Bar #60 Melt

There are few bars in Lakewood, or even Cleveland, that have gotten even a fraction of the hype that this week's bar has received. It has been featured everywhere from the Plain Dealer's A List Restaurants to the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It has expanded its space and expanded into new spaces. It's fitting that for the last bar in Lakewood that I would have a beer at would be a meeting between Cleveland Scene's 2014 best blog and best sandwich. Obviously, the 60^th and final bar is Melt Bar and Grilled.

For the most part we had all already been to Melt Bar and Grilled at one point or another. I haven't been there since the blog began. For a while, it was simply because everyone wanted to go on the Melt blog day; but we couldn't match everyone's schedules at a time when the wait wasn't too long. When you've got one of the most famous grilled cheese sandwiches in America, there will probably be a line. I remember how excited everyone was about a grilled cheese sandwich at a bar back when Melt first opened. There's a certain nostalgic excitement when you get foods that you mainly ate when you were a kid. Mac & cheese, pizza, and grill cheese are always exciting to eat. They were as much a treat as as a meal as a child. When we eat them now, it's always a bit more fun than other foods.  Since, none of us were new to Melt, we tried a new experience:  Melt's new bruch menu!

On a rainy Sunday morning, ten of us arrived at Melt Bar and Grilled fifteen minutes before the bar even opened. Already a couple people were waiting for the doors to unlock. We all huddled under the entrance overhang looking forward to our culinary adventure. When you enter through the back entrance, you find yourself in a waiting area with benches and a souvenir/hostess stand. This waiting area was an important part of the remodel. Originally, the waiting patrons would simply wander around the tables trying to keep out of everyone's ways. Your eyes quickly accelerate from randomly wandering to quickly darting about at all the amazingness around. This eye candy ranges from old ads and photographs on the walls to holiday themed blown plastic figures up above the bar. After looking at the snowman army above, your eyes will be drawn to a slew of beer taps showing off their fantastic draft selection. The front entrance of Melt is an amazing combination of caricatures of people and local places around Cleveland.

Our waiter had already made it to our table by the time I had stopped wandering around taking pictures. He was friendly and did his best to keep us happy during our time at Melt. Unfortunately, there was a breakdown of communication during our stay, leading to two incorrect food orders and three incorrect drink orders. On a plus side, this lead to one of us getting a free meal.

We had a minor amount of confusion when we couldn't figure out who was missing. We knew the number but couldn't figure out how it added up. Suddenly, we realized that our missing person was already here.  We somehow overlooked her, even though she was blowing bubbles with her drool at the time. Yes, we forgot that Katie and Johnny's baby Nora was a person. I was then carded by our waiter.

As stated before, Melt has a superior beer list. It gives you the ability to get exactly what your in the mood for and possibly, something you didn't even know you wanted. I decided that North Coast PranQster, a Belgian style ale, was a proper breakfast beer. It's got a good bit of fizz with mildly sour, citricy flavor, with a bit of spice and apricot to boot. It stood great on its own and added to my eating experience. Oddly, the beer prices on the menu didn't match our bill at the end.

Now for the important part, the food. Melt now offers a Sunday brunch from 11am till 4pm on Sundays. You'll still be able to get all your favorites, you've simply got another half dozen sandwiches to try out. I went with the Breakfast Club Melt. It's basically your breakfast morphed into a sandwich. You take your normal egg, bacon and cheese sandwich coat it in pancake batter and deep fry it till awesomeness maximization is reached. I also got a side of bacon. They were out of the side portions of french toast. I'm not complaining because there is no way I could have touched the side of toast after eating the massive sandwich. This is also a good place to lose your chicken and waffle (sandwich) virginity, but watch out it is a mouth full. The agreed upon best sandwich on the brunch menu was the Stuffed French Toast. It's a combination of blueberry compote, lemon curd and cream cheese on cinnamon french toast. It'll force you to go mmmm and your friends to go “Awwwe, why didn't I order that.” Downsides? We had two people that can't handle all the deep friedness and had to get the salad. It was still good.

The regular menu has been shrunken and changes on a monthly to seasonal basis to allow different options throughout the year. They still keep some favorites year round. Smaller menus usually lead to more imagination and quality. Melt is another success story of this logic.

When we were leaving we saw that you get name tags so that the host can find you when your table is ready.

Do you want discounts?  Here are two options.  One, try the Melt Challenge.  All you have to do is eat their monster grilled cheese sandwich which includes three slices of bread and 13 types of cheese and a pile of fries and slaw without any help or trips to the bathroom.  If you survive, you'll get a t-shirt, $10 gift card, and a place on their wall of fame.  If your stomach can't handle it, then maybe your arm can.  if you brand yourself with a Melt tattoo, you get 25% off for LIFE.  These next two pictures are from Melt's website.

Melt  has one of the coolest atmosphere's in town and with five locations the wait's not too bad anymore. Their beer list is top notch, everyone will find something they love to drink. The food is greasy, gastropub priced and makes me droll just thinking about it. Their fried sandwiches are capable of competing against most any restaurant in the country. The service was knowledgeable and friendly, though this morning it was also easily confused. It is a requirement, as a Lakewoodite/Clevelander to eat at Melt. If you're reading this it's probably just to see if I agree with you and see some pictures. If you're the one person in Cleveland that hasn't gone or you aren't from around here and I'm your tipping point; then go to bar #60, Melt Bar and Grilled, and be full, intoxicated, and happy.

