Arturo's, Ned's Beverage and Deli & Garage Bar

Friday night brought many choices with many incredible options.  There was a big concert at Now That's Class featuring Cobra Verde, Uncle Scratch and more.  Then there was something else but honestly I have no idea what it was now.  I was tired, worn out if you will from a rough week.  We decided to hit an old reliable for dinner, and went out to Arturo's in North Olmsted.  I am not a stranger to "Art's".  We have been going here for the better part of the last few years.  The food is always good, and the atmosphere is always friendly.  I have not been there in months honestly and this was my regular haunt.  We didn't miss a beat since our last time out and hung out with some old familiar regular Arturo friends.  These are just good, friendly people.  Plus Dino was behind the bar.  Dino is one of the heirs to the Arturo's throne.  He's a good guy minus his strange love for the Denver Broncos.  

I always go in with the intention of getting a pizza because honestly it's probably the best pie in the area.  With Pizza around my side of town you have multiple options.  I hit a bunch of different places depending what I am in the mood for.  Quick delivery goes to Marco's, New York style Capri, authentic Italian pizza from scratch, well that's Arturo's.  However I never get the fucking pizza anymore.  I curse the daily specials menu because there is always something really good on there.  My wife had this Steak Romano that was ridiculously good.  It was pounded steak rolled, stuffed with cheese, breaded, deep fried served with a side of spaghetti.  I got the cold pasta salad entree and the Cajun Popcorn Shrimp Basket with Fries.  The shrimp and fries I am always a fan of.  It's just true comfort food.  Fried goodness.  The cold pasta salad I wasn't a huge fan of.  It was OK, but I know I could have done better after I tried the wife's steak, sweet Jesus was that good.  The pasta salad was just a tad too seasoned for me.  Next time I go though I will not deviate from getting a pizza.  I miss that Arturo's pizza pie.  We left incredibly full and spent the rest of the night on our respective couches watching Where the Wild Things Are.    


Saturday I thought I had the memorial service for my friend Gilly, but I was off by a week.  It's not until next Saturday.  So all suited up we stopped in Ned's Beverage and Deli in Fairview Park.  I never have been to this place but have driven past it multiple times and I was kind of hungry.  Counting on the fact that every deli needs to have a signature corned beef sandwich I knew what I would be eating for lunch.  The store itself isn't too bad.  It has your basic staples, and a surprisingly excellent beer selection, plus they sell live bait.  A corned beef sandwich there runs you $6.99 and comes with a pickle.  Truly you really can't fuck up a sandwich especially something as simple as corned beef.  

However, I wasn't a fan of the heating of the sandwich in the microwave bread and all.  It made the rye bread a little sticky.  It wasn't a deal breaker but at the same time I thought that was a little silly.  The sandwich itself was a decent size but when you eat a corned beef sandwich from a deli and you live in or about the city of Cleveland you compare it to Slyman's.  Slyman's is the best of the best and the measure of the greatness of any corned beef sandwich.  Ned, you make a good sandwich but there really is only one Slyman's and your sandwich was about half the size of a Slyman's, and the whole microwave thing was a turn off.  In a pinch sure you do a nice sandwich but when I want the Cleveland original I will make the trek down to East 31st and St. Clair for the real deal.  

After some laziness around the house we geared up to get down to some rock and roll at Garage Bar on 25th in Cleveland.  I am not going to lie I had not been back to Garage Bar in over two years.  The last couple times I went here I absolutely hated the place.  It was full of "those guys".  You know the ones.  The sideways visor, Ed Hardy, shirts 2 sizes too small douchebag club.  It was wall to wall pretentiousness.  It was a meat market with the beautiful girls with their spray on tans and noses stuck high in the air looking for Mr. Right Now.  The service completely sucked.  They played horrible music and it was a DJ (not Larry Szyms) selecting the finest cuts of the worst 80's shit music possible.  Honestly it was everything I hate about the whole West 6th Street vibe only moved a few blocks down the road.  So I never went back after my last poor experience and I want to say that was at least 2 years ago.

