost steel jobs. Democrats quickly leaned…
Teen in Critical Condition After Ninja Fight
“You talking to us?” File this one away in WTF. A Toledo teen is fighting for his life in a hospital after a brawl. Yes, common enough, sadly. But this teen isn’t recovering from your standard gunshots or knife wounds. He was stabbed with a sword and beaten with nunchucks. On Wednesday, 19 year-old Terrale…
Bill Mason Took Money From Dimora, Russo and Pals; The Hits Pile Up
We called early October, so now we’re just counting down the days . . . The Bill Mason pile-up continues. Ever since a certain local weekly newspaper blew-up the county prosecutor’s spot, media attention has zeroed in on the region’s reining Democrat. The latest report coming from the Plain Dealer’s Mark Puente fingers Mason for…
Mickey McLean, Cleveland Chef, is Cosmo’s Bachelor of the Year
Bachelor of the Year. The dreamiest single man in America is right here in Cleveland, ladies. According to Cosmo, which specializes in the judgment of dreamy single men, Mickey McLean, 30, is the Bachelor of the Year. Yes, the tall, dark, handsome specimen of manhood is named Mickey McLean. There was about a 0.05% chance…
Photo Show: Cotton Jones at the Beachland Tavern
Page France, Cotton Jones … whatever they’re calling themselves these days …. Yeah — they came to the Beachland Tavern last night. You can read our review of the show here. Now here are some pretty pictures taken by Helen Harry.
Concert Review: Cotton Jones at the Beachland Tavern
Nope, not Page France — it’s Cotton Jones The last time Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw visited the Beachland, they were in Page France. Playing the Beachland Tavern last night, they were working with a new incarnation of the group, now known as Cotton Jones. The two have a radically different sound and outlook these…
Concert Review: OK Go at the Beachland Ballroom
OK Go: You might not recognize them without their treadmills Last night at the Beachland Ballroom, OK Go backed up their catalog of hits with a tactile and visual experience that set their performance apart from many others you’ve seen this year. With a blast of lights, confetti, and sound, OK Go opened with “Do…
Jonathan Sawyer Impresses at Rachael Ray’s Burger Bash
He’s thinking about a burger right now. Burgers are literally everywhere these days. From fancy to throwbacks and everywhere in between, the humble beef patties have become the darling of the culinary world. There is perhaps nowhere they are celebrated more (and celebrated by the fanciest) than at Rachael Ray’s Burger Bash in New York.…
Amherst School Evacuated After Bomb Threat (Updated)
Update: Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy who attends Marion L. Steele High School in connection with the bomb threat earlier this week. Cops traced the call and well.. that’s something the kid should have known was going to happen. According to the PD, the kid was also wanted for some various other offenses including…
Ohioans Discover Bedbug Solution
If you have these, we know two people who want them. Bernadette Waller and Rick Conroy have found their American dream on the lice-infested heads of Northeast Ohioans. The couple runs four locations of Bernadette’s Lice Removal Center, which they founded two years ago with one shop in Willoughby. But a whole new frontier just…
Get to Know Your State Officials
Jennifer Brunner wants to help you sort through all those Irishmen on your ballot. How many times have you looked at your ballot in dismay and said, “I don’t know who any of these Irishmen are.” Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner hopes to solve the problem with a new voter guide that recently went…
Internet Gaming Cafe Customers Wish Cops Would Stop Them From Losing So Much Money
Dammit, I wish the cops would make me stop! But I’m having so much fun! Gambling addictions are real and dangerous. Thankfully there are plenty of options out there for the degenerates who can’t stop themselves from dumping their paychecks into the coffers of online betting sites, casinos, internet gaming cafes, or their local poker…
Vintage Video: Drunk Woman Gets Tasered, Drops Like Brick
We know this video is old but we came upon it randomly today and laughed as hard as we did the first time we saw it, which means you probably will too. Kristina Fetter just hits the ground like a ton of bricks. (Here’s some background for those of you unfamiliar with Fetter’s drunken antics.)
Wish You Were There
Pink Floyd tribute band Wish You Were Here, one of the city’s top-drawing groups, plays House of Blues on Friday. Singer-bassist Eroc Sosinski checked in with us to give some hints about the group’s surprise-filled, two-set show. And we got to talkin’ about Roger Waters’ amazing The Wall concert, which rocked the Q a few…
Dirty Dancing at High School Dance Gets Other Dances Canceled
As long as kids have gathered in dark auditoriums for school dances those same kids have groped and humped and otherwise cavorted in the dark in ways which parents and school administrators would find unacceptable. But kids do it anyway because that’s how kids dance, not to mention their bodies are overrun with hormones and…
The Best of Cleveland Winners You Didn’t See
A production error resulted in the misprint of two pages of the October 13 Best of Cleveland issue. The following categories and winners were inadvertently omitted; you can read each one by clicking on the category name below: Best Surf and Turf Foie Gras-Steamed Clams at Greenhouse Tavern Best Rooftop Cocktailing The View and Vinebar…
Pic of the Day: LeBron on 2011 Cavs Calendar
Whoops. These are sure to sell like hotcakes, or Brady Quinn jerseys, or something. For the story behind this epic gaffe, click here.
Cleveland Touts Its Affordability In Campaign to Land Democratic National Convention
Those signs would cost like $0.02 each in Cleveland. Cleveland is on the short list of four cities vying to host the 2012 Democratic National Convention. For the moment, it would appear the others have a leg up: Minneapolis, which hosted the 2008 Republican National Convention, is touting its experience. Charlotte, which has never hosted…
Best Actor
At first blush, the character of a brash and ham-fisted lout such as George in Dobama’s Humble Boy wouldn’t seem like a star vehicle. But Greg Violand set aside his customary elegance and panache, attacking this character with raging desire (for a woman he lusts after) and disgust (for her wimpy son). Whether slowly simmering…
Best Surt and Turf
You can keep your tiresome filet and lobster tail. In terms of bang for the buck, the return on the investment is poor. Us, we’ll take Greenhouse Tavern’s foie gras-steamed clams time after time. If ever there was a pairing of land and sea that exceeded expectations, this is it. Admittedly, we’ve never pondered a…
CD Review: Cloud Nothings
Cloud Nothings are essentially an outlet for 18-year-old Dylan Baldi. Cloud Nothings are also one of Cleveland’s best bands. All of the songs on the new collection Turning On were previously available on hard-to-find EPs, singles, and cassettes. Most of them are rough, low-fi mixes, and that’s a big part of their charm. The album…
Best Bargain in Town
Admission to New York’s Metropolitan Museum and Museum of Modern Art will set you back $20; the Art Institute of Chicago charges $18. And Cleveland’s own Rock Hall is $22. But the internationally renowned collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art is still free — all the time, not just on “free Tuesdays” or some…
Best Place for Rock & Roll One-Stop Shopping
It’s safe to say that This Way Out, the tiny vintage boutique secreted away in the Beachland Ballroom basement, tends to be a hit with the countless bands that load their gear there. And more often than not, it’s the hipster rock acts that find themselves slobbering over the offerings downstairs — everything from vintage…
Best Place to Worship Bob Marley
After owner Melvin (just “Melvin”) lost his longtime job early this year, the expatriate Brit had a vision: He was destined to open a head shop. He located a prime spot on Waterloo, with on-the-block neighbors like the Beachland Ballroom and Arts Collinwood. Cutting to the chase, he called his new establishment simply “the Head…
Best Urban Gym
If having a one-stop shop for weightlifting, cardio, fitness classes, tanning, and massage therapy is a good thing, then one that also offers pizza — nutritious pizza — is a slice of fitness heaven. It’s actually a slice of Prospect Ave., right here in Cleveburg. Titans Gym is 22,000 square feet of treadmills, free weights,…
Chase the Blues
“It is filled with energy … seething excitations … no organization.” Those are some of the ways Sigmund Freud once described the id, but it’s also an apt description of any Blue Man Group performance. Created and directed by Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, and Chris Wink, and now enjoying a two-week run at Playhouse Square,…
Best Chinese Food You Won’t Recognize
Every blessed time we visit Wonton Gourmet, we swear that we’ll explore deeper regions of the menu. After all, the bright and tidy AsiaTown restaurant couldn’t make it any easier, considering that the room is wallpapered with color photos of each and every dish. But try as we might, the words that tumble out of…
Best Actress
Great chemistry is hard to find. But as Eleanor Bachman, the wife of boxing great Jack Johnson in The Great White Hope at Karamu, Ursula Cataan cooked big time with Anthony Elfonzia Nickerson-El’s Johnson. Then Cataan scored again as a pitch-perfect and riveting Mrs. Kendal, a woman who shows understanding, tenderness (and, not incidentally, her…
Best Rooftop Cocktailing
There are plenty of options for those looking to quaff a great cocktail in the Land of Cleves, but to do so beneath a blanket of deep blue dotted with stars is decidedly more elusive. Behold the View nightclub and Vinebar, the name of which is duly earned. The rooftop bar features an unobstructed view…
Best Chocolate
This little pink shop, tucked in an obscure corner of Tremont, is well worth searching for. You won’t find case after case of the standard peanut clusters/caramels/mint melts here. Rather, Lilly offers a small but choice selection of their own handmade truffles that combine exotic ingredients in delectable pieces that are also little edible works…
Best Secret Location That’s Not So Secret Anymore
Cleveland has a distressing penchant for ripping down distinctive vestiges of its past and replacing them — if they’re replaced at all — with blandly anonymous construction. But when the subway that carried commuters across the Cuyahoga to the near West Side of town closed in the early 1950s, there was no way to eliminate…
Best Place to Buy Back Your Childhood
Best Place to Buy Back Your Childhood Big Fun No matter what you do for a living, we all remember what we once did for a living: blew up Star Wars action figures in the sandbox and brushed the hair of 4,305 My Little Ponies. We all hold fast to fond dreams of our childhood…
Best Vintage Store
Since holding a grand reopening party earlier this year — complete with a slight name change, from “Suite” to “Sweet” — Sweet Lorain has regained its rep as the city’s best place for bygone-era treasures. Spruced up and reorganized so you can actually walk through its 8,000 square feet, the place features a little bit…
Readers Poll Winners: Arts & Entertainment
Best Bar for Hooking Up Velvet Dog If four floors of dancing, DJs, and drinking don’t improve your chances of finding that Saturday-night special someone, you’ve got problems even the Velvet Dog can’t fix. 1280 West Sixth St., Cleveland, 216-664-1116, velvetdogcleveland.com Best Movie Theater Cedar Lee Theatre This venerable Cleveland Heights art house mixes up…
Yippee Ki-Yay, Madame
You’ve seen Red’s setup dozens of times before: A group of retired CIA operatives are being hunted by their former bosses because they know too much about something that happened a long, long time ago, so they go on the run, using the tricks and weapons of their trade to stay alive. But you’ve rarely…
Film Capsules
Buried (R) — What do you get when you give an artful director 95 minutes of real time, one actor, a coffin, and a handful of props? The answer is a mostly realistic, mostly engrossing art-thriller that zeroes in on Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), an American truck driver doing contract work in Iraq. After his…
Best Director
The scorned Hester Prynne was brought to urban life in Suzan-Lori Park’s In the Blood, thanks in large part to director Holly Holsinger’s ability to draw honest emotion out of her young cast. Performed at the CSU Factory Theatre, this work centered around the great sin of homelessness, not adultery. Alternating dialogue scenes with rationalizing…
Best Sausage Fest
Located on a scenic bluff above the Rocky River, inside a cool old wooden mill called . . . The Old Mill, Gibbs has perfected the recipe for more than 200 varieties of fresh gourmet sausage. Each week you can select from up to 40 different weenies displayed in their enormous glass case. Organized under…
Best Vegan Restaurant
We are blessed to live in a land well populated by outstanding ethnic restaurants of all stripes. But for pure old-fashioned American veganism, the Vegiterranean is the place even non-vegans love. If you didn’t know any better, you’d swear the menu was made for meat lovers. Entrées include grilled “Gardein” chicken or steak, and spaghetti…
