j73

BTW, I noticed some chain link fencing going up around the Chester82 site the last day or two. Ground-breaking on the way?

yup, definitely open. Checked it out today. On a new note, on Coventry there is some type of wine/tapas bar going in the old Utrecht Space. Can't remember the name of it off-hand. Had the now hiring sign up in the window. Anywho, should be a welcomed contrast to the typical bar and grill college places on coventry. I think it's going to be Bodega. Article I read in the Coventry neighborhood rag is that it'll be a tapas bar with occasional jazz and maybe martinis. Definitely a welcome change of pace for the street.

Was it bought by Deklan (sp?) from Parnell's? Is he going to operate both places? Yes, its going to be more food and pub themed than Parnell's. Both places will remain. (I also hear he kept the old Pub on Lee staff) That would surprise me if he kept the staff. The place has been closed for at least 6 months, maybe even more like a year. I imagine most of these people got jobs elsewhere. In my opinion, part of the reason they closed was due to slow business and I attribute that to the staff they had in there just before they closed. I was in there a few times and in my opinion, the quality of food went downhill. No offense to anyone who was cooking at the time. I remember reading somewhere that it closed because of a rent issue. Sounded like the lease was up and the landlord wanted more rent than the restauranteur was willing to pay... Too bad - they had the best burger on Lee.

Is it an existing brewery or is this a new operation? (if you can share that)

Looks like the Avenue District put MayDay's photos up on its blog: http://www.avenuedistrict.blogspot.com/ Congrats!

Northeast shores is the name the CDC in N Collinwood goes by: http://www.northeastshores.org/ I've heard of Westown. Per this website, it seems to be along Lorain between W 130th and W 100th http://www.retailspacescleveland.com/westtownneighborhood.htm

Talked to a friend who has a deposit on one. Said that when he first put his deposit down (July-ish) they said move in would likely be end of '08. They're now saying end of '09. Don't know how many units have been sold. Just found a website for the project. Not sure if that's been posted before: http://terracesonlee.com/

Didn't realize Gyspsy Beans served more than muffins and such. Oh well - next time. BTW, one other note: when we went into Kitsch City the owner shared that he was sort of glad that business was a bit slower on that day (Sunday) as it gave him some time to restock as the weekend had been really busy. Good to hear people were coming out to this area to shop. Article in the PD re:DuoHome & Room Service couldn't have hurt.

I was also in the Gordon Sq area this wknd. We went Sunday and really enjoyed the new shops (even bought something at Room Service). Only downer was that we went planning to grab a bite to eat and then hit the new stores. Unfortunately, Cheddar's was closed (as was the PR place Rincon ______). Lat 41 was open, but they were still serving a pretty limited brunch menu at 1 pm and we were pretty much ready for lunch (also hardly a soul in there, although there were a few more people when we drove by later). The City Grill was open, but it's pretty much a bar and not really friendly for our 15-month old! In the end, we ended up running back over to Heck's in OC. In any case, this is becoming a great neighborhood... Has a more urban feel to me than OC or Tremont b/c of the height of the bldgs and the narrowness of the street. Seems to have blossomed all of a sudden in the last year.

Not sure I'd call it a neighborhood bar, but I don't think you have to dressed up to go into Flannery's... Isn't it pretty obvious that e 4th has been designed from the outset as a "destination" sort of strip, meant to draw in people from the whole area? HOB, Pickwick (esp the Comedy club part) , Corner Alley are all designed to be draws in and of themselves (that is, rather than just going to an area, you go there to see a band, a comedian or do the bowling thing). Even Lola fits in to this as destination dining (most people don't just "pop in" for dinner...) The rest of it seems mainly geared to capture the Gateway and potentially the business lunch crowds. This doesn't mean it necessarily has to be unlivable or immature. Suburbanites are people, too :-) but it clearly is an entertainment district more than a neighborhood, at least at this point.

