Scene December 2, 2020 by Chava Communications

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

CONTENTS

DECEMBER 2-8, 2020 • VOL. 52 NO 14 Upfront .......................................6 Feature ..................................... 10 Film .......................................... 25

Eat ............................................ 27 Music ........................................ 31 Savage Love .............................. 33

REWIND: i999 Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat Publisher Andrew Zelman Editor Vince Grzegorek Editorial Music Editor Jeff Niesel Senior Writer Sam Allard Staff Writer Brett Zelman Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Visual Arts Writer Shawn Mishak Stage Editor Christine Howey

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| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

UPFRONT THE FRANK JACKSON administration provided scant information on the city’s lapsed recycling program Monday, updating an anxious Cleveland City Council about the work of an environmental consulting firm which has been tasked with assessing the city’s waste collection and disposal operations from top to bottom. A draft report of that assessment, which will include analysis and recommendations for the curbside recycling program as well as other topics, is expected to be completed by the end of December. The city’s Chief Operations Officer, Darnell Brown, told council that the administration will then review recommendations and prioritize them by the end of January. In response to a question from Council President Kevin Kelley, Brown estimated that residents might begin to see changes in waste collection operations by the middle of 2021, but said he was only speculating. The presentation Monday did not include concrete information or recommendations about the recycling program. Council and residents have been hoping for answers ever since it was revealed earlier this year that due to global markets and the city’s high rate of contamination, the city had suspended its curbside recycling program. When its most recent contract expired, the city issued two RFPs for a new contractor to handle recycling services but received only one, exorbitantly priced, bid. All Clevelanders’ recyclable material has been disposed in a landfill, alongside garbage, for months. Whether or not the City will resume its curbside recycling, and what form a new program might take, will presumably be outlined in next month’s report. Brown said that the consultant had been hard at work on “due diligence”: gathering data, collecting resident feedback and going on ride-alongs with route supervisors to assess routes, garbage bin set-out rates, mileage, vehicle maintenance, staffing levels and more. Brown said it had been 20 years since the city of Cleveland modified its waste-

Photo by Sam Allard

REPORT ON CLEVELAND’S RECYCLING DEBACLES EXPECTED NEXT MONTH

collection routes. Brown reiterated that the Jackson administration believed it was “good environmental policy” to have a city recycling program, but that the aim of the consultant’s work was to “right size” recycling in the context of a larger waste collection framework to ensure that it remains efficient and feasible. -Sam Allard

DENNIS KUCINICH SAYS HE’S “SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING” RUNNING FOR CLEVELAND MAYOR IN 2021 In an interview last week with Channel 3 News ostensibly about a new memoir, former mayor, congressman and presidential candidate Dennis! Kucinich confirmed what has long been rumored: He is “seriously considering” running once again for Cleveland Mayor in 2021. Unmentioned is that Kucinich has been laying the groundwork for a mayoral campaign since at least early 2020. The Ward 11 resident has maintained, while writing opeds about the West Side Market for cleveland.com and issuing press

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

releases about Cleveland Public Power and other topics, that he is merely a “concerned citizen.” Earlier this month, he sent a press release to local media in response to the soaring violent crime rate. He called for the city to double the number of its homicide detectives, to launch a new community relations approach targeting high-crime areas, and to provide mental health counselors in those areas. Scene asked Kucinich this summer why the media should pay these press releases any mind. If Kucinich was merely a concerned private citizen, after all, why would these policy proposals rise above the level of Facebook posts? The answer is and has always been that these are campaign materials, designed not only to establish policy priorities for Kucinich’s potential platform, but to generate publicity (and mystery!) about his run. He has not personally admitted his intent to seek the office until now, i.e., when the presidential election is in the rearview mirror and residents can focus on city matters in an undivided way. Like Frank Jackson, Kucinich is

shrewd enough to understand that declaring one’s candidacy means one headline; teasing reporters for months about a potential candidacy means continuous headlines. There’s no sense denying that Kucinich remains far and away the most gifted campaigner of all the potential mayoral candidates in Cleveland. First-time challengers would do well, in fact, to pay close attention to how he operates. His strategy involves regular contact with the media and specific policy proposals on hot-button issues. Kucinich is sometimes mischaracterized as a pure opportunist and a kook. I think that misses the mark. He is, however, very smart about pairing his decades-long commitment to progressive causes (his brand, for lack of a better word), with the issues on most folks’ minds during a given election season. Have a look at how central gun legislation was in his platform during the 2018 gubernatorial primary, in the wake of the Parkland shooting. The current disaster at Cleveland Public Power and the statewide scandal at FirstEnergy is the stuff of divine

bequeaths. For the former Boy Mayor who staked his career on saving Muny Light, the campaign narrative is writing itself. Crucially, Dennis! also has the luxury of operating outside City Hall and can therefore call out the incompetence and dismal track record of current city leaders without risking personal relationships. That’s important, because the incompetence and track record of current leaders need to be called out. Candidates like City Council President Kevin Kelley, and indeed, Mayor Frank Jackson, will have to convince voters to keep them in power despite the misery and poverty over which they’ve presided. Some will say that Kucinich is a curious candidate to call out incompetence, that given the storied tumult of his lone mayoral term, (1977-1979), he is playing pot to Jackson’s kettle. Far more depressing, though, is that a Kucinich campaign likely means a strengthened Frank Jackson campaign, which will drain resources from new, younger candidates. Scene reported earlier this year, and confirmed again recently, that many of Jackson’s donors are still very much behind him and would prefer to see him run again. They are expected to redouble their commitments should Kucinich mount a serious challenge. Jackson himself reportedly remains undecided. He has said he has not ruled out running next year. Incidentally, for Cleveland history buffs, Kucinich’s memoir appears set for publication at last. (Another nice campaign publicity boost.) It›s been in-progress for years. Getting Kucinich›s interpretation of what went down during the epic Muny Light battle in the late 70s, especially given Kucinich’s penchant for drama and his flair with prose, should make for a page-turner. -Sam Allard

WE HAVE ENTERED SERIOUS INJURY SEASON AT NORTHEAST OHIO AMAZON WAREHOUSES During November and December, Amazon warehouse workers across the country log more hours than during any other time of the year. Before, during and after “Cyber Monday,” which this year fell on Nov. 30, the 3,000-plus workers at the Northeast Ohio Amazon distribution centers in North Randall and Euclid scramble to fill an explosion of online orders. And they are subjected to the rigors, risks and workplace injuries that disproportionately arrive during

the holiday season. An investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting exposed the staggering rates of injury at more than 150 Amazon fulfillment centers nationwide from 2016 to 2019. The investigation concluded that Amazon’s obsession with speed and automation had turned their warehouses into “injury mills.” “Amazon doesn’t want any longterm workers,” an employee at an Amazon facility in Portland told his local alt-weekly last year, when a portion of the Reveal data had been collected. “They want you to work hard and fast and get rid of you when your body can’t take it anymore. That’s their business model.” Reveal’s new trove of data showed that Ohio’s North Randall location, “CLE2” in the Amazon code, was among the worst for serious injuries. The sortable robotic warehouse at the former Randall Park Mall site employs roughly 2,200 people and received substantial state and local tax breaks to locate where it probably would have anyway, given the mall’s massive footprint, the site’s proximity to a dense population center (Cleveland), and Amazon’s need for more distribution warehouses to accommodate its oneday delivery guarantee for Prime members. CLE2 had 15.3 serious injuries per 100 workers in 2018, which was 11th-worst among all Amazon locations. It improved to 12.8 serious injuries per 100 workers in 2019, but remained in the bottom 10% of all Amazon facilities. These serious injury numbers, which include injuries that result in days away from work, job transfers or some other work restriction, far exceed the national average. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average rate of serious injury in the warehousing and storage industry is only 4 per 100 workers. The Euclid facility, “CLE3,” is also a sortable robotic warehouse that handles small and mediumsized packages. Employees began working there in June, 2019. By the end of the year, it had seen 117 total serious injuries, a rate of 9.8 per 100 workers. That’s more than double the national average and was among the 40 worst Amazon facilities in 2019. Reveal provided site-specific data to Scene, which showed not only the number and rate of serious injuries week-by-week, but the breakdown in hours worked, illnesses, other injuries and days away from work. The data also recorded fatalities. Neither CLE2 nor CLE3 had a | clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

UPFRONT fatality in 2018 or 2019, though a worker at the North Randall location died after testing positive for Covid-19 in May of this year. Among other things, the data showed a massive uptick in hours worked in the months of November and December, corresponding with holiday gift-buying season. Fourteen

DIGIT WIDGET 90,000 Customers of Cleveland Water who were delinquent on their bills (as of 11/9), as the City of Cleveland prepared to end its moratorium on water and power shutoffs Dec. 1. The average overdue bill: $481.

