Cocktail Snob - quality matters!

Velvet Tango Room is located on a sleepy street in Cleveland's Ohio City / Tremont area. This part of town was once housing for the nearby steel mills. After the steel industry moved away from Cleveland, the area became a ghetto, but has been slowly working its way towards respectability over the past two decades. The hipsters and artists who invariably moved into Tremont in the 1980s and into the 1990s are officially giving way to yuppies and higher income families. Gut rehabs, art galleries, and trendy bars are the vibe down in Tremont these days - but you still have to watch yourself at night. The area is now considered 'historic' of course.

Thus, Ohio City / Tremont is the perfect location for a gourmet cocktail bar that will appeal to artistic sensibilities, people with lots of disposable income, and those looking for a cool spot in a hip neighborhood.

Enter: Velvet Tango Room.

VTR opened in November of 1996.
According to the bartender we spoke with, they gave themselves a facelift and renewed focus on their mission of excellence in mixology at the beginning of 2006.

Velvet Tango Room is comfortable and warm feeling. The front room - containing the actual bar - is furnished in a classic 1930s or 1940s vibe, with a tasteful collection of vintage glassware and an antique mahogany backbar. The vibe is elegant and relaxed. A small black and white television shows old movies with the sound off. Up two steps is a room featuring a piano, some davenports, and even an old console radio with a cool monkey lamp atop it, giving the feeling of a living room some time after art deco but before the atomic 1950s. The piano is put to good use seven nights a week by a variety of local jazzers such as Ken Wallace.

Beyond that is a hidden mirrored door leading to a large secret room. Containing another bar, another piano, a fireplace, and more plush seating, this one is used for private events. Catering is available. An outdoor patio (with a small putting green) finally ends the string of rooms. On my first visit, I noticed a rather large number of couples made up of middle aged men with much younger women at Velvet Tango Room, but I was also told by the (female) bartender that the bar strives to be a place where single women can feel comfortable. This proved true on my second visit, when I chatted with a single woman who was casually sipping an after work cocktail and reading her paper.

Of course, the bar has been paying close attention to the current cocktail revival that The Snob is celebrating, and the owners have thoroughly trained their staff in the art of the cocktail. The two-month training period that all Velvet Tango bartenders undergo is a definite sign of commitment, and weeds out potential employees who can't conceive of better drinks than Jaeger bombs and sparkletinis. On both of our visits to the VTR, we were served by the amazing Jennifer, who is friendly, spirited, and enthusiastic about her craft.

Negroni

To wit:

We tried two variants of the Manhattan, one with the very nice Vya-brand Vermouth in it, and one with Velvet Tango Room's house-made fortified wine. They were served as two mini-Manhattans by our bartendress, who was curious to see which we'd prefer. The first thing we decided was that the two smaller versions of Manhattan were better thought of as Queens and The Bronx. Both were garnished with imported black cherries from Italy. Both were very nice ~~boroughs~~ drinks.

Velvet Tango Room's Caipirinha (the national drink of Brazil!) has a darker and less crisp taste than most Caipirinhas, probably due to the house-made Demerara sugar syrup sugar used in the recipe. An unusual variation, but quite good.

The Stone Fence is an 1857 recipe with Creme de Casis, Hard Cider, bitters, and Bourbon.
When we visited, the Jennifer was playing with the ratios, trying to crack the recipe for possible inclusion on the permanent menu.
This one is worth pursuing.
Do try it at home!

We moved on to another 19th century recipe, the Ramos Gin Fizz (traditionally: Gin, lemon juice, lime juice, egg white, sugar, cream, orange flower water, and soda water; not sure how Velvet Tango Room's version compares, but it is close). The one we were served balances sweet, sour, and creamy just right. A good drink, absolutely, but maybe not my first choice in the future (that's just a personal preference thing).

