porco

thanks guys! was our pleasure to host, and thanks for coming out. sorry i didn't have more time to chat with you guys, but duty calls! always nice to put faces to the names, and know you're welcome anytime. cheers!

same here. great, concise, informative site that has overlooked cleveland for years.

o.k. urban ohioans, here's your exclusive invite to preview porco lounge & tiki room. we'll be soft open tonight (10/2) and tomorrow evening from 6:00-10:00 p.m.. if you're in the neighborhood, we'd love to have you and your feedback. mahalo!

When is the Urban Ohio soft open? thanks guys! the official "urban ohio soft opening" is this week! we're hammering out the times, but we hope to be open for a couple hours tue-fri to help work out any kinks. will post up our times as soon as we work it out, and remember to keep it a secret ;)

i've seen the doors first hand, and the photos don't do them justice...they're absolutely gorgeous. their owner has been incredibly generous and helpful in our attaining artifacts for the bar. in addition to lamps and bamboo that lined the walls of the kon tiki, we have chairs from the chin tiki in detroit (closed in 1980), chairs from the historic mai kai in florida (still in operation), as well as some other cool stuff currently in negotiation. we're taking a lot of pride in acquiring, preserving, and utilizing these pieces as they contain so much history. we're super excited about sharing it with the rest of cleveland and can't wait!

maui isn't distributed in OH yet, but we'll definitely be all over it if it does. we should have the pipeline porter here by the time we officially open next month, and koko brown will be out after the holidays. we currently have big wave, fire rock, and longboard on draft, and the wailua wheat is headed out for the season. look for us mid-late sept to be open.

::full disclosure:: yes, this is our place. we've been keeping it under wraps until we've gotten closer the opening. happy to answer any and all questions.

what a silly name for a bar? :wink:

technically i think this belongs in the o.c. developments. if i'm not mistaken, any commercial on the east side of w. 25th typically falls under ocnw, and once you cross the street to the west, it's all o.c. until you get to clark/metro area.

in regards to scoops, the author of a blog i follow lists himself as an owner: http://intoxicatingliquors.com/about-the-author/ probably one of the twitter crowd sourced investors, kind of a neat story. the previous owners were extremely active in the neighborhood even before they opened scoops. i wish them and the new owners much success.

istanbul grill in tremont closed up: http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2013/02/08/tremonts-istanbul-grill-shuts-doors-future-uncertain in related news, doug trattner is back as dining editor at scene magazine!

couple interesting developments on the bar/lounge/craft cocktail scene. "society lounge" coming to e. 4th in late feb. early march: http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/madison-avenue-on-east-4th/Content?oid=3137527 "spotted owl" coming to the gospel press building in tremont later this summer: http://freshwatercleveland.com/features/willhollingsworth012413.aspx and looks like "toast" in the detroit shoreway area is getting close: http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/devnews/toastwinebar011013.aspx

thanks for the first hand feedback! as stated before, i can see it being fairly different product, but at the end of the day they are both grilled cheese shops called "melt". it would be akin to some burger franchise coming into cleveland with the name "b's spot". if you were up on the brands or did the research, you would know the difference, but how many people actually would/do? probably much ado about nothing on my part, put i've always found intellectual property protection with the food and bev industry interesting. thanks all for playing.

my information came from current employees/mutual friends. there was a buzz on one of their facebook pages where current and ex-employees were reminiscing/discussing it, but the page has since been taken down. there was discussion about a lease not being renewed, but 12/31/12 was the closing date they were given. my guess? they probably had a number of holiday party contracts to honor before they closed up. i guess we'll just wait and see. still nothing definitive, but getting warmer: http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20121217/FREE/121219839#

not cleveland proper, but if melt b&g has expansion plans outside of northeast ohio (columbus, pittsburgh, detroit, etc...), who would know the difference? and on the outside chance they (the melt) were to enter the cleveland market, based on their current efficiency model and pricing, i'd say melt b&g would be the one to worry.

i'm not "worried" over anything, just drumming up some thought provoking conversation (slow work week). i'm aware melt b&g didn't invent the grilled cheese sandwich, or is even the first/most prevalent establishment in the market. but, the word "melt" is synonymous in this region with a brand. it's been nationally recognized, and every out of towner that visits me has it as a "must" on their to do list. should this california brand expand, isn't it reasonable to think people will automatically associate or mistake the two? who knows, it could be a benefit in some capacity. it's just more of a discussion of how a relatively small, local, successful name could have their brand jeopardized or cheapened when a big player comes in under extremely similar circumstances or product. just offering some friendly, hypothetical bar talk.

not really local news, but could potentially have local ramifications. a new grilled cheese chain in california, "the melt" is preparing for big expansion with 500 locations planned across the country: http://la.eater.com/archives/2012/12/14/before_tomorrows_launch_tour_the_melt_on_sunset.php i can't help but think this would cause confusion in the marketplace with regards to "melt bar and grilled", at least in this region should "the melt" choose to enter this market. i have no idea if matt fish and company have any bigger expansion plans in the future, but they've been moving at a pretty good clip as of late. i found it interesting based on another recent story. celebrity chef tom colicchio has been pretty litigious (and successful) when it comes to people using the word "craft" in the name of their establishments. the chef has built a small empire based on his handful of "craft" branded restaurants, and has gone out of his way to protect it. http://eater.com/archives/2012/12/13/tom-colicchio-forces-sf-restaurant-to-change-its-name.php regardless of your opinion of melt b&g, it is a cleveland original. it would suck to be having a discussion with someone from chicago or new york, and have them say "oh yeah, we've got like 10 of those melt places here."

my information came from current employees/mutual friends. there was a buzz on one of their facebook pages where current and ex-employees were reminiscing/discussing it, but the page has since been taken down. there was discussion about a lease not being renewed, but 12/31/12 was the closing date they were given. my guess? they probably had a number of holiday party contracts to honor before they closed up. i guess we'll just wait and see.

i would say it's more of a testament that restaurant owners are now seeing having a downtown address as a viable option, and some cases a necessity. many of these recognized establishments in the outlying areas see a feasible model of success being downtown. think of pickwick & frolic, lola, etc... opening up on e. 4th before there was any real critical mass of downtown residents or hint of a casino. the audience is here, so the risk of taking a shot on downtown has never been better.

word on the street is that the cleveland chophouse & brewery will be closed at the end of the year.

looks like "toast" in the detroit-shoreway neighborhood is gearing up for a december opening. very excited about this. http://www.toastcleveland.com/

bourbon street barrel room coming to tremont's professor avenue. looks like cajun/nola influenced menu, owners justin& barry clemens. tried to snap a pic of the menu & description in the window, but came out terrible.

f.y.i., this is the former "hoggy's" space.

looks like valley view will be getting a pretty significant gastropub, helmed by deagan's former chef demetrios atheneos. coming fall 2012 @chefdemetrios new restaurant in Valley View Oh/ Brasserie-Taphouse Brasserie/Restaurant in Cleveland Ohio featuring over 500 beers, huge Whiskey/Bourbon/Scotch selection, amazing wine list http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Oak-Barrel/412514328811212

agreed, it would make much more sense in tremont. my apologies for any misinformation...could have swore it said "lola" in print, but my copy is at home right now.