Friday, March 29, 2013

Bar #31 Harry Buffalo

Picture from Lakewood's Patch.com

I have had a tendency in this blog to avoid bars that are having their busy nights. I have only been to one Taco Tuesday. When the bars are having their big league nights with darts, trivia, bowling etc. I end up going to the half empty dive bar eating a processed meat treat that comes in an old pretzel container. This week I made an exception, mostly by mistake. I went to a sports bar on the night OSU played Arizona to get beyond the Sweet Sixteen. The odds are against Harry Buffalo as bar #31.

Harry Buffalo is the third chain bar that I have officially visited. The previous two are the only bars to have failing reviews, both because they were unable to give me service in an adequate amount of time. They also gave the feeling that the chain bars' staff and management don't have a personal connection with their job. Lakewood's Harry Buffalo has from the start given a very different vibe. I was invited to the Harry Buffalo by the general manager Mike Potraffke. He was personable, a fan of the blog and a proud Lakewood native.

When I finally announced Harry Buffalo as my next bar he immediately contacted me again and made plans to make sure my friends and I would be able to sit down. Upon our arrival I was greeted by Mike and a small Reserved for Every Bar in Lakewood sign at an empty booth. We chatted about how OSU in the tournament keeps his bar packed. Also, the one of the coaches from Butler was a native from Rocky River and brought in its own big crowd while they were still relevant. Our first round was comped as well. *Note free stuff does make me give a bar a better review but they usually come from the better run bars.

Our waitress was helpful, friendly and knowledgable. We also never waited longer than we wanted for service. Mike took a hands on a approach to running the bar, helping customers and not simply acting as an autonomous king on a thrown. I never throughout the busy night saw any customers giving the tell tale sign of waiting too long by half standing up from their seats, rapidly looking around the room and then burning a hole in the back of their server's head.

I got my first Leinenkugel Summer Shandy of the season, if for no other reason but to spite our cold spring. I followed it up with a Stone Arrogant Bastard. It had a wonderfully complex taste that was amazingly easy to drink, where others could taste funky by the end.

We ordered the cheesy garlic bread first, which with its dipping sauce caused us to converge and devour it like locusts. Of course if any cheesy garlic bread with dipping sauce doesn't create this effect than someone isn't doing their job. Warning, it's also very filling.
Harry Buffalo is heavily wooden, with it covering most of their walls, booths, some ceilings and of course the bar. There were flat screen TVs around the three rooms of Harry Buffalo, so that just about everyone can see the game. The bar itself is three sided and makes its way around the whole room. There is a second bar in the basement as well. The two giant front windows open up during the warm season. Standing and roaming       space is at a minimum. Harry Buffalo has more of a restaurant/sports bar setup.

I ordered the wings and wings for my entree. I got the Hot Pepper Buffalo wings with the bone in and the Thai Chili for the boneless. I liked both but I liked the extra little kick of the buffalo more. It also came with a side. I went with the macaroni and cheese, which was good. I also tried the Cajun Ranch and it was real good as well. It is one of Johnny's favorite wings now. 've had their buffalo meat burger before and I like it. It may be slightly gamey for some tastes and slightly awesome for others.

I now looked at my phone and realized I had two text messages one telling me that three more people that I didn't think were coming now were and a second saying they're on their way. Our booth would not fit more than 4 (we already had three.) So we called on our waitress and asked about fitting another three. Her and Mike quickly went into action asking people at another table to move to ours so that we could fit that table and another together. It is possible that Harry Buffalo's staff is simply that awesome but I prefer to go with that it was the amazing power of my new LkwdVIP status. They carried our food over and moved that tables around to suit us.

All the food our new wave of friends got looked good and brought no complaints.
I made my way around the bar to get some pictures as the game was coming to its very close end. Arizona had held a lead in the beginning of the game but OSU took control till the final minutes. Arizona then made a push tying the game with only a hand full of seconds left. As you probably know in the last two seconds Ohio scored a three pointer to bring the bar into a fevered celebration. Soon followed everyone in the bar going into a rendition of the song, not called, Hey Snoopy. One of my favorite things about being a Clevelander is seeing people experience that song in Ohio for the first time. Since, only Ohioans do the O-H-I-O, visitors always first freeze then their head starts swinging around wildly like a rabbit that knows the owls coming but can't figure out from where, basically looking frightened and confused. This is usually followed in the next minute or two by them finding out the song's name is not Hey Snoopy but Hang on Sloopy.

Harry Buffalo was a win for the evening. The service was phenomenal and the staff seemed to care about making it a good experience. The food was good and not badly priced with a lot of different options. They had enough beer on tap giving everyone an option of something they will really like. If you want good service, beer, food and TV viewing ability goto Lakewood's Harry Buffalo, bar #31.

Note: I used a picture taking method on my camera that works real well when things aren't moving and worked otherwise tonight.  Guess I'll just have to go back for more pictures at some point.
18605 Detroit Ave
216-221-1313

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Bar #? World of Beer (Deceased)

Logo by World of Beer

One rule I've tried to follow for this blog is that the official revues for the bars aren't during special events. This includes, fill-in-the-blank crawls, holidays and specialty parties. I don't want to give a bar any extra help or detriment that can come with having crazy crowds, extra staff or specialty foods. Mass produced food and plastered people hopping in for 10 minutes don't always make a bar seem better. So, this week World of Beer is not bar #31.

Radeeka Lou, "I feel like a bug floating helplessly towards a bug zapper."


I got a Facebook message a couple days ago from the general manager, Shawn Freeman, of World of Beer Lakewood offering me tickets to his big opening. Of course, I was thrilled and decided to bring my beer blogger buddy Johnny to come.  This was primarily because he's been talking about WoB for the last 6 months. Our night started with lots of waiting in the rain. First he showed up early and I showed up late. Luckily for him, they let him in. Unluckily for me he didn't tell me.  I then waited out in the rain, while he couldn't hear his phone ring.
Once I finally entered the bar it was a picture drinking perfection. The bar was crowded but not enough for anybody to feel uncomfortable and I was able to quickly get a seat at the bar. All the seating was comfortable. The band, Erica Blinn, sounded good. There were TVs set so that you could see them wherever you were at, even if you were in the band.

There were two giant coolers loaded with 500 different types of bottled beer:  one for domestic and one for imported.  They were separated by 50 draft taps. I picked my first beer because I liked how the tap looked. It turned out to be Revolution Brewing's Bottom Up Wit. It was probably the best wheat beer I've had. It had enough bitter taste to let you know that it's a wheat and there was a slight taste of lemon to make it very drinkable. I got a sample shot to give it a test drive then bought the full class.

Shawn Freeman came by a couple times during the night to see how it was going. He even waited on customers on occasion. It wasn't needed, as they had a huge staff preventing almost any wait for service. The service was always excellent both prompt and knowledgable.

When the next band, Rob Duskey and the Rounders, came on they gave me a shout out. It turns out he is a big fan of the blog. Luckily, he was pretty good, so that I can tell you all to go check him out next time he's playing.
I went with three beer shots next. Johnny told me I needed to try New Holland's Dragon's Milk, an over all great stout for anyone that likes them. I also picked whichever random draft was five drafts to the left and the right. Otter Creek's Russian Imperial Stout and Oskar Blues' G'Night were both good enough beers that at around 10% alcohol. 

It was around now that both my wife's (Kelly) friend Caroline and I got texts from Kelly telling us we were both at the World of Beer. We then noticed that Johnny was sitting in between us.

World of Beer does not have a kitchen but it does have a menu full of menus of other restaurants that will deliver to the bar.

I finished off my evening with a Magners Irish Cider because I needed something that was the opposite of what I had just drank. If you like ciders you'll like this.

I got to meet the bands at the end of the night while I was talking to another of Every Bar in Lakewood's big fans, Thor Platter. They'll all be playing at the Brother's Lounge in a couple weeks.



Unlike my previous encounters with the the chain bars of Lakewood World of Beer was able to prove good customer service isn't just for the locally owned bars. They have a huge beer selection and supply. I was very happy with the service and really had nothing to complain about. However, this was a private opening night where they knew almost the exact number of customers they would have and the maximum amount of time they could be there. I'll give them a little time to make sure that they always have enough staff to keep up on their larger crowds and that they keep their beers in stock. I look forward to watching the World of Beer impress me again.

Read the official blog for WoB, Bar #42 here: http://everybarinlakewood.blogspot.com/2013/06/bar-42-world-of-beer.html
14701 Detroit Ave.
lakewood@wobusa.com
Johnny's Beer Blog
Robduskey.com

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

St. Patrick's Day 2013


Fasting before St. Patrick's Day allows more room for beer.



The Original Ladies of the Screaming Rooster

The head martian of the Mars Bar


Mars Bar


Amazingly my first green beer ever

I needed this hat

The Shamrock was busy at noon.
The Flying Rib 

More Flying Rib


Fans of the Every Bar in Lakewood at the Flying Rib

Mahall's

A fan of Pawsitive Influence and Every Bar in Lakewood at the Tarrymore Inn.

Free food at the Tarrymore Inn

Lakewood Village Tavern dressed in traditional Irish clothing?



McGinty's is back and was packed to the the walls.

The Patio

The Patio



Yes that's a mohawk and kilt at The Patio.



Taught me that I was wearing a leprechaun hat.

O'Donnell's Pub

Johnny and Katie, Every Bar in Lakewood's biggest fans!

Around the Corner

Sloane Pub

The Avenue

A St. Patrick's Day Pyramid

Plank Road Tavern








If you liked my St. Patrick's Day Guide and the pictures (should have had more but ran into a camera issue,)  then vote for Every Bar in Lakewood for this year's Scene Magazine Best of Issue