28,500 Customers of Cleveland Public Power (more than 35% of CPP’s total customer base) who were delinquent on their bills (as of 11/9), as the City of Cleveland prepared to end its moratorium on water and power shutoffs Dec. 1. The average overdue bill: $281.

680 Total performances that Playhouse Square has canceled since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered live events. (Playhouse Square announced this week that the Broadway Series is scheduled to return in the fall of 2021).

700,000 Square feet of space at the IX Center that the Akron-based GOJO Corporation – makers of Purell hand sanitizer – has leased for inventory storage. The news arrives two months after the IX Center announced it would close after 35 years in operation as an exposition facility.

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

of the 15 weeks with the most hours logged at either location occurred between the second week of November and the third week of December. Four of those weeks resulted in serious injury rates higher than 20 per 100 workers, which happened only 12 times in total through 2018 and 2019. The highest weekly rate of serious injury on record in either 2018 or 2019 was the week of Feb. 4, 2019 at CLE2, where 33.7 serious injuries per 100 workers were recorded. But these next several weeks will be grueling and dangerous for Amazon workers in Northeast Ohio, human beings who function as extensions of robotic equipment for the world’s leading e-commerce giant. They will pick up items, scan them, and dump them into receptacles on large racks controlled by mobile robots. They will do so continuously for the duration of their lengthy shifts. In the final two weeks of 2019, workers at CLE2 worked more than 200,000 hours performing this punishing work. That was 2-3 times the weekly hourly totals through the winter and spring. Amazon spokesperson Andre Woodson told Scene that nothing was more important to the company than the health and safety of their associates. He said that during the holiday season, Amazon is “anything but complacent.” “We continue to invest in safety training and education programs, technology and new safety infrastructure,” Woodson said, “and we see improvements through programs focused on improved ergonomics, delivering guided physical and wellness exercises to our associates at their workstation, mechanical workstation assistance equipment, improving workstation setup and design, forklift telematics, forklift guardrails to separate equipment from pedestrians, and parking lot improvements—to name a few.” Woodson added that workplace injury data often requires additional context. In many of Amazon’s newer facilities, he said, injury rates tend to skew higher because of an influx or hires who may not have experience working warehouse jobs and who, in many cases, don’t have appropriate footwear. He said that Amazon has created a “robust wellness training program” for their employees that focuses not only on workplace safety but on nutrition and mind and body health. -Sam Allard

scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene

FEATURE

SCENE’S ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF ALL THE BEST THINGS in Cleveland is a bit different this year. There will be no party. We won’t be getting together to hand out awards. Some of the winners, unfortunately, are no longer in business. But that only changes the situation a little bit, and with so very few reasons to be happy this godforsaken year we’re not going to dwell on that. Because there are winners to honor, even if we can’t enjoy every single one of them right at the moment. But we will down the line, and so should you. Until then let it ring out loud and clear across the city that this is the very best of Cleveland in the worst of times, and we wouldn’t rather safely enjoy it from a responsible distance while wearing a mask with anyone else.

Arts & Entertainment

3. Front Porch Lights 4. Uptight Sugar 5. Jason Patrick Meyers

3. Uno Lady 4. Gina Bartos 5. Becky Grano

1. Beachland Ballroom & Tavern 2. Grog Shop 3. The Agora 4. Blossom Music Center 5. House of Blues

Best DJ

Best Male Vocalist

Best Band

Best Female Vocalist

Best Concert Venue

1. Carlos Jones and the Plus Band 2. Tropidelic

1. DJ EV 2. Bobby Booshay 3. Mattitude 4. Tie - Mimi Dromette 4. Tie - Shawn Brewster

1. Madeline Finn 2. Ashley Armanni

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

1. Mikey Silas (Apostle Jones) 2. Jason Patrick Meyers 3. Chris DiCola 4. David Hamilton (Uptight Sugar)

Best Singer/ Songwriter

1. Jason Patrick Meyers 2. Ray Flanagan

3. Gina Bartos 4. David Hamilton 5. Mikey Silas

Best Cover Band 1. Disco Inferno 2. Tricky Dick 3. The Sunrise Jones 4. First Offenders 5. Radiate Live

Best Dance Party 1. Emo Night CLE 2. Ivy 3. The Chamber 4. Gagapalooza 5. Fembot

Best Arts/Film/ Music Festival

1. Cleveland International Film Festival 2. Ingenuity Fest 3. Brite Winter 4. Laurel Live 5. FunMill Films Festival

Best Movie Theater 1. Cedar Lee Theater 2. Capitol Theater 3. The Cinematheque 4. Cinemark Valley View 5. Crocker Park

Best Local Author Writer: Fiction 1. Ivy Lee 2. Dan Chaon 3. Thrity Umrigar 4. Michael Vassel 5. Connie Schultz

Best Local Author/ Writer - Nonfiction/ Journalism 1. Connie Schultz 2. Caitlin Fisher 3. Terry Pluto 4. James Renner 5. Ken Schneck

Best Place To Catch a Play

1. Cleveland Public Theatre 2. Near West Theatre

3. Dobama Theatre 4. Ensemble Theatre 5. Beck Center

Best Local Playwright 1. Meredith King 2. Mike Geither 3. Lisa Langford 4. David Hansen 5. Eric Coble

Best Actor

1. Colson Baker 2. Cody Kilpatrick Steele 3. Josh Miller 4. Dominic Canceillere 5. Danny Simpson

Best Actress

1. Tasha Brandt 2. Angela Cole 3. Kinsley Funari 4. Emily Bishop-Bosu 5. Lina Edwards

Best Hip Hop Artist/Group

1. FreshProduce 2. Koly Kolgate 3. Jul Big Green 4. Red Rose Panic 5. Muamin Collective

Best Director

1. Kinsley Funari/Josh Miller 2. Patrick Ciamacco 3. Conrod Faraj 4. Remy Gareau 5. Scott E. Brosius

Best Photographer 1. Allie Hamed (LAMB Photography) 2. Alexa Jae 3. Samantha Bias 4. Scott Morrison 5. Josh Richey

Best Painter

1. Samantha Bias 2. Frank Oriti 3. Eileen Dorsey 4. Bob Peck 5. Megan Rindfleisch

Best Artist

1. Eileen Dorsey 2. Aaron Sechrist 3. Samantha Bias 4. Garrett Weider 5. Kris Petrenko

Best Art Gallery 1. 78th Street Studios 2. Negative Space 3. Spaces 4. Hedge Gallery 5. 2020 West Schaaf

Best Arts Event

1. Lakewood Arts Festival

Emo Night CLE. | EMANUEL WALLACE

2. Third Friday at 78th Street Studios 3. Cain Park Arts Festival 4. Waterloo Arts Festival 5. Ingenuity Fest

Spike Pit 4. Welcome to Darkview by Brave Bones 5. Last Year’s Marvel by Joshua Jesty

Best Comedy Venue

Best Filmmaker

1. Hilarities 2. The Improv 3. The Grog Shop 4. Winchester Music Tavern 5. The Funny Stop

Best Comedian 1. Mike Polk Jr. 2. Mary Santora 3. Bill Squire 4. Joey Gentile 5. Jimmie Graham

Best Dance Troupe 1. Cleveland Dance Project 2. Suga Shack Girls 3. Monster Dolls 4. Verb Ballet 5. The Movement Project

Best Illustrator 1. Derek Hess 2. Cecilia Li 3. Jake Kelly 4. John G. 5. Gary Dumm

Best Local Album

1. I’m OK, You’re OK by Uptight Sugar 2. What If by Jason Patrick Meyers 3. Animal of Disrespect by

1. Conrad Faraj 2. Kinsley Funari/Josh Miller 3. Robert Banks 4. Tyler Davidson

Best Tattoo Artist 1. Lauren Vandevier (Voodoo Monkey) 2. Eric Kaplan (Olympus) 3. Al Garcia (Stay True) 4. Stephanie Streeter (Tattoo Faction) 5. Natalie Roelle (Voodoo Monkey)

Best Street Fair 1. Taste of Tremont 2. Hessler Street Fair 3. Waterloo Arts Fest 4. The Feast 5. Dyngus Day