Best Sports Talker
This man would deserve the nod if only for surviving the late-night purgatory that was the Indians’ post-game show. But the dean of Cleveland sports talk earns his honor mostly for recognizing what none of his peers seem to grasp: that there are no original insights in the world of sports talk. So Brinda eschews…
Best Comic Book Store
If you’ve ever been inside a comic book shop, you know it’s damn near impossible to find what you’re looking for. (Geeks are so messy.) The first thing you’ll notice about Carol & John’s at Kamms Corners — apart from Winston, the frisky feline who will greet you upon entering — is how meticulously organized…
Best Family-Friendly Sport
Consider the Akron Aeros nothing less than the defenders of the American way of life. This year, the cash-strapped city of Akron canceled its Fourth of July fireworks. But Aeros fans got their aerial explosions for no additional charge every Friday, all summer long. For no more than $10 a ticket, you’ll see the Tribe…
Readers Poll Winners: Food & Drink
Best Restaurant Melt Bar & Grilled Seemingly nonstop national TV coverage sure hasn’t hurt the rep of this two-headed grilled-cheese beast, but the real appeal is in the endless slabs of gooey goodness that is their stock-in-trade. 14718 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-226-3699; 13463 Cedar Rd., Cleveland Hts., 216-965-0988; meltbarandgrilled.com Best Restaurant for Romance Pier W…
CD Review: OLD 97’S
After 2008’s dismal Blame It on Gravity, Old 97’s get some of their mojo back on their eighth studio album. Recorded mostly live at a 100-year-old hall in their hometown of Dallas, the first part of The Grand Theatre (the second will arrive sometime next year) isn’t a stuffy, haughty artifact, like the title implies.…
Best Food Under the (Movie) Stars
Highland Square might be the coolest part of Akron to live and party. But if you have a picky palate and the hour is late, your options are limited. Mr. Zub, God bless him, saves the day. Zub’s is actually owned and run by Mario Nemr, the Rubber City nightlife impresario who made the nearby…
Best Theatrical Innovators
When it comes to imagination and involvement, Cleveland Public Theatre is in a league all its own. They staged the fascinating and fast-paced Wanderlust, and their version of Open Mind Firmament provided a new take on Irish poet W.B. Yeats. Topping off these bold forays, CPT also works with the homeless, and separately with local…
Best Place to Grab a Half-Gallon of Beer
If beer is man’s best friend (and it most certainly is), then Cleveland’s ultimate brew companion would have to be the inexpensive, exquisite tasting, gorgeous-looking half-gallon growler from Thirsty Dog Brewing Company. Every Thursday you can actually visit the Thirsty Dog on Grant Street in Akron and buy the cheapest, tastiest soulmate in town (most…
BowWow Wow
Let’s get this out of the way. Dr. Dog is an awful name for a band — somewhere between Hoobastank and the Goo Goo Dolls on the Awful Band Name Continuum. But the group itself — five guys from Philadelphia who’ve been playing together since 1999 — is one of the most adventurous of the…
Best Kept Secret
Attend any show at historic Playhouse Square and you can’t help but wonder what goes on behind the curtains. What few among us know is that Playhouse Square is happy to reveal exactly what goes on in its normally off-limits nooks and crannies — and they do it for free. Public tours of the city’s…
Best T-Shirt Impresario
Just a few years ago, Glen Infante was working at Kmart, with dreams of clothing design dancing in his head. Now he’s making the sharpest Cavs T’s in town, and he’s prepped shirts and posters for rappers like Wale and Kid Cudi, among others. His initial stabs at Cavaliers duds took the internet by storm…
Best Gym for Group Motivation
Remember group sports? Motivation came easy with competition, right? Try that theory out with a group workout session at CrossFit of Lakewood. Placed in a group of two or ten — or even more — your 40-minute workout regimen will be laid out in front of you like a field of hot coals. And this…
Readers Poll Winners: People & Places
Best Local Landmark The West Side Market On the verge of its 100th anniversary, the West Side Market remains as culturally relevant today as it was when we were parking our horse there. 1995 West 25th St., Cleveland, 216-579-6800, westsidemarket.org Best TV Personality Dick Goddard In a job custom-made for vacuous hunks and beauties, Goddard…
Mighty Sword
On their recently released third album, Warp Riders, the Austin quartet the Sword — one of the most acclaimed and headbanger-approved bands from hard rock’s latest ass-kicking revival — expand their sonic onslaught in a couple of different and notable ways. Lyrically, the group’s themes have moved from stand-alone songs about kings, dragons, and, yes,…
Best Underground Concert Club
In the shadow of Lakewood, Cleveland’s Now That’s Class concert club launched in 2007, a proudly no-frills punk bar that seemed destined to burn out quickly. More than three years later, it’s the west end’s premier concert club, whether or not you dig the kind of loud, crusty tunes that rock the roost at least…
Best Album
True, only about half of this, the Black Keys’ best and most tuneful album, was recorded at the duo’s Akron home studio. Parts were also laid down at the famous Muscle Shoals studio that produced some of the greatest soul records of the 1960s and ’70s, and one track was made with producer Danger Mouse…
Best New Chef
Attracting diners to any establishment in restaurant-rich Cleveland is hard enough. But luring them out to an Airport Marriott? Now that takes talent of herculean proportions. Contradicting the old saw about “location, location, location,” chef Ellis Cooley proves daily that if you make something delicious enough, people will come to devour it. Modern, original, and…
Best Upscale Burger
It would be very simple to discount B Spot, Michael Symon’s East Side burger bar, as a quick payday for a celebrity chef. But as most diners can attest, Symon wouldn’t dare tarnish his brand by attaching it to a middling product. Cleveland’s Iron Chef attacked this project with as much passion as he did…
Best Cleveland-Minded Entrepreneur
When Danielle DeBoe decided to start her own business three years ago, she opened the boutique Room Service in Gordon Square — now one of Cleveland’s white-hottest neighborhoods. With its growing number of restaurants, bars, stores, arts organizations, and upscale residents, Gordon Square made a perfect fit for her shop, which is stocked with unusual…
Best Place to Buy Stuff You Didn’t Know You Needed
Best Place to Buy Stuff You Didn’t Know You Needed Jamie’s Flea Market Take a wide-eyed stroll down the cluttered aisles at Jamie’s — tantalizingly billed as Northeast Ohio’s largest flea market — and you’ll spot no shortage of market staples: There are the old paperbacks, the used DVDs, baseball cards, comic books, rusty-looking tool-type…
Best Reason to Believe in the Cavs
We all know what’s been going on in this guy’s head ever since “The Decision” went down: ” Really? I come here to play with Shaq and LeBron, to make history with legends, and I get Ramon Sessions and Boobie Gibson?” Yes, Antawn Jamison — a midseason fill-in for what so recently was a top-quality…
Readers Poll Winners: Shops & Wares
Best Place to Spend a Day Shopping Crocker Park From Trader Joe’s to Anthropologie, and for countless reasons in between, the Westlake lifestyle center is brimming with life. Its diversity of offerings makes it a welcome stomping ground for singles, couples, and families alike. 189 Crocker Park Blvd., Westlake, 440-871-6880,crockerpark.com Best Place to Buy Music…
Stay In!
