Cleveland's West Side Market...2.27.10

I woke up early Saturday morning.  Actually a little bit more early than I normally would because I have a dog for an alarm clock.  She is used to getting up with me for work which means pretty much 7 days a week I am up around at 6 in the morning.  Now a lot of times she will give me an extra hour of sleep and she did Saturday which was nice, but I could have used a couple more Zzzzzz's.  This morning I had every intention of heading down to Cleveland's West Side Market, just not this early.  I'm starting this 21 day detox-vegan challenge thing.  It's not really called a detox but when you cut out all meat products and bi-products I would need to call that a detox.  You can check it out or take the challenge by clicking here.  So I wanted to head to the West Side Market to stock up on fruits, grains and vegetables which are not only plentiful here but also half the price of your local grocery store.

According to local history the WSM started in 1840.  The Market as we know it, with the glorious clock tower was built in 1912.  The Market has two sections. The outdoor arcade where you can get any fruit or vegetable you can imagine and the inside concourse with choice cuts of meat, fish and poultry.  Many of the stalls have been family owned and operated for over 50 years like Bacha Produce where my family has shopped since the 70's.  Bacha is always my last stop just for the simple fact I leave with about, no exaggeration here, probably about 15 pounds of fresh produce.  Celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, tomatoes...you get the picture.  You want it and it's a vegetable?  Bacha has it covered.  

Plus, and this is a sad note for a while there other vendors were really selling some junk as far as product goes.  I can't tell you how many times I got bad product from some of the less than scrupulous vendors in the '90's.  I almost quit coming to the market for a bit because of the garbage I was getting.  However it has gotten much better over the last few years.  If you sold poor product you didn't get my business anymore.  I am sure I wasn't the only one who took that stance, and now the bad vendors more or less ran themselves out of business.  I am still on my own as far as fruit goes.  I haven't found the perfect stand like Bacha, but I wish they would branch out because it would be my one stop shop.

So my fruit dilemma continues at the WSM, but I managed to pick up some nice pink grapefruit.  There is tons of fruit to be had at the market but I didn't partake.  They have everything from your basic apples and oranges to giant sugarcane stalks.  If the whole variety thing doesn't suck you in about the market then the prices are the real reason to come.  It is a place where low income families can get good nutritious food at budget prices.  Growing up I lived in the affluent Cleveland suburb of Bay Village.  Times were tight in the 70's with my mom working 2 jobs for a while and my father was left unemployed when the Glidden plant closed over off Berea Road and West 117th.  Because of the WSM we were able to still eat more than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  We ate a things called Chinese Apples, and had oxtail soup.  Now Chinese Apples are known as pomegranates and are a delicacy as well as the oxtails which were basically throw away meats in the 70's that sell for $5.99 a pound today.  

The main concourse can be overwhelming.  It's a vegans nightmare honestly.  It is wall to wall and stall to stall meat, meat, meat and more meat.  There are some bakery stalls, and ethnic cuisine thrown in here and there, but the major percentage of the concourse is dedicated to protein.  There are fish stands, poultry stands, pork stands, dairy stands, and beef stands.  Giant cow tongues and whole sucking pigs sit in glass cases lined with ruby red cuts of the finest beef.  Fresh butchered pork is the pink color of a kids cheeks after a day on the sledding hill.  Whole fish lined up in rows laying on beds of ice stare up at you so fresh you wonder if they might jump out at you.  Loaves of fresh golden baked bread are stacked end upon end.  Frank's serves up hot bratwurst with kraut and Stadium Mustard for breakfast and lunch, and you can wash it down with an amazing cup of joe from Cleveland's finest coffee maker City Roast.

Cleveland has an affection for the smokie.  A ready to eat meat snack in a variety of flavors.  There is only one place I ever get my smokies and Iron Chef Michael Symon will agree that Czuchraj Meats is just that place.  He picked their beef jerky as the best thing he ever ate.  Smokies again, like the Chinese apple and the oxtail back in the 70's were an affordable treat for lower income families.  Now, well they are $5.99 a pound, still affordable but more of a once and a while treat.  These wonderful meat sticks are loaded with flavor, and come in multiple flavors in turkey or beef.  You have the Cleveland original, cajun, cheese, and jalapeno to name a few.  A trip to the market without visiting Czuchraj meats is like going to the ballpark and not having a hot dog.  It just doesn't feel right.  

The yin to Czuchraj's yang in the dairy department is such a hard toss up with 3 to choose from, but I would have to say Meister Foods wins that award.  They have undoubtedly the best selection of cheeses and dairy products along with farm fresh eggs.  The crown jewel is their case would have to be the old fashion, whipped cream cottage cheese.  It is a thick rich non-diet version of what you might find in the store.  It is loaded with large cheese curds and thick and creamy like no other cottage cheese you have ever tasted.  It is so good I have a friend who will dry ice the stuff and fly it back to Florida when he comes to Cleveland.  They also carry fresh Ohio maple syrup and a variety of Ohio honey.  My loyalty will always remain with Meister because back in the day they used to give away the cheese ends on the cheap to my mom.  My dad would make the best Mac & Cheese with it.  Unfortunately that practice has gone to the way of the cheap oxtail.  They cube the ends and sell them in one pound bags for $4.99.  Still affordable but just not the same.  

Cleveland's West Side Market is one of the reasons Cleveland is not miserable.  It is a cultural melting pot of Cleveland heritage.  It's long standing building is rich with history and memories of days past and present.  Everyone has a West Side Market story to tell like me.  Be it chili dogs for breakfast, a Frank's Brat to end a morning of shopping, or a pizza bagel breakfast everyone in Cleveland has their own unique West Side Market tradition.  It is the one single place in Cleveland almost everyone can agree on as one of the things that makes our city what it is today.  It is a small but mighty building with it's clock tower beckoning you in from West 25th street.  It is by far as much of a Cleveland landmark as the Terminal Tower, and will remain a long standing tradition for thousands of Cleveland families.