New and Coming Soon: 34 of Cleveland's Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of the New Year

A.J. Rocco’s

828 Huron Rd. E., Cleveland

After an 18-year run, A. Brendan Walton closed his popular Gateway District café/bar/music venue A.J. Rocco’s a year ago this past December. He did not have to look far for a new home. When it opens sometime this spring, the new A.J. Rocco’s will occupy a nearby patch of downtown real estate that most recently was home to Huron Point Tavern and, before that, Alesci's Downtown. A full kitchen will allow Walton to expand well beyond the pizza and sandwiches that sustained guests for years. The full-service bar and restaurant will be casual enough to accommodate families bound for Progressive Field, says Walton, but nice enough to attract couples on date night.

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Immigrant Son Brewing

18210 Sloane Ave., Lakewood

When Constantino’s Market closed its Lakewood grocery store, it was a sad day for the family-run business. But the closure also provided one family member, brewery founder Andrew Revy, with the opportunity he had been waiting for for years: the ideal property for Immigrant Son Brewery. Lakewood’s first and only brewery will be a full-on brewery and brewpub, with equal emphasis placed on both the food and beer.

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Two New Concepts at Harbor Verandas

1050 East Ninth St., Cleveland

For most of his career in and around the hospitality industry, Chris Schramm has played a supporting role as design consultant, lending his sharp eye for detail to projects like the original Lola in Tremont and literally dozens of other high-profile spaces. But for the past year or so he’s quietly been working on a project of his own, one that will place him squarely in the principal position. His latest canvas is the ground floor of Harbor Verandas, the luxury apartment building located on the East Ninth Street Pier, just steps from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The 4,000-square-foot space will contain two separate concepts, a coffee shop and "bar/lounge/kitchen." Cute for Coffee will occupy about one third of the ground floor, while Sandrine, the bar, will inhabit the rest.

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Goma

2079 East Fourth St., Cleveland

In the wake of one celebrity chef’s departure from East Fourth Street, another is staking a claim on a different high-profile location on that same street. Chef Dante Boccuzzi will open Goma in the former home of Zack Bruell’s Chinato at the prominent corner of Prospect and East Fourth. It will be the prolific chef’s first downtown restaurant. When it opens in June or July, Goma will be a high-energy Japanese Fusion restaurant with a sushi bar and full kitchen.

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Grafe Cafe

3182 West 25th St., Cleveland

Daisun Lee Santana, a professional breakdancer and former Cavs Scream Team member, turned his attention to becoming a barber. In less than two years, he has cultivated a three-location, 14-barber group called CityBreaks Barbershop. Next up for Santana is the addition of Grafé Café, which is opening next door to the CityBreaks Barbershop in Cleveland. What began as a simple “graffiti coffee shop” has expanded in scope to become a full-service café with a Latin touch serving breakfast, lunch and bar snacks.

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Filter Restaurant

740 West Superior Ave., Cleveland

If you’re a seafood lover, the name Kyler Smith likely rings a bell. In just two short years, Smith has propelled his Sauce Boiling Seafood Express concept from a single location in University Heights to one that will boast five locations by mid-2021. Next up for the confident young entrepreneur is a project called Filter, which currently is taking shape in the Warehouse District. Smith’s biggest gambit yet, the fine-dining, full-service restaurant is coming to life in the former Take 5 Rhythm and Jazz space in the Perry–Payne Building. Expected to open in May, the 120-seat restaurant and bar will inject a much-needed dose of entertainment and nightlife into that corner of the city.

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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, hopefully soon, he’ll open Cent’s Pizzeria.

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Batuqui

17 East Orange St., Chagrin Falls

Carla Batista and Gustavo Nogueira, a Brazilian couple, opened Batuqui (12706 Larchmere Blvd.,) to almost immediate success in 2015. And why not as there was a lot to love, from the cachaça-laced Caipirinhas and intriguing Brazilian food to the charming setting in a turn-of-the-century Colonial near Shaker Square. Now, the couple is doubling down. This spring they will open a second location in Chagrin Falls, in yet another turn-of-the-century building, this one a stately brick Victorian a short stroll from Main Street.

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Bar Italia

15625 Detroit Ave., Lakewood and 26300 Cedar Rd., Beachwood

Rick Doody, restaurateur behind such concepts as Cedar Creek Grille, 17 River Grille and Lindey’s Lake House, recently changed his Lindey’s Lake House concept in Lakewood to Bar Italia. Drawing on his roots as co-founder of Bravo and Brio restaurants, Doody is converting the format at his two-year-old Lakewood eatery, Lindey's Lake House, to Italian, starring fresh pastas and homemade sauces. Bar Italia uses fresh pasta from Flour Pasta Company, fresh-baked breads from On the Rise and made-from-scratch sauces crafted with high-quality meats. The Beachwood location of Lindey’s will turn over some time this spring and will feature a pizza oven, unlike the Lakewood location,

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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.

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