TOP PICK – VIDEO GAME Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (Activision) Of all the superhero video game series, the ones with Spider-Man are the most consistent. They’re also the most fun, since you get to beat down bad guys and zip around the city on a badass web. The latest entry (for pretty much every console) has…
Best Record Label
A former sales rep for Warner Brothers back in the days when record labels sold records, Bill Peters launched his own metal label some 25 years ago. In the early days, he helped his bands get deals with MCA and Island, but he’s remained ardently independent all the while. Auburn’s current roster includes Cleveland metal…
Best Jukebox
At this age-old hole-in-the-wall, beers are cheap, the ambiance is nil, the patrons are down-to-earth, and the music is always terrific. The jukebox at Mitzi’s includes the usual influential hipster stuff (Johnny Cash, the Velvet Underground), a dash of ’70s punk (the Clash, Buzzcocks), stone-cold classics (the Beatles, Van Morrison), and plenty of best-albums-ever-made candidates…
Best West to East Import
Rumor has it the evil geniuses behind Lakewood’s Melt Bar & Grilled were unsatisfied with the already ridiculous number of slavish devotees they’d racked up with their one-of-a-kind deliciousness. Hungry for more, their empire of indigestion crossed the river to wreak havoc on a new crop of Clevelanders. The plan obviously has worked: Lines of…
Best Bar You Can Only Go to One Day a Week
A visit to Millie Brady’s Collision Bend is like a trip to Grandma’s house, if Grandma had a hot dog rotisserie and jukebox stocked with ’50s rock. Less of a bar, or even a café — “we don’t serve food,” the delightful octogenarian says with a smile as she serves up the complimentary snacks (chips,…
Best Comedian
The very word “comedian” actually doesn’t do Mike Polk justice. Sure, you can catch his stand-up act at the Improv or at Hilarities 4th Street Theater, but that hardly scratches the surface of his brilliance. What’s more impressive is the guy’s uncanny ability to formulate a concept, write it, direct it, and appear in its…
Best New Vintage Store
Cynthia Deering is well known to local vintage shopping buffs as the longtime proprietor of Suite Lorain. She sold that business and has moved her stock over to Tremont, packing her finds dating back to the ’40s into a large storefront on the neighborhood’s main drag. Just opened in September, Deering Vintage is still a…
Best Place to Get Close to Nature Without Getting Poison Ivy
There are plenty of reasons to love the great outdoors: fresh air, foliage, critters running around everywhere. But there are just as many reasons to hate it: no Wi-Fi, bug bites, rashes caused by leafy green things. The Lake Erie Nature & Science Center is as close to nature as you can get without actually…
Readers Poll Winners: Sports & Recreation
Best Team Cleveland Browns Newcomers to Cleveland learn what the rest of us know from birth: This is a football town through and through. Two other big-league teams have sniffed more recent success, but Browns Town always votes the party line. clevelandbrowns.com Best Coach Eric Mangini The Browns’ second-year man looks much more comfortable under…
On Stage This Week
All That Fall — This Samuel Beckett play, originally intended for radio, centers around elderly Maddy Rooney, who walks to the train station to meet her even older and blind husband, and then walks back home with him. (Howey) Produced by Cesear’s Forum through October 16 at Kennedy’s Down Under, 1615 Euclid Avenue. Tickets are…
Best Place for New Music
Last year, the Happy Dog in Gordon Square changed hands. That’s when it ushered in its appropriate hot dog menu, featuring more than 50 topping options. But that’s also when it added a three-nights-a-week (or more!) schedule of top local, original bands. With many area venues falling back on the reliable draw of tribute acts,…
Best Reuse of Old Marching Band Instruments
Marching brass bands raise a ruckus at just about every high school around, but you never hear a peep from them in adult life. At long last, a bunch of overgrown kids have channeled that fat sound into a funk band that plays out at area bars. They specialize in an aggressive jazz-, Latin-, and…
Best Cheap Brunch
Known as much for its outstanding food as its microbrewed beer, the Beer Engine in Lakewood is home to one of the region’s best brunches. Pushing it over the edge of greatness is the way it leaves you with plenty of dough for adult beverages. You can go exotic with the Tassajara-style whole wheat pancakes…
CD Review: DARIUS RUCKER
Former Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker’s 2008 album Learn to Live was a surprise hit, reaching No. 1 on the country charts. He even snagged a CMA Award for Best New Artist. The follow-up wisely travels the same twangy path. Rucker’s country comes naturally — he was raised in the South Carolina city…
Best Timely Return to Politics
Despite having been the incumbent, party-endorsed Democrat, former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim McCormack was ousted from that job in a primary race against his opponent, Tim Hagan, back in 2004. Since then he’s served on the victims’ appeals panel in the Ohio Court of Claims and worked in private law practice. McCormack has always rubbed…
Best Place to Commune With Fairies
This new-age shop has everything you need to raise your consciousness to a higher plane: incense, candles, crystals, tarot cards, oils, clothing, books, and magazines. Even if you don’t subscribe to all that touchy-feely stuff and don’t think a crystal can improve your well-being or that a tarot reading can give you insight into your…
Best Public Skate Park
When it comes to the rails, ledges, and ramps of Lakewood’s public skate park, you won’t find any treacherous rough asphalt or rickety portable ramps — these obstacles are all smooth and heavy-duty concrete built for the long haul. Mom can even settle in on the spectator bleachers and pretend to read a magazine, or…
Best of Cleveland 2010
The truest measure of any city’s greatness is in the passion of its people and the bounty of its surroundings. On these counts, Cleveland is the best in all the world. From our rich heritage to our embrace of a brilliant future to the vibrant beat of contemporary life, Cleveland is the true heart of…
Get Out!
