Sam McNulty has a story he likes to tell. While traveling and drinking his way through Europe in his 20s, he saw someone crack an egg over a pizza in a small café in Italy.

“At first, I thought it was gross,” he says. “Then I tried it and it was delicious. When I opened Bar Cento, I thought, ‘We have to have a pizza with a fried egg on top of it.’”

These days, Bar Cento’s Sunnyside pizza, topped with provolone, pancetta, Blue Loon Farm eggs and black pepper, is one of the European-style restaurant’s most popular items. McNulty’s anecdote paints a vivid picture of Ohio City’s food scene. Drawing on cuisines from all over the world, it is nonetheless 100 percent authentic and local.

“These are places with artisans crafting products right before your eyes,” says McNulty. “It’s not like McDonald’s where a wage worker pushes frozen patties through a window.”

In the past seven years, the 36-year-old Cleveland Heights native has opened four bars and restaurants on West 25th Street (Bier Markt, Bar Cento, Speak Easy and the Market Garden Brewery). This summer, he’ll open two more – The Black Pig, a French-themed restaurant helmed by Michael Nowak and Ohio City Nano Brew, a small batch brewery.

Within the past year, a half dozen new restaurants and bars have opened on West 25th Street (Crop, Bon Bon Café and Bakery, Crop, Oreale, Market Garden and Alaturka) and several new venues are in the works. In addition to the Black Pig and Nano Brew, restaurateur Fabio Salerno plans to open Town Hall in the former Ohio City Blooms.

Among the success stories, McNulty cites new entrepreneurs like Courtney Bonning of BonBon Pastry and Café, as well as early adopters like Pat and Dan Conway of Great Lakes Brewing Company who “had guts and saw potential in Ohio City 20 years ago.”

“All the ingredients for success are right here in Ohio City: the West Side Market, public transportation, great architecture,” he says. “We just needed to stir it up and apply heat.”

Local and sustainable

Since McNulty returned from traveling around Europe and completed a master’s degree in urban planning a decade ago, he has made it his personal mission to revitalize Ohio City as a local food mecca. Many of the items on Bar Cento’s menu are sourced locally.

“People are drawn to wholesome food from local farmers,” says McNulty, who lives on West 25th Street and doesn’t own a car (a scooter behind the West Side Market gets him where he needs to go, he says). “The people making it have a passion for it.”

Aside from location, McNulty’s restaurants are built on elemental concepts. The craft beer and local, farm-to-table cuisine that he sampled during his travels in Europe have now made it across the Atlantic in spades. Today, eating locally and supporting local businesses are very popular, and his businesses tap into that consumer demand.

Other Market District restaurants have also embraced local, sustainable foods. Great Lakes Brewing Company offers many locally-sourced items on its menu, grows some of its own produce and composts its own waste. Crop, which is located in the handsomely restored lobby of the United Bank Building, offers a range of local foods on its menu.

[quote from Steve Schimoler]

Aptly playing the role of pub philosopher while sitting in the Market Garden’s courtyard, McNulty describes Ohio City and Cleveland as ripe for development because they offer a unique “post-Industrial frontier where real estate costs and barriers to entry are low.”

Of course, success wasn’t always so obvious. When McNulty first opened the Bier Markt, he’d bring his laptop to the bar on weekday nights so the place wouldn’t appear empty. Six years later, however, it’s become an anchor that’s drawn entrepreneurs.

Homebrewed success

McNulty’s love of the European tavern as a social hub and wellspring of locally brewed beer has become an inspiration for the unique venues he’s created along West 25th St. 

The Bier Market offers a nearly endless array of Belgian brews and other beers from around the world, while the Market Garden Brewery features original beers by veteran brewmaster Andy Tveekram, who previously worked at Dogfish Head in Delaware. 

Soon after launching Market Garden Brewery last summer, McNulty says, demand spiked. These days, brewing staff here are working double shifts to keep up with it.

“We’d developed a three-year plan for growth, yet soon after opening, it became my three-week plan,” McNulty says. “We’re way past hitting the cover off the ball.”

The success of Market Garden is part of a renaissance of beer making in Northeast Ohio. There are now 12 microbreweries here, including Buckeye Brewing Company, Indigo Imp, Fat Heads, Bottle House Brewing and Hopping Frog, among others.

“Craft beer has gone from five to seven percent of the national beer market in just the past few years, and there’s still plenty of room for us to grow,” he says. “Craft beer makers know that we’re not competing with each other, but with Bud and Coors.”

Moreover, Cleveland brewers are now savvier than ever about their craft, McNulty says. A young crop of brewers are experimenting and pushing the edges of beer making. “We’re seeing a whole new wave of brewmasters with 20-plus years of experience,” he says. “They’re elevating the beer making craft so it’s an even richer experience.”

One example is Ohio City Nano Brew, which features creative, distinctive small batch beers. Some will be made with unique ingredients, like cardamom, that add spice and flavor and aren’t typically found in beers. Sampling a beer at Nano Brew will be like walking into a brewpub and being among the first to sample a brewer’s creation.

Andy Tveekram, Market Garden’s brewmaster, is one example of the new, younger wave of Cleveland brewers who are hitting the scene. After getting his start at Great Lakes Brewing Companyin the 90s, he returned to Cleveland two years ago to join McNulty at Market Garden. Two of Tveekram’s beers, the Pearl Street Wheat and Trouble IPA, recently won coveted gold medals at the International Beer Fest.

“One of his college buddies tasted his homebrew 20 years ago and said, ‘This is going to be trouble,’” McNulty says of the IPA. “He added Ohio wildflower honey to the beer.”

Riding the wave of success, McNulty is now shopping around for a 50-70,000 square foot facility so that he and Tveekram can continue to expand production of their beers.

The steadily growing market for craft beer is closely connected to interest in local food, says McNulty. While big brewing companies like Coors use artificial preservatives in their beers, local breweries such as Market Garden use only natural ingredients.

McNulty hopes to eventually market West 25th Streetas a brewery district, something that Columbus, Cincinnati and other cities have successfully done. His efforts stand on the shoulders not only of Great Lakes, he says, but also build on the heritage of beer making in Cleveland. Before Prohibition, there were over 30 breweries in Cleveland.   

New Hotspots

Sam McNulty offered The Ohio City Argus a preview his new venues, which are slated to open later this summer. The Black Pig, which occupies the former Dragonfly space at Bridge and West 25th, features a new bar, chef’s table, chandeliers and lighting. Additionally, the venue boasts a new second floor deck for outdoor dining. Nano Brew, which occupies the old Garage Bar, features a refreshed interior and new patio.

[quote from Chef Nowak here]

Despite McNulty’s continued investment in West 25th Street, he says that the success of the area is truly a group effort. “It’s cluster development theory,” he says. “Multiple businesses that complement each other are co-locating. Opening a restaurant or bar is not a zero sum game, and my success depends on the success of others, as well.”

With the West Side Market bustling in its Centennial year and nearly all of the available retail spaces on West 25th now occupied, McNulty couldn’t be happier with the area’s development. As it continues, he expects to see more new businesses pop up. 

The Cleveland Heights native says that his friends who moved away are now surprised and jealous when they visit Ohio City and see the renaissance taking place in the area.

“What brings people together like eating and drinking together?” says McNulty, flashing his trademark grin. “It’s the sense of community we all have together. Plus, it’s just fun.”