Cleveland Eats

Finally—a place to call home for a while. It was so good to be back in Cleveland.

We decided to take a “new look” at Cleveland. With the help of “Cleveland Ethnic Eats” (a book by Laura Taxel), we are driving Cleveland’s neighborhoods—what’s left of them.

The West Side Market is one of the most amazing places in the country—one of the few remaining municipal markets.

In the 1860’s, the corner was known as Market Square—the city’s farmers market. In1912, an arcade was built and today it houses an international potpourri of vendors selling everything from fresh meat, cheese, spices, pasta, bread and pastries to falafel, gyro sandwiches and polish sausages.

Christopher's Bakery- The BEST Sourdough bread in the world!

Surrounding the arcade is a fruit and vegetable arcade with every produce item imaginable.

Slavic Village on the east side of the city has gotten some pretty bad press in the past few years- scams by mortgage brokers forced many of the homes to go into foreclosure and the change from ethic Eastern European to black sent many of the Czech and Polish immigrants fleeing. Today the Eastern Europeans are a minority- but do return to their old neighborhood to shop at their favorite stores.

We stopped at the Red Chimney- home of the $2.25 breakfast.

The Red Chimney

Instead of a breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast and hash browns, we opted for a pierogie. There’s nothing quite like a potato filled pierogie to start the morning.

Outside Krusinski's Meat Market
At Krusinski’s meat market, we met the 68 year old owner.

With home made sausages, pierogies, potato pancakes, cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers and sauerkraut balls, we started to plan our dinner menu.
On the main street of the village is another specialty food store, the Seven Roses Deli-featuring everything Polish.

The Seven Roses Deli

Sauerkraut, pickles, cured meats, and trays and trays of bakery goods. The building has been lovingly restored-with hardwood floors, a gorgeous tin ceiling, floor-to ceiling shelves packed with imported foods.

Inside the Seven Roses Deli
Slavic Village used to house over 20 bakeries—but the last survivor, Gertrude Bakery just closed.

On our way to AsiaTown, we stopped for lunch at Sterle’s Slovenian Country House. Seeing two police cars in the huge parking lot gave us cause for hope that the food would be great. The décor- a throwback to a mountain chalet with murals of the “old country” and waitresses in traditional Slovenian dress- a bit like a German dirndl. The portions were of schnitzel and goulash served with a bowl of soup, bread, and home fries were enough for multiple meals.

You could easily miss “AsiaTown” –in fact, we have been coming to the Korea House restaurant and market for years, unaware we were in the middle of Cleveland’s Asian neighborhood.

There's nothing like a Chinese buffet!

From East 29th to East 39th and covering three major streets- St Clair, Superior and Payne, there’s a collection of Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese restaurants, Asian markets, bakeries and stores selling Chinese imports.