We’re halfway into 2023 but already the year is looking pretty exciting for food lovers. At the current pace, Cleveland will welcome 100 or more bars, cafes, sandwich shops and bistros by the end of the year. Here are the ones that have opened since the New Year.
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Quinn’s Kitchen and Bar
25517 Eaton Way, Bay Village
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For nearly two decades, the Greenisland Restaurant was the place to go in Bay Village to enjoy hearty Irish fare in a convivial setting. Now the space is home to Quinn’s Kitchen and Bar, an upscale American bistro. Owner Quinn Goehring grew up working in his parents’ restaurants, which include Wood Fired Oven, 3 Brothers Corner Tavern and Table Six Kitchen + Bar.
Courtesy Fire 45
Fire 45 Grille + Social
6031 Royalton Rd, North Royalton
Owner Chad Trush spent a year and a half gutting and rebuilding the former Mario’s restaurant in North Royalton into a stylish American grill. Fire 45 Grille + Social features a small but diverse menu with starters like oysters Rockefeller, roasted bone marrow and crabcakes, in-between plates such as wedge and Caesar salads and a gruyere-topped French onion soup, and entrees like grilled strip steak, Rockefeller-style salmon and a half dozen pizzas.
Douglas Trattner
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Watami Sushi
7426 Broadview Rd, Parma
Instant gratification is the name of the game at Watami Sushi in Parma, billed as Ohio’s only conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. The dining room is small but efficiently arranged so that all the dishes pass within arm’s reach of every table, every diner. Items are color-coded, with green, yellow, pink, red and black dishes corresponding to the price. They start at $2.50 for vegetarian items like edamame, seaweed salad or an avocado roll and climb to $3.75 for raw nigiri like salmon, yellowtail and snapper or cooked items such as shrimp or eel nigiri or spider rolls.
Courtesy Milk + Honey
Milk + Honey at Tower City
Tower City
Anisa Rrapaj opened Milk + Honey downtown in 2021. She also operates the Hive by Milk + Honey in the Limelight Building in Ohio City. This month, she opened a new Milk + Honey cafe at Tower City, in the space formerly occupied by Starbucks. On the menu are coffee and espresso drinks, chai drinks, specialty coffee drinks and fruit smoothies. To eat, there are breakfast bagel sandwiches, avocado toast and vegan chia pudding. At lunch, there are sandwiches starring chicken salad, turkey and even steak.
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Douglas Trattner
Fiyah Korean BBQ and Hot Pot
1253 E 55th St, Cleveland
For nearly three years, diners have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Fiyah, a contemporary Korean barbecue restaurant in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood. Now open, Fiyah features two dozen booths featuring built-in gas grills, allowing groups to enjoy the interactive art of tabletop grilling. The bar is equipped with built-in induction burners that, along with tabletop stoves, fuel the Asian hot pot meals.
Doug Trattner
Au Jus
5875 Broadview Rd Unit B, Parma
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Wedged between a Marco’s Pizza and a nail salon in a dinky Parma strip, Au Jus flies through 100 to 150 pounds of slow-roasted top round beef per day and about 12 gallons of au jus, which is made from the drippings. The small, mainly carry-out shop has quickly become Cleveland’s favorite source for Chicago-style Italian beef sandwiches.
Doug Trattner
Zina Greek Street Food
13898 Cedar Rd, University Heights
Demetrios Atheneos, who operates the popular Chicken Ranch, has opened Zina Greek Street Food in a shop a few doors down from that University Heights restaurant. Zina offers “good, clean Greek street foods,” says the chef. A concise menu of staples like lamb sliders, gyros, chicken and pork souvlaki, spanakopita and loukoumades (Greek donuts) will be joined by daily or weekly specials like pastitsio and moussaka.
Douglas Trattner
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Poppy
12502 Larchmere Blvd, Cleveland
Fifteen years ago, Felice opened in a warm and woodsy Craftsman-style home on Larchmere Boulevard. Last month, Poppy opened in that same turn-of-the-century property. Now in the hands of Jill Vedaa and Jessica Parkison of Salt, the attractive restaurant seats 75 in the main and second floor dining rooms. The menu is divided into categories for vegetables, fish and meat, with plates growing in size within those categories as well as across the page.
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Phoenix Coffee, Lakewood
12501 Madison Ave., Lakewood
Phoenix Coffee has made its long-awaited return to Lakewood — the city where it all began. Phoenix opened its first cafe in Lakewood in 1991. That shop lasted nearly 20 years before changing hands. Now, after 13 years, Ohio’s only employee-owned cooperative coffee company is back in Birdtown. The new cafe is located in the former Bi-Rite property, a 100-year-old building that is being redeveloped into “The Nest” by Forest City Shuffleboard owner Jim Miketo.
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Douglas Trattner
Campus Pollyeyes
12308 Mayfield Rd, Cleveland
If you or a loved one attended Bowling Green State University, then you already know about this iconic restaurant. Since its inception in 1978, the beloved Italian eatery has been a must-eat for students, locals and alumni, who come for the salads, subs and pizzas but stay for the famous stuffed breadsticks. Only recently did Campus Pollyeyes begin to expand, with locations popping up in Findlay, Toledo and now Little Italy.