Spicy Chica

The house drink - since 1996 - is a French 75.
Definitely recommended.
Look this one up in Ted Haigh's book.
VTR's version is presented thusly:
2 ounces Cognac
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons Simple Syrup
2 ounces chilled Champagne
Add Cognac, lemon juice and Simple Syrup to shaker filled with ice.
Shake. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Fill with champagne. Use a twist of lemon as a garnish.
By the way, Haigh clams that the French 75 (named for a WWI -era gun!) should use gin instead of Cognac, and he provides the gin version in his book (most other bars serve the gin version). Haigh says that the Cognac version is properly called a French 125 (another gun, apparently). I'll leave Haigh and Velvet Tango Room owner Paulius Nasvytis to fight this one out themselves, but I will say that I have mixed up Haigh's recipe (as recently as New Years Eve 2008) and sampled the Nasvytis recipe (just a few months prior), and found both to be nice drinks. Let us not quibble, gentlemen!

Moving on...
Bourbon Daisy is a crisp and refreshing drink, great for summer.

The VTR's Amaretto de Saronno Sour is sweet and not too strong, a good drink for people who maybe can't quite handle a Negroni or Sazerac yet! Speaking of these two venerable cocktails, Jennifer mixed me up a Negroni that was just about the best one I have ever had (even though - like all bars now - it uses the new formula Campari). Confessing that somehow she had never had occasion to make a Sazerac before (color me shocked), she snuck a peek at a recipe book and then used top-notch ingredients and her innate intuition of mixology to place a perfectly good one in front of me. Make her work it guys, these are bound to get even better.

The Rangpur Gimlet is an excellent solution to a modern paradox: traditional Gimlets call for gin and Rose's Lime Juice. Back in the day, Rose's was made very differently from the horrible product that you can get now. Therefore, modern Gimlets, made stirctly according to the original recipe are not very good (if they use the called-for Rose's). So the idea here was to make a Gimlet that avoided modern Rose's, but that stayed true to the perceived intent of the original concept.
Some fresh lime juice and a few other tweaks later (such as inclusion, specifically, of the titular Rangpur gin)...
Mission accomplished.
Definitely.
An elegant and simple solution, and another great summer drink.
These go down a little too easily!

Spicy Chico is a delicious rum drink prepared with (among other things) house-made ginger syrup and a dash of cinnamon on top. I enjoyed the hell out of this drink, but at home I might have used a hair less ginger. Unfortunately (for me), in a manner that would have made her a star employee of Donn Beach, Jennifer was tight lipped about the recipe. I am going to have to reverse-engineer this one, as soon as I finish my current project, which is cracking Violet Hour's Hush and Wonder.

Velvet Tango Room also does a literal interpretation of the Hi-Ball with ginger beer that was just a joy to imbibe.

The cocktail menu is not lacking in interesting things to quaff, and is a joy to read, with history and descriptions of each drink, but it is merely a starting point. The bartenders will happily go off-menu and are game for trying whatever concoction you may futily attempt to stump them with. Even better, in the spring of 2008, Velvet Tango Room will introduce a second cocktail menu, that Paulius described to me as 'advanced' (although the current menu is hardly for beginners!).

Rangpur Gimlet

One item destined for this menu is a Widow's Kiss.

This is a favorite drink for me, and so I was bummed when Jennifer told me that she didn't like it at all.
After comparing recipes, we discovered that the one going on the VTR menu, and the one I have been making in Aku Hall (this web site's cocktail lab) are totally different.

I have been using the one printed on page 177 of the venerable and excellent Savoy Cocktail Book.
Now, it pained my poor booze-soaked heart to think that the best bartender in Ohio might not share my appreciation for one of my favorite (this week) drinks.

So, of course, there was nothing for it but to ask J. mix up the Savoy version so she could try it.
She tried it, she liked it.

Victory!

And now, in the interest of fairness, I will look forward to comparing it to the alternate version on my next visit to the VTR, which can't come soon enough.

Velvet Tango Room also has a nice list of Scotches, Bourbons, and Cognacs, but only three rums: Goslings, Mt. Gay, and Ten Cane.
The bar triple filters all of their water.
They also serve three brands of beer.
For munchies, VTR offers a short menu of appetizers and desserts, including a chocolate fondue.

It is also kind of cool that there are little bottles of bitters and real pomegranate grenadine (Fee Brothers) on each table, kinda like salt and pepper for your drinks.

My main, (and only) gripe with Velvet Tango room is that cocktails are priced at $14.

