Fall Preview: Clyde's Bistro and Barroom

“If a joint has failed over and over, why in the world would you come in and do the same thing?” Clyde Mart asks this writer rhetorically. “Change it!”

Mart is a fixer. The feisty 79-year-old has made a nice living for himself cleaning up other people’s messes. He and his wife Maureen spent a lifetime buying failed or failing restaurants and turning them around. Their track record is unassailable, including well-liked eateries like Cippi & Mo's, East Side Mo's and Vito’s Italian Grill. Sadly, “Mo” passed away five months ago.

Now, Mart will attempt to do for the Lee Road diners what no previous operator could: run a viable restaurant. Ever since Steve Presser accomplished the titanic feat of opening a diner in a pair of relocated and restored cars, the site has been plagued with failure. Presser’s own Dottie’s Diner lasted just over a year. That business was followed by Chris & Jimmy’s, a Greek-style diner that limped along for two years. The nuttiest concept was Gali Gali, a kosher diner that couldn’t operate on weekends. It lasted a little over five months.

Mart says the previous concepts were doomed from the start. An ill-conceived layout resulted in two disconnected diners spaced too far apart. Plus, given the amount of money invested into the project, there was no way for operators to succeed selling low-priced diner fare. “Even if you’re busy as hell you’ll never make any money,” Mart suggests. “They never could have made it.”

For the location finally to become a success, he asserts, requires “thinking outside the diner box.”

To that end, Mart is investing $150,000 to overhaul the interior of both diners. When completed, the restaurant will have a completely different look while preserving the “diner feel.” One car will serve as the barroom, featuring a low-slung bar, hardwood floors, new booths and flat-panel TVs. The other car is being reworked into an attractive dining room, with all new booths, carpet and drapery. What long had served as the oddly oversized entrance hall will be converted into a snug wine bar with soft seating and Oriental rugs. The new configuration will accommodate approximately 110 guests.

Running the business, which will be named Clyde’s Bistro & Barroom, is Mart’s daughter, Vivian Gatta. The longtime Cleveland Heights resident spent much of her life working in her dad’s restaurants, and she knows why they have done well. “My parents cultivated a following of people who didn’t necessarily want cutting-edge food,” she says. “Our customers want to feel comfortable and get a good value.”

The American tavern-style menu is loaded with familiar dishes, and most will be priced well south of $15. Appetizers might include sausage-stuffed peppers, wine-steamed mussels or a bacon-topped wedge salad. Entrees range from sautéed calves liver and onions to wine-braised short ribs. Clyde’s will be open for lunch and dinner from Day One.

Understandably, Steve Presser has mixed feelings about the project. “I want them to succeed more than anybody,” he says. “But anything that mars these architecturally incredible structures in any way is kind of upsetting.”

Presser’s former partner, Steve Harwin, is less gracious. The nationally known diner restorer did much of the work on the two cars, which were moved to the site from Berwick, PA and Atlantic City, and he is less than pleased to see it undone.

“I’d like to see a successful restaurant,” Harwin says, “but not at the cost of sacrificing history. It’s a complete tragedy that they would dilute and extinguish any of it. If you want to open a restaurant that isn’t a diner, why buy a diner?”

Mart isn’t having any of it. “Better they should sit here empty?” responds Mart. “At least I’m preserving the most important elements of them. This place is going to be spectacular.”