The Woods + Bela Dubby

I wanted to break out "The Deck" I picked up from The Cleveland Independents however I didn't really want to drive far from the 52 Weeks Batcave nor did I really want to drive too far.  I flipped through my deck and found a coupon for The Woods over in Rocky River.  I have not been to The Woods in years honestly.  I am not sure why honestly.  It's decent, moderately priced Italian food.  I remember The Woods from years ago.  My mom actually used to work here in the 70's when I was really young.  Back then it was Domincs Pizza, a little dumpy pizza shop.  It really has come a long way since it's early days.  Dominics had 2 locations, the one where The Woods stands today and now what is Cleats on Dover and Detroit in Westlake.  I have great memories of both places as a kid.  I think part of the reason I am a bigger guy is because my mom used to smell like pizza.  But that's really for me and a therapist to work out one day.  

The Woods is a nice little Italian eatery.  The decor is rustic, part bar, part pizza joint.  The layout is odd with three dinning areas, and the parking lot can be challenging due to the narrow driveway.  There is nothing really earth shattering or ground breaking on the menu.  It is your standard Italian menu.  Pizzas, pasta, burgers and your normal Italian basics.  We started with the calamari.  It looked great, with green, red and cherry peppers.  The breading was light with a nice flavor.  Unfortunately the texture was not consistent.  Some pieces were a little on the "chewy" side.  Not like rubbery, but still a bit tough.  For our meal we both had The Sicilian Trio; Eggplant Parm, Lasagna, and choice of Veal or Chicken Parm.  We both opted for the veal which was a bad call.  The veal itself was tough and actually difficult to cut through with the butter knife.  The Lasagna and eggplant were both wonderful though.  Overall I thought it was a satisfying meal.  It did its job, it was very filling but I have had better.  I was just a bit disappointed by the two things every Italian joint should be doing flawlessly.  

Onward and upward.  Later in the evening I met up with my buddy John up at Mi Pueblo.  I obviously couldn't eat anything from the giant meal I just hit up at The Woods.  It felt good just sitting around and bullshitting about Cleveland, the music scene and my future plans to take over the city while sipping a Pacifico.  It was pretty quiet but when the jukebox came on holy shit was it loud.  After an hour watching my friend eat some amazing tacos we headed over to Bela Dubby over on Madison in Lakewood.  Bela Dubby is a nice artsy coffee shop/bar.  They have an excellent beer selection, a very friendly hmmmm what is she a Bartender or Barista...no matter she was very cool.  The vibe of the place is very Soho chic.  Local artists works adorn the walls and folks sit around sipping beer, coffee or tea while conversing or playing some scrabble.  It was perfect for what I was looking for in a chill kind of Friday night.  

A couple bands were playing that night.  The first was a two piece band with drums, keys and guitar that very much reminded me of something along the lines of Explosions in the Sky meets The Evens.  Just a very low-fi band with a real cool shoe gaze quality to their music.  Both members of the band; Katherine Mikita and Nick Gregg did a lot of double duty playing drums.  Gregg primary behind the kit or guitar and Mikita on Keys and vocals.  They call themselves Sexy Pig Divas and hail from Kent.  It was just a really interesting experimental indie low-fi thing for me at least.  It's just the kind of band you can really get sucked into.  Mesmerizing kind of like a "Dry the Rain" Beta Band head bobbing kind of stuff.  

Next up was Xela and the Uncanny.  Keys, drums, bass, guitar and Xela singing.  Apparently this cat is pretty well know in the area.  He does open mic nights all over the city.  It's nice to wake up and see someone like him and this band.  Blues, indie rock?  I don't know what you call it.  They had a great sound that was pretty much all over the board.  Nice funk, rock and a little bit of everything in between.  He is a pretty amazing guitar player honestly and his vocals would rival Jeff Buckley.  To say Xela is a talented singer and songwriter would be an understatement.  They played a nice hour long set that got a couple folks dancing at least.  The entire band was incredibly talented as well.  It was a nice way to cap off a pretty damn good night overall.  I recommend Bela Dubby pretty highly for a nice night of something different.  It's just a really cool place to kind of zone out and just hang.  The Woods, yeah I would recommend them, but I don't know maybe stay clear of the veal or something.