I am not going to say it has completely changed because some of that same element was there, but it was not so prominent.  What has changed though is the service as it was nothing short of phenomenal.  The bar is still the same.  It's a gearheads paradise with motorcycle and automotive memorabilia adorning the walls.  The beer taps are old lit up gas pumps.  The beers on tap are so so at best but they have a great selection of micro, import and craft bottles as well as a nicely stocked bar.  The patio is spacious but the chairs look like they are made from recycled swimming pool ladders, and they are not comfortable at all.  They are more devices of torture than they are stools.  The bathrooms were decent, and pretty clean but there is this grate under your feet at the urinal.  Think about a puppy at the pet store.  It's like a urine drain pan of sorts and that was pretty amusing-disturbing-disgusting.  There is an elevated back bar area and it seemed this is where the douche crowd hung out like vultures wearing the latest Old Navy collection stalking their prey.  

A funny thing has been happening to me lately and I think I might have a stalker.  It is a very odd thing because a couple weeks ago at the Happy Dog and now here at the Garage Bar Kenny Crumpton was lurking in the crowd.  I think Kenny is a great guy but I think he is trying to steal my thunder.  Well, either that or he reads my blog and knows I am the guy that knows where the action is.  Honestly I don't buy into that at all.  It just is weird and worth mentioning I keep running into Kickin' it with Kenny all over the fucking city.  I respect his celebrity and leave him alone but if he shows up at another bar we are going to have to have a talk about boundaries.  No one really bugs the guy though.  He seems like such an animated guy on Fox in the Morning you would think he would be the center of attention.  I have seen other Cleveland "celebrities" out and about and a lot of them are complete assholes.  Kenny seems pretty approachable and chill.  

There had to be a damn good reason to get me back to the Garage Bar after my couple year hiatus, ban or whatever you want to call it and that was the rock and roll bands.  My friends, those Jones, from Scoliosis Jones were headlining a 3 band bill.  The first band was actually all the way from Long Beach California.  Nice SoCal punk rock 3 piece called Adams Dagger.  They played about a 40 minute set of nonstop 3 chord punk rock and hardcore.  It reminded of of bands like 7 Seconds, Social D and Agent Orange.  There really is no mistaking that SoCal sound and they had it down pretty good.  The 2nd band was a 4 piece from Toledo called Homeward Bound.  They were pretty good.  I just couldn't figure out the sound.  Hardcore?  Rockabilly?  It was hard to pinpoint.  I also don't think they were very into playing up here for whatever reason.  The crowd was pretty sparse in the bar so that might have been part of it.  It was just a nice patio kind of night.  

Scoliosis Jones took the stage pretty late in the night.  Honestly lost track of time watching the bands and hanging out.  They put on a really good set of PBR fueled rockabilly.  I think I ripped into them pretty hard after the Spitfire show, and I was just being honest.  This was like seeing a completely different band from that night.  The new drummer AC Jones had the time to gel with them much better.  You would think he was with them from the get go.  Heidi Sue was absolutely on with her vocals and so was Ty.  He was seriously up there manhandling his bass, riding it, spinning it around, and slapping the shit out of it in general.  Tox was on with the guitar licks and pulled out the slide for a couple cuts that sounded great.  I always thought he had some talent up there but there were actually moments of guitar genius on the stage that night.  I was so impressed I got him a shot of Jim Beam Black to end the night right.  

Scoliosis Jones was a different band last night.  They sounded well rehearsed.  They dropped the chip off their shoulder they had at the Spitfire and just had a good fucking time entertaining the crowd with some good old rock and roll music.  They brought quite the crowd with them last night as people were dancing on the floor and the front of the house was pretty packed.  They are going to be playing next Friday with the Jim Rose Circus, and Lords of the Highway at the Cleveland Burlesque Fest International at Now That's Class which should prove to be very entertaining.  If this was a warm up for what they are bringing next Friday it is a show not to miss as that is one hell of a line up.