Happy Dog

Happy Dog in Gordon Square is another favorite place. Comfortable bar, good music venue, lots of pinball. When the current owners took over this old neighborhood bar, they consulted with some of Cleveland's culinary luminaries and came to the conclusion to get rid of everything on the menu except the hot dogs and tater tots. So you go and get a hot dog. And tots (or fries). They make 50+ toppings in house, every day. You get a list and a pencil: a hot dog is $5, and you can add anything you want so long as it will still fit in a basket.

The results are pretty epic. They have a great trivia night. Once a month members of the Cleveland Orchestra of faculty from the Cleveland Institute of Music come and play a free show of "Classical Revolution." And the place comes alive on the third friday of each month when local musical hero DJ Kishka comes and plays his Polka Happy Hour.

Happy Dog is at 5801 Detroit Ave in Gordon Square.