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13 CLASSICAL MUSIC IN A NIGHTCLUB?! Orchestral Manoeuvres at the Dog Classical music played in rock clubs isn’t exactly a new idea, even if it’s almost unheard-of around these parts. A quintet of Cleveland Orchestra players — and not one of them is a drummer — gave it a shot at the Happy…
Best Cougar Hangout
When the Chagrin Falls steak staple Blake’s retooled as Jekyll’s Kitchen, a new menu wasn’t the only welcome addition: The owners also introduced a side attraction dubbed Hyde’s Cabana Bar, a classy outdoor watering hole overlooking the streaming falls. But don’t let the lounge atmosphere or Mayberry surroundings deceive you: Come nightfall, Jekyll’s Hyde is…
Best Ballet Showcase
Despite rumors to the contrary, ballet in these parts means more than just an obligatory round of Nutcracker run-throughs come Christmastime. Every year, the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival adds a dash of (free!) culture to the family fun curriculum. Staged at Akron parks from Fairlawn to Firestone, the festival welcomes world-class troupes like Cleveland’s…
Best Urban Breakfast
You can’t get much more authentically Cleveland than Shay’s, which is why the producers of American Splendor — the movie based on the late Harvey Pekar’s common-man comic series — filmed scenes in this delightfully ungentrified greasy-spoon diner. The waitresses are downhome friendly, the patrons an endearing mix of families coming from church, blue-collar workers,…
Best Reason to Drink on a Sunday Night
While not as packed as their Thursday “Big Ass Beer Night,” Rocky River Brewing Company’s Sunday “Draft Night” is a beer drinker’s delight. Instituted earlier this year as a potent recession buster, the after-6 p.m. specials include $2.50 pints of Rocky River’s delicious and fortifying house brews, plus $5 pizzas. The beers vary according to…
Best View of Cleveland
Only a helicopter or airplane can give you as breathtaking a view of our fair city as the Terminal Tower Observation Deck. It’s found on the 42nd floor of Cleveland’s most iconic building, which turns 80 this year. Closed since September 11, 2001, the deck underwent a five-year facelift before reopening to the public for…
Best Retro Music Business
When vinyl records died out back in the late 1980s, they were silenced without any real proof that consumers didn’t want them anymore. So a few stubborn independent labels continued to make them while the rest of the world continued its slog toward the era of downloading — and a generation later, a few of…
Best Winter Fun for Roller Coaster Lovers
What’s a roller coaster addict to do once Cedar Point is closed for the season? Just hang on till Thanksgiving, when the toboggan runs at the Cleveland Metroparks’ Mill Stream Run Reservation open for the season. The two refrigerated chutes rocket you down 1,000 feet of ice in less time than it takes to work…
CD Review: ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS
Antony Hegarty often comes off like the world’s most self-indulgent artist. His fourth album, Swanlights, is no different, darting from sparse, haunting song-sketches to unexpected classicist pop gems. The opener “Everything Is New” captures the spirit of the record, spinning a lyrical web mirrored in the song’s emotional sweep. Building off Hegarty’s voice and a…
Best Reason to Be a Dad
We’ve all heard about duct tape’s versatility: It can hold together a leaky washing machine, prop up rusty things dragging from your car, and it comes in handy when softball-sized hail leaves holes in the side of your house. But at this annual celebration of the sticky stuff (in the city where Duck Brand duct…
Best Bastion of Great Cinema
Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the Cinematheque is widely regarded as one of the best repertory cinemas in the country, yet it operates in relative obscurity in its hometown. (To wit: Even The New York Times recently acknowledged their greatness.) They’re your one-stop-shop for an inconceivably wide range of…
Best Authentic Victorian Italian Dining
Everything about this Little Italy fixture takes you back to the day when Mama Guarino started serving up meals there back in 1918. Guarino’s is the oldest restaurant in Cleveland, and the decor and vibe seem not to have changed in the 90 or so years since opening night. Italian opera plays while diners devour…
Best Culinary Scene-Stealer
The past 12 months have been light on heavyweight restaurant openings. Zack Bruell added Chinato to his holdings, Michael Herschman returned with Menu6, Amp 150 landed at the Airport Marriott, and Zinc Bistro debuted in the Theater District. But apart from these, the past year was largely consumed by grilled cheese, hamburgers, hot dogs, and…
Best Rebirth of a Flop House
This complex of 15 buildings — originally built as a university, then long used as a Bible-printing plant run by a minister and staffed by nuns who lived in the connected dormitories — had already been neglected for years when ironworker, artist, and real estate speculator Joseph Scully bought it in 1987 for $74,000. “The…
Best Place to Buy Used T-Shirts
We are smack-dab in the middle of the largest ironic fashion craze in human history — even Target’s in on the nostalgic T-shirt trip. But any self-respecting band geek or nostalgia nerd knows that vintage gear is required whenever possible. That’s why the best place to find the finest faddish digs is at the Village…
Best Boozeless New Year’s Eve Celebration
First Night Akron has been ringing in the New Year in regret-free fashion — sans booze — since 1996. It’s where 30,000 people flock to see steel drum bands, dragons, a “Land of Ice and Snow,” and a dazzling fireworks display. Best of all: The $15 button — available now! — that gets you into…
Art Around Town
THE BENEFITS OF EXHAUSTION Matthew Ryan Sharp’s creatures have bad skin, rickety teeth, and crossed-out eyes, but their rugby shirts and argyle sweaters make them plenty lovable all the same. Sharp returns to William Rupnik’s gallery this week with a new show called The Benefits of Exhaustion. It must have been exhausting to put together:…
Best New Concert Series