I understand that quality booze costs money.
I understand that craft cocktails take longer to make, and therefore a bar can serve less of them per night, and that therefore the bar has to make up the cash that they're missing by not selling booze in lots of volume to a big crowd.
I understand that raising the prices a bit keeps the riff-raff out (except for me).
I understand all of the other expenses that these tavern owners face.

However:
Violet Hour is in one of the more expensive parts of Chicago, and they still manage to keep their drinks at $12.
Pegu Club is in freaking Manhattan, and they still keep their drinks at $12.
Most of the Trader Vic's restaurants still sling drinks for between $8 and $12.
Places like Weegees seem positively thrifty at $7 to $9 for most beverages.

Paulius (the owner) did point out to me that Velvet Tango Room features live entertainment seven nights a week with no cover charge.
Factoring that into the equation, it does makes the bar's pricing a bit less painful.

This is the only thing about Velvet Tango room that I found hard to swallow.
Everything else, from the vibe, to the staff, to the cocktails, went down quite easily.

I make it through Cleveland about twice per year, and when I am there, you'll find me at the VTR - possibly during their weekday happy hour (4:30 to 7:00) when cocktails are priced at a smooth and tasty ten bucks.

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Nighttown
12387 Cedar Rd., Cleveland Heights, Ohio; (216) 795-0550
back to cocktail snob

October, 2007 / March 2008
v1.1

As unlikely as it seems to outsiders, Cleveland has - and is desperately clinging to - a strongly rooted history of culture and arts.

It all started back in the late 19th century when all of the steel barons (Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.) called Cleveland home. These guys were polluting the hell out of the Cuyahoga river valley (the river famously burned in the early 1970s), but they were also spending their copious amounts of surplus cash on entertaining themselves. This meant establishing Cleveland as a capital city for the fine arts.

Ground zero for all of this is University Circle, home of Case Western Reserve University, as well as home to a truly lovely museum campus. On campus you'll find a major art museum that is free every single day (that is the thing that truly freaking rocks about Cleveland), a natural history museum, an auto and aviation museum (lots of cool old cars), a garden center, Severance Hall (home of one of the three best orchestras in America), and the Western Reserve Historical Society Museum. Next to all of this is the art school, the music school, and (bringing things into the modern era) a Frank Geary building at Case. This area is a cultural hotbed.

Just west of University Circle, heading towards downtown, are the remains of dozens of Victorian mansions. For decades they were all basically crack houses, but redevelopment efforts in the 1990s turned some of the neighborhoods around, while bulldozing others. The remaining century homes are wondrous. There is also a small but beloved theater district, and the amazingly scenic Martin Luther King Drive, which is dotted with ancient stone bridges and a dozen 'cultural gardens' paying homage to the various ethnicities that have settled in Cleveland. Set into a valley next to a winding canal, these gardens are all accented with ancient stone and overgrown with green. The whole boulevard looks like something out of Tolkien. To the east of University Circle are Little Italy, plus a huge and amazing cemetery, and a street called Coventry that is culturally significant as the stomping ground for Beats, Hippies, and Punks in their respective heydays. Coventry runs through the cities of Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights which are full of curving green streets, beautiful pre-war vintage homes of all shapes and styles, and even a nature center situated near the small and picturesque Shaker Lakes chain.

Somehow all of this, which has stood as a bastion of culture, art, and entertainment for over one hundred years, has become endangered during the past decade or so, as the residents of the eastern-most parts of the city (as well as University Circle, Little Italy, Cleveland Heights, and to a lesser degree Shaker Heights) have moved away from the amazing vintage homes in these areas, leaving poverty and crime in their wake. What was once a section of Cleveland that made a strong argument for thinking of the city as the nation's least likely and least appreciated cultural hotbed, is now largely a 'bad' part of town.

Still, University Circle and its environs will survive and persevere. If Cleveland is to hold on to its dignity and integrity as bastion for culture in the Midwest second only to Chicago, the University area as well as neighboring Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights must be turned back around, and brought back onto track.

I head to this area every time I am in Cleveland (twice a year or so), and when I do, I always drink and dine at Nighttown in Cleveland Heights (how the hell was that for a long winded and tangential introduction?).

