Villa Y Zapata

8505 Madison Ave.
Cleveland, OH
(216) 961-4369
www.villayzapata.com


Villa Y Zapata on Cleveland's West Side is a small and simple Mexican restaurant. You can't miss the red, green, and white striped building sitting on the corner of an otherwise drab area of Cleveland.
The ceiling of the small restaurant is adorned with intertwined colored paper rings that remind me of something I used to make as a kid to decorate for someone's birthday. The food is simple and filling. The lime margaritas are an electric green color that is somewhat discomforting, but after a couple, you don't seem to mind anymore. The staff is always very nice and attentive. This last visit, we started with the Flamiado. A Chorizo and cheese concoction topped with slices of Jalapeños, and served with flour tortillas.
It was rich, cheesy, and satisfying. Next, I ordered the Guisado Bistec and my companion the Guisado Puerco. The first was strips of steak marinated and cooked in a tomato-based sauce with cactus, onion, potato, and Jalapeños. The second was marinated pork in a green sauce. Both were tasty, but the flavors were a bit lacking and didn't have much umph, although the pork was superbly tender.
We finished with the Cajeta dessert. It is a bowl of caramel gooeyness spotted with crystallized sugar bits and topped with whipped cream. It is dangerously delicious, even though we found out that it comes in a can with no label. Which in itself is scary enough.
Villa Y Zapata; when you are in the mood for Mexican simplicity and the feeling of walking in on a constant subdued celebration.

2020 Martini Cafe and Lounge

2020 Center Street
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 776 0202
www.2020martini.com


Saturday afternoon after a downtown lunch, a friend of mine suggested we go check out a new place that opened up on the West Bank of the Flats of Cleveland. As most people from or around Cleveland know, the Flats have been struggling to get going again for some time.
The Stonebridge Condominiums, a newer addition to Cleveland's downtown living, now has the 2020 Martini Cafe and Lounge on it's ground floor. It is a huge space decorated with a theatrical theme with Italian accents, which is apparent from the stone facade at the entrance made to look like an Italian street corner. As you pass through the glass door you can go left to the cafe decorated in the a palette of deep chocolate booths and comfy chairs and sofas. Or, you can continue into the main dining area with towering ceilings and an open kitchen. Then to your right are modern rolled couches in the complimentary colors of bright oranges and blues, surrounding a full bar. They did pay attention to the decorative detail for the vents in the ceiling were painted to look like olives in martini glasses. Nice touch.
We ordered a few drinks and some coffees and relaxed on the couches near the glass patio doors that will be a wonderful place to enjoy outside seating once the weather changes.
The pours on the cocktails were perfect and the staff seemed very eager to accommodate. As we relaxed, we looked over the menu for both the restaurant and the bar. The selections they offer ranged from appetizers of calamari and shrimp cocktails to stone oven fired pizzas and sandwiches. Since we had just come from lunch we did not dine there, so we will have to return at another time to sample their cuisine. Unfortunately, as we read the menu, we saw multiple misspellings and grammatical errors. Something as simple as misspelling Dom Perignon, on a champagne bottle list of only four or five options! I don't think anyone would pay $200 for a bottle of "Dom Piernon". Also, their "Quattro Formaggi" pizza listed five cheeses...
Other than fixing these details, I will return and hope them all the best in the future. Cleveland's Flats definitely needs to keep moving in this direction of new innovative spaces and I hope that other places follow suit.

C and Y Chinese Restaurant

2222 St Clair Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44114
(216) 566-1188

Keeping along the Asian kick I have been on; C and Y Chinese Restaurant in downtown Cleveland dishes up tasty dish after tasty dish. I have been there a handful of times for dinner and never had any complaints. The service was impeccable and the food always left me wanting more. Recently, I went for their Dim Sum on a Sunday afternoon. I realized that I had never experienced the Dim Sum before. From what I heard, this is just the place. I also heard that Li Wah Chinese restaurant, was recommended for such endeavors, but after my experiences there, I think not. C and Y serves Dim Sum until 3 pm on Sundays and we arrived around quarter til 2, just enough time.
We started with tea of course, and we were then bombarded with cart after cart of small steaming plates of dumplings and different goodies to choose from. Everything was more interesting than the next. It was a bit overwhelming, being that none of the three of us had experienced Dim Sum before. Each of us just kept repeating "yes, okay"as the young ladies placed each tantalizing plate in front of us.We chose the pork and vegetable buns, the bbq pork buns, shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, spring rolls, meatballs, and my favorites of all of our choices, the vegetables wrapped with tofu skin, and the taro dumplings. But, we must not forget the Chicken feet. Oh yes. The sauce on the feet was sweet and savory at the same time. The consistency of the flesh was appetizing, but the crunchy cartilage is something that will take getting used to. Although I did not fully enjoy the feet, I did appreciate them and would definitely try them again in the future.
At that point, we were all so full that we couldn't think of getting anything else and unfortunately we missed out on all the sweet dumplings they had to offer.
Next time we will know a bit more of what we are getting ourselves into, and we will know how to space out the little dishes in order to go the distance.

