Looking for a quick get away with 15 yr old daughter to Cleveland this weekend (from CMH). Thinking about Diana exhibit, Rock & Rock Hall of Fame, Monet at Art Museum. Will use Priceline for 2 night hotel stay. Any recs for which part of town to request, restaurants near Univ. Circle, other places that would be of interest to teenager (shopping suggestions?). We like ethnic food, looking for good deli, etc. Thanks!

One place that might be interested in if you like food in general is the West Side Market. It's across the river from downtown in Ohio City, and if you're close to the light rail trail (know here as the Rapid), it's very easy to get there. It's an old-fashioned urban market with butchers, bakers, dairies, produce stands, and several ethnic stands. It's open Friday and Saturday, and you could have a nice lunch or dinner right in the market or in the surrounding neighborhood.

Here's some info about visiting the market:
http://www.echogate.net/market/tips.htm

And some info about Ohio City:
http://www.ohiocity.com/index.cgi?id=131&l=1&p=3694

Merry, thanks for the suggestion about the market. In Columbus, we have a great North Market that sounds kind of similar. What part of town would you recommend we stay in to see the University Circle sights?

That I can't help you with too much since I'm a west sider. I'm not aware of any hotels in University Circle or Cleveland Heights itself, but that doesn't mean there aren't any.

Another area over by University Circle that could be fun for a teenager is the Coventry neighborhood. It's sort of a funky collection of small shops and restaurants that's popular with Case Western Reserve U. students. If you're looking for it on a map it's slightly east of University Circle, Coventry Road between Mayfield Road and Euclid Heights Blvd.

We recently stayed in University Circle at the Glidden House Inn, which we really enjoyed. http://www.gliddenhouse.com/

It is within walking distance of Little Italy, where we stumbled across this restaurant and had a great meal:
http://www.trattoriaromangarden.com/home.html

The Glidden House sounded neat but not available for our dates. We are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn on Carnegie (Priceline - very cheap!). The Trattoria restaurant sounds good. Also planning Juniper Grille for breakfast. Anyone been to Corky & Lenny's recently? Restaurants near downtown, Little Italy will be welcom and we also plan to shop at Beachwood Place and Aurora Farms (this is a girls weekend, after all) Thanks!

Anyone been to Blue Canyon in Twinsburg Oh? Got a rec as it's near the Aurora Outlet Mall. Any more suggestions for red sauce & noodles place in Little Italy? DD will only eat meatballs in sauce. Thanks!

I live in Cleveland.. I grew up in Columbus. West Side market like North Market but much larger. Corky and Lenny's is not so hot anymore, I don't think. Mama Santa's in Little Italy is a good place for basic Italian food..and cheap. Since you're staying downtown, there are some wonderful places to eat on W. 25th near the market. We like Nate's Deli..great middle eastern food and regular deli stuff..inexpensive. Flying Fig is great if you want to spend some money. There's a great new Mexican place...Momocho, Phomn Penh for south asian food, Opa! is good mediterrean food. Also many places in Tremont.

You'll like Juniper Grill. We walked into Blue Canyon once, but didn't stay (can't remember why) We liked to eat Mexican at Marcelita's in Twinsburg. I think your teen will like Coventry (eat at Tommy's) and there's funky shopping on W 25th near the market, too. Have fun!

If the OP checks in again,
or for anyone else,
*LEGENDS* with Joan Collins and Linda Evans is playing at Playhouse Square.

Too late for aliska, but for anyone else who checks in, Blue Canyon is wonderful. Not at all cheap, very popular and one of my favorites.

We had a great time in Cleveland this past weekend. Friday lunch and Sat breakfast we at at Juniper Grill. From the outside, I probably wouldn't have gone in if I didn't have a recommendation, it looked like a bar. From the inside, very lovely celery green and earth tomes, the food was good. Had chicken salad wrap on Friday and banana pecan pancakes with bacon on Sat. Only complaint, there is only juice for breakfast, no fresh fruit. There is free parking, would recommend for anyone staying in downtown area.

High recommend for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It was truly "beshert", which is kind of like kismet in Yiddish, we found a parking meter with 2 hours left in it right outside the musuem! I danced my way through for the 4 hours we spent there. Only thing we had wanted to see but didn't was Elivs memorabilia, which is at Graceland on loan.

Friday night we wanted to sample Littly Italy and had made a reservation at Tratorria on the Hill. They gave us horrible directions through very scary Euclid Ave. with lots of gang symbols and burnt out warehouse buildings. It took us 3 times longer than necessary. When we pulled into the parking lot next door, the guy asked us where we were going to eat. He said for half the money, Mama Santa's was much better. We decided to take him up on it. We were not disappointed. I had been looking forward to gnocchi, which is not on the menu but the cavetelli with meatballs was very good. DD ordered cheese ravioli with white clam sauce, also homemade and very good. We stopped at Corbo's for cookies and brought a box home with us that lasted through Sunday.

The weather was kind of crummy on Saturday and we did the Princess Diana stuff in Univ. Circle. For $47 for 2 tickets and $12 to park, can't say I really felt the value. The bonding with my DD however was priceless. I wonder how much of this goes to her brother, the Earl of Spencer? I know some goes to charity, but from what I can figure out, it's about 25% - what happens to the other 75%?

From there we headed over to Beachwood Place. We had a decent lunch in Nordstroms' at their cafe.

We wanted a nice dinner Sat. night and settled on Mallorca, a Spanish resto in the Warehouse neighborhood. There was so much fog we thought we were back in London. My paella was enough for 2, as was DD's salmon and seafood. For $25, you got salad, homemade potato chips (we didn't quite get why?), veggies and shrimp, mussels, clams and little langoustines along with enough rice to feed an army. We should not have ordered the mussels fra diavolo, there was too much food. DD had an enormous piece of dark chocolate cake and we rolled on out.

I had my heart set on Corky & Lenny's for lox & bagels Sunday morning. Actually, most disappointing. Didn't look or taste at all like what I remembered with college friends. We ordered nova and it was very salty and fishy. Juniper Grille's smoked salmon was much better. Shame that an insititution like that has slide so downhill. Or, is it that we are so used to consuming Norwegian smoked salmon that nova/lox doesn't taste good anymore?

Thanks to everyone who helped us with suggestions!

Just seeing your post now, thanks for reporting back.
Glad you had fun in Cleveland.
Yeah, the Rock Hall never disappoints.

Not surprised about Little Italy,
as we always have a good dinner there.
Next time try Guraninos (or something like that)for their Alfredo sauce
( think its their signature dish).

Thanks for the Diana review. Planning to visit with some friends and will probably still go, but maybe look for a discount ticket somewhere?

Anyone else visit the Diana display care to review it?