One Night in Cleveland...

If your hotel is near Greenhouse Tavern, you will have a bounty of options for dinner. Some people on here love Greenhouse but my two trips were lackluster. I also wasn't a fan of Mabel's. You could go to Butcher and the Brewer, it's across the street from Mabels. It's an eatery and a brewery. Beer and food have both been solid my few times there. You could also do dinner at either Tremont Taphouse or Townhall, as both are good.

Going out of your way to Fat Head's is dependant on the taplist at either location. The North Olmsted brewpub updates their draft list daily, the brewery is less easy to find what is on tap. I don't think you would regret the stop but some days are better than others.

For beer shops, I would recommend going to lakewood. It's 10-12 min from downtown and you will have many more options. Rajah is easy to get, but with no bottle dates freshness can be an issue.

Pro football HOF is totally worth it, no idea on the Rock HOF. I would allow about three hours in Canton, give or take an hour depending on how fast or slow you want to move through the exhibits.

 

Nice job on the looking into things first. So many people come on here and just post where should I go?

I like Greenhouse and Momocho. IIRC Greenhouse has a few good craft options and Momocho doesn't. I really like the food at both of these, but that's me. I wasn't impressed with Mabel's. I also really like Townhall, Tremont Taphouse, and Winking Lizard. All have good beer lists and great food IMO. I don't like Nano or Market Garden. Mainly because beer is average to below average at best. Food at Market Garden is OK. Platform makes some solid beer and is worth a stop.

If you aren't eating at Brew Kettle or Fat Head's you could skip them. I'd hit the Fat Heads Brewery in Middleburg Hts if you can make it. Its worth it. Keep in mind they don't open during the week until around 4. They open a bit earlier on the weekends around noon I think.

I think you nailed it going to Lakewood. Its proximity to downtown makes it an obvious choice. You can follow places like Rozi's on Instagram or Facebook to see what they get in each week. Give Rozi's a call and they will hold stuff for you. Rozi's had both Shramms and 3 Floyds on the shelf last time I was there. You'd have to call or stop in to check out the selection. Its worth it.

I'm with Mike. At least 2-3 hours at each location. Keep in mind Canton is about a hour drive from Cleveland. I've been to both and both are worth it if you are a fan of both.

 

Wow, surprised to hear two dissenting opinions - the food I had at Mabel's was absolutely phenomenal, best BBQ I've had aside from Salt Lick in Austin TX. Greenhouse hasn't been good the last few times we've gone, especially for the price. I personally would go to Lola or Red if you're OK with a small step-up in price and classiness. I would skip lunch at GLBC and go to Mabel's for lunch, then hit Lola or Red for dinner over GH and Momocho (which is really good!).

But as for beer, I would 100% hit Fat Heads over Great Lakes, Platform or any of the other places mentioned. The beer at Platform has never been world-class but it has gone downhill lately IMO. Still a fun place but no longer on the upswing. Great Lakes is boring boring boring and they typically only have one or two pub exclusive beers. Fat Heads will have at least 7-10 beers that aren't packaged and everything they do is solid. Easily the best brewery in NE OH. Skip Nano and MG, nothing worth noting at either.

Tremont Taphouse and Townhall are your two best bets for misc drafts downtown.

 

The Pittsburgh FH's is just a bar so it's not an apples to apples comparison, but you have plenty to do and it's hard to get to everything in two days.

 

Thanks OP, this thread now has the song "One Night in Bangkok" stuck in my head

 

It's strange but there's really not a solid bottle shop downtown. Your best bet right in downtown is Heinen's grocery store. They'll have all the local brews and usually have some Alpha, Yum Yum, or Gumball in 6pks. Lakewood is your best bet by far. Rozi's, Simones, and Lizardville are all within a 5 minute stretch of one another. Rozi's, and to a lesser degree Simones, are great about posting their new beers each week on their FB page. Platform always has a strong draft list and sells their freshly canned 6pks right at the brewery. If you hit Greenhouse or Mabel's you are literally a stones throw away from Butcher & Brewer which is solid and worth the visit IMO. Fat Head's is the best brewery in the area, hands down, but will take you a bit out of your way as indicated. Have fun!

