John Barr, who passed away November 28 at the age of 87, changed the face of restaurants in Cleveland with antiques and paintings that recreated Dublin’s Red Light District, “Nighttown”, thereby paying homage to the novel Ulysses by the great James Joyce, and attracting an arty, bohemian, well-educated, literary crowd to the top of Cedar Hill.
Starting with a tiny neighborhood spot in 1965, John developed a life-long loyal clientele by offering credit, with a mailed monthly bill, to college students who eventually became doctors, lawyers, engineers and artists, and still signed their checks 15 years later.
John built a dedicated intergenerational staff by treating them well, feeding them well and following their advice. (He also advised them when they created their own bars and restaurants, which many of them eventually did.) He assured their consistently fabulous service by encouraging the only “tip pool” outside of Toronto, Chicago and NYC, so that every server, bartender and support staff member eagerly helped every single customer, because we all benefited from the many happy regular, and occasional, patrons’ extreme generosity.
Nighttown offered fine dining and fine wines in a relaxed atmosphere, guaranteed the best steak in town, and served a traditional Irish lobster stew with cream and whiskey (“The Dublin Lawyer”) and the only King Crab Leg entrée in the Midwest. You could also count on fresh vegetables, a hearty salad, lovely bread, a generous drink, an excellent dessert and a great coffee.
John created work for local musicians, fed them well, provided ample drinks and treated them with respect. This unassuming visionary founded, nurtured and maintained the dark and earthy establishment that his successors, owner Brendan Ring and music producer Jim Wadsworth, have turned into one of the finest jazz clubs in the country.
It was an honor to hold down the center section as a tenured waiter in the main dining room on Thursday through Saturday nights from 1979-81, and a joy to still be a loyal customer these many years later. Rest easy, John Barr, it was a truly great run, and thank you so much for setting the stage for Cleveland to become a burgeoning Food & Beverage Capital that now draws folks from all the cities that you loved to visit, and offers incredible live music from around the globe!
Jeffrey Bowen’s writing has appeared in Akron Beacon Journal, Call & Post, City News, Scene, CoolCleveland, EcoWatch, Elephant Journal, Girl Scout News, Green City-Blue Lake, Heights Observer, ideastream, Live Cleveland, Neighborhood News, Nonprofit Notes, Sun News, multiple Habitat for Humanity publications, and several poetry collections. Like most artists, he also worked many years in the restaurant business.