19 Hot Restaurants (Hopefully) Opening This Summer in Cleveland

Hot Chicken Takeover

Crocker Park, Westlake

Hot Chicken Takeover started out modestly five years ago as a weekend-only pop-up on the near-east side of Columbus. Since launching, the company added outposts in Clintonville and at Easton Town Center north of town. Next up for the quickly growing brand is Greater Cleveland, specifically Crocker Park.

Photo courtesy of Hot Chicken Takeover

Sawyer’s

3401 Tuttle Rd., Shaker Heights

A new restaurant from James Beard Award-winning Chef Jonathon Sawyer is set to open in the Van Aken District come late summer to early fall. Sawyer describes his namesake restaurant as a “more polished” version of Greenhouse Tavern, offering a greater selection of vegetarian and seafood dishes. Seated at leather banquettes, customers will be able to see and smell the wood-fire as they enjoy the chef’s delicious creations.

Photo courtesy Jonathon Sawyer

Salted Dough Artisan Pizza

9174 Broadview Rd., Broadview Heights

From Chef Jeff Fisher, the master behind Crust and Touch Supper Club, comes a new pizzeria in Broadview Heights. The restaurant will focus its energy on the pizza — thin-crusted, deck-oven baked, large to gigantically proportioned — but it will also offer a broader menu of American and Italian selections. Even more, Fisher says they’re considering a 40-inch pizza, the biggest in the state.

Photo by Emmanuel Wallace

Lakewood Truck Park

13024 Buckeye Rd.

All systems are a go for the Austin-inspired Lakewood Truck Park to open this summer on the corner of Detroit and Edwards avenues, and when it does, visitors can expect a bar, indoor and outdoor seating, and plenty of rotating food trucks.

Photo courtesy AoDK Architecture

Cent’s Pizzeria

5010 Lorain Ave., Cleveland

Formerly home to PM Security, a sturdy brick building on the eastern edge of Detroit Shoreway will undergo significant renovations by the landlord before being handed over to Vincent Morelli, who has been working for the past year to open his own pizza shop. When he’s done with it, likely this summer, he’ll open Cent’s Pizzeria.

Photo via Google Maps

Dagu Rice Noodle

3710 Payne Ave., Cleveland

When it opens in the next couple of months, Dagu Rice Noodle will be the first global (or international or national, for that matter) brand to open in Asiatown, a district built around immigrant-owned mom-and-pop shops. When Yu learned about the closing of Koko Café, he knew the location would be ideal for the concept, which caters not to Western palates but to Asian ones. Broths are pork or vegetable based, spicy or not spicy, and served alongside ingredients like quail eggs, tofu skin, bamboo shoots, kimchi, preserved vegetables, corn, Spam, beef, shrimp and various sauces and pastes.

Photo courtesy of Sheng Long Yu

Swenson’s

4660 Ridge Rd., Brooklyn

This beloved drive-in restaurant is opening up its fifth Northeast Ohio location in Brooklyn sometime this year. In the meantime, you can get your fast-food fix at the Akron-based cheeseburger company’s Avon, North Olmsted, Seven Hills and University Heights locations.

Photo via kryden_on/Instagram

Zhug

12413 Cedar Rd., Cleveland Heights

One of two restaurants that Chef Doug Katz (known for Fire in Shaker Square) has in the works, Zhug will feature Israeli cuisine, as well as traditional foods from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures. An opening is planned for mid-October in the Cedar Fairmount neighborhood of Cleveland Heights.

Photo via James Douglas Studio

Hampton Social

Flats East Bank

The Chicago-based Hampton Social is among four new restaurants and nightclubs set to be installed along a chunk of land bordering the waterfront in the Flats East Bank. Specializing in seafood, the modern and sleek restaurant will also include a speakeasy-type bar and music lounge called the Bassment underneath the dining area. While there is currently no set-date for opening, Flats East Bank developer Scott Wolstein expects to request financing for the project from the city council sometime this year.

Photo by Emmanuel Wallace

Jade

Flats East Bank

Also among the new restaurants and nightclubs set to be installed on the Flats East Bank waterfront is Jade, an Asian-fusion restaurant from the owner of XO Prime Steaks downtown. Again, no opening date is set in stone, so keep an eye on this one.

Photo via Google Maps