Signature Dishes of Cleveland

Must-try dishes

Polish Boy

Cleveland's defining sandwich: a grilled kielbasa link in a bun, piled with hand-cut french fries, sweet coleslaw and a slap of barbecue sauce.

History: The Polish Boy was popularized at Virgil Whitmore's Bar-B-Q in Mount Pleasant in the late 1960s and 1970s. Whitmore, a Texas migrant, combined Southern barbecue with the local Polish kielbasa to make a stacked sandwich that became Cleveland's unofficial signature.

Where to try it: Mt Pleasant Bar-B-Q, Seti's Polish Boys, Prosperity Social Club

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy

Cleveland-style cassata cake

A four-layer yellow sponge cake soaked in light syrup and stacked with whipped cream, custard and fresh strawberries, finished with strawberry glaze.

History: Cleveland's cassata diverges from the Sicilian original (ricotta, candied fruit, marzipan). Italian-American bakers in Little Italy adapted it to local strawberries and dairy cream from the early 1900s, with Presti's (1903) and Corbo's (1958) defining the modern Cleveland-Italian wedding-and-Christmas cake.

Where to try it: Presti's Bakery, Corbo's Bakery, Michael Angelo's Bakery

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Egg

Pierogi

Boiled-then-pan-fried Polish dumplings, classic Cleveland fillings of potato-and-cheese, sauerkraut-mushroom or sweet prune; served with caramelized onions and sour cream.

History: Polish immigrants brought pierogi to Slavic Village and Tremont from the 1880s. Today they anchor parish Lenten Fridays, the Wigilia Christmas Eve supper and the Sterle's-era casual menus. Sokolowski's University Inn ran the canonical pierogi plate until its 2020 close.

Where to try it: Prosperity Social Club, West Side Market food stalls, Hofbrauhaus Cleveland

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Egg

Kielbasa

Smoked Polish-style pork sausage, grilled or pan-fried; eaten in a roll with mustard or sliced into a pierogi-and-cabbage plate.

History: Polish and Slovak butchers in Slavic Village smoked kielbasa for the neighbourhood's mill-worker tables from the 1880s. The Slovenian and Polish parishes still run Easter blessing-of-the-baskets with kielbasa-and-eggs through Lent.

Where to try it: West Side Market food stalls, Seti's Polish Boys, Prosperity Social Club

Watch out for: Gluten, Sulphites

Slyman's-style corned beef sandwich

An overstuffed half-pound of brisket-cured corned beef piled on rye with deli mustard; the Cleveland deli sandwich the Slyman family has built since 1964.

History: Joe Slyman opened Slyman's on St Clair Avenue in 1964. The corned beef sandwich, layered hand-cut and piled tall, became a benchmark for Cleveland deli through more than sixty years of local press and presidential visits.

Where to try it: Slyman's Restaurant, Larder Delicatessen and Bakery

Watch out for: Gluten

Stadium Mustard

Cleveland's signature spicy-brown ballpark condiment, served on every Polish Boy, kielbasa link and corned beef sandwich in town.

History: Joe Bertman started selling Bertman Ball Park Mustard to League Park concessions in 1925. David Dwoskin formed Davis Food Company in 1969 to bring the brown mustard served at Cleveland Municipal Stadium to retail shelves, registering the rival Stadium Mustard trademark in 1971. Cleveland has argued ever since about which spicy-brown wins.

Where to try it: Slyman's Restaurant, Mabel's BBQ, West Side Market

Watch out for: Mustard

Lake Erie perch

Pan-fried yellow perch fillets, lightly battered or simply floured; the Lake Erie summer-and-fall staple of Friday fish fries and white-tablecloth seafood rooms.

History: Lake Erie's central basin produces the bulk of US-caught yellow perch, in season April through November. Pier W in Lakewood has run them since 1965, and parish Lenten Friday fries from Slavic Village to Parma have built the modern Cleveland fish-fry tradition.

Where to try it: Pier W, Blue Point Grille, West Side Market food stalls

Watch out for: Fish, Gluten

Paczki

Yeasted, deep-fried Polish jelly doughnuts eaten on Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins; rich, eggy and slightly boozy.

History: Polish parishes brought paczki to Slavic Village and Parma from the 1880s, eating them on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday to use up rich pre-Lenten ingredients (eggs, butter, sugar). Presti's, Corbo's and Rudy's Strudel still queue around the block on Fat Tuesday every February.

Where to try it: Presti's Bakery, Corbo's Bakery, Michael Angelo's Bakery

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Egg

City chicken

Pork cubes skewered on a stick, breaded and pan-fried; a Polish-American Depression-era dish that mimics chicken using cheaper cuts.

History: City chicken emerged in Polish-American kitchens in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Detroit during the Depression of the 1930s, when chicken was more expensive than pork. The recipe stuck through the 1950s and remains a fixture at Slavic Village family tables and church festivals.

Where to try it: West Side Market food stalls, Prosperity Social Club

Watch out for: Gluten, Egg, Dairy

Cleveland-style barbecue

Locally fruitwood-smoked meats finished with Bertman Ball Park Mustard glaze; Michael Symon's Mabel's recipe defines the regional Cleveland-BBQ style.

History: Michael Symon launched Mabel's BBQ on East 4th in April 2016, naming it for his grandmother. His Cleveland-style BBQ uses local fruitwood (apple, cherry) instead of Texas mesquite and finishes meats with Bertman Ball Park Mustard, marrying the city's Eastern European condiment heritage to a Southern barbecue technique.

Where to try it: Mabel's BBQ, Mt Pleasant Bar-B-Q

Watch out for: Mustard, Gluten

Neapolitan pizza

Hand-stretched 60-second wood-fired pizza in the Naples AVPN tradition; San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil and fior di latte on a charred-cornicione crust.

History: Vero Pizza Napoletana opened on Cedar Road in Cleveland Heights with an Italian-made 900-degree wood-fired oven, cooking 60-to-90-second pizzas in the Naples Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana tradition. The 2024 expansion added a bar and doubled capacity, anchoring Cleveland's serious Neapolitan-pizza scene.

Where to try it: Vero Pizza Napoletana

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy