CLEVELAND, Ohio – Saucy Brew Works CEO Brent Zimmerman describes the vacant Winking Lizard Tavern in Cleveland’s Gateway District perfectly. He plans to open Northeast Ohio’s first Urban Meyer’s Pint House there.
“I think this is multifaceted, starting with being the best billboard that exists in Cleveland,” he said. “That traffic turn meets there. It’s a three-minute walk to the Guardians and Cavs and East Fourth Street.”
The Pint House is scheduled to open in late summer 2025. Located at 811 Huron Road, Caddy Corner on Cleveland and AJ Rocco’s spacious shared patio, at the intersection of Huron, Prospect Avenue and East 9th Street. It’s a lively corner during games and concerts, with an outdoor bar and traffic in all directions.
“That’s pretty cool,” he said. “I’ve seen so many (places) and I couldn’t believe it was still there.”
Part of the impetus for expansion there is expected to be added business from the Sherwin-Williams headquarters, which is under construction.
“I measure a lot of mobile phone traffic data, and the numbers are looking very good,” he said.
The Lizard closed in 2021. The original Urban Meyer’s Pint House in Dublin opened several years ago. Saucy got it this year.
“It’s going to be an elevated sports bar experience,” Zimmerman said of the Cleveland location. “There are certainly similarities, but there are also some differences from space to space.”
The space is unique, with a narrow three-story lot that Zimmerman believes is perfect for event space on the upper and lower floors. It will also provide needed office space, he said.
“We want to create the best sports viewing experience in the city of Cleveland,” he said.
It’s more than just hanging a TV on the wall.
“We will create a variety of rooms where we can provide a private catering experience, such as the 7-0 room and locker rooms, and we will also have some general soft seating areas to approximate stadium seating.”
The 7-0 room cites Meyer’s record against Michigan as the Ohio State football coach. Meyer, an Ashtabula native, had an 83-9 record at Ohio State from 2012 to 2018.
Although stadiums and bleachers are not common in Cleveland, they are common in sports bars in other cities. For those who don’t necessarily need a table while drinking beer, you can get a good view of the game.
“Overall the space is quite large. When there are big events in town, we can host large parties. We can accommodate 500, 600 people,” he said. “As we have grown our events business at Saucy, I think we have found that people are interested in holding events in different types of spaces, not just the typical ballroom in a hotel.”
Beers on offer will be a mix of five to 10 Saucy taps, other local crafts, and mainstream Miller Lites and Coors.
“We don’t want to alienate people who like it,” he says.
He describes the food as “upscale pub food, with as much effort as you can get.” Don’t go crazy. We also don’t want to make it unaffordable for people. We want to find the sweet spot between eating solid food and making it affordable for people. ”
Zimmerman is always looking to the future with various ventures and expansions. He is confident that this place will do well.
“The only thing that matters is finding the right location. Anything you build from scratch right now is very expensive. We think there are one or two locations that we would like to build right away, but the construction costs are… It’s a little out of hand,” he said.
And we might see Meyer, who was beloved around the state while leading the Buckeyes, pop up once or twice, especially at open time.
“He’ll be there,” Zimmerman laughed. “Don’t worry, he won’t miss it.”
I work on the Life Culture Team and cover topics related to restaurants, beer, wine, and sports. See the cleveland.com directory for my recent articles. WTAM-1100’s Bill Wills and I will be talking about food and drink on Thursdays at approximately 8:20 a.m. Twitter and IG: @mbona30. My latest book, co-authored with Dan Murphy, is Joe Thomas: Not Your Average Joe (Gray & Co.).
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