90.3 WCPN ideastream®: Jonathon Sawyer & Troubadours of Divine Bliss Around Noon: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Jonathon Sawyer & Troubadours of Divine B

Bar Cento chef Jonathon Sawyer cooks up a conversation with Dee Perry about his career and working with Iron Chef Michael Symon on the Food Network's Dinner Impossible, which gets its premiere tonight. Then Dee travels to the Key Bank studio for a performance by The Troubadours of Divine Bliss, who play Brothers Lounge this evening.



Iron Chef finds 2nd show not impossible, just hectic

By Lisa Abraham
Beacon Journal food editor, Published on Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008

Cleveland's Iron Chef Michael Symon will debut as the new host of the Food Network show Dinner Impossible on Aug. 20.

I recently had the chance to chat with Symon, who earlier this summer spent six weeks taping 10 episodes of Dinner Impossible and nine Iron Chef America battles.

''Thank God I don't have any more hair to lose,'' Symon said of the hectic schedule.

...."So where does the Iron Chef eat when he's not at his own restaurants? Symon has a long list. On top is Bar Cento, run by former Lola chef Jonathon Sawyer, and chef Karen Small's Flying Fig."

Read full article:www.ohio.com/lifestyle/26900164.html

WCPN: Around Noon:
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Join Dee Perry as she broadcasts live from the heart of Cleveland's Ohio City for this special remote broadcast, produced in partnership with Northern Ohio Live Magazine. From outside Bar Cento and the Bier Markt on West 25th Street, Dee looks into the "Grassroots Gastronomy" of Ohio City to discover why restaurants are important to a community, and what ingredients are needed to make the relationship between community and restaurant work.
www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/an/13602/


Ivan Sheehan, Northern Ohio Live food editor; Gail Bellamy, author Cleveland Food Memories, Karl Johnson, Ohio City Walking Tour, Dee Perry  (WVIZ photo)


Gary Thomas, Ohio City Pasta; Karen Small, The Flying Fig & Sam McNulty, The Bier Markt and Bar Cento (WVIZ photo)

August 1, 2008
Northern Ohio Live Magazine named Bar Cento Best New Restaurant!



Best New Restaurant:
1. BAR CENTO
2. Paladar
3. Dante

Best Chef:
1. Mike Symon
2. Doug Katz
3. JONATHON SAWYER

Best Bar:
1. VTR
2. BAR CENTO
3. D'Vine Wine Bar

Best Place for Late Night Dining:
1. Nighttown
2. BAR CENTO
3. Luigi's

Best Pizza:
1. Geraci's
2. Luigi's
3. BAR CENTO

Best Appetizer:
1. BAR CENTO
2. fire food & drink
3. D'Vine Wine Bar


Posted by Joe Crea/Food and Restaurants Editor July 30, 2008

No black-tie required ... Some of the best fund-raisers are the low-impact variety -- you know, just show up and do some good. The folks at McNulty's Bier Markt and Bar Cento are holding just such an event. Stop in at either neighboring spot Aug. 6 and let them know you're there to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and management will donate 15 percent of your tab to the organization. "Just come by -- enjoy a great meal and/or cocktail, and know that a portion of your check will go to a good cause," the operators said.



HOME / CONSCIOUS CUISINE
Bar Cento
Maggie Busser
Published 07/23/2008 - 7:23 a.m. EST

Walls the color of roasted pea pods and hanging lights festooned with a drape of wine-colored fabric lend a comfortable glow to the narrow, deep space of Bar Cento (pronounced “chen-to”). Located in the Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, its glistening expanse of a reclaimed barn-wood bar spills into an open kitchen housing a team of chefs working in a synchronized hum of activity. Vinyl records spin out favorite tunes, adding an inviting aspect to the atmosphere. Stacked behind the bar lie the inspiration for the restaurant’s name – “cento” (meaning “100” in Italian) varieties of old- and new-world wine. Glistening, stemless wine glasses line nearby shelves, begging to be filled.

