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The Harlor Family, Owners of La Petite Triangle Cafe
Tom and Joy Harlor are, like many neighborhood artisans, long time Ohio City residents. Their main goal is to have a neighborhood place for friends and family to eat, drink and hang out. The Triangle is an extension of their living room, yet also a place where guests can try new food and beverages indiguous to the French-European culture.
You may have met Tom and Joy at Take-A-Bite, a gourmet deli and catering business they operated in Tremont for 10 years before opening Le Petit Triangle Cafe. Their mission is still the same - to give something worthwhile back to their community and make their neighborhood a better place to live.
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Gary Thomas, Chef & Owner of Ohio City Pasta
Gary Thomas founded Ohio City Pasta in 1990 with the dream of bringing fresh pasta to local restaurants that were lacking the necessary capacity and equipment to produce it in-house. Over 20 years later, Gary has more than fulfilled this vision as Ohio City Pasta distributes fresh pasta in five states and serves as an example of how artisan businesses can grown in size without sacrificing the quality of their product.
The finest flours and freshest spices and flavors that the world offers provides further distinction to Ohio City Pasta, which adds no artificial ingredients or flavor enhancements to its product. In addition to producing its product in the neighborhood, Ohio City Pasta operates a retail location at the West Side Market.
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Danielle Deboe, Owner of Room Service
Danielle DeBoe moved back to Cleveland from Los Angeles where she worked for years in production, interior design, visual merchandising, buying and styling. Why? To realize the quality of life she was aiming for within the context of a creative job.
As the owner of the art-centric lifestyle boutique, Room Service, the creator of Made in the 216, and Dredgers Union on East 4th Street Downtown, Danielle is the face of Cleveland designers, musicians, and artisan vendors. Part of her mission in every project is to feature and showcase individuals who are basing their creative endeavors in Cleveland. Just like Ohio City, Room Service is about juxtaposition of old and new; it provides Danielle the opportunity create a brand of her own and in the process meet other designers and creative professionals.
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Alex and Renato, Owners of Joy Machines Bike Shop
Alex Nosse and Renato Pereira-Castillo operate Joy Machines Bike Shop as a full-service community-oriented startup bike shop in Ohio City’s Market District. Alex and Renato, both Ohio City natives and Saint Ignatius graduates, are unique individuals but typical neighborhood artisans in that they live in Ohio City and are committed to offering a customized-quality product while making their community a better place to live. Joy Machines caters its products and services to everyday cyclists and commuters, as well as any all individuals interested in integrating bicycles into their daily routines.
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Mike Kaplan, Owner of The Glass Bubble Project
The Glass Bubble Project is as unique as Ohio City itself, specializing in creating unique works of art from recycled metal and hand blown glass. Mike Kaplan and other Glass Bubble artisans' eco-friendly work appears in a variety of commercial and residential buildings from the Ritz Carlton hotel to private homes all across the country.
Glass Bubble refers to its artwork as "Clevetion Glass" which is the opposite of the dainty and fragile Venetion Glass from Italy. It is industrial and clunky and, like Cleveland, tough and durable. Glass Bubble scavenges through both antique stores and scrap yards for unique objects ensuring that every piece is unique and impressive. In addition to hand blown glass artwork, Glass Bubble offers free public demonstrations, private studio time and glass blowing classes where aspiring artisans can hone their skills and hang out with Morty, the resident rooster.
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La Bamba Tortilleria
TLeticia Ortiz and Jose Andrade started La Bamba Tortilleria to create local jobs and provide Clevelanders with fresh-made tortillas, which had not been produced locally for years. The reception has been overwhelming, as local restaurants jumped at the opportunity to purchase a locally-made product that did not use preservatives. Two early customers of La Bamba include neighborhood artisans Roberto Rodriguez of Orale and Eric Williams of Momocho. La Bamba can customize corn and flour tortillas in different shapes and sizes to meet the needs of its over fifty customers, and plans to grow slowly in order to ensure that it continues to offer a superior product.
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Palookaville
Ian P.E. has always had a knack for the arts: he has hosted temporary art galleries, edited an art-centric magazine, ran a film production company and has maintained an interest in the local music scene. In 2011, Ian decided to play the role of food artisan at his newest imaginative venture and chili restaurant, Palookaville. Ian wanted to bring a new impression of chili to Cleveland—“not the slop us Midwesterners have become accustomed to calling chili,” he says. With inspiration from authentic Southwest chili and Ian’s artistic vision, Palookaville specializes in gourmet chili with fresh and healthy ingredients, many of which are farmed locally. Palookaville chili offers many vegetarian and vegan options, but meat-eaters will rest easy knowing all the meats are bought in whole cuts and cubed in-house. After being wowed by the amazing and creative works of art found inside the restaurant, Ian wants customers to leave happy knowing their stomachs are holding some of the healthiest and tastiest food around, prepared with care.
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Banana Blossom
Montri Visatsud has a different relationship with food- he believes a real meal nourishes your body and spirit. As a child, Montri lived in a monastic temple in Lop Buri, Thailand, with his father. Early in the morning the monks would travel to town to receive food offerings that had to be consumed before noon. Through this experience, Montri learned that each meal is a celebration that should be prepared with a balance of flavors, beautifully garnished and shared with friends and family.
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