Opened in 1964, Nighttown is right near the border of Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, on the section of Cedar Road called Cedar Hill, just a mile or so from the museum campus, and also very near to Coventry.

Nighttown is divided up into three rooms, each of which feels quite different from the others. The rooms are all quite antique in their vibe, and are filled with an interesting mix of artifacts and antiques that juxtapose fine art and hopelessly funny kitsch. Tiffany glass is paired with a 19th century circus poster depicting a bar fight; a character on the poster exclaims: "You are a cheating scoundrel!" as he stabs the card cheat in the chest. There is also taxidermy next to vintage photographs, and a case full of antique cocktail shakers just around the corner from a giant penguin with a clock in its chest. There is also an insulated glass patio with a waterfall in it, so you can sit 'outside' all year round and enjoy running water while viewing the frozen variety through the glass. Somehow it all works, and easily avoids seeming like a cousin to The House on the Rock (in Wisconsin) while still managing to feel like a place that will serve you a seriously good meal. Dublin Lawyer (lobster and mushrooms sauteed in a cream butter sauce - and whiskey) seems to be the local favorite.

Current owner Brendan Ring bought Nighttown in 2001and turned it into a renowned live jazz venue as well. Ring has taken the success of being voted one of Down Beat magazine's 100 best jazz clubs in the world, and added folk and world music acts as well.

All right - how about the damned bar?

We have planted our pants at the bar on two occasions now, and are impressed with wide the array of less-common liquors and liqueurs available for use by any master mixologist who may be tending to things. If nothing else, there is a nice palliate of colors for a bar artist to work with here.

When we visited in 2006, we were pleased to meet a certain really young (mid 20s?) bartender. Given that McCocktails are the order of the day in even the nicest restaurants worldwide (see the Cocktail Snob Manifesto), we expected a crappy drink. To circumvent further liver damage with no clear gain (i.e. an enjoyable drink), we cautiously asked if she was interested in classic cocktails. Her eyes lit up and she became downright perky. "You mean like Martinis?", she asked. Gal Friday Night and I raised an eyebrow each. There was hope here. We were cautiously dancing with this young lady, and we wanted to make sure she knew where to put her feet.

"Sure", I said amicably, "And how about other stuff...".
She cut me off: "Manhattans and Sidecars?", she asked, excited.
"Bingo".

She positively beamed, and then uttered the best words to ever come out of the mouth of any member of her generation:
"I never have a chance to make that stuff!".
She was on board.
We are dancing.

Her efforts that night were noble and enthusiastic.

We went back in March of 2008, and noticed that a Sidecar and several other classics had been added to a cocktail menu.

Progress.

The fella who made our Sidecar this time used sour mix instead of fresh lemon juice; when we asked about it, he told us that it made the drink more 'round'.
If 'round' means 'too sweet' and 'full of sticky high fructose corn syrup', then yes, it was more round.

Regression.

The drink was $9.70.
We'll go back for a 'best two out of three' some time soon.

Stay tuned, true believers.

Velvet Tango Room Nighttown more

Also in Cleveland...

Flying Fig
2523 Market Ave., Cleveland, Ohio; (216) 241-4243

This restaurant in the west side market/W.25th St. area is upscale (in price and in the quality of their food) and yet casual (in their atmosphere).
They serve delicious but spendy food that is all made with locally sourced ingredients (where possible).

Gal Friday Night and I were joined by another couple for a truly excellent meal at Flying Fig in August of 2008.
The short cocktail menu includes French 75 and Sidecar, both of which were delivered satisfactorily, and consumed with some joy.
I did take pause, however, at the listing of Malibu rum in their Monte Carlo. Malibu, you'll recall, rhymes with "ewwww". Use of Malibu, in anything, is not something to brag about. Oh, and they spelled "coconut" wrong on their menu too!

But never mind all of that: this cool indie restaurant has better than adequate cocktails, a nice wine list, and terrific food.
...and it is like one mile or less from Velvet Tango Room.
Do you see your evening itinerary taking shape yet?