Chef and partner Jonathon Sawyer scurries between the kitchen and bar area, simultaneously prepping food and calling out “hellos” to his guests and other folks he knows in the crowd at the bar. Vibrant, tattooed ink images wind their way up his arm, and his boyish grin graces a face framed by a mop of scruffy hair. Jonathon has plenty of reasons to smile. He has helped to create Bar Cento, a hip dinner joint, comfortable in both atmosphere and price-point. Plus, he is three years into the planning of his pet project, Greenhouse Tavern. Replete with intensive environmental initiatives and farm-to-plate food concepts, it is slated to open this fall on East Fourth Street.

Everyday food
Filling a niche in the neighborhood, Bar Cento features local foods at midrange prices. Jonathon explains, “We want people to view it as everyday food.” He puts in every effort to not only find the best uses for foods available locally and seasonally, but also to keep the price-point reasonable. He explains, “Our biggest challenge is to determine what to source locally, how to get it and how to make it more affordable.”

Read full article: 76.12.128.120/Article.cfm



Bell's Two Hearted Ale
Bar Cento
1948 West 25th St., Cleveland www.barcento.com, 216-344-9944

Friday, July 25, 2008

This American IPA comes from Bell's in Kalamazoo and is named after the river in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a river immortalized in Hemingway's short story, "Big Two-Hearted River." Nick Adams, the hero of Papa's fiction, would have appreciated the strong hops and floral aroma. Or, as the author would have put it: "Nick drank the beer. It was gold in color. The hops tasted bitter on his tongue. It was good."

The Cleveland PD: Miles of smiles: Where to go for Cleveland's best happy hour deals
by John Petkovic, Friday June 06, 2008, 12:00 AM


Too much of a good thing is just enough for me -- except when it comes to being "Happy." In a desperate attempt to find Happiness, I hit as many happy hours as I could over the course of two weeks. I ate sushi, burgers, oysters and pizza, and drank margaritas, mojitos, beer and tequila.

My tummy and head are a mess. I can't say that I'm too happy about that.

But I discovered that yes, there are enough happy hours to make you feel good for a day -- even if your boss is a jerk, gas prices are sucking you dry, and you're tired of Unhappy Hours in bars where drunks grovel in their beer and chicken-wing heads drool BBQ sauce all over themselves.

In other words, these places are affordable and fun. Just don't overdose on them, OK?

Happy factor rated on a scale of one to five.
Bar Cento, 1948 West 25th St., Cleveland, 216-274-1010.


Image Credit John Petkovic


Hours: 4:30-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
The deal: Beer, wine and cocktails $4; mini-meals $3 to $6.
Notes on a cocktail napkin: The veggie burger rocks. So do the beer-and-butter steamed mussels. So does the vinyl they spin here -- Mott the Hoople!
Happy factor: FIVE.


Wednesday, July 2, 2008


Jonathon Sawyer owner and chef of the new restaurant Bar Cento, located next to The Bier Markt and across the street from the West Side Market, talks about how 5 days of Auto-CAD convinced him to drop out of his engineering studies, follow his passion and study the culinary sciences. The rest is history.
Honing his skills at a long list of respected restaurants around the country, he returned to Cleveland, met Michael Symon and the two embarked on yet another successful and award-winning restaurant adventure in NYC.



Jonathon Sawyer
Chef/Partner Bar Cento

He has now returned to Cleveland, again, and will soon open Ohio's first nationally certified green restaurant, Greenhouse Tavern on E. 4th St. This tree-hugger will be serving locally grown produce and meats as well as taking every step possible to recycle and reuse, including using restaurant waste to fuel the actual greenhouse on the roof! Check out one of his and wife Amelia's many blogs:

http://chefsawyer.blogspot.com; http://www.thegreenhousetavern.com; http://catchercrazyface.blogspot.com; http://www.chefswidow.com



A twist of green
With a twist of green, an environmentally-friendly restaurant opens on East Fourth in downtown Cleveland.

By JOHN BOOTH

4:30 am, July 14, 2008

While Jonathon Sawyer's plans call for The Greenhouse Tavern to have an actual greenhouse on its East Fourth Street roof in downtown Cleveland, the chef and owner is aiming for an environmentally friendly approach to restaurateuring that will go well beyond its most visible symbol.

By building with conservation and sustainability in mind, from plumbing to appliances and even the restaurant's menu, Mr. Sawyer said he hopes to open the region's first eatery with a seal of approval from the Boston-based Green Restaurant Association.

“It's important to us to bring it (the seal) to Ohio both because we think we could be ahead of the curve nationally, and it's ultimately just doing the right thing,” said Mr. Sawyer, a chef/partner in Bier Markt and Bar Cento on West 25th Street in Ohio City. He expects The Greenhouse Tavern to open the doors on its 25- by 100-foot Corts Building space by the end of the year.

Read full article: http://chefsawyer.blogspot.com/

NIGHT LIFE / AFTER DARK
Ohio City's Bier Markt combines marathon race with pub crawl



Friday, June 20, 2008
John Petkovic, Plain Dealer Columnist

I've run from drunks, but I've never run drunk.

I did try to play basketball once while loaded. The ball kept on dribbling in my head even after I picked it up.

Drinking and dribbling is dangerous. So are most activities combined with imbibing, save playing in a rock band, I guess. Or rolling around on the grass. Or cuddling with your pet.

Cats and dogs, you see, live for the state of docile lethargy. Half the time they seem drunk even when they aren't, just lazing around in a cow-eyed stupor.

Most dogs -- but not Kyla.



To read full article: www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf
 

Saturday, May 24, 2008
C-Notes: $13 at ... Bier Market and Bar Cento

In this weekly feature, C-Notes stretches your dollar at restaurants around the region, because fishing change out of the couch cushions is only a sustainable investment policy for so long. This week …

McNulty’s Bier Markt / Bar Cento
1948 West 25th Street, 216-344-9944, www.bier-markt.com
For Scene’s full review, click here.

What $13 got us: Two Hoegaardens ($3 each), happy bianco pizza ($5), a split order of happy Ohio fries ($3).

What else $13 can get you: A bunch of beer and wine specials and happy hour specials: a happy Ohio burger ($6), happy veggie burger ($5), happy Duvel steamed mussels with beer and butter ($5), happy warm marinated olives ($3). All of the regularly-priced pizzas are well under $13 (though they’re not called happy, so we’ll just assume they’re content) like: Puttanesca pizza with tomato sauce, capers, olives, provolone and anchovy ($10) and the spring onion pizza with leeks, provolone and pepperocini ($11.)

The Verdict: Amazing pizza and amazing beers. Are you in your car yet? ...

What to do with champagne tastes on a Bud Light budget? Or, more precisely, what to do with De Dolle Stille Nacht or Koningshoeven Quadrupel Trappist Ale tastes on a Bud Light budget? The place to go for these beers (not the Bud) and uncountable more, equally euphoniously-named brews is unquestionably Ohio City’s Bier Markt. And fortunately for we who have $13 on which to dine, they have a fine happy hour.



With a healthy selection of discounted suds and tantalizing fare from the other half of the biz—Bar Cento — this happy hour is one of the favorites that I’ve found. The menu is prone to change, keeping things exciting and seasonal, and there’s always some new brew begging to be quaffed. Running every day of the week from 4:30 -7, this happy hour is generous in more than just its offerings.

I’m not alone in my affinity; the bar was plenty packed on a random brisk Tuesday. The tables were all full in the dusky bar. The dark wood, sweeping red draperies, and artsy fixtures provide the perfect backdrop for an intimate conversation or a gathering with corworkers or friends. Luckily, my friend and I were able to score two seats at the bar. I settled in for my first of two $3 Hoegaardens, and she worked on her Brooklyn IPA. Ravenous, we immediately ordered up our grub—she opted for the happy hour veggie burger for $5, and I couldn’t resist the call of the happy bianco pizza ($5). We agreed to split the happy Ohio fries ($3).

My pizza was eat-the-crumbs-off-of-the-plate fantastic. I recently developed a slight addiction to sauceless white pizzas, and since my return, few pies have lived up to expectations. This one matched, crunchy bite for crunchy bite, the pies I once inhaled across Italy. The perfectly cooked, crisp crust was topped with buttery melted mozzarella and mellow, sweet, thin-sliced garlic. Although it would give my Orbit a run for its money later on, the garlic really shone through in this dish—the spicy punch of flavor peaking through the sweetness that properly cooked garlic imbues to a dish. All in all, perfection.

Envying the slice of pizza I gave my friend, I consoled myself with the excellent fries. Thick-cut and fresh, they were lightly flavored with fresh rosemary and salt. They saw me through my second beer as my companion gushed about her veggie burger. She’s had plenty of them, at otherwise great restaurants, that she says were completely lackluster. This one was fresh and juicy, not to mention ginormous, and topped with fresh lettuce, tomato and thin-cut onion. The patty was exalting in what it is—vegetables—rather than lamely pretending to be meat. It was moist and altogether pleasing.

Chef Jonathon Sawyer’s commitment to local, seasonal ingredients elevates this cuisine from bar noshes to a truly memorable meal. The scene is chill, the beer selection impeccable, and the food addictive. We’ll be going back. Soon. -- Tori Woods




McNulty's Bier Markt plans to serve Great Lakes Christmas Ale - Phillip Morris
Thursday, June 19, 2008, Plain Dealer

There's a fancy saloon on West 25th Street, a stone's throw from the West Side Market. The saloon, which boasts an equally fancy adjoining restaurant, is called McNulty's Bier Markt.

The owners of McNulty's know that the typical Clevelander does not spell "beer" with an "i" or Market without an "e." But the business partners pride themselves on being different. They enjoy the fact that they may be the only bar in the region that stocks $17 bottles of Belgian beer and $2 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

"There is a time and a place for every beer," McNulty's managing partner Michael Foran said, explaining the bar's marketing concept. "Sometimes you want a complex beer, sometimes you don't."

To read full article: www.cleveland.com/morris/index.ssf/2008/06/cleveland_saloon_moves_christm.html




Volume 15, Issue 28
Published November 14th, 2007
Bites
Sasa Matsu In Shaker Square, Asian Grill in Cleveland and Chef Jonathon Sawyer, Of Bar Cento

Congratulations to chef Jonathon Sawyer, of Bar Cento (1948 W. 25th St., 216.344.9944), and his wife, Amelia, on the arrival of their healthy baby girl. To celebrate, the Ohio City restaurant is starting Junior Iron Chef Tuesdays, a fun opportunity for kids to make their own pizzas (with help from mom and/or dad, of course). Chef Sawyer provides the dough and toppings, the rest is up to the little ones. Kids leave with a full belly and a free chef's cap. The events begin Nov. 20 and run every Tuesday from 4:30-8 p.m.

To read full article: www.freetimes.com/stories/15/28/sasa-matsu-in-shaker-square-asian-grill-in-lakewood-and-chef-jonathon-sawyer-of-bar-cento




Raising the Bar - Bar Cento
Jonathan Sawyer’s seared skate wing is a tasty departure from Bar Cento’s comfort-food focus.
Cleveland Magazine April 2008 by by Laura Taxel



Fries & Schuele, the West Side’s finest department store for more than 100 years, has been plucked off the vintage rack during the past decade. Luxury condos and McNulty’s Bier Markt now occupy the historic building.