Catching the eye of younger generations has long been high on the Cleveland Orchestra’s to-do list. Their greatest success to date centers around the after-show concert scene they introduced last year on Friday nights. Following an abbreviated performance of the weekend’s classical lineup, guests are invited to stick around and mingle at a post-concert party…
Best Place to Leave With a Date You Didn’t Come In With
No need to bring your chloroform-soaked hanky when you hit the Barley House: The ever-intoxicating aroma of spilled beer and hormones greets you upon entry at this Warehouse District hotspot, the by-product of attractive twentysomethings mostly looking for someone to love. A natural stop for weekend nights or after Browns games, the place is also…
Best Restaurant Sent From Heaven
Only in heaven are there perfect restaurants — establishments where every guest is a VIP and every meal a five-star feast. Here on earth, the realities of mismanagement, hungover chefs, and cranky servers all can disrupt the reverie of a faultless meal. The very best chefs and restaurateurs work passionately day in and day out…
Best Bar Burger
If we’ve learned anything from the unstoppable proliferation of Five Guys, it’s that damn near everybody loves a thin, greasy hamburger. Unlike the thick gourmet models sold at upscale joints, diner-style burgers go down easy like Sunday morning. Coincidentally enough, that’s usually about the time we’re ordering our fifth round of drinks and second round…
Best Ballsy Broadcaster
In the wake of LeBron James’ traitorous “Decision,” 19 Action News’ Sharon Reed placed a call to the one other man who had previously carried the mantle of being Cleveland’s most reviled former resident: Art Modell. She managed to conduct nearly a 30-minute, uninterrupted interview with the longtime recluse, gaining a unique perspective on what…
Best Place to Be a Lost Dog
A decade ago, the no-kill Geauga County Humane Society operated out of what felt like a large trailer. Now they run a bucolic rural “Rescue Village.” Dog-walking trails wind through the woods behind the building, allowing canine orphans to romp with volunteers and audition for prospective owners. Cats here enjoy the run of a spacious…
Best Celebration of a Vegetable
This annual fave (which takes place the second week in August) is loaded to bursting with all the summer-fair fun you could hope for: carnival rides, cover bands, games where the top prize is a SpongeBob plush with one messed-up eye. Of course, the real draw here is the food. You’ll find a funland of…
At the Arthouse
Le Amiche Before Michelangelo Antonioni made the great L’Avventura, he directed this 1955 movie about a fashion designer based in Rome who returns to her small hometown to run a salon. But since this is an Antonioni movie, it’s about so much more. The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque is showing a newly restored 35mm…
Best Vocalist
Ohio Sky’s Vinnie DiFranco Cleveland has hundreds of bands, no end of would-be frontpeople, and a handful of full-fledged singers. Ohio Sky singer-guitarist Vinnie DiFranco tops them all. Like his band’s music, DiFranco’s voice knows no bounds, whether he’s servicing a psychedelic passage or tearing up a rock track. To date, the Cleveland group’s tour…
Best Radio Station for More Than Music
Few cities boast a radio station as brilliant and diverse as WRUW, the campus radio station of Case Western Reserve University. While “college radio” is often heard as a synonym for “amateur hour,” WRUW is professionally run and powerful — now at a boisterous 15,000 watts. Passion is what makes the station exceptional: The all-volunteer…
Best Stadium Grub
If there’s one good reason not to stuff your face at the tailgate before Browns games — and so far this is the only reason we’ve come up with — it’s the turkey leg that awaits you inside the gate. A feast worthy of Fred Flintstone, the gobblers’ gam is crispy, juicy, perfectly roasted every…
Best Revitalized Neighborhood
Detroit-Shoreway, the aging working-class neighborhood on the West Side, has undergone a rather amazing $30 million renaissance in recent times. The area now gleams with a funky renovated streetscape, theaters, galleries, shops, condominiums, and an expanding selection of exciting restaurants at multiple price levels. Using the arts as a tool, a trio of nonprofit organizations…
Best Forgotten Relic
Whiskey Island is one of Cleveland’s most historic and strange places. It was once home to Lorenzo Carter’s farm, a distillery, Irish immigrants (who occupied 22 streets!), the “pest house” hospital (which catered to victims of the unpleasant cholera epidemic of 1832), and no less than 13 saloons. Today it houses the mysterious Cargill salt…
Best Commerce Explosion
In the not-too-distant past — say three or four years ago — the North Union Farmers Market at Shaker Square was just starting to spin off a few additional markets around the city. Back then, “community-supported agriculture” — programs that allow you to sign up for weekly shares of produce grown on area farms —…
Best Spot for Birdwatching
One of the great things about Cleveland is that you don’t have to drive far to be swallowed up by nature. At the Mentor Marsh Nature Preserve, a swath of 673 acres designated a national natural landmark back in 1966, you can spot more than 250 species of birds and other wildlife during spring migration.…
CD Review: BELLE AND SEBASTIAN
Belle and Sebastian’s eighth album doesn’t immediately grab you the way so many of their other records do. This really shouldn’t come as a big surprise to fans who’ve watched the Glasgow group shift from bookish pop songs to more traditional rock settings over the years. Some of the songs on Write About Love find…
Best Free Classical Concerts
Classical music has always been seen as an elite taste, in part because the price of most tickets prevents all but the well-heeled to hear it performed regularly. But the six friends who founded City Music Cleveland believed that music should be enjoyed by everyone. The orchestra is now in its seventh season of offering…
Best Place to Experience Your Grandparents’ Cleveland
The old-country vibe starts the moment you log onto Sterle’s website and get hit by a blast of bouncy accordion music. The menu itself could have been concocted by your Slovenian — or Polish or German or Italian — grandma. There’s wienerschnitzel, sauerkraut, strudel, veal scallopini, pork chops, chicken parmigiana — not a single bite…
Best Downtown Beer Deal
