Does Cleveland, in fact, rock?
I used to live with someone who watched The Drew Carey Show, and I would titter at the theme song, partly because the video was funny and partly because I could not imagine a world in which Cleveland rocked.
Then I married a born-and-bred Clevelander (Clevelandian? Your guess is as good as mine.) and made several trips to the city, where my in-laws still live.
I'm not going so far as to say it rocks, at least not from my limited time there. It's a big Midwestern city that's fallen on hard times. It feels pretty familiar to this girl from Omaha, although Omaha has not suffered as much and I understand that it's becoming downright hip. (Sidenote: I cannot imagine Omaha being hip, per se, but it's always had one of the largest numbers of restaurants per capita of any American city. Go figure.)
But I will say this about Cleveland: it has a bright restaurant scene, one of the best-known food writers and bloggers, Michael Ruhlman, and maybe the best market I've ever seen. The market alone might be reason to live there. |
| Check out the suckling pig in the background. |
The West Side Market has more than a hundred vendors--bakers, butchers, cheesemongers, ethnic food stands--you name it, it's there. It's the kind of place you can actually talk to the butcher about how to prepare a certain cut of meat, or find a baker who will remember your favorite kind of kolache. The market is over a hundred years old, with the majority of the time of its current site.
 |
| Can anyone identify what type of pastry this is? I've never heard of a "monk," but I want one. |
It's not fancy--it smells like fish from the many fishmongers, and there are no real amenities--but I want desperately to have it as my market. I want to be introduced to stinky cheeses from foreign countries and be cajoled into cuts of meat that would never make it into the local supermarket. It's a genuine throwback to a time where people had relationships with their food sellers.
Alice Waters would approve. And it has the best felafel I've ever had.
Details: The market is located at 1979 West 25th street and is only open four days a week: Monday & Wednesday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday & Saturday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