Best Traditional Dance Company

1. Verb Ballet 2. The Movement Project 3. Cleveland Dance Project 4. Groundworks 5. Elevated Dance

Best Burlesque Troupe 1. Suga Shack Girls

2. Red Hot Heathens 3. Cleveland Burlesque

Best Coffee

1. Rising Star 2. Root Cafe 3. Civilization 4. Algebra Teahouse 5. Phoenix Coffee

Food & Drink Best Restaurant

Best Teahouse

1. Barroco 2. Momocho 3. Dante 4. Salt+ 5. Flying Fig 6. Larder 7. Luxe 8. Astoria

Best Local Snack

1. Cleveland Tea Revival 2. Algebra Tea House 3. Inca Tea 4. The Macaron Tea Room 5. Clementine’s

Best Chef

1. Old Brooklyn Cheese Co. 2. Brewnuts 3. Malley’s 4. Koko Bakery 5. The Cleveland Caramel Corn Co.

Best Seafood Market

1. Kate’s Fish 2. Seven Seas Seafoods 3. Euclid Fish 4. Catanese Seafood 5. Lobster Brothers

Best New Restaurant

1. Hola Tacos 2. Lindey’s Lake House 3. All Saints Public House 4. Zhug 5. Alea

1. Jill Vedaa (Salt+) 2. Doug Katz (Zhug/Amba/Chimi) 3. Matt Spinner (Bar Oni) 4. Matt Koza (Landmark Smokehouse/Twist) 5. Shuxin Liu (Xinji)

Best French Fries 1. Tommy’s 2. Bar Cento 3. Banter 4. TownHall 5. Lola

Best German Restaurant

1. Das Schnitzel Haus 2. Der Braumeister 3. Hansa Brewery 4. Hofbrauhaus

Best Mexican Restaurant 1. Momocho

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

2. La Plaza 3. Barrio 4. Cozumel 5. Blue Habanero

Best Jamaican Restaurant

1. IRIE Jamaican Kitchen 2. Taste of Jamaica 3. Caribbean Island 4. Bratenahl Kitchen

Best French Restaurant

1. L’Albatros 2. Le Petit Triangle 3. EDWINs 4. Chez Francois 5. Tartine Bistro

Best Korean Restaurant 1. Seoul Garden 2. Korea House 3. Rising Grill 4. Miega

Best Sushi

1. Ginko 2. Pacific East 3. Voodoo Tuna 4. Shinto 5. Kintaro

Best Japanese Restaurant 1. Shinto 2. Ginko 3. Ushabu 4. Pacific East 5. Shuhei

Best Chinese Restaurant

1. Szechuan Gourmet 2. Li Wah 3. LJ Shanghai 4. King Wah 5. Siam Cafe

Best Thai Restaurant

1. Thai Thai 2. Banana Blossom 3. Peppermint Thai 4. Thai Kitchen 5. Map of Thailand

Best Vietnamese Restaurant 1. Minh Anh 2. Ninja City 3. Pho Thang 4. Superior Pho 5. Saigon

Best Pho

1. Superior Pho 2. #1 Pho 3. Ninja City 4. Pho Thang 5. Bowl of Pho

Best Seafood Restaurant

1. Pier W 2. Alley Cat Oyster Bar 3. Blu 4. Marble Room 5. Blue Point Grille

Best Desserts (Restaurant)

1. Rood Food and Pie 2. Thyme Table 3. Marble Room 4. Pier W 5. Lago East Bank

Best Irish Restaurant 1. The Harp 2. Stone Mad 3. Flannery’s 4. Merry Arts 5. Public House

Best Pizza

1. Il Rione 2. Ohio Pie Co. 3. Geraci’s 4. Angelo’s 5. Edison’s

4. Tie - K&K Portage Meats 4. Tie - Saucisson

Best Brunch

Best Barbecue

1. Luxe Kitchen and Lounge 2. Pier W 3. Townhall 4. Landmark Smokehouse 5. Lago East Bank

Best Vegan Restaurant

1. Cleveland Vegan 2. The Root Cafe 3. Tommy’s 4. TownHall 5. Foodhisattva

Best Late Night Eats 1. Happy Dog 2. Bar Cento 3. The Fairmount 4. My Friends Restaurant 5. Fairview Tavern

Best Burger

1. Heck’s 2. Johnny’s Little Bar 3. Gunselman’s Tavern 4. The Rail 5. Stevenson’s

Best Latin Restaurant

1. Paladar 2. Barocco 3. Rincon Criollo 4. El Arezapo y Pupuseria 5. El Rinconcito Chapin

Best Butcher Shop 1. Ohio City Provisions 2. Gibbs Butcher Block 3. TJ’s Butcher Block

Larder. | EMANUEL WALLACE

1. Mabel’s 2. Proper Pig 3. Woodstock BBQ 4. Ohio City BBQ 5. Landmark Smokehouse

Best Polish Restaurant

1. Sokolowski’s University Inn 2. Little Polish Diner 3. Rudy’s 4. Seven Roses

Best Bagels

1. Cleveland Bagel Co. 2. Bialy’s 3. Cocky’s Bagels 4. The Bagel Shoppe 5. D&R Bagels

Best Vegetarian Restaurant 1. Tommy’s 2. Cleveland Vegan 3. Johnny Mango’s 4. Root Cafe 5. Nature’s Oasis

Best Steakhouse 1. Red, the Steakhouse 2. Marble Room 3. Strip 4. Urban Farmer 5. Hyde Park

Best Middle Eastern Restaurant 1. Zhug 2. Nate’s Deli

3. Anatolia Cafe 4. Aladdin’s 5. Taa

3. Flour 4. Bruno’s 5. Lago East Bank

Best Sandwich

Best Indian Restaurant

1. Larder 2. Lox, Stock and Brisket 3. Slyman’s 4. Herb’n Twine 5. Melt

1. India Garden 2. Saffron Patch 3. Cafe Tandoor 4. Indian Delight 5. Tandul

Best Food Truck

Best Donuts

1. Cleveland Cookie Dough 2. Boca Loca 3. Wild Spork 4. Touch Supper Club 5. MoBites

1. Brewnuts 2. Jack Frost 3. Goldie’s 4. Becker’s 5. Spudnuts

Best Patio Dining

1. Collision Bend Brewing Company 2. Georgetown 3. The Fairmount 4. Luxe 5. Toast

Best Breakfast

Best African Restaurant

Best Diner

Best Chicken Wings

Best Bakery/ Pastries

1. Lucky’s Cafe 2. Grumpy’s 3. George’s Kitchen 4. Inn on Coventry 5. The Place To Be

1. Grumpy’s 2. My Friends Restaurant 3. Dinerbar on Clifton 4. George’s Kitchen 5. Nick’s Diner

1. Zoma Ethiopian Cafe 2. Empress Taytu 3. Kifaya’s Kitchen 4. Choukouya Resto-Bar

1. Dina’s 2. Around the Corner 3. The Foundry 4. Rush Inn 5. Good Company

Best Italian Restaurant

1. Mia Bella 2. Luca Italian Cuisine

1. Blackbird 2. Luna 3. On The Rise 4. Kelsey Elizabeth 5. Michael Angelo’s

Best Cakes

1. Kelsey Elizabeth 2. Wild Flour

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

Best Outdoor Wedding Venue

3. Luna 4. KB Confections 5. LaLa Custom Cakes

1. Cleveland Botanical Gardens 2. Mapleside Farms 3. Holden Arboretum 4. Sapphire Creek Winery 5. Cultural Gardens

Best Breadmaker 1. On the Rise 2. Blackbird 3. Breadsmith 4. Fluffy Duck 5. Stone Oven

Best Radio Station

1. 100.7 WMMS 2. 92.3 The Fan 3. 90.3 WCPN 4. 89.3 WCSB 5. 99.1 WMMS2 (Now the Black Information Network)

Best Greek Restaurant

1. Astoria Cafe and Market 2. Greek Village 3. Mars Bar 4. Gyro George 5. Taki’s

Best College Radio Station

1. 89.3 WCSB - Cleveland State University 2. 88.7 WJCU - John Carroll 3. 91.1 WRUW - Case Western Reserve 4. 90.7 WKSU - Kent State 5. 88.3 WXPN - Baldwin Wallace

Best Soul Food

1. Zanzibar 2. SoHo Chicken and Whiskey 3. Angie’s 4. Squash the Beef 5. Southern Cafe 6. Hot Sauce Williams

Best Radio Show

Best Fried Chicken 1. SoHo Chicken and Whiskey 2. Parkview Nite Club 3. Larder 4. Mahall’s 5. Mr. Chicken

Best Ice Cream

1. Mitchell’s 2. Mason’s Creamery 3. Sweet Moses 4. East Coast Custard 5. Honey Hut

Best Deli

1. Joe’s (Rocky River) 2. Larder 3. Corky and Lenny’s 4. Jack’s Deli 5. Chicago Deli

Best Bar Food

1. Buckeye Beer Engine 2. Parkview Nite Club 3. Winchester Music Tavern 4. Winking Lizard 5. Fairview Tavern

Best Juice Bar 1. Restore 2. Beet Jar 3. Daily Press 4. Anna in the Raw 5. Fawaky Burst

