Cleveland food and drink briefly appraised...

As the votes continue to come in back home in the UK, I'm here in Cleveland having just returned from dinner and almost ready to hit the sack. However, it's probably worth saying a few words about the food and drink here in the city.

Cleveland at night – not threatening

American beer

It used to be that American beer was almost just a choice of one brand: Budweiser. Everyone who likes beer probably can't stand Bud, I know I don't like it; I'd put it up there with Fosters as a horrible drink, but then again, I've never been a fan of 'lager'. So the Americans have been developing microbreweries and everyone with an interest in beer seems to rave about them...but not this writer. Look, I've enjoyed many, many different beers over the years, but my favourite TYPE of beer is good, old fashioned real ale. I've been drinking it since I was a teenager – and my favourite brand is Young's Ordinary Bitter because it has a low ABV and is generally regarded as a 'session beer' meaning you can drink around four pints of it without falling over and swearing at innocent bystanders. Fine. So the Americans have their microbreweries and they're all over the country but I can't say I'm impressed. Everytime I find myself drinking an 'artisanal' American beer I find it thick and syrupy. In fact I'd rather have a Bud.
Marks out of 10 (for American beer): 3.

Restaurants explored

Bar Louie, West 6th Street – not impressed. There's a lot of 'sports bars' over here, you know the sort of place: noisy, serves burgers, fries and beer and is peppered with flatscreen televisions. Well, this is that place and we went there twice. First time round I had a beer and thought no, not very pleasant, too thick and syrupy. As for the food, well, middle-of-the-road, burger-in-bun grub with fries thrown in. On our second visit, my colleague's burger was cold. Marks out of 10: 4.

Taza ll, West 6th Street – this was good and we visited twice. Or rather we went there once together and then I went back for dinner alone. Both times it was good. In fact, the second time round was best as there was a band playing a couple of doors down and they were good. I sat outside and enjoyed this westerned version of Lebanese food. Good service on both visits and decent, fairly light food. I will definitely return to this place if ever I find myself in Cleveland again.
Marks out of 10: 9.

Urban Farmer, East 6th Street – really not impressed, not least because we were ripped off and didn't realise until we'd left. First, this place is billed as a 'legendary' steakhouse – nothing could be further from the truth – but only has ONE burger. ONE BURGER! When we mentioned this to the waitress she bristled and was clearly upset. We didn't eat here because it was pricey for what it was – very pricey – we didn't like the attitude either and the small dark beer we ordered was just like the American beer we'd sampled at Bar Louie – meaning it was thick and syrupy and not pleasant. Marks out of 10: 0.

The Marriott Hotel – West St. Clair Avenue. We'd nipped in here for a beer and decided to return to try out the food. In a word, nice. My colleague ordered a pizza while I ordered a fish dish, don't ask me what kind of fish because I can't remember. The bottom line? Good food and service. My food was light, the pizza a little heavier, but I had a couple of slices and it did the job. I chose wine, my colleague had a beer, the service was friendly and we'd definitely return. Marks of out 10: 7.

Blue Point Grille – West St. Clair Avenue. In a word, unnecessarily poncy but not quite living up to its own poncyness. I had a potato and leek soup starter that arrived in a cup rather than a bowl – not a good start and a little too thick – more porridge than soup in fact. My main course was swordfish steak, which was fine but there was paste-like mashed potato (could have been sweet potato) and a few vegetables on top. Not the best food in the world and a little on the minimalist side. My colleague had a steak followed by S'mores for dessert and cappuccino. I won't return in a hurry, but the service was good. Marks out of 10: 5.

Brasa Grill Brazilian Steakhouse – West 9th Street at St.Clair. No, no, no, no, no! In fact we didn't eat here. There was a strange system in place involving a beer mat that was red on one side and green on the other. If green you get bombarded by waiters with skewered meat that they offer to carve at the table. If red, they leave you alone. There's a huge serve-yourself salad bar too. In fact, I had a cous cous salad with a couple of asparagus spears and a glass of wine and that was my lot. My colleague didn't even have that because he'd been stuffing his face on crap back at the hotel. We had a side of fries and deep-fried banana croquettes, which I ate, and that was it. We didn't fancy the meat at all so we flipped the beermat to red and asked for the bill. Top marks to the waiter who didn't charge us for anything but the beer and the glass of wine – a top man, in other words.  
Marks out of 10: 6.

Stadium 3 Bar & Grille, Hilton Doubletree Hotel Restaurant and Bar – 1111 Lakeside. A nice and friendly hotel with good staff and a pleasant, homely atmosphere. I had breakfast here most days (porridge, French toast, fresh fruit, yoghurt and tea) and on one occasion dined in the restaurant which was also fine, although I fell asleep at the table. I ordered Atlantic salmon with mashed potatoes and vegetables, a good, homely dish and not over-the-top pricey either. I also had lunch in the sports bar, which was also very good. Marks out of 10: 7.