In these Dust Bowl II days of penny-pinching, the Holy Grail of happy hours is the $1 draft deal. After-work drinkers scout far and wide for the elusive prospect of ordering 15 beers and walking out only $15 down. The catch — and there’s always a catch — is that the Lord until now has…
Best Current Events Recap
No offense taken if the idea of a bunch of reporters and newshounds sitting around talking current events sounds like the depths of entertainment programming. But every Friday, 90.3-FM WCPN’s The Sound of Ideas grabs a mix of mainstream media hacks, throws on the mic, and lets them talk shop — and the result is…
Best Old-School DJ
The music on 91.5-FM WKHR is old and so are many of the volunteer DJs. But there’s one voice among all the raisins that stands out: Bette Moss, who goes by the moniker “The Satin Doll.” Moss may have some miles on her AARP card, but her velvety bedroom growl is so comfortable to listen…
Best Neighborhood Bike Shop
Al Zaleski was 16 years old when his father opened Fleet Bikes. His intention was to build a family business. But when Al’s father and brother both passed away shortly after the shop opened, he kept the place running. Thirty-nine years later, he’s never worked anywhere else. For a while he carried a line of…
Best New Ethnic Festival
The dozen or so independent groups that planned this inaugural event were surprised — thrilled, of course — when more than 5,000 people showed up for a taste of Cleveland’s first-ever Asian Festival in May in and around Asia Plaza, at East 30th and Payne. Though an early thunderstorm loomed, the sun shone on festivalgoers,…
Hello Cleveland
Cotton Jones Sometimes the best thing you can do is take a little break. That’s exactly what Michael Nau did when he formed Cotton Jones a few years ago. The Maryland singer-songwriter started the side project during some downtime with Page France, the indie-rock band he leads. The folkier Cotton Jones have released a series…
Best Place to See 3-D Movies
First of all, Cinemark in Valley View is one of few local theaters equipped for true digital goodness. And since 3-D movies look even more awesome when beamed digitally, this one is kind of a no-brainer. We love all of the art houses in Cleveland, but we love them for Fellini revivals and the latest…
Best Patio for Communing With Nature and TV
All Winking Lizards are not created equal, but this more recent outpost in the venerable local chain has atmosphere to spare. Housed in a century-old roadhouse, the Avon Lizard is at its best when summer breezes throw open the doors to the spacious outdoor patio. Dubbed “The Back 40,” the outdoor bar is literally built…
Best Hidden Art Deco Interior
When the former Colony Theatre in Shaker Square (now Shaker Square Cinemas) was renovated a decade ago, purists feared the 1937-vintage movie palace would lose its historic character. They were already horrified when the once-palatial theater had been converted to a five-screen multiplex. But when Jonathan Forman’s Cleveland Cinemas group acquired the theater in 2000,…
Best Rapper-Actor
Between his critically acclaimed, bestselling debut and his imminent sophomore release, Cleveland’s Kid Cudi (born Scott Mescudi) turned heads on the HBO dramedy series How to Make It in America. The show chronicled the travails of New York City twentysomethings gunning for good times and career breakthroughs. In a small recurring role, Cudi played Domingo…
Best Bookstore Gathering Place
When an independent bookstore focuses heavily on themes such as music, art, and politics, it’s bound to inspire a passionate following. By being located in the heart of energetic Tremont, Visible Voice all but ensured its place as a magnet for the neighborhood’s like-minded folks. But this place is so much more than books: There’s…
Best Frozen Festival
You can’t escape the snow and ice in Northeast Ohio, so why not celebrate it? There’s no better place for it than the idyllic square in Medina’s historic downtown district, where the annual Medina Ice Festival has delighted locals for the past 16 years. Traditionally held in otherwise gloomy February, the three-day event features ice…
Nut Shots in Your Lap
This is the time of year when Oscar-caliber movies start to roll into theaters. But amid all the glitz and glamour of great performances and heart-tugging stories, Jackass 3-D has somehow found itself wedged among the year’s most prestigious films. It would be easy to dismiss the Jackass crew as the lowest common denominator of…
Best Theater Bargain
In 2006, Playhouse Square, Cleveland’s downtown complex of historic theaters, made it easier for those on a budget to attend its Broadway, dance, music, and children’s shows for a sawbuck. The “Smart Seats” program offers $10 upper-balcony seats at a whopping 66 percent savings, and has drawn more than 50,000 patrons to the theaters, many…
Best Second Act
It’s never easy on a restaurant when a popular chef leaves. Adoring fans will follow their haute hero on to greener pastures, while those left behind will grumble about real or perceived differences in quality. That’s why we couldn’t be happier with the situation at Bar Cento, a restaurant we have loved since Day One.…
Best Sportswriter
This one really isn’t even close. Throughout the Cavaliers’ recent thwarted runs for glory and right up through LeBron’s free-agency debacle, The Plain Dealer’s intrepid beat man maintained the utmost professionalism while others in the media coddled the falling star or whipped up entire stories sparked by baseless rumors. But this has been Windhorst’s game…
Best New Shopping District
It’s really a district within a district, but it seems like Cleveland Heights’ Coventry Village has finally found a solution for its under-trafficked north end: It’s attracting a critical mass of trendy, youthful clothing boutiques, joining decades-old hippie emporium Sunshine Too, with its peasant skirts, leather jackets, and Indian jewelry. It all started when American…
Best Cheap Haircut
Hairstyling is one of life’s costlier necessities — routine maintenance you can’t do without unless you’re willing to settle for Flowbee results. Happily for the rest of us, Allstate Hairstyling & Barber College serves up haircuts and fades by barbers and stylists-in-training for the ridiculously low price of $4. An Ohio City institution founded in…
