cleveland's west side market

September 09, 2019

cleveland's west side market

Have you ever been to a semi-outdoor market? You know, the ones that they have all over Europe - think Barcelona's Mercado de la Boqueria, Lisbon's Mercado da Ribeira, or Madrid's Mercado de San Miguel.

Yeah....I do realize these are all on the Iberian Peninsula, but I am sure my future holds some awesome Eastern European markets at some point.

I've found it difficult to find similar markets in the States. Sure, in Detroit we have the infamous Eastern Market, but I'm talking about the ones that sport aisles and aisles of produce and foodstuffs to eat along the way. Because, you know, a girl could get hungry while both traversing and salivating over all of those stalls of steaming hot breads, freshly baked cupcakes buttercream frosted nearly three inches high, and slabs of tiered cakes so tall, you wonder how they keep from falling over.

Side note: You've probably realized by now, that if you are anti-carb or off the carb-train for any reason, this is probably not the blog for you.

So while on the road to Pittsburgh with my cousin, Marianne, en route to visit (even more) cousins, we were pumped to take a pitt stop at Cleveland's West Side Market, which was, conveniently, nearly smack dab in the middle of the ride from Detroit to the 'Burgh.

Let me tell you a little about Marianne. She's the Instagrammer behind @mariannemakes (follow her!! she'll love ya for it). I love Marianne for many reasons, but what I really love about Marianne is her ability to eat all of the foods. This girl literally purchased about eight different things from this market and strategically ate them all over the next two days. Marianne's ever so minor flaw - if we can call it that - is that she does not appreciate desserts as much as I would desire for a travel companion. However, this means there are more sweets for me. Usually, Marianne doesn't even feel the need to taste my - oh...you know - cookie dough topped brick of a cookie with a healthy schmear of frosting in between. Such self control! Much discipline! So I suppose we balance each other in that sense.

Anyway, West Side Market is beautiful inside! Lots of history, I'm sure, which we did not take the time to discover because we were too excited to eat. What I loved about this market was the variety of stalls - Italian, Irish, Asian, Thai, Greek, German - as well as your classic bread and desserts galore.

So what did we decide on, you ask? Marianne hit up the Thai stall and bought a number of things from there, as well as the obligatory pepperoni roll which was homage to our childhood, even though our Nonni's pepperoni rolls hands down win the battle for taste.. Yours truly decided on a Scotch egg, which was delicious!

I'd never had one before but had heard good things. Basically, it is a hardboiled egg, surrounded by sausage, and deep fried (I believe). And, day-am, was it GOOD. My theory on how the Scotch egg came to be is as follows:

1) The Scots? Londoners? Irish lads and lassies? needed a way to eat a hardboiled egg on the go.
2) Decided that hardboiled egg would be increasingly delicious surrounded by sausage.
3) Decided to fry the outside because this (clearly) would be less mess for transport.
4) BEHOLD: The delicious, transportable, incredible, edible egg!

I am not quite sure how accurate this theory may be. Take it as you will.

Next up came the honorary pepperoni roll from one of the many Italian stalls. I will admit, it was yummy, but not drool worthy. I will admit minor disappointment, but I also was comparing this to the pepperoni rolls from my childhood that were made by my Nonni. I would discover these rolls sliced thinly, about four slices, packed neatly away in a Ziploc baggie in my lunchbox at school. Back then, I dreamed of chowing down on a plain old turkey and cheese sandwich. Not quite, though, for my Italian family. Pepperoni rolls were what they had in mind. So once I got over not being like the other kids, I could appreciate their tastiness, and man, were they were GOOD. So honestly, this pepperoni roll from the West Side Market really had big shoes to fill and had no chance to live up the my p-roll standards, the poor dear.

Last but not least came dessert. I, frankly, could not decide for the life of me, but settled on this monstrosity - a cookie chunk crumbled cookie bar, with a very generous layer of frosting in between. Wow. So much deliciousness! This cookie bar definitely turned heads, and as I ever so millennially posed my cookie bar for it's Instragram close-up, a lady even stopped to ask where I got it from and commented on it's delicious ridiculousness. Definitely a sweet ending to our market adventure.

So have I convinced you to make a pit stop at Cleveland's West Side Market while you traverse through the rest stop- and toll-ridden lands of the great state of Ohio? (sorry Ohio...) Do it! You won't be sorry. Just be sure to bring cash - definitely easier to purchase multiple delicious wares this way, and it depends where you are, but some market stalls are cash only. Also, I want to add that parking here was an absolute dream. Only a dollar per hour, if I remember correctly, and the lot is right next to the market. I'll definitely be back when I'm in the area!