Mike D.'s Profile

Gust Gallucci's Italian grocery is one of my favorite stores. I love a place with a learning curve. The first times in you might feel intimidated and out of place, they're not there to teach you about meats and cheeses, you need to bring some know how with you, or pick it up a little bit each time you shop here. You won't find slick little corporate signs telling you all about olives and what to do with them, but eventually you figure it out and become a better shopper and cook and even a better person for it. Weird. I always pick up my Gaeta olives here and my Capicola, Prosciutto, and salami. They have all the oils and canned and dry goods from Italy that there is. You can buy a sandwich at lunchtime but the line can be long, all in all a nice place to shop.

League Park is Cleveland's abandoned major league baseball park. I had the kids with me today shopping at Gust Gallucci's so when we we're done we headed over to run the base paths and goof off a little. Take your kids, or your dad, have a catch or just walk around and feel history wash over you. You'll need your imagination because there's not much left to see - it's been abandoned now for 70 years, but the field is there and the pitcher mound and bases are still in about the same place they originally were. The original team office is still on the corner and behind it you can see the remains of a concrete grandstand that was along the first base line. The ticket office is at the end of the first base line just past where the homerun fence and foul pole would have been.
The real attraction isn't what is there now but the ghosts of what used to be there. Just imagine you can stand where Cy Young pitched the opening game or stand in the batting box where Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run. Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker played here and Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Shoeless was our hero back then. He lived a couple blocks away from the park back in the day. Now the neighborhood's not the best anymore(to say the least), but I've never felt unsafe there and I've never been there when there were a bunch of kids hanging out, so I've always felt safe, but I would drive right on by or leave if I ever got a bad vibe, but then that's just city living.

Here is my review of Moko Coffee, or in other words, it's about time I pimped my new coffee house on Yelp. Please allow me to introduce ourselves. Moko is the goal we set for ourselves after years of enjoying Cleveland's great coffee houses. I wanted to be able to serve the very best coffees and teas to my friends without any compromise. With this goal in mind I partnered with the 2006 Roaster of the Year - Intelligentsia Coffee. Along with award winning coffee I wanted to have some great food to compliment our drinks menu, so we've put together a menu featuring fresh pastries, panini, salad and soups.

We looked for the perfect location to present you with what we believe is the best cup of coffee in town. That location is in Cleveland's Theater District at Playhouse Square. Playhouse Square is Cleveland's Great Intersection, with theater, restaurants, WCPN/WVIZ, hotels, offices and it's just down the street from Cleveland State University.

Allow me to extend to you a warm welcome to Moko.

The free stamp lays on the lawn of Willard Park just above the rock 'n' roll museum. The locals make fun of it and the tourists walk right by on their way to the museums or the U.S.S. Cod or the fans heading to the stadium. Once in awhile you'll see someone using it for a photo op.  Yesterday , I'm walking over to City Hall to pay my parking tickets and I stopped and looked,  but mostly I was thinking  that there really wasn't such a thing as a free parking space.

Playhouse Square is a collection of old WW I theaters that managed to survive the wreaking ball. They were nearly lost but in the 70's when it was at its bleakest but then the Playhouse Square foundation was formed and somehow managed to save them. The difference from the 70's and now is really night and day, you owe it to yourself to find a show you might like and go see it. I'm writing this from Euclid & E. 14th right now. Tonight there is a block party and people walking around on the new brick sidewalks and there is a show tonight, I think its FORBIDDEN BROADWAY at the Hanna, its all really very cool. Looking ahead THE DROWSY CHAPERONE will be in town and later more shows like DISNEY'S HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL and WICKED. At Christmas time THE NUTCRACKER and A CHRISTMAS CAROL are becoming our family traditions.

So take an old time rock & rollers advice (who spent way too much time at Swingos down here in the 70's) and check it out for yourself at http://www.playhousesq... .

Great place to grab a bite to go and something for later. Pitas, spinach pie, baba Ganoush, gyro, you get the picture. You can eat like a genie here but don't confuse it with the other Aladdin in town, no, no, no, not the same. The pita is also available in most grocery stores if you can't get downtown but why not? It's easy to park right  on the street unless there is a ballgame and Peterson Nuts is just  across the street..

The best dive bar in the city, hey might just be the best bar in the city. Definitely the best blue collar bar. Hooples has the best view of the city and it only costs a bottle of beer.  Just grab a seat at the bar and look out the big windows at the view then you'll know what I'm talking about. The bar is down in the flats but across the river not in the "party" flats. It's at the bottom of the hill from the West Side Market. Could be hard to find but worth it and its relatively safe down there, just don't go off-roading along the tracks at least not after you've been drinking.

The owners keep trying to "upgrade" it they put on a patio and they have football on TV trying to be a sports bar or something. But the real entertainment is the windows, the jukebox, the bowling machine and on Thursday night  you can see the Schwartz brothers. Don't know who the Schwartz's are then you don't know Cleveland rock & blues!

The best Thai food I've had. I'm a total weakling for Thai food and every city I go to I ask for the best Thai restaurant and try to go to it. Turns out Thai Kitchen opens up practically in my backyard - is that karma or what?
I didn't give it 5 stars because they are closed Tues & Wed and for a month or so in the Summer and they only take cash.  Doesn't bother me much but I figure that could trip up a newer customer.

When Michael and Liz Symon moved the wildly successful Lola from Tremont to E. 4th St.., they replaced it with Lolita. I haven't been to the new Lola yet and a big part of the reason is I'm in love with Lolita.
This Summer we had the pig roast  - we loved it - Lolita is smoking their own meats.  This week I went to try  the new Fall menu that everyone on the food forum is talking about  The roasted beets with honey and the  lamb sausages are both outstanding just like the buzz said it would be.. They have a new pizza oven and we had a blue egg, Lake Erie goat cheese and pancetta pizza  -very nice.