Wine Cave
2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, Ohio (216) 932-6411
back to cocktail snob

October, 2007
v1.0

We like this dark and cozy bar in the lower level (read: basement) of the 'mall' (four businesses) at the corner of Coventry and Euclid Heights Boulevard in Cleveland Heights. There's really no sign visible from the street; just enter through the door between the Grog Shop (popular live indie / punk rock venue) and the venerable Inn on Coventry restaurant, walk down the stairs, and enter through an unmarked and windowless metal door.

Inside you'll find a gigantic cooler full of many dozens of craft beers. This cooler is self-serve: browse as long as you like, grab your favorite, and bring it to the bartender for uncapping and payment. There is also (as the name of the business would imply) a lengthy wine list. Cocktails remain unexplored - with such a tasty selection of beers and wines (and a rather small selection of booze behind the bar) we're going to have to defer to our friend the Beer Snob on this one.

This is our go-to hangout when in Cleveland; it is walking distance from Nighttown (about a mile) if the weather is nice.

House of Swing ("Where Jazz is King"!)
4490 Mayfield Rd., Mayfield Heights, Ohio; (216) 382-2771
back to cocktail snob

October, 2007
v1.0

This bar has existed in the eastern Cleveland suburb of Mayfield Heights for many decades.
I can remember driving past it as far back as the middle 1970s.
This is a smoky, stinky, small dive bar.

What makes it special is a gigantic collection of thousands (literally) of jazz records, all on vinyl.

There are no interesting wines, beers, or cocktails here, but you can listen to rare groove original jazz while admiring an ancient collection of memorabilia (once all classic jazz stuff, and now whatever the owners and customers feel like tacking up). There is live jazz and blues here sometimes, but the place is so small that any live music is overwhelming. I'd make it a point not to go for live music; show up on DJ nights.

Velvet Tango Room Nighttown more

Mitchell's Fish Market
28601 Chagrin Boulevard, Woodmere, Ohio, (216) 765-3474
back to cocktail snob

March 2008
v1.0

Normally, I avoid eating or drinking in any place that is part of a chain. I find that higher quality and more personality are to be found in businesses that have as few locations as possible. Establishments that have but one unique location are usually vastly preferable. I also think it is good to support local business and local business people, rather than filing the coffers of faceless corporate players in some other state.

Additionally, I have seldom had a good cocktail in the bar of a mid-priced restaurant; as stated in many other places on this web site, the bartenders in these places are almost universally hired for speed, efficiency, and their ability to deliver quantity over quality. Sorry, but it is the quality that I want, and if I have to wait a bit for it, that's fine. But I seem to be a in a rather small minority here.

Mitchell's Fish Market is a chain of about twenty restaurants scattered throughout the Great Lakes states. Although it is fairly generic in appearance and located in a sterile upscale shopping plaza, I found the food at their Woodmere, Ohio location (a few miles east of Cleveland) to be very good. I was dining with a party of fifteen people, and I believe that every one of us had an impressive meal. Fish entrees seem to range from about $14 to about $24.

It would never have even occurred to me to have a cocktail with my meal - the odds of it being any good are vanishingly small - except for the fact that they boasted on the back of their menu about how all of their drinks are made with fresh juices. Slightly intrigued, I wandered from table to bar, where I met one Nathan. He was excited to make me a Sidecar, and after pointing out the heaping basket of fresh lemons nearby, he did so. Not bad.

I thought I'd see how far I could take this, and so (back at my table) I asked my waitress for a Sazerac. She had me pronounce the word three times before she got it, and then declared that Nathan didn't know how to make one. I assured her (with foolhardy confidence) that he did. I could have predicted that it would be a bit heavy on the Pernod (fat chance getting absinthe here), and it was, but just a little bit. A nice effort, perfectly drinkable.

Upping the game a bit, I asked the waitress for a Pegu Club (pronounced that one three times for her too).
Nathan actually came over to the table, and apologized for not having the orange bitters needed for the Pegu Club. I admired his honesty and dedication (how many other people in his position would have just made the drink without it, hoping I wouldn't notice?), and asked him for a second Sidecar instead.

A few minutes later, the waitress delivered something that definitely wasn't a Sidecar. She said "Certa 1920". I assumed she meant "Circa", and was right - Nathan had gone on-line, found an alternate Pegu Club recipe from 1920 and whipped it up. It was so-so, but "A" for effort!

I later met a gal named Loretta (see the review below this one for more about her!) who told me that Nathan was the only guy in the Cleveland area who should would let pour her a drink (Velvet Tango Room excepted), and that no one else at Mitchell's came close. Not too hard to swallow this opinion, but it wasn't hard to swallow those three cocktails either.

Stop in at Mitchell's for some very good fish, and go there on Nathan nite for some good drinks too!

McCormick & Schmick's
26300 Cedar Road, Beachwood, Ohio, (216) 831-8300
back to cocktail snob

March, 2008
v1.0

All right, what is it with the Cleveland outposts of generic chain seafood restaurants suddenly defying the odds and serving good-ish drinks?
I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't there myself.
At Mitchell's (see above) a customer named Loretta told me that she drank nowhere else but Mitchell's, but that she worked at McCormick and Schmick's, and that they had a great cocktail menu.
I have heard all of that before, and have usually been disappointed.
There are about 35 McCormick and Schmick's across the US of A, and normally my interest in darkening their doors would be near zero.
But, as it turns out this place is like 1/2 mile from my parents' house, and I was visiting them, and you all know what it is like to crash at the 'rents place as an adult... so I swung by McCormick and Schmick's one night.

A nice four-page cocktail menu divides drinks up into "Early Days and Golden Years" (1806 to 1920), "Prohibition and Beyond" (1920 to 1950), and "Modern Cocktail Creations" (2005). Note that this restaurant opened in 2007, and also that apparently, no one drank or invented a drink between 1951 and 2004. That said, the menu offers an historical paragraph about each libation, and includes a nice overview of important cocktails: early Juleps and Crustas, along with Sazeracs, Slings, and Sours, plus Sidecars, real Mai Tais, and a Moscow Mule. A nice variety of drinks, about twenty classics, and then another eighteen modern drinks, which do devolve into the dreaded appletinis by the last page of the menu.

Loretta made me an Ambassador Smash (fresh muddled Kiwi and mint, with Woodford reserve, fresh lemon, and Angostura bitters, topped with soda water; $8.50). A nice drink, and made with some care. I especially liked her use of the two big metal juice pressers affixed to the bar a few feet apart, which I frequently observed being put to good use.

Evil sports games on too many televisions kept most of the patrons from interacting with each other, and the bar area is clean, but too modern, and mostly charmless. But in the name of journalism, I had another drink. The Jamaican Daisy (also $8.50) is made of Appleton V/X, Curacao, lemon juice, orange juice, Angostura bitters, and some artificial egg-white substitute. I wasn't thrilled with that last bit - real egg is tastes like real egg and fake egg tastes like fake egg - but overall it is a drink worth making (at home, with real egg white, etc.).

When I was there, two girls came in, and asked Loretta's co-bartender if it was still happy hour. He quipped that "we're always happy here", but didn't answer their question. In retrospect, the end result is that I can't answer it for you either; if there is a time to get a bargain, I don't know about it.

Recently closed in Cleveland

Kluck's Restaurant
1313 West 117th Street, Lakewood, Ohio

October, 2008
v2.0
Cocktail Snob review by James Teitelbaum

Kluck's opened in the early 1940s, and as of early 2008, still looked largely the same as it must have looked on opening day.

This subfusc restaurant had a little bit of that 'old-people smell' going on inside, and when we visited it was as quiet a a tomb in there. Kluck's was decorated with a variety of nautical art and artifacts that compliment the menu of seafood. German and American dishes are served as well.

This is a good spot for the mid-century aficionado to visit and support Kluck's; one gets the feeling that this place is going under any minute now*.

Kluck's has a full bar, and their staff assures us that they serve excellent cocktails.
However, we've heard this all before, and we'll reserve our praise until we can get over there and have them serve us an at least adequate Sidecar or Martini.

A full investigation is imminent.
Stay tuned, true believers.

* = It did.
Kluck's closed in 2008 and was replaced by a thoroughly generic Mexican place.

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