And like a classic little black dress, Bar Cento, a joint venture of chef Jonathan Sawyer and Bier Markt owner Sam McNulty, is a perfect fit for this Ohio City spot. The landmark was rehabbed and reinvented, and that’s exactly what Sawyer is doing with his dishes.

Americans love their burgers, pizza and fries. Instead of fighting that fact, Sawyer embraces it. Back home after a stint running Parea, Michael Symon’s now-defunct New York City restaurant, Sawyer makes these familiar standards anything but ho-hum.

Consider the ordinary french fry. Here it’s the central character in a culinary version of “Extreme Makeover.” His mahogany-hued pommes frites arrive tumbling out of a paper cone, tossed with fragrant sprigs of fresh rosemary and plump cloves of garlic, accompanied by three kinds of mayo for dipping: garlic, curry and chile ($6, $9 for a big table-share order).

I pop a few in my mouth, then many more, and suddenly I want to jump up and down, squeal and do that weepy laughing-slash-hyperventilating thing like the lucky winning folks on reality TV.

Yes — they are that good. It takes just the right potatoes, four steps, three days and a dunk in boiling duck fat (take note, vegetarians!) to achieve that distinctive color and amazing taste.

To read full article:www.clevelandmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp



Cleveland Epicure

A Tale of Two Meals
May 25, 2008 10:58:23
Posted By Cleveland Epicure
When my sister comes to visit, we ramp up the food and drink adventures, as hard as that might be to believe. While we ventured to many places this weekend, two were in the more expensive category: Light Bistro and Bar Cento.

....Mrs. Ep, Sister Ep, and I went to dinner with BFFs M&J and T too. We had excellent service from Aren, as always, and great food. The quadratini with lamb and honey was so good that I ate some of the shared plate and then ordered my own too. The relatives each got the brick-oven half-chicken, which was juicy, crisp and seasoned nicely. The whole grilled peas are always a treat, and Mrs. Ep's tomato, onion and mint salad was so fresh and simple that I could have eaten a giant bowl of it. I enjoyed the mussels steamed in Duvel (although my fave is still at the Old Angle). Pizza, ravioli and antipasto were all well received too....

To read full article:apps.clevelandepicure.com/Blog/



Bar Cento's food affordable, affable and imaginative
by Beth Segal / Special to The Plain Dealer Friday March 14, 2008, 1:54 PM

The siren song of Bar Cento rolls out onto West 25th Street, luring in the curious, the cognoscenti and the neighborhood guys just looking for a beer and some fries. Well, in this case the fries are billed as pommes frites ($6 small, $9 large), tossed with fragrant rosemary, scattered with pungent cloves of garlic and served with three different hits of decadent Belgian mayonnaise.



That's just a hint of what's hot at Chef Jonathon Sawyer's North Coast take on the enoteca, a Roman-focused Italian-style bistro that features a lot of wine (as we all remember from our metric studies, "cent" means a hundred; Bar Cento is Sawyer's undercounted reference to the number and breadth of wines available) and some well-chosen food to go with it.

To read full article:www.cleveland.com/goingout/index.ssf/2008/03/bar_centros_food_affordable_af.html



The Year of Eating Famously
In 2007, even bad news is good news for Cleveland restaurants.
By Elaine T. Cicora
Published on December 26, 2007

The weather is wicked, the economy sucks, and if gas goes any higher, we might soon have to learn to cook at home. But believe it or not, for Cleveland foodies, 2007 was a banner year. Scores of new restaurants opened. The national media came sniffing around like hungry hounds (and left happy and full). And, of course, native son Michael Symon rocked the entire country with his closely watched ascension to Iron Chefdom.

To read full article: www.clevescene.com/2007-12-26/dining/the-year-of-eating-famously/

Lighting up late night with pizza and wine at Bar Cento
Friday, December 07, 2007

John Petkovic
Plain Dealer Columnist

Last time I saw someone scoring late-night pizza in town, it was some drunk dude rummaging around a Dumpster behind a Pizza Hut. Well, dude, you don't have to rummage anymore. Yippee for Bar Cento!