Li Wah

2999 Payne Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44114
(216) 696 6556


I suppose I have been on an Asian cuisine kick lately. But, I love the flavors and the different techniques that go into such cuisines. I have been looking for the best that Cleveland has to offer. I have been doing research on what others say is the best in the city, and so far we seem to have somewhat differing opinions. Li Wah in Cleveland's Asian Plaza, has been toted as one of the "best" Chinese restaurants in the city. Okay, you walk in, and the place is pretty, everything matches. It is a large and sprawling place, and when we arrived it was early on a Saturday evening. We were promptly seated, and our server came over a few moments later.
We looked around the dining room and saw parties of four or more of people not of Asian decent. Not that is exactly what is important, but I feel it can be a good indicator of whether the food is authentic and or good. We ordered some tea, and decided to get the "Spring Roll" appetizer and the "Vietnamese Spring Roll", just to compare. Both arrived, and served with two plastic squirt bottles of spicy mustard and sweet sauce. They were crisp rolls, both I found to be uninspired and lacking flavor. The only flavor was from the fishiness of the Vietnamese rolls; not a good flavor. I ordered the Vegetable and Tofu soup and my companion ordered the Spicy Beef Noodle Soup. The soup I ordered was meant to be a starter soup, and the other as a meal, which I realized when we ordered, but the server I think thought that I did not know this information.
After about 45 minutes I would say, the vegetable and tofu soup arrived. A large bowl of raw vegetables tossed into a salty broth with cubes of Tofu bouncing around. There were chunks of shrimp and crab as well, which I was not aware there would be in a vegetable soup. The beef soup was lacking flavor as well, and only had the bean sprouts to thank for texture which came on the side for your own addition. The noodles were over cooked and also lacking.
Even though we only had a few items, and it was early on a Saturday evening, I still feel that is no excuse for a restaurant that is supposedly the "best" in a city.

Aoeshi

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

So, I have mentioned Ariyoshi, the sushi spot in Cleveland Heights before. But there are new and interesting developments in the area. Apparently, the space across and up the street a bit, the old Starbucks coffee, that thankfully closed sometime ago, has been advertising on the windows that a place called Aoeshi will be opening soon. Listing sushi, panini bread, and wraps as their cuisine. The place is tiny, and who would open a sushi place right next door to another? So, we inquired with what seems to be the Madam of Ariyoshi, that now knows us since we go there so often. She told us that the owners of Aoeshi opened a restaurant next door to their West side location also, and now have followed them here to the East side too! Obviously, there is more to the story, she told us that she knows the owners well, but she did not tell us how, very interesting. We will have to wait and see how this unfolds.

Superior Pho

3030 Superior Ave E
Cleveland, OH 44114
(216) 781-7462

Superior Pho in Cleveland's downtown is a tiny 15 or so table, Vietnamese restaurant specializing in Pho soups. Pho: savory rice noodle soups that are traditionally made with beef. But, can be made with chicken and pork, and come with garnishments of bean sprouts, basil, lime, and peppers. Usually, the soup starts with a slow simmered beef broth and is then served with beef shank, eye of round, flank steak, brisket, or fatty flank options.
As soon as you walk through the glass door you are enveloped by sweet and savory smells of basil and simmering beef. It was a Saturday afternoon and there were people of all ages having lunch when we arrived. Families, couples, and some friends, were all enjoying warm and soul comforting soups. They serve Jasmine tea by the never-ending pot full, as well as bubble teas. We started with a few summer rolls, of rice paper wrapped around shrimp and sprouts, and an order wrapped around Chinese sausage and fried egg,served with a sweet peanut dipping sauce. We also started with the crisp spring rolls stuffed with marinated, and chopped pork. Next, we all ordered a Pho soup. I tried the one served with fatty flank steak and eye of round. The fatty flank was falling apart as it floated in and around the cilantro, scallions, and tender noodles. I wanted to curl up in the large bowl and take a nap, swimming amongst the sweet broth. My sis in law chose the Barbeque pork and shrimp soup, which arrived steaming with a salty broth, but bursting with flavors of the cilantro and a sweet smokiness from the pork. It was served with chopped lettuce on the side for personal addition.
The staff was quite pleasant and ready to make our stay more comfortable at each pass.
Superior Pho serves up simple and delicious concoctions with ease, and it is definitely a spot I will return to every time I get the hankering for a smooth, and delightfully filling Pho.