Best Romantic Restaurant 1. Marble Room 2. L’Albatros 3. Luca 4. Pier W 5. Aurelia

Hola Tacos. | EMANUEL WALLACE

Best Sub Shop

1. Herb’n Twine 2. Dave’s Cosmic Subs 3. Grum’s 4. La Bodegga 5. Ohio City Subs

Best Tacos 1. La Plaza 2. Barrio 3. Bomba 4. Taco Tontos 5. The Foundry

Best Tapas/Small Plates

1. Butcher and the Brewer 2. Salt+ 3. Astoria 4. Zhug 5. Toast

Best Hot Dog

1. Happy Dog 2. Old Fashion Hot Dogs 3. Hot Dog Diner 4. Scooter’s

Best Polish Boy

1. Banter 2. Seti’s 3. Hot Sauce Williams 4. Rowley Inn 5. B&M

Best Local Chain 1. Barrio 2. Melt 3. Yours Truly 4. Swenson’s 5. Winking Lizard

People & Places Best Hotel

1. Hilton (Downtown) 2. Metropolitan at the 9 3. Ritz-Carlton 4. Aloft (Flats) 5. The Westin

Best Place to Take an Out-of-Towner

1. West Side Market 2. Cleveland Museum of Art 3. Rock and Roll of Fame 4. The Metroparks 5. Edgewater Park

Best Family Outing

1. The Metroparks 2. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo 3. Edgewater Park 4. Cleveland Museum of Art 5. PlayLoveLearn

Best Neighborhood 1. Ohio City 2. Tremont 3. Gordon Square 4. West Park 5. Old Brooklyn

Best Suburb

1. Lakewood 2. Cleveland Heights 3. Rocky River 4. Shaker Heights 5. Westlake 6. Bay Village

Best Free Outing

1. Cleveland Museum of Art 2. Third Friday at 78th Street Studios 3. Metroparks 4. Edgewater Live 5. Black Mass

Best Apartment Complex

1. Alan Cox Show (100.7 WMMS) 2. Sound of Ideas (90.3 WCPN Ideastream) 3. Rover’s Morning Glory (100.7 WMMS) 4. Bull and Fox (92.3 WKRK The Fan) 5. NEO Rocks (88.7 WJCU John Carroll Radio)

Best Sports Talker

1. Ken Carman (92.3 The Fan) 2. Dustin Fox (92.3 The Fan) 3. Adam the Bull (92.3 The Fan) 4. Les Levine 5. Anthony Lima (92.3 The Fan)

1. The 9 2. Flats East Bank 3. The Edison 4. The Bingham 5. One University Circle

Best Bed and Breakfast

Best Sports Radio Show

1. Emerald Necklace Tearoom and Inn 2. Glidden House Hotel 3. Clifford House

1. Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima (92.3 The Fan) 2. Bull and Fox (92.3 The Fan) 3. Really Big Show (850 WKNR)

Best Seasonal Festival/Event

Best Local Newscast

1. Feast of the Assumption 2. Taste of Tremont 3. Edgewater Live 4. Brite Winter 5. Parade the Circle

Best Indoor Wedding Venue 1. The Arcade 2. Cleveland Museum of Art 3. Windows on the River 4. Cleveland Botanical Gardens 5. 78th Street Studios

1. WJW Fox 8 2. WKYC NBC 3 3. WEWS ABC 5 4. WOIO CBS 19

Best Anchor

1. Wayne Dawson (WJW 8) 2. Betsy Kling (WKYC 3) 3. Russ Mitchell (WKYC 3) 4. Danita Harris (WEWS 5) 5. Jim Donovan (WKYC 3)

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

Best Sports Reporter

1. Jim Donovan (WKYC 3) 2. Angel Gray (Fox Sports Ohio) 3. Terry Pluto (Plain Dealer/ Cleveland.com) 4. John Telich (WJW 8) 5. Anthony Lima (92.3 The Fan)

Best Instagram Follow

1. @CleFoodies 2. @TheCleBucketList 3. @ClevelandVibes 4. @TheGregMurray 5. @Bel.Eat.Land

Best College or University

1. Cleveland State University 2. Case Western Reserve University 3. Kent State University 4. John Caroll University 5. Baldwin Wallace University

Best Local Startup

1. Perfectly Imperfect Produce 2. Legend Headwear 3. The Outpost 4. Boxcast 5. The Opportunity Exchange

Best Place to Work 1. Hyland Software 2. Cleveland Clinic 3. University Hospitals 4. Marigold Catering 5. Sprinly

Best Non-Profit/ Charity

1. OhioGuidestone 2. Animal Protective League 3. Drink Local Drink Tap 4. Colors+ 5. Vocational Guidance Services

Best Place for a First Date

1. The Side Quest 2. Cleveland Museum of Art 3. Little Italy 4. Mahall’s 5. Capitol Theatre

Best Place for a Kid’s Birthday Party 1. Play: Cle 2. The Jump Yard 3. Shaker Rocks 4. Get Air 5. Talespinner Children’s Theatre 6. PlayLoveLearn

Best Place for a Grown-up’s Birthday Party

1. Tabletop Board Game Cafe 2. Mahall’s 3. 16-Bit Bar+Arcade 4. The Side Quest 5. Play: Cle

Best Place to Buy a House

1. Lakewood 2. Rocky River 3. Cleveland Heights 4. West Park 5. Bay Village

Best Activist

1. Ricky Smith (RAKE) 2. Yvonne Pointer (Positive Plus) 3. Erin Huber (Drink Local Drink Tap) 4. Chrissy StonebrakerMartinez (InterReligious Task Force on Central America) 5. Archie Green (Peel Dem Layers Back)

Best Local Podcast 1. Cleveland Potholes 2. Dude, Nobody Cares 3. Flix & Bill 4. Untucking the Past

5. Academy Queens 6. Non-Denominational: A Sitcom Podcast

3. Bop Stop 4. Take 5 5. House of Swing

Best Drag Performer

Best Rock Club

1. The Agora 2. Grog Shop 3. Beachland Ballroom 4. The Foundry 5. Now That’s Class

1. Peach Fuzz 2. Aurora Thunder 3. Malibu Peruu 4. Veranda L’Ni 5. Dr. Lady J 6. Anhedonia Delight 7. Carly Uninemclite

Best Public High School

Best Bar or Club for Local Music

1. Lakewood High School 2. Rocky River High School 3. Shaker Heights High School 4. Solon High School 5. Westlake High School

Best Private High School

1. St. Ignatius 2. St. Edwards 3. Hawken 4. Laurel School 5. Villa Angela St Joseph’s

Bars & Clubs Best Jazz Club 1. Nighttown 2. Brothers Lounge

1. Mahall’s 2. Grog Shop 3. Beachland Tavern 4. Happy Dog 5. The Winchester Music Tavern 6. Brothers’ Lounge 7. The Foundry 8. Now That’s Class

Best Bar or Club for Underground Music 1. Grog Shop 2. Now That’s Class 3. Beachland Ballroom 4. Mahall’s 5. The Foundry 6. The Chamber

Best Hip-Hop Club 1. Grog Shop 2. B-Side

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| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

3. Touch Supper Club 4. Rumor 5. Now That’s Class

Best Blues Club

1. Brothers Lounge 2. Nighttown 3. Beachland Ballroom 4. House of Swing 5. Bop Stop

Best LGBTQ Bar 1. Twist Social Club 2. The Side Quest 3. Vibe 4. Cocktails 5. Leather Stallion

Best Bar/Club for EDM 1. FWD 2. Agora 3. Twist 4. Beachland Ballroom 5. Barley House

Best Dive Bar

1. Parkview Nite Club 2. Corky’s 3. Harbor Inn 4. Now That’s Class 5. Funhouse

Best Place for Arcade Games 1. 16-Bit Bar+Arcade

2. Superelectric Pinball Parlor 3. The Side Quest 4. Punch Bowl Social 5. Funhouse

Best Neighborhood Bar 1. Merry Arts Pub 2. Jukebox 3. The Side Quest 4. Fairview Tavern 5. Funhouse

Best Spot for Day Drinking

1. Terrestrial Brewing Company 2. Platform Beer Co. 3. Merry Arts 4. Collision Bend Brewing Co. 5. Masthead Brewing Co. 6. TownHall 7. The Side Quest