Recent Free Times review of Sasa Matsu and other nuggets: Sasa Matsu In Shaker Square, Asian Grill in Cleveland and Chef Jonathon Sawyer, Of Bar Cento In cities like New York and Los Angeles, sushi bars are facing stiff competition from less formal izakaya, sake bars that serve food. Like tapas bars, izakaya feature a large selection of small plates intended for sharing. And while many do offer sushi, the stars of the menu are most often steamed, fried or grilled. SASA Matsu (13120 Shaker Sq., 216.767.1111), which opened last week at Shaker Square, is Cleveland's first look at the concept. Opened by Scott Kim, SASA replaces the 7-year-old Matsu that Kim ran on Chagrin Boulevard. Unlike the dark and pubby atmosphere of izakaya found elsewhere, SASA is crisp, contemporary and not exceedingly comfortable. In addition to an impressive selection of sakes, served both chilled and warm, the menu features a diverse clutch of soups, salads, sashimi, specialty sushi rolls and dishes described as small, medium and large. Diners can start with a bowl of miso or udon noodle soup, move on to crispy shrimp tempura, snack on fried Japanese sweet peppers, and settle into a plate of grilled beef yakitori. And this is just scratching the surface of the multi-page menu. The section of Clifton Boulevard between West 104th and West 112th has not been particularly kind to restaurants. Velocity American Bistro is the latest victim to succumb to a spot that has claimed, in just the past few years, a handful of ostensibly pleasant businesses. Recent casualties include Giovanna's, Mise and Jeso. Across the street, the newly opened Asian Grill (11100 Clifton Blvd., 216.961.9655) hopes to accomplish what former tenants Sean's Place and Razmataz Café did not, namely to last longer than a football season. The new owners have packed the small space with so many tables, servers are compelled to bob and weave their way through the dining room. The conventional menu carries Thai, Japanese and Chinese specialties, including a large selection of vegetarian dishes. Congratulations to chef Jonathon Sawyer, of Bar Cento (1948 W. 25th St., 216.344.9944), and his wife, Amelia, on the arrival of their healthy baby girl. To celebrate, the Ohio City restaurant is starting Junior Iron Chef Tuesdays, a fun opportunity for kids to make their own pizzas (with help from mom and/or dad, of course). Chef Sawyer provides the dough and toppings, the rest is up to the little ones. Kids leave with a full belly and a free chef's cap. The events begin Nov. 20 and run every Tuesday from 4:30-8 p.m.

JMasek - Thanks for continuing participation here. Your input and info is great. One question - I remember reading that at some point the University stop was going to be redone. Is that still in the works? Any rought timeline for when it would happen? It really needs the help... Thanks.

This discussion of the Detroit study just highlights the fundamental problems with this kind of study. It's hard to come up with a reasonable way to account for population and the geography. E.g., do you count just residents (which unfairly penalizes all cities) or workers (hard to count and most are in offices all day), too? Just the CBD (poorly defined), all of the city (big variances as places like Jacksonville exist where city=metro), or the whole metro (weirdly lumps places like Chagrin Falls in w/East Cleveland)? In the end, whole metro is probably the fairest way, but it averages across so many different areas within the metro that it really loses its usefulness...

While at Mi Pueblo, also peeked in the new Hookah Lounge (Blue Fig or something like that) and the new Euclid Tavern. Euclid Tavern looks much closer - actually saw someone in there behind the bar working on the place on a Friday night. They've painted and such. The other place looked like they had the new windows in and that was about it... A couple of Lee Rd nuggets: - Saw a sign in the old Arabica location (the standalone bldg just south of Lopez) announcing that a new Japanese restaurant called Ariyoshi would be opening soon. - Work is continuing on the new Anatolia Cafe (corner of Kensington & Lee) but not too fast... New windows are in the northern most part of it, but the rest is just covered up by a bunch of tarps, so I'm guessing those windows aren't in yet. Given that, it's not surprising that not much seems to have been done on the inside yet.