The newly opened joint, 1948 West 25th St., Cleveland, not only serves good, cheap pizza until 2 a.m. -- seven nights a week -- it also boasts 100 wines.

The latter doesn't mean much to me: My knowledge of wine is limited to sloshing it in a glass, sipping a bit and muttering, "Mmm, earthy, a bit dry, but smooth on the lips."

But oh, the pizzas.

The place, next to McNulty's Bier Markt, has a dozen varieties, from a classic Margherita ($8) to a "Sunnyside" ($9) that comes with eggs.

"We're serving traditional and modern pizza," says main man Sam McNulty, who conceived of Bar Cento after opening the beer hall. "We wanted to create a place you might find in Rome."

McNulty, an Irish dude, came up with the idea for the Bier Markt while backpacking in India. He met a Polish guy who worked in a Belgian-style bar in Australia. Bar Cento's story is less worldly.
"I always find myself out at 1 a.m. and there's nowhere to go and eat," says McNulty. "You can only do hot dogs so many times."

By the way, Bar Cento doesn't serve a hot dog pizza. But if you want Liver 'n' Onions Pizza ($17), well, hey, that's your call. (Meet me at Rally's when you're done, OK?)
The place also has Italian beer and a vibe that's less woohoo than Bier Markt. That's not to say you can't go back and forth.

"Belgian beer goes well with pizza," says McNulty. "And you can definitely drink any wine with pizza."
Yeah, no doubt.

Except now I'm wondering if that guy rummaging through the trash bin was a wino.



Volume 15, Issue 31
Published December 5th, 2007
Centomental Journey
Jonathon Sawyer Brings Wide-ranging Experience To The Inviting Bar Cento
By Douglas Trattner

The last few years must have left Jonathon Sawyer feeling a bit like a pinball. In that relatively short period of time, Sawyer moved to New York to work for Charlie Palmer, moved back to Cleveland to work for Michael Symon, returned to New York to run Parea, and ultimately came back to Cleveland to do his own thing. Along the way, Sawyer helped open four restaurants, got married, welcomed two children into the fold and introduced Clevelanders to Bar Cento. And like that pink bunny, he's still going. We can expect Gastropub, which Sawyer hopes will be Ohio's first nationally certified green restaurant, in the coming year.

Impeccable timing seems to be a trait of Sawyer's. He reappeared on the local scene just as Sam McNulty, owner of the Bier Markt, was getting serious about finding a chef to open a restaurant in the bar's adjoining space. Together, the pair conceived of a concept that melds seamlessly with the spirit and philosophy of the lively Belgian beer hall next door. Affordable, approachable and elegant, Bar Cento has developed into the kind of neighborhood bistro that feels as if it has always been there.

Modeled after an Italian enoteca, a wine bar with food, Bar Cento is the type of place where friends meet over a glass of wine and a plate of cured meats. With food prices that largely fall in the $7-$10 range, with nothing exceeding $17, Bar Cento is also the type of place where guests can return again and again without breaking the bank.

Bar Cento's menu features traditional Roman-style recipes fashioned from an eclectic larder of local ingredients. Sawyer, like so many of today's best chefs, goes out of his way to track down indigenous foodstuffs. Our Cuyahoga Valley, he says, produces provisions equal to or better than New York's famed Hudson Valley. So all of Sawyer's pork, beef and lamb hail from Ohio farms, as do the garlic, onion, beets and eggs. These items are rounded out by Cleveland-produced goat cheese, Cleveland Heights-baked bread and, if you can believe it, freshwater prawns from a rogue shrimp farmer in Elyria.

