CLE Foodcast

This episode is a special collaboration with UH Seidman Cancer Center. Thanks to Five Star Sensation for the opportunity to highlight this important event and its mission. Five Star Sensation, a food-focused fundraiser supporting UH Seidman Cancer Center, will take place Saturday, June 28, (2025) uniting chefs and vintners from across the country to lend their talents and time to raise critical fu...

This year Malley's Chocolates celebrates 90 years as Cleveland's homegrown candy company and I sat down with Mike Malley, a third-generation family member to talk about this iconic and beloved brand. Started by his grandparents, Malley's is a celebrated part of Cleveland culture. We talked about growing up in a candy-making family (so fun, right?) and review some memories about family...

In early 2023, Chris and Katie Wolf opened Wolf Pack Chorus, a bold, beautiful restaurant in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland. It was intentionally different from the red sauce and meatball spots along Murray Hill, with a diverse menu and an upscale ambiance. After the struggle of the pandemic, it was kind of a celebration and a sign that things were back to normal and "finer dining...

This is a story of two locally-grown kids who met, fell in love, started a family, and embarked on the project of their lives. Jimmy and Kimberly McCune Gibson are building The Hive at Honey Hill, an incredibly ambitious destination spot in Geauga County. Owners of the successful Hungry Bee Catery, the two culinary pros wanted something more for their community. Inspired by their love and apprecia...

It's about the time of year I am ready to go all crazy on spring vegetables (a "rumspringa" of sorts) so I grabbed my friend Farmer Lee Jones from The Chef's Garden and Farmer Jones Farm to learn more about some of the lesser-known springtime veggies and to catch up on what's new at the Erie County regenerative farm he runs with his brother Bob. In the episode we talk about v...

If we look hard enough, or far back enough, we are all connected to an immigrant story. Businessman and restaurant owner Andrew Revy drew upon his Hungarian roots to name his successful Lakewood brewery and restaurant, Immigrant Son Brewery. In this episode we talk about how our upbringing and family stories inform and drive us to create and share what we love. In a few weeks ISB will have a siste...

Some of the best modern Chinese food in Cleveland is found in a silver retro diner car in Cleveland Heights where Liu Fang and husband Carl Setzer have found a home for Abundance Culinary. Moving here just as the pandemic started to rage in the US, Fang found comfort cooking dumplings and other foods that felt familiar to her. After finding her footing through pop-ups at Larder and relishing the a...

Matt Fish approached the literal zenith of a restaurant career with his concept Melt Bar and Grilled. With 14 stores at its peak, discussions for more, featured tv segments on The Food Network, Melt became one of the "must see" attractions in Cleveland, holding court with the Rock Hall and the West Side Market. And then, over the course of a few years, fueled by changing tastes, a pandemic fallout...

When we think of restaurants our minds tend to go right to the food on our plates, but they are important ecosystems that contribute so much more. Restaurant owners Karen Small and Jillian (Jill) Davis created restaurants that became our favorites—Flying Fig in Ohio City, and Toast, in the Gordon Square district. Less talked about are how these successful destinations spurred neighborhood growth a...

Friends don't let friends drink bad booze. And that's the premise behind River Roots Barrel Co , an intimate tasting room and storehouse of curated spirits, including some of the best whiskey, bourbon and rye you'll find in the US. Inspired by a love for whiskey and seeing the need for a high-quality Midwest brand, the group set out on a journey to find the best spirits in the world to satisfy any...

As October 31 approaches the majority of us are evaluating if we have enough candy for trick or treaters and planning the perfect pumpkin carve. Those of Mexican origin, here in the US and throughout Latin countries, are gearing up for Dia de los Muertos, a celebration that honors the deceased and welcomes them back home for a few special days each year. Veronica Tomaschek remains connected to her...

Turns out, seasoned restaurant owners still get a case of the nerves before they open a new place. That's just one of the many things I learned talking to Chef Douglas Katz and Edgewater Hospitality business partner Todd Thompson as they get ready to open Kiln, the third restaurant for the team. Kiln will slide into a highly desirable spot in the Van Aken District as a modern American bistro with...

Prohibition was a dark time for alcohol drinkers but a lack of booze fueled innovation in the beverage category. And that, friends, is where NORKA's story began. In this episode, entrepreneur Michael Considine tells a great story of how he went down an Akron history rabbit-hole to learn about the city's signature soda that was produced from 1924 through 1962. Without ever tasting the origi...

