When I pulled into the parking lot at Clyde’s Bistro and Barroom, the Black Keys were blaring on my radio and the sun was blazing on the metal siding of this former diner. I thought of my first visual impression of the Black Keys, two young white guys from Akron, and how I never would have guessed they could conjure the deep, honest, real sounds of legends like John Lee Hooker. But first impressions are often deceiving, so don’t let the soda-fountain-first-impression of Clyde’s through your salty car window deceive you: the well-crafted food and the people who make it here are deep, honest and real.
I met with father and daughter owners Clyde Mart and Vivian Gatta on a February afternoon. As we talked, their non-verbal queues set a steady rhythm to their conversation. Clyde is the lead guitar, Vivian the bass. He is quick to laugh, swear and tell a story; she is reserved, precise and adds key notes to his riffs. They signal to one another with a barely perceptible glance when one should answer the regularly ringing phone and the other should keep talking with me. What is very obvious is their shared passion for this place.
Clyde’s is decidedly a family affair, as nephews, children and grandchildren are also involved in its success, a success built on a clear awareness of the hard work, significant expense and daily challenges involved in running a restaurant. Clyde has turned around 10 failing restaurants in 32 years, many times with Vivian by his side, taking as he puts it, “disgusting, depressing places” and making them successful, all of them in Northeast Ohio.
At 80, Clyde has the energy of someone half his age and the fire in his eyes when he talks about the restaurant business is astoundingly bright. “A restaurant is like no other business—it is three businesses in one,” Clyde explained. “We are a service business, we are a retail business, and we are a manufacturing business. Everything that comes in the door, we transform into something else.” Every dish at Clyde’s is made from scratch.
When I first went to dine at Clyde’s, prompted by the random selection of a card from my Cleveland Independents deck, I was certainly thrown off by the diner exterior, and then by the contrasting interior with its chandeliers, zebra-print carpeting and dark wood furniture (they spent $250,000 to transform the space from feeling like a walk-in cooler into a vibrant supper club). Yet, once our appetizer of flatbread pizza arrived at the table, arranged, as if by a Cubist, on an elongated slab of hardened butterscotch, I knew the meal would be something special. The subsequent unique takes on coq au vin with frites and chicken parmigiana were excellent, both for dinner that night and for lunch the next day–the portions at Clyde’s are enormous.
The only victim of big portions is dessert, and I explained to Vivian and Clyde that I just had not had room after a meal to try one of their desserts yet. It turns out Vivian makes all of the desserts, so she quickly served me a piece of exceptional (and perfectly warmed) pecan pie while Clyde told me that his favorite is her chocolate cake. Vivian is partial to her key lime pie, not too sweet, she explains, with a quiet confidence. There is a good argument formulating in my mind for reversing the order of my dinner courses…
My wandering mind is snapped back to the present when Clyde’s BlackBerry rings for the fifth or sixth time in 30 minutes. Clyde is not just a restaurant owner, he is also one of the best known restaurant real estate brokers in Northeast Ohio. He specializes in helping small, ethnic restaurants find just the right place. This caller is looking for “a fully equipped restaurant that doesn’t cost much.” Clyde’s expression tells me this is a fairly common request, one that he often can fulfill. Chances are good that if you have a favorite little ethnic eatery, Clyde was involved somehow, someway.
Why his own place now, though?
“I was bored,” he says, and his wife of 57 years, Mo, had recently passed away. With much of his family in Cleveland Heights, this was the right place to open it. Clyde loves the busy Friday and Saturday nights, when he spends most of his time in the jamming kitchen, where the energy is just what Clyde craves. “I love the language in the kitchen, the physical work—it’s hard to match the rush.”
The February sun drifted me into that Cleveland-in-February delusion that it is warmer out than it really is. “Let’s see the patio,” I asked. Clyde led me through the long dining room and out to the patio, which seats 80 in the warmer weather. The back wall has a graffiti mural, which Clyde had specially done by a graffiti artist. I imagine enjoying one of the many local beers they have on tap here, once the tables are back outside and I am not wearing long-johns.
In my visits to Clyde’s, I’ve witnessed customers as diverse as Cleveland itself, and these fans keep coming back for the braised short ribs, the pecan crusted trout and the cioppino (an Italian fish stew), for the local beer at the welcoming bar with bartender Angela, for the exceptional sauces of chef Sheldon Lewis. At the heart of it, though, these encores are because of Clyde and Vivian, who remain their deep, honest, real selves. When I leave, they both talk about the next time I come in, and what I have to try. There is no question, in their minds or mine, that I will be back, and I’ll be having dessert first.
Clyde’s Bistro & Barroom is located at 1975 Lee Rd. in Cleveland Hts. Hours are 5PM-10PM Mon through Sat (bar open later) and they’re open 10:30AM – 2:30PM for brunch on Sun. Call 216-321-7100 or click over to http://ClydesBistroCleveland.com.
Alan Block chose to move to Cleveland in 2006. He spends much of his free time seeking out great food in our region. To pay the food bills, he works at University Hospitals as the IT Service Desk manager. He has previously authored two food blogs, the Bacon Loving Heathen and the Cleveland Epicure, as well as the Eat, Drink, Repeat food newsletter. He welcomes your suggestions of cool food and drink destinations at cleveland.epicureATgmail.com.
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2 Responses to “Real. Honest. Food. – Clyde’s Bistro and Barroom”
Clyde Mart
Thanks for the many kind words.
Clyde
Mixing it Up in Search of Spring
[…] And last but not least, a treat for the locals: I am proud to introduce the one and only new food writer for Cool Cleveland!! Long time readers will recognize him as the love of my life, and now he is also the penmanship behind “Cool Cuisine”. I keep joking that pretty soon we won’t be able to walk down the street without being asked “hey, aren’t you the guy in that thing?”. Truth is it’s only half a joke, as last time we went out to a restaurant there was a resounding “Hi Alan!!” from the owners as we walked in the door, and next thing we knew the drinks were free. I have been picking up on the lingo, like did you know “86″ is code for “ran out”? As in, “Key Lime Pie, 86.” This comes in handy only when trying to sound cool, or telling your teenage daughter she does not know everything. You can catch the first installment here. […]