Best Karaoke

1. Corky’s Place 2. Tina’s 3. Twist Social Club 4. Bar 107 5. Cocktails

Best Cocktail Bar 1. Porco Tiki Lounge 2. LBM 3. Velvet Tango Room

4. Spotted Owl 5. Society Lounge

Best Happy Hour 1. LBM 2. The Fairmount 3. Humble Wine Bar 4. Pier W 5. Twist Social Club

Best New Bar

1. Bookhouse Brewery 2. The Little Rose Tavern 3. Flight 4. Phunkenship 5. Opal on Pearl

Best Gentleman’s Club 1. Christie’s 2. Lido’s Lounge 3. Hustler Club 4. Diamond Men’s Club 5. Crazy Horse

Best Brewery

1. Platform Beer Co. 2. Market Garden Brewery 3. Fat Heads Brewery 4. Noble Beast Brewing Co. 5. Masthead Brewing Co.

Best Bar With Games

1. Hi and Dry 2. Table Top Board Game Cafe

5. Lago East Bank

3. The Side Quest 4. 16-Bit Bar+Arcade 5. Funhouse

Best Bar Trivia Night

Best Bar For Singles 1. Around the Corner 2. The Side Quest 3. Dive Bar 4. TownHall 5. Corky’s Place

Best Local Beer

Best Bartender

1. Harmony Moon (The Side Quest) 2. AJ Grandell (Twist Social Club) 3. Jorden Elliott (Corky’s Place) 4. Dan Whitacre (Lago East Bank) 5. Joey Gentile (Distill Table)

Best Wine Bar

1. Rocky River Wine Bar 2. Humble Wine Bar 3. Flight 4. CLE Urban Winery 5. Clifton Martini & Wine Bar 6. The Wine Spot

Best Bar Patio

1. Jukebox 2. Happy Dog 3. The Side Quest 4. Parma Tavern 5. Twist Social Club

1. Nano Brew 2. Around the Corner 3. Collision Bend Brewing Co. 4. Luxe

1. Great Lakes Brewing Company 2. Platform Beer Co. 3. Noble Beast Brewing Co. 4. Market Garden Brewery 5. Fat Heads Brewery

Best Metal Club 1. The Foundry 2. The Agora 3. LBM 4. Now That’s Class 5. Phantasy 6. The Chamber

Best Club or Bar to Dance 1. Twist Social Club 2. The Chamber 3. FWD 4. Dive Bar 5. Around the Corner

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

Best Bar on the Water

Best Spa

1. Sacred Hour 2. Quintana’s 3. Soothe 4. Walden 5. Flex

1. Collision Bend Brewery 2. Alley Cat Oyster Bar 3. Shooters 4. Merwin’s Wharf 5. Music Box Supper Club 6. Pier W 7. FWD

Best Boutique 1. Banyan Tree 2. Fount 3. Coven 4. Salty Not Sweet 5. New Moon

Best Bottle Selection

1. Banter 2. Beerhead 3. Winking Lizard 4. Twist Social Club 5. Now That’s Class

Best Men’s Clothing Store

Best Draught Selection

1. Tremont Taphouse 2. Buckeye Beer Engine 3. City Tap 4. Townhall 5. Beerhead

Best Sports Bar

Cuyahoga Valley National Park. | TODD PETRIE/FLICKRCC

4. Green Opal Salon 5. Forbici Salon 6. Color by Numbers

1. Game On 2. The Clevelander 3. The Fairview Tavern 4. Winking Lizard 5. City Tap 6. Around the Corner 7. Dive Bar

Best Bicycle Shop

Best Place to Play Billiards

Best Wine Store

1. ABC Tavern 2. Iggy’s 3. B&G 4. Hatfield’s Goode Grub

Shops & Services Best Pet-Related Business

1. Three Dog Bakery 2. Inn the Doghouse 3. Greg Murray Photography 4. Paws Play 5. Pet-Tique

Best Thrift Store 1. Common Threads 2. Flower Child 3. Savers 4. Value World

Best Record Store 1. My Mind’s Eye 2. Record Revolution 3. Loop 4. Blue Arrow 5. Black Market 6. The Exchange

Best Salon

1. Stella and Shay 2. Crazy Mullets 3. West Park Beauty

1. Century Cycles 2. Blazing Saddles 3. Fairview Cycle 4. Spin 5. Joy Machines 6. Beat Cycles

1. Rozi’s 2. The Wine Spot 3. Minotti’s 4. Flight 5. Little Birdie Wine Nest

Best T-Shirt Shop 1. Cleveland Clothing Company 2. GV Art + Design 3. Emily Roggenburk 4. Where I’m From 5. Cleveland That I Love

Best Cigar Shop

1. Cigar Cigars 2. Cousin’s Cigar 3. Mayfield Smoke Shop 4. Robusto and Briar 5. Cheap Tobacco

Best Tattoo Shop 1. Lakewood Electric 2. Voodoo Monkey 3. Tattoo Faction 4. Classic Tattoo 5. Collective

Best Adult Store

1. Adultmart 2. Dean Rufus House of Fun 3. Ambiance 4. Rocky’s 5. Cirilla’s

Best Barbershop 1. Black Cat 2. Quintana’s 3. Eddy’s 4. Refinery 5. Principle

Best Barber

1. Ryan Hardwick (Black Cat) 2. Theo Challouf (West Park) 3. Chuck Falk (Principle) 4. Hatchi Quintana (Refinery) 5. Jessica Branco (Quintana’s)

Best Stylist

1. Nicolette Ironwing (Black Cat) 2. Meeka Scull (Salon Lofts) 3. Kathleen Rose (The Lock Loft) 4. Rachel Hallahan (Drybar CLE) 5. Ericha Grondin (Filthy Hair)

Best Bookstore 1. Mac’s Backs 2. Loganberry 3. Visible Voice 4. Firseide Bookshop 5. Appletree Books

Best Vintage Store 1. Flower Child 2. All Things For You 3. West of Venus 4. Helm Collective 5. Rook Modern

Best Florist

1. Urban Orchid 2. Blossom Cleveland 3. Urban Planting 4. Brennan’s 5. Flowerville

Best Store To Find A Piece of Cleveland 1. Cuyahoga Collective 2. Cleveland in a Box

Best Women’s Clothing Store

3. Salty Not Sweet 4. All Things For You 5. Cleveland Clothing Company

1. Fetch & Co. 2. Haven 3. Banyan Tree 4. Evie Lou 5. You Two

Best Local Fashion Designer

Best Pet Supplies Shop

1. Emily Roggenburk 2. Valerie Mayen 3. Dru Christine 4. William Frederick

Best Jewelry Maker 1. Oceanne 2. Lake Witch 3. Bunny Paige 4. Liza Michelle

1. Bunny Paige 2. Ocean 3. Antrobus Designs 4. Kleinhenz 5. Your Wave Length

1. Curvy Consignments 2. Flower Child 3. Second’s City 4. Clothes Mentor 5. Revolve Fashion

1. Rustbelt Reclamation 2. Dave Crider 3. 44 Steel 4. Freddy Hill 5. Dan Simone

Best Antique Shop

Best Place to Furnish Your Home

1. Urban Planting 2. Fount 3. Shore Society 4. Gina DeSantis 5. Paper Cuts

1. Radiant Bride 2. Miranda’s Vintage Bride 3. Brides by the Falls 4. Galleria Gowns 5. Something White

Best Consignment Shop

Best Furniture Maker

Best Cleveland Flea Vendor

1. Pet-Tique 2. Pet People 3. Three Dog Bakery 4. Lake Erie Pet Food

Best Place to Buy a Wedding Dress

Best Jewelry Store

1. Helm Collective 2. All Things For You 3. Flower Child 4. Rook Modern 5. VNTG Home

1. William Frederick 2. Kilgore Trout 3. J3 4. Ticknor’s 5. Geiger’s

1. Sweet Lorain 2. Flower Child 3. All Things For You 4. Second Time Around 5. West of Venus

Best Home/ Garden Shop

1. Lakewood Plant Company 2. Gale’s Garden Center 3. Petiti Garden Center 4. Urban Planting 5. Bremec’s Garden Center

Best Gift Shop 1. Salty Not Sweet 2. Coven 3. Juma Galelry

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

4. Luster 5. Graeley and Co.

Best Place for a Mani/Pedi 1. Venetian Nail Spa 2. Sacred Hour 3. Stella and Shay 4. Quintana’s 5. Revelations

Best Beer Selection 1. Simone’s Beverage 2. Platform Beer Co. 3. Market Garden Brewery 4. Red, Wine and Brew 5. Warehouse Beverage