Along with the stellar wine list, loaded with 100 (the cento of Cento) appealing and economical selections, the star of Bar Cento is undoubtedly its pizza. Matzo-thin Neapolitan-style pies exit the brick oven crispy, chewy and mottled with willowy pockets of steam. Divided into two categories, traditional and modern, the 12 pizzas offer a host of tantalizing topping combinations. It is hard to imagine a more faultless arrangement than the clam, white wine, garlic and parsley that crowns the seaside pizza ($10). It is equally hard to envision a pizza more indulgent than the liver and onion ($17), which is bedecked with chunks of earthy boudin noir (blood sausage), sweet caramelized onions and silken lobes of foie gras pate. The Sunnyside ($9), a close runner-up, features nests of domestic prosciutto coddling soft-cooked eggs.

When it comes to the food, Sawyer hasn't reinvented the wheel, he's merely polished up the rims. Take a starter of olives ($4). Marinated with rosemary and orange peel and baked until warm, the olives come alive. With crusty grilled bread, house-pickled vegetables and an array of domestic and imported meats and cheeses, the antipasto plate ($9) is an explosion of tastes and textures. Even the humble yard bird ($16), in Sawyer's hands, becomes a gastronomic gem. Baked under weight in the oven, the chicken becomes incredibly crisp and juicy. It doesn't hurt that the brittle skin is shellacked with a healthy dose of salt and pepper.

Grilled, sliced and served in a porcelain crock, the lamb steak ($9) might sound an odd appetizer choice. But despite its location on the menu, this dish is a knockout. Lush and buttery, the rosy lamb is paired with firm white beans, herb-y olive oil and salty capers. Side dishes, which come with an entrée or cost $5 on their own, include a warm beet salad dotted with blue cheese, braised greens and a polenta that arrived more firm than runny. Another dish, the shellfish brodo ($11), is a disappointing stew of calamari and mussels.

Affordability is a cornerstone at Bar Cento. Wonderful house wine, either red or white, is available for $5 a glass and $15 a bottle. Daily specials like Sunday lasagna, Monday meatballs and Wednesday sausage and peppers cost just $10. Loaded with zesty Italian sausage and sautéed sweet peppers, Wednesday's special is a delicious steal.

Outfitted with plush Peruvian drapes, Cambodian pillows and a bartop made from salvaged barn siding, Bar Cento is warm, inviting and convivial - just like Sawyer's food.

dining@freetimes.com




Volume 15, Issue 25
Published October 24th, 2007
Bites

With a sparrow as its logo, Bar Cento (1948 W. 25th St., 216.344.9944) flew onto the local food scene last week. Helmed by talented chef Jonathon Sawyer, Bar Cento is a relaxed dinner spot inspired by Roman enotecas, inexpensive wine bars where neighbors meet over a glass of wine and plate of salumi. Located next door to the Bier Markt, the Belgian beer bar, 70-seat Bar Cento has a warm, rustic interior and features a magnificent bar built from salvaged Amish barn siding. Sawyer, most recently top chef at Michael Symon's Parea and Lolita restaurants, has succeeded in crafting a menu of affordable, delicious appetizers, pizzas, entrees and sides. A wealth of Ohio ingredients, from cheese and veggies to lamb and pork, appear in items like a starter of spicy soppressata with preserved vegetables or a side of warm roasted beets with blue cheese. Sawyer's pizzas will no doubt be flying out of the ovens. Thin and crisp, with willowy pockets of air, the pies are topped with killer combos such as clams, white wine and garlic, and anchovy, capers and olives. Entrées include an incredibly crispy brick- oven chicken, served on this night with roasted root veggies and creamy polenta. Sawyer doesn't merely give lip service to the notion of affordability, he achieves it. Quality house wine, both red and white, is available for $5/glass, $10/half bottle and $15/bottle. Daily specials like sausage and peppers or whole grilled fish are just $10. Pizzas hover in the $7-$9 range. Cento, Italian for "hundred," refers to the restaurant's catalogue of 100 New and Old World wines. Bar Cento serves dinner and late-night eats seven days a week