This weekend, celebrate creative women at Women to Watch — Ohio, show your mother some love at EarthFest2015, get carried away with Cleveland Ballet, rock out at Record Store Day and more. 

"Cleveland has become the San Francisco of craft beer with small batch startups dominating the scene. Check out local offerings from Nano, Market Garden and Platform to make the most of your Cleveland stay."

Read the full story here.

While it is not easy to move to a new country and a new city full of different cultures, languages and traditions, refugees not only make it work, they become some of Cleveland’s most successful entrepreneurs.

As the first city in the world to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana, Denver is facing a rush of entrepreneurialism, gentrification, and -- in some sectors -- controversy. An in-depth look into how the budding pot industry is affecting the city's economic and social landscape.

There are great food markets all over America these days, but few are as ingrained in the community (it’s 100+ years old) or as representative of it (some of the same vendors have been there 60 years or more). Cleveland native Phoebe Connell explains in this quote we had to excerpt the bejesus out of because she gave us two pages of loving notes:

“The West Side Market, THE JEWEL OF CLEVELAND. This isn't a farmers market -- it’s a place where everyone's grandmother used to come to get cabbage and a roast for Sunday dinner. Think of it as being in Williamsburg before Williamsburg was fancy: still in the city, but in an actual neighborhood with working class homes."

Read the full story here.

Gear up for an action-packed weekend! Shop the Cleveland Flea’s April Market, enjoy Danceworks at Cleveland Public Theatre, run a 5K to benefit colon cancer, learn tips for maintaining a beautiful yard without chemicals and more.
 

For years, the bold and the bearded poured into Portland, Ore., embracing craft spirits, farm-to-table fare and all things artisanal. Is Cleveland next? Local chefs like Michael Symon say yes, taking advantage of low rents and the Midwestern bounty like Iowa prosciutto at casually brilliant restaurants and urban breweries, including Great Lakes Brewing Company and Buckeye Brewing. At Lola Bistro, owner Michael Symon celebrates butcher cuts like calves hearts with preserved lemon. Jonathon Sawyer, whose Greenhouse Tavern is one of Symon’s favorite haunts, recently opened an opulent Italian spot called Trentina, where the bread course includes an edible beef candle (not a typo) made from aged beef tallow.

Read the full story here.

Attention foodies or anyone looking for a new dining experience: Dinner Lab announced last week that On July 24 Cleveland will become its 33rd location in its social dining experiment. Dinner Lab hosts regular pop-up dinners in unconventional, undisclosed locations in a setting that offers the chance to meet new people, try new great food and give feedback. It also allows chefs – about half from Cleveland and the other half from successful restaurants around the country – to try new concepts and new menu items.
 
Dinner Lab started in New Orleans three years ago. “Originally, there was nowhere to get really good late night food in New Orleans,” explains Dinner Lab HR director Hallie Dietsch. “What it evolved into is an opportunity to let chefs showcase their true passions.”
 
The chefs are not given boundaries to what they prepare. Diners are given a comment card to rate the food’s taste, creativity and other feedback. “As a member, you’re having a dinner that you most likely will never have again,” says Dietsch. “For the chef, it’s an opportunity to cook something he knows really well and enjoys cooking.”
 
There is a $125 annual membership fee to join Dinner Lab, and the five- to seven-course dinners cost between $50 and $65. Members can bring up to three guests with them. The chefs range from seasoned line cooks who are thinking about opening their own restaurants to Michelin Star chefs trying out new concepts.
 
Dinners are announced three weeks in advance of the event. Diners are told the date, the chef and the menu, but the location is not disclosed until 24 hours before the event.
 
Dietsch says Cleveland was chosen as the newest Dinner Lab location because of the population’s affinity for good food. “Cleveland is not known as being New York or Chicago, but Clevelanders are keyed in to good food and want to try new things,” she says. “We think people in Cleveland will be excited and ready for this. People are more interested in food and educated about food and they want to know what they’re eating and the chef’s inspiration.”
 
Cleveland’s first Dinner Lab chef will be Chicago-based Daniel Espinoza, who will cook a five-course modern Mexican meal titled “Anomar.”
 
 

"The rust belt city offers some old-fashioned, even old-world, charms. Readers ranked it at No. 5 for its rich food halls, like West Side Market—with spices, baked goods and delis—which dates back to 1912, when it catered primarily to the city’s immigrants."

