A Night on Capitol Hill

There are a lot of things that Steph and I are comfortable with in Cleveland. We enjoy a nice Italian meal in Tremont and we're frequenters of the Garage Bar in Ohio City. It's just what we do when we're there, so this was a really nice night to experience something so close to what we're used to.

After looking through Seattle Weekly, a free magazine similar to Cleveland's Scene, we decided to head up to Capitol Hill and have dinner at Ristorante Machiavelli's, a cozy little neighborhood restaurant, tucked into the top of Pine Street, overlooking the Paramount Theatre. The restaurant itself had a very strong NYC vibe to it, but it also reminded me of a few of the restaurants we've frequented at home. We started off with wine, then Stephanie ordered the Penne Bolognese while I got the Linguine alla Vongole, smothered in garlic and topped with a white wine sauce. It was fantastic, and worth the garlic breath that no mint can cover up effectively.

After dinner we decided to explore the area a bit. We were supposed to meet my buddy Jon, an old neighborhood friend from Youngstown, out around the Hill but he said Sunday would be better for him, so we were on our own. We walked up Pine Street for about 6 blocks or so and passed a bunch of eclectic and vintage stores that we made a point to try and come back to next week when they're open. We passed a few bars that seemed fun, but decided to head over to Pike where Jon had suggested to go originally. There we found Moe Bar.

Like I said, we're frequenters of the Garage Bar in Cleveland and I think this is as close as you can get without it actually being the Garage Bar. The crowd was EXACTLY the same...sort of hipster, yet punk, with some yuppie mixed in simply for the sake of variety. While the Garage has a bit of a biker theme/retro-50's gas pump feel to it, Moe Bar had a slightly more Gothic edge to it, with some old-fashioned wallpaper choices that you tend to see in those really freaky antique family portraits where no one is smiling and Joe Shotgun looks like he's about to go Manson on his entire family. Anyway, we got a few drinks, and hung around the bar a bit. Steph almost got hit on by the Green Lantern (I wish we got a picture of this guy), which was entertaining to say in the least. After awhile of mingling around and meeting some really cool people, we decided to jet, took a cab back to the hotel and called it a night. I would love to go back there again, but next week is Cinco de Mayo and we're staying in Belltown, which should be an experience in itself. We'll have to hit Capitol Hill next time we're in town.