Best Massage Salon

1. Quintana’s 2. Sacred Hour 3. The Studio Cleveland 4. Massage Heights 5. Soothe

Best Auto Repair

1. Bruce’s 2. Bob’s Automotive 3. Detroit Auto Clinic 4. West Shore Auto 5. Plain Brothers 6. Transmission Engine Pros

Best Car Dealership

2. Ganley 3. Brunswick Auto Mart 4. Sunnyside Honda 5. Metro Toyota

Best Comic/ Collectibles Shop 1. Cleveland Curiosities 2. Carol and John’s 3. Apple Jax Toys 4. Comic Heaven 5. Weird Realms

Best Eyewear

1. Eye Candy Optical 2. Eyes on Chagrin 3. Eyenstein Optical 4. Jerold Optical 5. David Ford1

Best Grocery Store 1. Heinen’s 2. Lucky’s Market 3. Mustard Seed 4. Zagara’s 5. The Grocery

Best Specialty Food Market

1. Galucci’s 2. La Plaza 3. Nature’s Oasis 4. Ohio City Provisions 5. Astoria Cafe and Market

1. Leikin Mercedes and Volvo

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

Best Place to Buy Sneakers 1. Xhibition 2. Westside Skates 3. Second Sole 4. Krush 5. Rule of NEXT

Best Place for Music Lessons

1. Lakewood Music Academy 2. The Music Settlement 3. Fairmount School of Music 4. Cleveland Institute of Music 5. The Fine Arts Association

Best Place for Musical Instruments

1. Motter’s Music House 2. Academy Music 3. Rettig Music 4. Western Reserve Music 5. Lakewood Music Academy

Sports & Recreation Best Beach

1. Edgewater Beach 2. Huntington Beach 3. Mentor Headlands 4. Fairport Harbor

5. Euclid Beach

5. StoneWater

Best Dog Park

Best Place to Ski

1. Lakewood 2. Bow Wow Beach 3. Rocky River 4. Canine Meadows 5. Avon Lake

1. Brandywine 2. Boston Mills 3. Alpine Valley

Best Public Pool

1. Geiger’s 2. Dick’s

1. Beachwood 2. Lakewood 3. Rocky River 4. Westlake 5. Berea

Best Bowling Alley

Best Gym

Best Place to Hike

Best Yoga Studio

Best Sporting Goods Store

1. Mahall’s 2. Corner Alley 3. Buckeye Lanes 4. RollHouse 5. Wickliffe Lanes

1. Cuyahoga Valley National Park 2. Rocky River Reservation 3. Whipps Ledges 4. Tie - Holden Arboretum 4. Tie - North Chagrin Reservation

Best Golf Course 1. Sleepy Hollow 2. Big Met 3. Manakiki 4. Sweetbriar

1. Tremont Athletic Club 2. Old School Iron 3. Cleveland Fitness Club 4. C-Town Fitness 5. Be Fitness

1. Inner Bliss 2. Cleveland Yoga 3. The Studio Cleveland 4. Yoga Roots 5. Hope Yoga

Best Specialty Exercise Classes

1. Harness Cycle 2. Cleveland Exotic Dance 3. Tie - Be Fitness 3. Tie - Callie’s Pilates 5. Barre3 Solon

Courtesy Magnolia Pictures

FILM

TRUTH TO POWER

Romanian paean to investigative journalism, Collective, is 2020’s best documentary By Sam Allard ALEXANDER NANAU’S Collective, a riveting documentary about the aftermath of a fire at a rock club in Bucharest, Romania, is the best documentary I’ve seen in 2020. With intimate access to both a team of journalists who expose a multi-tiered scandal and an idealistic young health minister who arrives to reform a corrupt system, the film is both a taut investigative procedural and a devastating commentary on global politics in the 21st century. A pre-credit sequence shows footage from the fateful metal concert at the Colectiv Club on Oct 30, 2015. The cell phone footage is no less horrifying for being grainy. The band’s vocalist takes note of something on fire overhead, and the handheld camera captures flames as they explode across the ceiling, igniting the acoustic foam. More than 25 people died in the blaze. But the scandal happened afterwards, when an additional 37 people died at Bucharest hospitals. Editor Catalin Tolonton and his colleagues Mirela Neag and Razvan Lutac are contacted by anonymous sources and medical doctors within Bucharest’s burn unit, who inform them that the victims died not from their burns — which in many cases were minor — but from bacterial infections, which were caused, in part, by diluted disinfectants. The journalists’ ensuing investigation uncovers a massive scandal. The disinfectants are the tip of an iceberg of corruption and bribes laying waste to all levels of the Romanian government, and certainly the ministry of health. Their reporting, filmed without the interruption of talking heads, dramatizations or graphics, plays

out in simulated real time. And it’s every bit as heart-pounding as the procedural aspects of All the President’s Men or Spotlight. The intrepid work of Tolonton and his team is heightened not only by the fact that they work for a sports daily but by the dangers they face reporting in Eastern Europe. Independent journalists have been assassinated there in recent years for exposing corruption. In the Romanian reporters, there is not the performative nature of adversarial reporting you sometimes see in the United States. Tolontan’s aggressive lines of inquiry at press conferences are guided by a belief that he articulates in the film: Journalistic investigations might not have specific policy goals themselves; the professional aim should be to inform the public about the powerful forces shaping their lives. Much of the film’s second half focuses on the work of health minister Vlad Voiculescu and his painstaking efforts to increase transparency and safety within Romania’s hospitals. He is up against powerful forces, as well, including a hyper-partisan media environment that should be familiar to citizens in the United States. Collective documents the entire sordid scandal, and the unexpected political ramifications, with economy and power. The film is now available streaming on Amazon Prime. As the credits roll, you›ll probably feel inspired by the work of investigative reporters and equally distraught by the state of the world.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene | clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

SAVE THE DATE! JANUARY 25-31, 2021 | CLEVELANDWINGWEEK.COM

EAT EVERYTHING BUT THE FLAMING VOLCANO Soba Asian Kitchen turns hibachi into a fast-casual operation perfect to enjoy at home

IT’S BEEN AGES SINCE I SAT with friends around a hissing hibachi table while an animated teppanyaki chef entertained us with his impressive culinary skills. Covid might have slammed the brakes on those wild and carefree feasts for many, but the food is still well within reach. In fact, the closest I’ve come to reliving that gratifying experience was when I ordered food from Soba Asian Kitchen on Coventry. Drowning succulent morsels of sautéed shrimp in too much yumyum sauce and then chasing it with aggressively salted fried rice – all while in the comfort of one’s own home – really is the hack we’ve been waiting for. That was precisely the idea behind Soba, which owner Jingbo Xiao hatched long before a tiny virus interrupted the shrimp-flinging fun. Xiao had worked for years at a traditional Japanese steakhouse, where customers routinely coughed up princely sums for carry-out. Xiao could understand paying a premium for the lively in-person experiences, but why pass those tariffs off to take-out guests, he thought. “The idea popped into my head that if the opportunity presented itself I would open my own fastcasual hibachi restaurant,” Xiao explains. That opportunity did ultimately present itself, three years ago in Sandusky, where he opened his first Soba Asian Kitchen. The goal always was to follow that up with a location in Cleveland, which Xiao calls home. He did that about six weeks ago in the former Jimmy John’s space on Coventry. The 1,800-squarefoot restaurant features an open kitchen and the now-familiar fastcasual counter-service set up. The restaurant also offers a seamless online ordering and payment experience. Xiao has simultaneously pared down and expanded upon the hibachi food experience for his quick-serve concept. The menu sidesteps countless appetizers to focus squarely on the main event, which is framed around a small handful of proteins like shrimp, chicken, steak, pork belly and tofu. Those items are griddled with an

Photo by Doug Trattner

By Douglas Trattner

assortment of veggies and paired with rice and sauces, just like at the full-service restaurant. But Soba offers diners more options and control all along the way. “When you go to a restaurant, you get everything cooked in the teriyaki sauce,” Xiao says. “Here, you have your choice of five different sauces.” What’s more, diners select from a list of starches, vegetables and sauces to formulate the perfect meal. Bored with broccoli? Choose from

hibachi without yum-yum.” I can say without a hint of hyperbole that the only thing missing from my meal of sautéed shrimp ($8.99) and vegetables with fried rice and gobs of creamy-tangy yum-yum sauce was the flaming onion volcano and sake squirt. For the grilled steak ($8.99), we went with springy egg noodles and teriyaki sauce. And for the pork belly, we chose chewy udon noodles and mildly spiced Sriracha sauce. All the portions – meat, vedge and noodle – were robust. The pork belly

