People who know me know that I love dogs. I can watch a movie like In Bruges (my fave movie in some time) where people get shot, but if a dog gets kicked in a movie, I will not watch any more of it. Mrs. Epicure and I also have our three Epicurean dogs and they pretty much rule the roost, to use a term of fowl origin.
It should be no surprise then, that I would have a predisposition toward liking a place called The Happy Dog, and in fact, I like The Happy Dog very much indeed. On a recent visit there with Mrs. Epicure and our dynamic duo friends JK&JJ, I munched on some very good chicken wings that were hot enough to get my attention but were not so hot that I was panting. I added a side of tater tots and was as happy as a our dog Mabel is when she finds a chicken bone in the gutter. Good times.
Mrs. Epicure and JJ enjoyed the turkey reuben, which they both enjoyed, and JK dove into the Cleveland-original known as the Polish Boy, which appeared to have the proper ingredients here at The Happy Dog: a fried sausage, french fries, cole slaw, barbeque sauce, all atop a completely overwhelmed white bun that functions mostly as a grease and sauce sponge.
Other parts of this meal added to the belly-up happiness factor. Our friends, who love to talk about food and have excellent senses of humor. Excellent beer, including Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA on tap, and Left Hand Deep Cover brown ale. Having the place to ourselves and there was no band (we were there early in the evening). Sometimes the Happy Dog can be a challenging place to talk in when the bands are cranked up, which can be both a good and a bad thing, depending on the situation. The down side to no one else being there is that there was no one to surreptitiously watch at the fantastic oval bar surrounded by old school red stools. There are few bars that are better for people watching.
If there are vegetarians in your crowd, the Happy Dog has a surprising number of meatless options, including a vegetarian hot dog. I can't imagine it is good and don't intend to waste any calories finding out, but consider yourselves aware of it.
The Happy Dog is a true Cleveland treasure. If you have never been there, I recommend you add it to your next trip out in the near west side. Situated at West 58th and Detroit, it is wonderfully close to Latitude 41 and the Parkview Nite Club, allowing you to have a nice little walkable pub crawl of an evening should you so choose.
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