g: Greenhouse Tavern

AIN'T NUTHIN BUT A "G" THANG
Thought a little shout out to the Dr. Dre single seemed appropriate to get us going with our G bar. And, for the record, this little ditty is classified as "g-funk" or "gangsta rap." Can you believe that song was released in 1992?! Oye vey.

Anyways... our G thang for #CLEabc turned out to be Greenhouse Tavern located on E 4th Street downtown. Owned and operated by local chef Jonathon Sawyer (you may have heard of him), this place has quickly become a Cleveland favorite. It is the first certified "green" restaurant in the state and is also considered a "gastropub." Dropping G's all over this biznitch! (Okay, gangsta officially out of system. Promise.)

Our G adventure started on Greenhouse Tavern's rooftop patio, truly awesome, warm weather spot. And if you've ever seen "aerial views" of E 4th St. pop up in your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram feed...9 times out of 10 that pic was taken from this patio.

GIN, GHT & GENESEE
We have to make a small confession. We kind of fumbled on our first drinks. Connie started out with the "Not Your Dad's Vodka Tonic" and Mel got excited because she saw a Steven's Point pale ale in a can.

We recovered though. Connie moved on to a gin drink (Swingin' 75) and Mel ordered a GHT Smartees. Both are cocktails special to Greenhouse.

Then we spied green-labeled bottles of Genesee beer. Don't ask why it took us so long to make that perfect connection...

Observe Alexa's stellar iPhone photo skillz

EASY BEING GREEN
Once we made the G connection with green... Mel suddenly realized she was wearing a neon green bracelet the whole time and Connie conveniently had green in her dress. And a green iPhone cover! We documented it.

GETTING GROUPIES
We quickly realized our initial goal of increasing our group by one at each bar was a little ambitious. Good intentions, but tough when you're as last minute as us. That being said, we did have two newbies join us! Alexa (aka Cleveland's a Plum) and Tim hopped aboard for our wild adventure.

GREAT BARTENDER
Don didn't really know what to think about us at first. But once he realized how serious we are about our little pet project AND as we started getting crazy with the "G" drinks, Don came around. Even posed for this pic with a bottle of Goslings dark rum.

Not only that, Don created a special "G" shot just for #CLEabc deemed "Gosling's Storm." A little Gosling's dark rum, a little ginger beer...add a splash of lime and voila! Very gratifying.

GRUB
Item of note, Greenhouse Tavern does not serve food on the rooftop patio. (One thing we wish they would revisit.) We were really digging our bar seats and hanging with Don, but we surrendered to our need for food and grabbed a table inside. Here's a nifty view walking down from the rooftop looking down at the restaurant bar.

The nice host people sat us at a window seat just inside the front door. This made for some of the best people watching of ever.

Somehow the encased glass area backed with old VHS movies lining the walls behind us also created some sort of echo chamber. Or we were just really that loud... either way, super fun. And look! Ghostbusters!

GRAVY, GARLIC and SALAD?
Before we walked down to the restaurant, Don the bartender told us two things we had to try: Gravy frites and the chicken wings. We indulged. Gravy frites = awesome. Chicken wings = out of this world! Seriously, fall of the bone type of amazingness. (And there was garlic...meeting the "G" requirement.)

Alexa stuck with the "G" theme with the Grilled Ohio Lamb Burger while Connie had a salad. Don't ask. She was already reprimanded.

GREENHOUSE PRO TIP
One of the most unique and fun things about Greenhouse Tavern is the kitchen coffee. Yeah, doesn't sound too fancy but basically this means you buy the kitchen a round of canned beer. That's not even the best part. They let you take the beer down to the peeps in the kitchen equipped with A LARGE BELL! We scooped up our tray and rang the bell all the way from our seats down the steps to the kitchen (sorry to those other patrons). The kitchen staff greeted us with whoops, hollers and big grins. They even took a second to snap this pic.

More Plum photography

When you visit Greenhouse, get in the spirit and take care of the staff. You'll be glad you did!

GARAGE BAR... oh wait
After dinner we spontaneously decided to head over to the soft opening of Nano Brew, Sam McNulty's new spot in Ohio City. We weren't sure if we were going to mention this in our G post, but we'll allow it since technically the bar used to start with a G. Yeah... it's a stretch but it's our bar crawl and we don't care.

The atmosphere is pretty cool, definitely ditched the old Garage Bar biker vibe and we're excited to have another great patio option. Unfortunately, their own brews weren't ready for consumption yet so we continued with our Genesee trend. We were also fortunate enough to have a convo with the brewmaster himself, Andy Tveekrem. This place is definitely worth checking out.

SAVE THE DATE
Yes, we know that "H" comes next in the alphabet, but we're already planning an epic LMNOP. After consulting with our new groupies, we settled on Saturday, Oct. 6 to tackle LMNOP all in one night AND we're getting a limo to haul our drunk asses around. (Gotta be safe kids!) This means we can go anywhere we want... so let the LMNOP suggestions begin!

We also haven't forgotten H. Our list includes: Hodges, Happy Dog, Hotz, Hooples & Horsehoe Casino. Where should we go? Any favorites?