SOBA ASIAN KITCHEN 1827 COVENTRY RD., CLEVELAND HEIGHTS 216-331-7029 SOBAASIANKITCHEN.COM

any combination of onion, baby corn, broccoli, cabbage and carrot. Not feeling fried rice? Pair those proteins and veggies with steamed rice, ramen, udon or the namesake soba noodles. Tired of teriyaki? Try the garlic butter, Thai chili, Korean BBQ or Sriracha. Don’t worry, the yumyum sauce is on the house. “Obviously you get the yum-yum sauce,” Xiao says. “You can’t have

was nicely seared, surprisingly lean, but still moist and sweet. The steak was good quality, well-trimmed and not overcooked. Some might find the food overly salty, but I say that simply maintains the authenticity of the sit-down restaurant experience. After trying more iterations of the fast-casual build-your-own bowl than I care to recall, I’ve noticed that most fail to come together in

any cohesive way; they are merely a bunch of random things tossed into a bowl. Perhaps it’s because Soba actually cooks these elements together that the end result feels more like a fully formed and unified dish. Soba doesn’t offer the ubiquitous Japanese steakhouse salad with ginger dressing, but it does sell great, thin vegetable spring rolls ($3.95), flavorful ground beef and chicken stuffed pot-stickers ($3.95), crispy crab rangoon ($4.95) and seasoned in-shell edamame ($3.95). Compared to the Sandusky location, the Cleveland Soba admittedly is off to a slower start, according to Xiao. That’s because the western store had three years to build up a following before the pandemic knocked on its door, while the Coventry spot literally “celebrated” its grand opening in the midst of a terrifying spike. But down the road, after the virus recedes, Xiao envisions expanding his fastcasual hibachi concept throughout the region.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner | clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

EAT BITES

Remixx Ice Cream and Cereal Bar, now open on Clifton, combines two great comforts in one

LOST IN THE FOG OF COVID WAS the recent opening of Remixx Ice Cream and Cereal Bar (11512 Clifton Blvd., 216-205-4844), a novelty shop that combines two of our favorite treats into one delicious cup, cone or milkshake. Opened in September by Vicki Kotris (who also is the cofounder of Cleveland Cookie Dough Co.), the colorful and festive shop is bound to brighten anybody’s day. Whether you call it breakfast for dessert or dessert for breakfast, Remixx transforms ice cream, cereal, mix-ins and sauces into one dreamy, creamy confection. Everything starts with vanilla ice cream, which gets combined with a choice of cereals like Apple Jacks, Lucky Charms, Fruity Pebbles, Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes. Next up is a choice of crispy, crunchy, tasty “mixins” like Oreos, M&Ms, Butterfinger and, naturally, cookie dough. The final addition is a “drizzle” of honey, caramel, chocolate sauce or whipped cream before it all heads to the aptly named Sir-MixxA-Lot machine. The perfectly blended result lands in a cup, cone or shake. Vegan options also are available. For those who would rather leave the decision making to the pros, there is a menu of pre-designed creations — here called the Top Remixx Playlist — that eliminates any dilemma. One such concoction is the Smooth Creaminal, which combines vanilla ice cream, Cocoa Puffs and Frosted Flakes with chocolate chips and chocolate dip.

All Saints Public House in Battery Park Closed Indefinitely All Saints Public House (1261 W.76th St., 216-999-7074) had the unfortunate distinction of opening its doors in late February, enjoying a few great weeks before Covid shut them — and everybody else — down in March for the foreseeable future. All Saints reopened in late May and managed to eke out a successful summer and fall thanks to splendid weather and a spectacular patio. But all that ends (again!) today as the owners have decided to pull the plug.

PHOTO COURTESY REMIXX

By Douglas Trattner

“It’s just not safe for anyone right now,” owner Chris Brauser states. While he and partner Stephen Stopko used the word “indefinitely” to describe the closure, management said that it will reassess the situation on a weekly basis to see if and when a reopening would be feasible. Like all restaurants forced to close in advance of the winter season, All Saints will face an uncertain future until the situation improves drastically.

Cleveland Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier Launches ‘Out of the Box’ Online Fundraiser Over the years, the Cleveland Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier (LDEI) has raised money through its annual fundraising events to seed scholarships and grants that help Ohio women attend culinary school and teach Northeast Ohio residents about the link between food and the farmers who produce it. But this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled planners at LDEI to get creative about their

fundraising efforts. In place of the annual SummerDine event, the nonprofit has announced “Out of the Box,” a Cleveland-themed auction and sale that features items from small, local businesses that happen to be perfect for gift giving. “Social distancing required by the pandemic has forced us to think OUT OF THE BOX to raise the funds for our 2021 philanthropic efforts,” says Melissa McClelland, Chapter Chair. “After much creative thought, we’re going online with gift boxes for purchase by friends of LDEI and the general public, just in time for the holidays.” From now through early December, supporters can purchase and bid on gift certificates, products, dinners and experiences. The items – ranging in value from $35 to $500-plus – will be listed on LDEI Cleveland’s Facebook page. Highlights include: Vitamix A3500: Vitamix’s top-ofthe line, high-performance blender Wine Tour and Overnight in the Grand River Valley: Includes weekend stay for two at Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake with immersive winery tour 12 Beer of Christmas from Der

Braumeister: 12 1-liter howlers of exclusive German and Belgian brews Brunch for 8 at Lucky’s Café: Just like it sounds Holiday Ham and Charcuterie: Feast includes cheese board of meats, charcuterie, cheeses, preserves and crackers as well as a 10-pound, nitrite-free, smoked heritage ham prepared by Ohio City Provisions There also will be various dinners for two, a Canton Food Tour, honeybee seminar, breakfast-in-bed box and more. “We are also putting together exclusive Made in the CLE boxes that include food products from local entrepreneurs,” McClelland adds. Those boxes will include products from Cleveland Kraut, Le Cracker, Mama Jo Homestyle Pies, Pat’s Granola, Storehouse Teas and others. The chapter awarded its 2020 Culinary Scholarship to Gabrielle Shipta of Seven Hills. She’s using the $2,000 prize to help with tuition at Cuyahoga Community College.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner | clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

| clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

MUSIC WEIRD THROUGH THE YEARS

Locally based 1984 Publishing releases book of rare Weird Al photos By Jeff Niesel

The First Tour (album: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic) Agora Ballroom June 8, 1983 Memorable for a few reasons: Firsts are always fun, and this was our first tour and our first trip to Cleveland. We loaded in right after Modern English’s lunchtime radio concert, and enjoyed some of their leftover fried chicken by throwing it into an uncovered heating duct

sticking out of the wall. And, of course, we stayed at the legendary/ infamous Swingo’s! Touring was new to us; we didn’t even have a name for this outing. That would change the following year! Since we had only one album out at this point, we played some unreleased songs such as “It’s Still Billy Joel To Me,” “Take Me To The Liver,” “We Got the Beef,” “Pacman,” “I’m Stupid Blues,” and some soon-to-be-recorded songs like “Yoda,” “Eat It” and “Theme From Rocky XIII.” Tour of the Universe in 3-D (album: In 3-D) Camelot Music Convention August 24, 1984 With the success of the In 3-D album and “Eat It” single, Al was now a real commodity for music vendors. Al›s record label had us play a convention for the Camelot Music record stores, held at the Sawmill Creek resort in Huron. We played for one hour, which was most of our show. Although we now had two albums› worth of songs to choose from, we still included some “concert-only” songs like “Flatbush Avenue,” “Spameater” and more from the previous tour. The store managers and company execs in attendance loved us! Band name for the tour: The 3-D Band. The Stupid Tour (album: Dare To Be Stupid) The Front Row Theater August 21, 1985 Theater-in-the-round is interesting for any performer, and this was an early type gig for us. In these venues, the stage rotates so the entire audience gets to “face” the band, as well as view them from the back and sides as they spin. Such venues are affectionately known as “whirly-gigs” although possibly not by the sound and light crew who have to grapple with the changing sound and lighting as the band turns. It’s also a little unusual for the performers knowing they’re being viewed from behind about 25 percent of the time. “Like a Surgeon” was the single for this tour, and rather than give the band a name like the Doctors of Rock or maybe the Practioners of Parody, we were