Best Accessible Athlete
Twitter has shrunk the distance between sports fan and the stars they adore, and no Cleveland athlete collapses the fourth wall like Mo Williams. Unlike a certain former teammate, who used his Twitter account for stale-toast inspirational quotes and celeb pics, the Cavs guard’s feed is a ticker tape of personal info and insight —…
Scared, Stiff
The word “marathon” stems from an ancient battle that took place not far from Athens (the one in Greece). A jubilant messenger ran 25 miles nonstop to announce a military victory. Then he dropped dead. This weekend, the Capitol Theatre gets back to the term’s death roots with its 12 Hours of Terror scary-movie marathon.…
Best Theater Production
Best Theater Production This Karamu House adaptation of James Weldon Johnson’s work blossomed into a powerful tribute to the old-time black preachers who thundered from the pulpits. Mixing free verse with gospel music and modern and African dance, God’s Trombones offered a multitude of sterling stage experiences. Among them, Karen Gorman-Jones was animated as both…
Silver is Golden
If you have ever joyfully immersed yourself in the deeply mysterious and rewarding jazz solos of Miles Davis or Thelonius Monk, the theatrical version of those performances is now available for your viewing. And while Wings by Arthur Kopit is less than completely successful as a play, the performance at the heart of the piece…
Best Culinary Excuse for Twitter
Conventional restaurants exceed at standing still, but the new gourmet food truck Dim and Den Sum refuses to even try. One minute, they’re dispensing fresh-fried hot pockets at a farmers market, the next, righteous short rib sliders in MidTown. If only there was a way to keep tabs on this roving kitchen. Well, of course…
Best Place for a Haunted Date
Spooky adventures are a sure thing for arm-clutching romance, and Squire’s Castle in the Metroparks provides your best bet for local supernatural passion. Built in the 1890s by Feargus B. Squire (a not-so-famed Cleveland oil man), the abandoned castle — it’s actually only a gatekeeper’s lodge, but no need to play that up, Romeo —…
Best Place to Get Your Halloween Costume
Best that you show up to Chelsea’s with some idea of what you want to come out looking like: The place is overwhelming — two enormous floors of vintage clothing and costumes depicting virtually every era, occupation, and character imaginable. Random browsing will probably cause you a nervous breakdown, but if you’ve got something in…
Best Place to Buy Vinyl
“Record Store Day” is an annual event during which record labels large and small roll out exclusive product to mom and pop record stores around the country. When it’s Record Store Day in Northeast Ohio, Music Saves is the place to be. Earlier this year, there was a line out the door of slavering vinyl…
Best Reason Not to Ditch Your Tribe Season Tickets
Yes, the heroes of Tribe Yesteryear Part II — C.C., Victor Martinez, Cliff Lee, etc. — are all leading mightier teams to victory these days. But that doesn’t mean there’s no sun on the horizon — especially not when Carlos Santana is suiting up behind the plate every day. The kid has been the gem…
We Get Mail
ZINC’S DASHED POTENTIAL I had two experiences at Zinc: We went there one night at 5:45 and had tickets for the Cleveland Gladiators game at 7 [“Zinc Deficiency,” September 15, 2010]. The restaurant was empty, but they would not seat us because we did not have reservations. I’m not sure where the manager was, but…
Best Singer-Songwriter
Kate Voegele flies the Cleveland flag like no other local artist. Between international tours, she’s working on her third solo album, her second for the major label Interscope. She hasn’t spent much time in town lately, but her last show at House of Blues sold out. She keeps the Cleveland connection strong with a backing…
Best New Patio
These days, if you don’t have outdoor seating, you might as well take the summer off. The past few years have seen the introduction of more patios, verandas, porches, and sidewalk seating areas than all previous years combined. Better still, the offerings continue to improve. Take Felice’s new patio, for example: Christened this summer, the…
Best Place to Feel European
Tossing out the (nonexistent) window the notion that a little natural light is a key ingredient to any atmosphere, the folks over at La Cave Du Vin deliver Continental sophistication without a whiff of sunshine — a cultural beacon amid nocturnal environs. The place is tucked away in a windowless basement beneath the Grog Shop…
Best Tastemaker Blog
The arbiters of high style over at the local clothing retail chain Next have a lockdown on all that’s cool in the hip-hop hipster aesthetic. Now the store has spread its reach far into cyberspace with Rule of Next, a blog run by the shop’s staffers. The experiment works in part because the blog doesn’t…
Best New Gallery
Launched in the space formerly occupied by the Miller Weitzel Gallery, Wall Eye has quickly established itself on the scene with a busy schedule of shows featuring terrific contributors, among them painter Ken Nevadomi and woodcut printmaker Claudio Orso-Giacone. Its founders — five artists and two aficionados — have kept the emphasis off themselves, reaching…
Best T-Shirts That Double as Art
When pals James Quarles and Rob Krumholz began churning out T-shirts, they didn’t just want to make a buck with run-of-the-mill cotton wares tagged with canned irony or dumb pictures. Instead, the pair of art students were thinking mobile canvas for their intricate, hand-drawn street-art aesthetic. So yeah, T-shirts seemed like the smart play. Cut…
Best Reason Not to Sleep at Home
Alcazar is the Spanish word for “fortress,” and this historic edifice is a true citadel of Cleveland bed & breakfasting. For only $89, you can spend a night in a private chamber, exploring the majestic five-story pentagon structure, which surrounds a lush botanical courtyard complete with a large fountain at its center. Imagine a posh…
Static Cling
HotChaCha frontwoman Jovana Batkovic didn’t set out to be a rock & roll singer. Born in Sarajevo, she moved to the U.S. in 1997, received a theater degree from Kent State, and completed a masters program in social work at Cleveland State University. She liked the theater, but she also thought it was limiting. “You…