Read the full story here.

"It's cheap, their museum is on point, and they have excellent taste in beer." So says Buzzfeed.

Check out what other cities made the list. Read the full story here.

Improvements being planned for Gordon Square include a $2 million streetscape extension, redevelopment of Detroit Avenue as an arts corridor, and greater connectivity to the lake and surrounding neighborhoods. 

Almost a year ago, Constantino’s Market COO Andrew Revy began planning for a pick-up and delivery service at its Warehouse District location. The market, which has been a downtown presence for 10 years, wanted to find a way to serve its busy customers with an easy way to get basic groceries, stock up for a party, or simply get dinner on the go.

“Everybody needs to eat, but people don’t have time to do shopping,” says Revy. “This is all about ease and lifestyle. We have such busy lives, this has been a driving need.”

A week-and-a-half ago, Constantino’s Warehouse District launched its Fast & Fresh program, which offers online ordering with in-store pickup or delivery within a five mile radius. Users can place an order online and a personal shopper will fulfill the order. The five miles extends west to Lakewood and east to University Circle. “It’s not like if you’re two feet out of the radius we won’t deliver,” Revy says. “We’re flexible.”

If the services go well in the Warehouse District store, Revy says Constantino’s plans to expand the services to its University Circle store and eventually deliver to all of Cuyahoga County.

The service is aimed at Constantino’s existing customer base, which includes the downtown resident population and the workforce.  “Everything you would need, whether it’s milk, eggs and bread or if you’re having a party and need beer and wine and snacks, it’s straightforward shopping,” says Revy. “Everything in the store is available for delivery.”

Delivery and pick-up service is available Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Pickup hours are between 5pm and 7pm, delivery is between 6pm and 8pm. There is a $20 minimum for orders. The delivery fee is $5 or 10 percent, whichever is greater. Orders over $150 receive free delivery. The first delivery or pick-up is free.

News stories about the once prosperous inner-ring suburb and home of Rockefeller have focused on the city’s financial struggles. As it continues to grapple with a reduced revenue stream and funding shortfalls, people and organizations are filling a void. 

This weekend, spend the day at the Cleveland International Film Festival, express your style at Cleveland Fashion Week, sip a glass of bubbly at the Week of Wine, and party at Near West Theatre’s annual benefit gala.

Social dancing is a great way to meet new people, get exercise and explore Cleveland. From Brazilian capoeira to contra dancing, here are four local places to get your groove on.

Marrion Demore has always loved improving on commercial bottled barbeque sauce. “I used to have really big family cookouts and I’d just doctor up some Open Pit to make it taste better,” Demore recalls. “People always said, ‘you should market this.’ I never gave it much thought until the economy went down hill. Then I knew I had to make it from scratch.”
 
Today, Demore calls himself the Rock and Roll Star of Sauce. In 2009 he began experimenting with homemade sauce, trying his various versions out on friends and family. Two years later, he had perfected his flavors and launched Demore’s Fusion Sauce in 2011 “There were a lot of taste tests and a lot of money being blown on bad batches, he says of his two-year journey. “It was important to me that my sauce was all natural, with no preservatives.”
 
Demore makes and bottles four versions of his sauce – mild, medium, flaming and hickory smoke. He uses ghost peppers, ground into a powder, to add the heat to his flaming sauce and buys his bottles from Cleveland Bottle and Supply. In addition to being all-natural, all varieties are also low in sugar and sodium. “It’s more sauce with less calories,” he says.
 
Demore describes his company as a grass-roots effort. He recently launched an online store on through his Facebook site. Last November he began handing out free samples and selling his sauce on Saturdays at Zagara’s Marketplace in Cleveland Heights, where he sells 15 to 20 bottles a week.
 
“A tell-tale sign to me us when you have a taste-testing and people buy it,” Demore says. “I let people try it and tell them about it. It keeps me motivated and keeps me going when people walk away with a bottle. Ninety-five percent of people are going to enjoy one of my sauces when they try it.”

While Demore still makes his sauce in his home kitchen, he has gone to the Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen (CCLK) for advice and guidance. “Cleveland is very supportive once you plug yourself in,” he says. “Even though this is not high-tech, the platform is here. It gives you more confidence with the product to know there are people you can call for mentoring and that kind of thing.”
 
Demore is always thinking of new flavors and ideas. He is currently testing coconut and pineapple sugars in sauces and he is working on dry rubs.