Five at five: Getting happy at the Grovewood

I’ve always had happy memories at the Grovewood Wine Bar, especially in the winter, when the bartender has the best prescription for the cold: a sturdy Manhattan or a high-octane microbrew on tap. What makes an even happier experience there is when you arrive in time for the $5 at 5 happy hour menu, which features a great list of food and drink for only five dollars each. It runs Monday through Friday from 5:00pm to 6:30pm, which means you can shake off that bad day just in time to catch that show, or the Ohio governor in my case, at the Beachland Ballroom.

Though everything sounded good, we decided to order a glass of the Strump Jump Shiraz, Golden Monkey draft beer, buffalo shrimp, the cold Thai sesame noodles, and the “mini” pulled pork sandwich. Turns out we ordered food for the next two days. The buffalo shrimp came out on a bed of lettuce and blue cheese and tasted just like those chicken wings you might get at your local bar, but are a great alternative for your pescetarian wife. Though I was a little concerned that we only got three per order, we still had plenty of food to take on in front of us. We saved the sesame noodles for last, because the perfectly molded mound was just too beautiful to mess up. The “mini” pulled pork sandwich made me wonder how big the regular sandwich was, because there was nothing small about it. The pile of slow roasted pulled pork came on two slices of thick-cut bread. I wanted to ask if they had stolen my mother’s Sunday pork roast recipe, because it was just as delicious. We finally made it to the noodles, but by this time we were already looking for a couch to pass out on. The noodles made a great compliment to the other dishes, and made for a great lunch the next day, which I ate warmed up in the microwave.

My favorite part about Cleveland is the extensive list of happy hours. You can live on a grad student’s budget and still enjoy some of the finest restaurants in the city. My favorite part about Collinwood is catching up with the friendly staff at the Grovewood and enjoying their great food before the dinner crowd comes through. Don’t think fine food costs a fortune.

Stay tuned next month for another great Collinwood happy hour review.