Clean up on Aisle 112! That's 112 years of the historic, beloved and hopeful West Side Market. This iconic structure, and the human ecosystem within its walls, have survived plenty of turmoil—from the Great Depression to wartime, a global pandemic and a beleaguered city bureaucracy. Rosemary Mudry became the Executive Director of the Cleveland Public Market Corporation about six months ago. Ta...

It's hard not to sit across from Flora Grk (pronounced "Gerk") and be uplifted and inspired...not to mention, you might wonder if you've ever worked as hard as she has. Flora opened Tita Flora's, last year in Independence, Ohio, a place that is definitely NOT a hotbed of mixed cultural cuisines. She's serving up filipino staples in this small, homey spot that will have so...

The American dream looks a lot like this. A young man from Ghana arrives to the US to attend Hiram College. Misses home. Duplicates a family recipe that goes back six generations. Becomes an entrepreneur with a product in Ohio grocery stores. Nana Kwamena Takyi-Micah is that guy and Ghana Supreme Sauce is something we can all grab from the international foods aisle at the grocery store. His compan...

Rocco DiSpirto has been on the food scene for more than 20 years...in fact, you will usually see his name preceded by "Celebrity Chef" and I guess that's true. But I enjoyed a fun and meaningful conversation with Rocco, an easygoing, friendly approachable guy (but I was still nervous!) who just published his 15th cookbook, Everyday Delicious. We talked about food, life, how the busin...

I wanted to call this episode Ice Ice Baby, but I was concerned that many of my listeners would not get the reference. If you DO get the reference you are truly among my people, This episode is presented in partnership with the Ashtabula County Visitors Bureau and it is all about Ohio's Grand River Valley, a premier wine-making region. We're talking ice wine, a variety of wine that allows...

Put down your Timbits, and head to one of Banter's two locations for a pile of poutine! Banter recently reopened in Gordon Square and the combination bottle shop, sausage haus and poutinerie is the place to be for hearty fare inspired by the Quebecois (sometimes called the less dignified-sounding "Quebeckers." Plenty of research went into Banter, which also has a second take out shop...

After roughly 10 years associated with Saucisson, the artisan butcher shop she built with former partner Penny Tagliarina, Melissa Khoury knew the time had come to walk away. Earning and plenty of local and national notoriety, including coverage in Food and Wine and Oprah's magazine, and the chance to "Beat Bobby Flay," the little Slavic Village butcher shop that could DID IT ALL. Pe...

Kevin Kane is the general manager of Marble Room Steaks and Raw Bar in downtown Cleveland—no small role given that the 30,000-sq.-ft. restaurant is housed in a restored historic landmark and offers some of the most elevated food and service in the region. The opulent restaurant is a place for grand celebrations, high-powered business dinners and celebrity sightings as much as it is a place for int...

Let's get something straight. For the purposes of this conversation, it's "Chutni" not "chutney," ya'll! Entrepreneur Sahithya Wintrich developed her unique line of products during the pandemic. She wondered if she could bring some of the umami-packed flavors of her home country to the mainstream. The result is Chutni Punch, a trio of condiments designed to "pu...

Regardless of what you celebrate—Christmas, Hanukkah or the Winter Solstice—your plans probably include gift-giving. The CLE Foodcast Holiday Gift Episode aims to help you with that daunting task with an hour or so of suggestions for all types of gifts. I invited my friend and small biz advisor Pat Bennett to join me and we share some of our favorite local businesses, products and entrepreneurs. W...

You may have heard about endangered species of the animal kingdom but did you know there are also wild, native foods that are also worthy of our protection? With the keen eye and palate of of a culinary historian and the spirit of an intrepid adventurer, Sarah recounts her five-year research project and shares her learnings with us in Endangered Eating, America's Vanishing Foods. The changing...

Euclid-born Kenny Gilbert was cooking Thanksgiving dinner for his family at 11 years old. Influenced by his mom and dad, Kenny learned an early appreciation for both southern food and midwest BBQ. Fast forward 40 years, and Chef Kenny Gilbert is on a book tour for his new cookbook, Southern Cooking, Global Flavors where he melds southern favorites with all kinds of world influences from places he...