Adam Richman likes Cleveland. A lot. How much does the Travel Channel's "Man vs. Food" host like Cleveland? Let's compare city citations in the index of his new book, "America the Edible: A Hungry History, From Sea to Dining Sea" (Rodale, $25.99).
Washington, D.C., and Boston each garner three references. San Francisco, by any measure a "food city" of the first order, earns a 23-page spread. Same as Brooklyn, N.Y., Richman's hometown.
Cleveland's chapter (entitled "I Still Call It The Jake") gets a full 24 pages. And in Richman's distinctive voice -- gruff rhapsodies punctuated by a fair share of F-bombs and other epithets -- it's a destination for any right-thinking foodie in search of a memorable nosh.Richman spent the better part of a year here while a resident at the Cleveland Play House, performing in a lengthy run of Chaim Potok's "The Chosen." Then a knockabout actor (who happens to have earned his master's degree from the Yale University School of Drama), he routinely sought good food in hidden-away spots.
It's one thing to read it in print. If you nab the opportunity to meet him when he returns to town Tuesday, when he'll sign copies of his book at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lyndhurst, get him talking about his affection.
During a recent phone conversation, Richman showed a commanding grasp of the place, beyond the usual landmarks and big-name eateries. In a rapid-fire recitation, he issued a sprawling litany of hidden gems and locals-only haunts.
"Every time I'm there, I love knowing these little teeny places: Chinatown, places on Mayfield Road, on St. Clair and Superior avenues. I love that to get to Superior Pho you have to turn off Superior, park, turn a corner and then walk through a building, past a nail place and through another restaurant to get the best bahn mi sandwich I've ever had anywhere. That's impressive."
His ardor runs deeper than Cleveland's food scene. Aside from near-paeans to foodie landmarks such as the West Side Market and Great Lakes Brewing Co., Richman offers knowing nods to such treasures as Cleveland's "Emerald Necklace" Metroparks and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood.
"There is just so much to experience in The Cleve," Richman says. "The chance to shed light on the amount of heart, the sheer joy of that city, is important to me. It has such a bountiful amount of heart.
"Cleveland is like Rocky Marciano, with a crushed nose and a bloodied face, that still gets up," he says. "People in Cleveland wear their scars as a sign of honor. Why do you think Great Lakes Brewing has a beer called 'Burning River?' "
(Article courtesy of Cleveland.com)
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