As the bar that is always near the top of everyone's list, it was fitting that the blog ended here. A proper celebration needs its grande finale, and no bar can do it better. It has been a privilege to see, explore and enjoy every bar in Lakewood. Each one has had something that made it unique and fantastic. I've made great friends and memories throughout my travels. Thank you for reading my blog and coming with me on my journey. Now it's your turn to go to Every Bar in Lakewood.

Oh wait. You didn't think I was actually done, did you? The quest may have been completed but there are still side quests to be had.  I've got some new ideas for blogs and for Every Bar in Lakewood itself, that will arise over the next couple months.  Plus, it's looking like four more bars will be opening by the end of summer.  I'm ready for new adventures.

14718 detroit Ave
216-226-3699
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Bar #59 Iggy's Bar (New Ownership)

After going to 58 bars you could worry that the mystery is gone in my relationship with every bar in Lakewood. Have I seen it all or is this simply going to be some mix or version of bars that I've been to? A bigger question I had going in was, how do I know nothing about this bar. Bar #59 is Iggy's Bar and it's the bar I knew the least about going in.


I approached an unnamed building with a couple beer signs on the front. This would lead to confusion throughout the night. There were 3 doors on the front of the building. I tried the farthest first, thinking the entrance would be marked. I was wrong and ended up having to use the first door I passed and the last possible option.

Upon entering Iggy's Bar you are first hit by COLOR. The wall behind the liquor bottles is lit up and then your eye is drawn to a crazy mural at the back of the bar. The second thing I noticed was a man yelling “This is why guys kill their wives!” It seems he was getting a divorce or his live in girlfriend left him. The only other person at the bar was a stereotypical Grateful Dead fan (actually a member of a Grateful Dead tribute band) that was trying to talk down his rage that night. Unfortunately, Kelly and Lynn had disappeared on the way to the bar; so I was sitting alone.

I ordered a Magic Hat #9. It's a lighter beer with a bit of fruit taste but only if your looking for it. It's also a bit bitter. I enjoy drinking it but it's a better representative of itself than of any genre of beer. Example being, it's not what you're looking for if looking for a fruity beer. It should be brought up that the bartender was quick to give extra beer options beyond what was on tap. He was my favorite combination of bartender characteristics, being laid back, helpful, and knows his product.

Throughout the evening, I had friends show up. Every arrival began with a confused text about where the bar was. Along with Kelly (wife), Andrea, and Lynn, Johnny made his first Every Bar appearance in months, and Missy of Lakewood's own All Dogs Heaven special needs dog rescue, who has been talking about making it to one of these since the beginning, finally made it with one bar to spare.

I'm currently reading Game of Thrones, actually I'm on the 5^th book of the series that begins with a book of that name. This lead me to decide to leave the land of beer and try a rum by the name of Kraken. I had never heard of it but others had. I don't like drinks mixed with coke so we figured out mixed drink. It wasn't called squid but something like it and tasted like vacation. I quickly had two, which helped one game I played later and humiliated me on the other.

They have bar bowling and much fun was had with it. I won, which always helps make things more fun. You would think you'd hear about more people being horribly injured by angry, drunk people throwing those heavyish wooden balls at people's heads. One point for humanity not being awful I suppose.

Iggy's Bar also has more pool tables than any bar in Lakewood.

After taking random pictures around the bar I saw that Andrea's painted toes were crazy reflected on the chrome of the bar. While taking a picture (seen below) the angry single man mentioned, a bit loudly, that she had some nice looking feet. I haven't written much about him since the beginning because once the women started arriving he went off to hide in the other room.

Lynn sometimes is referred to as angry. Usually not but she is more likely to be loud, tell you what's up angry than quietly brooding. Johnny, decided that he needed to quantify her rage on the punching bag machine. Johnny tried to incite her rage but only made her laugh. This is the force behind her laughter. Johnny followed beating the current high score.

Then it was my turn, but I decided that if I took a picture on a stool it would look like I was flying. The picture was at the wrong angle but regardless I was mistaken. During that one minute distraction the karaoke host piled all his equipment under the punching bag. So, we got him to move it. Now that all eyes were on me things went from bad to worse as whiffed on the first punch. So, we decided that I needed to give it another go. As I felt my foot slide on the floor under the bag, I knew that my fate of being mocked was sealed.

At this point, obviously, karaoke was coming so we were going. We had a damn good night, even if it did end at 10pm. When you have to work at 7am your day begins and ends at unfortunate hours.

I really liked Iggy's Bar. The service and selection were better than good. The atmosphere was cheery. The bar patrons were...well, they weren't there yet. I had a surprisingly good time and want to return to Bar # 59, Iggy's Bar. However, put up a damn sign!

Epilogue: Johnny went to the open mic the following night. He said the music was good and diverse. He also said it was hard to get much play as it favors the regulars over the newbies. The rest of this paragraph has been deleted prepublication for being too specific. Instead I'll leave you with a lesson: If we've never had a conversation, then we aren't friends and you shouldn't “friend” me on Facebook because you will be denied.

13403 Madison Ave

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