Nighttown

12387 Cedar Road
Cleveland Heights, OH
(216) 795 0550
www.nighttowncleveland.com


Nighttown on Cedar Road on the way down the hill towards downtown has been an institution to many people for quite some time. They offer a great venue for well-known and local jazz artists alike. They serve English style pub fare every day of the week, til midnight and 1 am on the weekends. I personally have never been impressed with their food. Every time I have dined there, there was something wrong with the dishes that I ordered. If it was a seared piece of Tuna appetizer, it was cooked through instead of seared and quite fishy in taste and smell or, just a bland entree. Every time someone suggests going there, I suggest somewhere else. Over the past few months, I have tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, that they might actually have some merit. If all these people in this city go there so often, am I missing something or do these people just not know what the hell they are talking about?
Don't get me wrong, the bar is nice and dark, and if someone is tickling the ivory on the other side, you can enjoy the sounds without having to sit on top of the piano. The bar staff is usually polite enough, but can be lackadaisical at times, when it comes to clearing an obviously finished plate, finished for some time.
So, I tried again. I suppose, I didn't fully try again, for we sat at the bar and not at a table. We are so apprehensive to give them a chance to redeem themselves, that we are taking baby steps. It's not like they owe us anything, who are we? But, at least we do know what is good and what is bad.
So, at the bar Nighttown has a deal that if you order a burger, it is only $5. So, we started there, and perhaps we will give them another chance in the future. The burger was good. Cooked to the preference. I ordered mine medium with blue cheese and grilled onions. It arrived in perfect time and prepared just that way. The fries were perfectly crisp and hot. We had no complaints. (Other than the plate ordeal, but no biggy)
As I sat at the bar finishing up my bourbon, at 10:30 on a Thursday night, I watched as people poured in the door ready for dinner. There was a party of ten just arriving, and walk in parties of fives and sixes. It was good to see that a restaurant in Cleveland Heights can still be happenin at that time during the week, because there are not a lot of options for later night dining in the area. But, it just made me ask a new question...Do these people just not have any other options? Do they not know what they are talking about? Or, maybe I AM missing something.
Well, the burgers were good, the bourbon was delicious, and the pour was great. We will see when I am ready to go back for more than the burger, but I guess I have to try...maybe.

Lucky's Cafe

777 Starkweather
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 622-7773
www.luckyscafe.com

Lucky's Cafe in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood is a perfect place to sit and sip coffee all day or just stop in for a quick bite. The cafe has indoor seating and outdoor seating. The seating outside consists of picnic tables lined up along side their personal herb and vegetable gardens.
Each time I have been to Lucky's I have left pleased and sometimes overly caffeinated, due to over indulgence of the luscious coffee. They are open seven days a week, but only serve brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. They offer sweet selections like scones, tarts, cookies, and cupcakes as well as soups and sandwiches. The sandwiches are served on your choice of house baked breads from focaccia and multigrain, to baguettes and flaky croissants. My most recent visit I left with two cupcakes and a peanut butter brownie, and unfortunately, all three were dry and unimpressive. Because of how good everything else has been, I surely will try again.
On the brunch days they serve delectable options, from gingerbread waffles with maple apples, honey whipped cream and house made caramel, to the Shipwreck: an egg scramble of bacon, potatoes, peppers, and cheese, served with buttery toast. I also have enjoyed their house made granola served with yogurt and fruit, as well as the oh so rich, brioche stuffed French toast, with sweetened ricotta and served with caramelized peaches. Sweet deliciousness. Even if you arrive on a busy weekend morning, the overstuffed couch near the front is a perfect spot to enjoy your meal and coffee while looking out of the large picture window on to the street, or conversing with your neighbor across the table.
The staff is always helpful and courteous. A few additional perks are that they adorn the walls with local artists' works, and also feature a daily dark roast, medium roast, and flavored coffee.
There is nothing like a locally owned cafe; especially one that grows it's own veggies and herbs, and Lucky's is definitely not one to overlook.

Ariyoshi

2206 Lee Rd
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
(216) 321-1020

Ariyoshi, the Japanese restaurant on Cleveland Heights' Lee Road came through once again. I have spoken of this place before, and mentioned how I wanted to try and dine there often not only because the food was great but also to try and do my part to keep them around.
Well, I dined there once again the other night, and they did not disappoint.
The lighting was nice and dim, although they do have two huge flat screen televisions that seem to follow you wherever you go in the restaurant, which is a little intrusive. But once you are comfortably seated and focused on the tasty morsels in front of you, it is easier to block them out. This visit we tried the Ika Sansai salad. It is cooked squid tossed with sesame seeds and a savory dressing, served with shaved Daikon radish. The flavor was there but it did not wow me enough to say that I would order it again. We also ordered the Age Dashi Tofu appetizer, just to make sure it was as good as it had been previously; it was. So tender and tasty. There were four of us so we decided to order a few large sushi rolls (Futomaki), and a few small rolls (Hosomaki), as well as, a few pieces of Tuna (Maguro) nigiri style.
Each selection was perfectly assembled by the sushi chefs, and the fish was sweet and fresh. Our server was very engaging and attentive, and our carafe of hot Sake never sat empty.
Thankfully, Ariyoshi rose to the occasion once again and we all left with full bellies and planning our next visit.