Wandering around Cleveland's downtown...

As I write this it's just gone 10pm in the UK and it's just gone 5pm here in Cleveland, Ohio. At home voting in the General Election for 2015 is over. I voted by post prior to coming over here and when I wake up in the morning I'll know who's in charge of the country for the next five years. I won't say who I voted for as it would ruin the whole idea of the secret ballot that we British have enjoyed for so many years.

I love this art 'installation' near Cleveland's City Hall

The weather here – especially today – has been wonderful, although I'm told that this part of the USA gets pretty rough winters with snow and ice being commonplace between October and March and sometimes the temperatures going down to minus 30 degrees. That's cold. However, the people living in and around Cleveland tend to get good summers. Right now there are blossoms on the trees, the skies are blue and today the sun shone brightly. All week I've been walking to the Cleveland Convention Center in my shirt sleeves. Alright, I was also wearing trousers (otherwise I might have been arrested).

With my work done and after having lunch with a learned gentlemen I'd met earlier in the day who was connected to my line of business, I decided to take a walk around town and started walking in the direction I've been taking all week along St. Clair towards Louie's Bar, where the burgers are cold, incidentally, and the food, in my opinion, not that brilliant. On the same block, however, there are some excellent establishments including a Lebanese restaurant and a place called Johnny's, which is next door and which I visited the last time I was in Cleveland back in 2013. I headed up St. Clair then turned left along West 9th Street, left again on to Superior Avenue and then along Prospect Avenue, turning left on to East 9th and then joining Euclid Avenue and walking up towards Green Square and heading back towards the Convention Center where, I remembered, there was a Starbuck's in an office building. It was just what I needed and the fact that it was dark and shaded from the heat outside made it a good place to stop for tea and a biscuit and a read of the New York Times which I found rather boring and I got annoyed with the fact that All The Words In The Headlines Started With A Capital Letter.

One of many empty streets on Sunday

It was tempting to walk down East 9th Street to the North Coast Harbour on Lake Erie but I decided to head back to the hotel instead from where I write this post. It was equally tempting to just sit on the grass and take in some rays.

The area around Euclid and Prospect Avenues is different from the main downtown where office buildings dominate. Instead the architecture is very much like that depicted on Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album cover.

The 18th floor of my hotel offers a great view of Cleveland looking east. There's the Burke Lakefront airport (designed for small jets), there's Lake Erie and there's the railroad track along which some very long freight trains wind their way through and out of town. What you can't see, of course, is the FirstEnergy stadium. For the past few days my colleague and I have enjoyed relaxing on the 18th floor in the early evening with a glass of wine, but now that he's gone to Buffalo for a meeting and I'm alone here on Lakeside, I'll probably give it a miss as being alone is something you can do anywhere, although I might take another look at that view as I'm flying home tomorrow night.

Turn left for Burke Airport

I get the impression that Cleveland has more than it's fair share of crime and I've been told to avoid going East from the hotel and to keep West. The downtown is pretty safe but you do occasionally get the odd feral-looking person talking to himself and it's best to avoid making contact with them. I've also been warned not to use the trolley (a free step-on, step-off bus service that makes circuits of the city). Generally, though, it's okay and not dissimilar to Indianapolis in terms of the downtown, although I'm guessing that a lot of American cities look the same downtown and are surrounded by suburban areas that are either good or bad in terms of crime. That said, crime, in its various guises, can turn up anywhere.

Going back to office buildings, something quite odd is the office block I can see from my hotel window. All night and day there are lights on but I never see anybody in there, just empty desks. Last night the only sign of life I could make out was a wall-mounted television that must have been showing the basketball game between Chicago and Cleveland (a grudge match that obsessed the entire city – and no, I don't know the score, but I think Cleveland won). Anyway, today (about five minutes ago, in fact) I saw life in the building. There was some kind of meeting going on, but it's ended as the room is now empty, just the like the rest of the place. Where is everybody? Ah! I've just seen somebody in there, so it's not completely devoid of life.

Tulips outside City Hall

I thought there was a bike share scheme going on here in Cleveland, but I've not seen any bike stations and had there been such a scheme I was walking through the right parts of town where I might have expected to find the bikes, but there was nothing. Prior to coming here I read about Cleveland's bike share being the only privately-owned scheme as most are run by the local authorities – that might have something to do with the lack of bike stations and, indeed, the lack of bikes.

I arrived here late last Saturday and on Sunday morning the roads of Cleveland were empty. So empty that it would have been possible to simply lie down in the middle of the road and read a book – it's a similar story in Montreal and in San Antonio and Indianapolis (a luxury we can only dream of in the UK).