Momocho's good. Chef used to be at Lopez in Cle Hts, but the food at Momocho is better. Great Margaritas and Guacamoles. Sit downstairs in the bar area if you can - it's much cooler. La Tortilla Feliz is closing?!?! That's really too bad, they had a different approach than any of the other Latin-American restaurants... You hit it on the head with Sarava - been there many times, and there have been no disappointments, but no real standouts either (except maybe the Feijoada). Pretty much always a "B".

Michael's first episode as an Iron Chef is actually on in about 15 minutes. The episode will be repeated pretty much endlessly over the coming year, but in the near-term it's on again at midnight tonight, Wed at 9 pm & 12, Sat at 7 & 11 pm, and Sun at 2 am. Apparently they already have 2 more episodes taped.

Went to Mi Pueblo in UC again Friday night... Would still take that any day over Zocalo. Doesn't compare in terms of atmosphere, but the food is great.

Per the ODOD's website (http://net.odod.state.oh.us/ohptc/) the Allerton Hotel submission has been officially denied b/c it was incomplete. Also the application for University Tower Apartments at 1575 East Blvd (aka. Soverign Hotel) has been withdrawn.

Any news on La Strada or the Vietnamese place?

The website lists 13 of 30 townhomes and 28 of 58 loft units as sold. Given that the websites for these developments often lag reality, that's probably a low-end #.

The pdf versions of the floor plans include the phrase "An historic tax credit rehabilitation project" so I'd assume that would mean it's subject to the rental rule. Also on the site it talks about renting out some of the units as "hotel suites" for business & leisure travelers, corporate short-term stuff and with an unusual focus on entertainers. I agree with whoever said that it's too bad that they dropped the Gospel Press name. The building itself is really downplayed - you don't get a sense of it being a bldg w/historic character at all. B/c of the bldg some of the floor plans are pretty cool - check out #103.

You could throw Larchmere into the Buckeye-Shaker area and I think Little Italy/Murray Hill is part of University. Wade Park (if you want to call that a separate neighborhood) is either in University or Glenville. Waterloo is part of one of the Collinwood's

Here's an article from CNN Money that features comments from Symon. Looks like he was blogging about the show for Fortune Small Business. Michael Symon: Iron Chef! FSB's correspondent triumphs in Kitchen Stadium. By Joanne Chen November 12 2007: 6:01 PM EST Michael Symon: Iron Chef! And the next Iron Chef is ... Michael Symon! The mission for last night's grand finale of The Next Iron Chef: "Attain Greatness." Finalists Symon and John Besh went head-to-head in an Iron Chef cook-off in Kitchen Stadium, a challenge that, as all fans know, requires speed, creativity, skill, and fearlessness. The secret ingredient, swordfish, was not for the faint-hearted. The goal: to create five courses highlighting this ingredient. The two chefs hauled the heavy, glistening whole fish back to their work stations with both bare arms. At one point Symon even whipped out a saw to cut the flesh. For the home audience, the competition could have gone either way. Both Symon and Besh churned out five dishes that looked and sounded fabulous. But only great taste can bring home the prize. With the reigning Iron Chefs - Bobby Flay, Cat Cora, and Masaharu Morimoto - paying a special visit to do the judging, our competitors were fiercely determined to outdo themselves. Their pride - as chefs and owners - was at stake ... Of all the challenges, this was the most real - it was all about the cooking and at the end of the hour, one guy wins and the other goes home because of his food. But when they announced swordfish, I wasn't thrilled. It's not something I work with on a daily basis. We tend to work with meat, but hey, you gotta go with it. We had no warning that we were going to cook for the Iron Chefs instead of the three judges we had the entire time: [restaurateur Donatella Arpala, food writer Michael Ruhlman, and Bon Appetit restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton] But when I heard that, I was ecstatic. Chefs love being judged by other chefs. More at cnn.com

^He was - they had a segment on it on the Channel 3 news at 6 tonight.

Yeah, that's right, NO ONE in their right mind would want to live in a converted warehouse in Cleveland. Can't imagine what those guys were thinking when they decided to convert a whole bunch of them into residential and call the whole thing the "Warehouse District". That'll never work... :whip: