34. West Side Market

The West Side Market is the oldest continually operating market in Cleveland, and has been in its current building since 1912.  The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the market itself has been getting increased national attention from the Food Network in the past few years.

The Cleveland Project finally ventures west of the river!

The WSM's iconic clock tower.

The market consists of an L-shaped building for produce vendors surrounding a main indoor arcade for the meat/bakery/etc. stalls.

Fruit, fruit, and more fruit.

Fair warning:  you'll get harangued to buy things by the merchants as you walk down the aisle, but it's generally friendly and good-natured.  I wasn't anticipating that on my first visit and found it a bit off-putting; on subsequent visits I knew what to expect and didn't have any issues.  

You can even buy flowers.  These are from Ohio City Blooms.

It can become extremely crowded on Saturdays, especially in the late morning when everyone has finished their brunch and decided to stop by the market to pick up something for dinner.  Weekdays are less crowded, but not everything is open -- plus most of us have this thing called "work" that keeps us from getting there between 7AM and 4PM.

The main market area as seen from the balcony.

Detail of the market ceiling.

The clock at one end of the market building.

That'll do, pig.

A few months ago I was at the market with some friends who have a two-year old, and we (the two-year old and I) made a game out of finding animal statues decorating the stands.  The plaster-replica-animal industry clearly made out pretty well supplying the WSM vendors -- they're all over the place.

Ohio City Pasta

Cheese.  Also, more cheese.

Urban Herbs is my favorite place to buy spices.  The staff is very knowledgeable and helpful; today I described the type of flavor I wanted and left with an ounce of perfectly spicy-sweet chili powder.

Narrin Spices has quite a selection of hot sauces.

Really?  All the names in all the world and someone thought "Hmmm, 'Colon
Cleaner.'  That sounds delicious.  People will be lining up to buy it!"

Also the secret of New Orleans witch doctors in low-budget horror movies.

I asked the girl behind the counter if chicken feet really were the secret to great soup.  She looked at me strangely, then after a three or four second pause said "....well, they can add body to the soup, I guess? Because of all the cartilage?"  

I took that as a "no."

As the chicken feet demonstrate, though, you can find pretty much any meat you can imagine at the WSM.  Since today was a holiday, quite a few of the stands were closed, but on the weekends I've seen -- in addition to the standard beef/pork/chicken/fish -- all of the various organ meats, goat, lamb, squab, quail, duck, rabbit, bison, and pretty much any kind of sausage and/or cured meat that can be made out of ground-up combinations of the above.

There's also a lot more to food at the WSM than just the makings of your dinner.  The crepe stand is always doing brisk business (my favorite: banana and nutella), and it's conveniently located next to a coffee stand.  

Crepes de Luxe strikes again!

There's a brat stand in the main market area, as well as a hotdog stand tucked away in a corner -- both are excellent.  The Irish food stand has shepherd's pie and various pasties, several Mexican/Central American stands have empanadas and tamales, and the Mediterranean cafe in the corner opposite the hotdog stand has really good falafel wraps.  That's in addition to the multiple smoothie spots and all the bakeries:

These are buckeye apples, available at Campbell's Popcorn Shop (located under the clock):
caramel apples dipped in peanut butter dipped in chocolate.  You're welcome.

Campbell's "Dichotomy Popcorn" -- the most
brilliant popcorn invention since kettle corn.

You know how caramel corn and cheese corn taste awesome together?  This is caramel corn covered in cheese corn flavoring.  It's not surprising that it was voted "best of Cleveland" in 2007.  The greatest thing, though, is that Campbells has free samples of six of its popcorn flavors available -- just twist the handle of the quasi-gumball machines.

Two final tips:  bring cash (some vendors accept credit cards, but usually with a $10 minimum purchase, which can be difficult to reach if you're just buying bread), and use the bathroom before you go (the restroom facilities are best avoided if at all possible).

West Side Market hours:  Mon, Wed: 7AM-4PM; Fri, Sat: 7AM-6PM.