 

There are a lot of new places down in this area and I haven't partaken in all of them, but my personal recommendations would be for Hoppin' Frog tasting room and R. Shea. Not sure how close they are, as I've been to both, but years apart, however, you'll get some top notch brews at HF and some great new small batch beers at R. Shea. Thirsty Dog is different, worth a visit, but not over the other places. Although, if you squeeze in a visit, there's a small, cool new brewery right on the other side, Aqueduct. (If you get a chance to try the beer mustard, do so.)

 

Never heard anyone recommend Auqeduct. In fact, I've only heard reviews that say their beer is virtually undrinkable. Only had their beer once at a fest and it was indeed very bad (clearly infected).

 

The food at fat heads north olmsted is awesome, not sure what you've ordered, but I enjoyed everything I've gotten. They have a ton of options, I've not gotten the same thing twice yet. The smoked dry rub wings were the best. Actually, I need to go back now that I type this. Just my opinion.

 

If his first recommendation was the mustard, that's all anyone needs to know.

 

I'm overly familiar with the area because of the in-laws, and it's a beery dead zone for the most part. Grab some Fat Head's IPA for later at Acme Fresh Market (the one I just drank was bottled 6/7 and tasting great) and cool your heels at Hoppin' Frog until the reception. You really don't have any other choices other than Lockview in downtown Akron, and Hoppin' Frog is the clear winner there.

I'm actually headed for an afternoon trip to Cleveland proper for the first time on Thursday. I don't think I can get more creative than a GLBC-Platform combo because of the timing. As a snooty Chicagoan, I've assumed that I won't find worthwhile cuisine, especially in combination with good beer. The culinary wasteland of suburban Ohio has probably skewed my attitude (I think bagels qualify as "ethnic" food here), but I would love to be proven wrong!

 

It's right next door to Thirsty Dog. If you go to TD, it's worth the extra 5 minutes to go in and get some mustard.

(I've only had 1 beer and 1 cider from them. Beer was nicely themed, but not excellently executed. Cider wasn't bad, but not what it should have been/what was advertised.)

Nice owner, great story/super-interesting trip downstairs. I have hope that all the other good stuff will eventually "karma out" the beer issues.

 

You should try to hit up the places that are good and avoid the places that aren't.

 

If White Rajah is a big want for you (and it should be) I would go to the Brew Kettle for that and El Lupulo Libre. I love Black IPAs and Black Rajah is every bit as good if not better than the White.

 

Just had El Lupulo Libre for the first time recently and can confirm its goodness. Nice tap list there, though other than the Rajahs and ELL, not sure what next-level Ohio stuff you'll find.

 

Sorry. Haven't been on here much this week. I ate at Mabels twice. First time I got the Clevelander, brisket, potatoes, and cucumber salad. I don't like spicy yellow mustard. Which is what the only sauce they give you is based on. So I had to use sauce I didn't like on brisket that was as dry as shoe leather. Clevelander was huge disappointment as well. They took typical bbq food and mixed it all together. Which didn't make it bbq. Sides were decent. Except the potatoes had that mustard sauce cooked into it. I couldn't eat more than 2 pieces of it.

Second time I went I got a sausage sandwich. Must have been a half pound. With a loaf of bread practically for the bun. I couldn't eat the whole bun. It was way too much bread. The sausage was good. Until shortly after I ate I got a really bad stomach ache. That turned into the runs.

Overall, I got food that wasn't really bbq, dry and chewy bbq, and food that gave me the runs. I'm not going back to Mabels any time soon.

I wasn't saying not to eat at Fat Heads. I actually really like their food. I was just suggesting not to stop there if they were only stopping for the beer. I'd hit the brewery in Middleburg instead.

 

Please tell me you didn't order it lean. The fatty brisket we got was literally melt in your mouth. Debated giving some to our 9mo old because you didn't need teeth to eat it. And the pork ribs were the juiciest and biggest I've ever had. Brought 2 of them home and they were more of a fourth meal than midnight snack. Just weird how different our experiences were. Now I have to go back to make sure mine wasn't a fluke. Cheers!