Photo by Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz

CLEVELAND-BASED 1984 Publishing has just published Black & White & Weird All Over: The Lost Photographs of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic ‘83 – ‘86, a hardbound coffee table book that contains hundreds of black-and-white photos of Weird Al that were never developed after they were first taken by Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, Yankovic’s drummer and photographer since 1980, some 40 years ago. The photos had been hidden in a file cabinet on contact sheets. “The last several decades have been an amazing ride,” Yankovic says in a statement about the book. “More than once — an annoying number of times, actually — Jon has warned me, ‘Someday I’m going to write a book about all this!’ It became a bit of a running joke. But now, he’s actually made good on the threat.” The book provides rare behindthe-scenes glimpses on the sets of Yankovic’s initial music videos, including “Ricky,” “I Love Rocky Road” and “Eat It,” along with a smattering of studio shots while Yankovic and the band were recording In 3-D and Polka Party! in the early-to-mid ‘80s. The book is available locally at Loganberry and Mac’s Backs as well as at the typical national vendors. Additional content is available at BlackAndWhiteAndWeird.com. To help promote the book’s release, Schwartz, recently weighed in on his favorite Cleveland stops — Weird Al loves the market and has played the area (including Akron, Youngstown, Cleveland Heights) over two dozen times. Here are six Cleveland tour stops that have stuck in Schwartz’s cranium over the years.

called the Stupid Band after the name of the album and tour. And, of course, I was the Stupid Drummer. Looking back, I guess that made sense. The Alapalooza Tour (album: Alapalooza) Agora Ballroom August 18, 1994 A different location from our first Agora show, that venue burned down with the firefighters reporting that it smelled like chicken (hmmm, I wonder...). This was a birthday gig for me, and since we usually toured during the summer months, I often played on my birthday (16 of them to be exact.) But the fun part was the encore, when Al ran back out onto a dark stage, knocking over Ruben’s keyboard rig! The lights came up, Ruben looked aghast, and Al looked back at the pile of keyboards with a “did I do that?” look. Band name for the tour: The Alapaloozers. The Bad Hair Tour (album: Bad Hair Day) Nautica Stage July 27, 1996 Our first of several appearances there and the first time we’d had people viewing us from the back (from their boats on the river)

who hadn’t paid for seats! The Goodtime ship was of course back there, honking (as if we weren’t making enough noise on our own!) I especially enjoyed the Flats and often ate at the nearby restaurants instead of the free meal provided by the venue. Band name for the tour: The Bad Hair Band. The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square March 25, 2018 Our first time playing downtown, and without a new album to promote it was a special tour: a show of almost entirely Al original songs, including many that had never been performed live before. With 51 of Al’s originals on the list, it was a different show each night, and we also played a different cover song at each of the 77 shows on the tour. That night it was “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry, one of my favorites to play in other bands. Also, what a beautiful venue! A Cleveland gem for sure. Band name for the tour: The No Frills Band.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel | clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

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SAVAGE LOVE LOSING OUT By Dan Savage Hey, Dan: I’m a lesbian and my girlfriend is bi. I’ve read your column and listened to your podcast for a long time, Dan, and I always thought I’d be fine with having a partner ask me about being monogamish. Then my girlfriend of about a year and a half told me she wants to see what other women are like. She says the thought of me sleeping with other people turns her on, but the prospect of her sleeping with other people only makes me nervous. She came out later and I’m the only woman she’s been with. I understand that, as a woman, I’ll never be able to give her what she might get from a man sexually and that sometimes she’ll want that, so there’s also that. We’ve talked about it, and it would have to be a Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell agreement, I would also get to step outside the relationship, the other people would have to know we’re in a relationship, and there couldn’t be any “dates.” On top of all that, we’re long distance for now. She says she loves me and I believe her, and she says she doesn’t want to lose me. But she also says she’s been dealing with these urges for a while and needs to address them. I don’t want to lose her. Do you have any advice? Fretting Endlessly About Relationship Situation I understand your fears. People in committed non-monogamous relationships have been known to catch feelings for their outside sexual partners. And while that doesn’t always doom the primary relationship, FEARS, catching feelings for someone else inevitably complicates things. And while a nonmonogamous couple can make rules that forbid the catching of feelings, feelings aren’t easily ruled. But people in closed relationships have been known to catch feelings for people they aren’t sleeping with, i.e. coworkers, friends, friends-offriends, partners of friends, siblings of partners, partners of siblings, etc. So the risk that a partner might catch feelings for someone else isn’t eliminated when two people make a monogamous commitment — and yet sane, stable, functional people in monogamous relationships manage to get through the day without being nervous wrecks. Because they trust their partners are committed to them. And even if their partners

should develop a crush on someone else … which they almost inevitably will … they trust that their partners aren’t going to leave them … which they still might. By which I mean to say, there’s risk in every relationship, and it’s trust that helps us manage our fears about those risks. So if you trust your girlfriend to honor the terms you’ve agreed to — DADT, fucks are okay, dates are not, the other women know she’s taken — and you trust she’s telling the truth when she says she loves you and doesn’t want to lose you, FEARS, then you should choose to believe her. Just like a person in a monogamous relationship chooses to believe their partner when they say they won’t fuck anyone else (even though they might) and won’t leave them for anyone else (even though they could), you can choose to believe your girlfriend will honor the rules you’ve laid out.

Hey, Dan: I’m at a bit of a loss. I met a guy that I really like at a nudist resort of all places. I didn’t realize at the time just how much I was falling for him. He was trying to be more in the beginning but I missed some very obvious signs. Hindsight is 20/20. I’m incredibly guarded after growing up in an emotionally abusive household and am still dealing with some trauma after being raped a few years ago. By the time I realized how I felt about him, he surprised me by telling me he had a girlfriend. I was trying to arrange a time to see him after I disappeared for a bit to face some demons from the past. I wanted to tell him how I felt in person. Before I got that chance, he already had a girlfriend. He and I run in the same kinky circles and I ran into them at an event. I actually got a horrible sinking feeling in my stomach which I didn’t expect. I never told him how I felt about him. I’m happy that he is happy with her but it hurts, nonetheless. He matters enough to me that I would be content keeping him in my life even if it’s just as a friend. My question is: Should I tell him how I feel and risk losing him altogether, or do

Joe Newton

I let him be happy with his girlfriend and not tell him that I fell hard for him? I know he might not reciprocate my feelings. That’s OK if he doesn’t, but the not knowing I think hurts more than the truth would. Hopeless Romantic Nailing The Hopeless Part If the not knowing hurts more than losing his friendship would — the not knowing whether you had a shot with him and blew it — then you should tell him how you feel (or felt) and express regret for missing the obvious signs and disappearing on him. And as painful as it might be to hear that he wouldn’t want to be with you even if he were single — and that’s the worstcase scenario — you will get over it and get over him. Best-case scenario, HRNTHP, he had no idea you were into him, he’s not serious about the new girlfriend, and he’d rather date you. Less-than-best-case scenario, he might be willing to date you if 1. things don’t work out with his new girlfriend and 2. you’re still single at that point. In the meantime, don’t pass on any other opportunities that come your way and be courteous, polite and non-toxic when you run into them together at kinky events.

Hey, Dan: I’m writing to beg you — to implore you — to make some sort of desperate, last-ditch attempt to hold back the tide of linguistic

confusion over the word “come.” Yes, that is the word, readers of Savage Love. It’s “come,” it’s not “cum.” The past tense is “came,” not “cummed.” (Yes, Dan, people are now saying and typing “cummed.”) In the past I’ve been content to merely grumble cantankerously. The final straw came over the last several months when, while watching a lot of international TV and movies, I noticed — to my horror — that the people responsible for the subtitles are using “cum.” Yes, the semi-literate usage of online free-porn-posters has now polluted the entire planet’s comprehension of this simple English word. I turn to you, DS, to do something about this. To come out loudly and proudly for coming, loudly and proudly. This isn’t just about spelling. It’s about losing the meaning of the word: It signifies an arrival. Canadian Opposes Mangled English P.S. You owe me one, Dan. I was raised in Winnipeg, whose inhabitants, Winnipeggers, refer to their home affectionately as “The Peg.” You’ve turned any reference to my hometown into a source for snickers amongst the same sort of childish people who use “cum.” The least you can do, in recompense, is to restore the simple dignity of “come.” I’m on your side, COME. I’ve been fighting a lonely battle against “cum,” “cumming” and (shudder) “cummed” for as long as I’ve been writing this column. I confess to having sinned a few weeks ago when I used the term “cumblebrag.” But in my defense, that was obviously a pun and — for the record — my one-time use of “cum” in the service of a joke should not be construed as an endorsement of “cum.” (The eye stumbles over “comeblebrag,” so it wouldn’t have worked to use “come.”) As I’ve written before, we don’t have alternate spellings for other words that have both sexual and nonsexual meanings. Seeing as we don’t “suk dik” or “eet pussee,” there’s no earthly reason why we should “cum” on someone else or be “cummed” upon ourselves. P.S. Sorry about that, Winnipeggers.

mail@savagelove.net t@fakedansavage www.savagelovecast.com | clevescene.com | December 2-8, 2020

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