The Great American Bar Search: Cleveland
Ohio’s lakefront lushfest!
Maxim is on the hunt for the country’s best watering holes. This month: Ohio’s lakefront lushfest, Cleveland! Yes, Cleveland.
Your Eff-Lebron tour starts here:
11 a.m. Deagan’s Kitchen & Bar
Kick off your crawl with belly-lining comfort food, like chicken and waffles paired with a beer cocktail. Our pick? The “Broadway,” Flying Dog in Heat beer plus Pepsi. Yum?
This is what we at Maxim would describe as “breakfast” (we’re really bad at describing things).
1 p.m. Buckeye Beer Engine
Beer snobs will wet themselves amid the nearly 30 local brews on tap. (Warning: Requests for Bud Light will be shot down.)
We misunderstood this sign and poured beer into our espresso machine.
2 p.m. Melt Bar & Grilled
This grilled-cheese perv’s dream serves varieties like the Porky Cheese filled with honey ham, crisp bacon, and Swiss.
It’s best to book a plumber in advance if you’re thinking of finishing this.
3 p.m. The Harp
Pop a Tums and rub your spare tire while you lounge on the patio overlooking Lake Erie. It’s the Riviera of the Midwest!
5 p.m. Happy Dog
This 1940s-era cocktail joint offers gourmet hot dogs (duh) and live music, including a polka happy hour on Fridays.
“This song is about my beard. It’s kind of a love story.”
8 p.m. Prosperity Social Club
Hit this barroom’s outside seats for beer, wine, and—according to locals—the best pierogies outside Warsaw.
10 p.m. ABC the Tavern
Happiness is a jukebox, a 50¢ pool table, bar bowling, cheap but delicious grub (try the hush puppies), and 70 beer options.
12 a.m. McNulty’s Bier Market
Sample 80-plus brews at Ohio’s only Belgian beer bar, or drop (literally, down the stairs) into Speakeasy for old-timey drinks. Huzzah!
As a bonus, the bar area is roomy enough to let you dry your bed sheets on laundry day.
To see our favorites bars in other cities–including New York, Dallas, Austin, and Atlanta–check out more Great American Bar Search.
To see our favorites bars in other cities–including New York, Dallas, Austin, and Atlanta–check out more Great American Bar Search.