Food & Drink

Zhug: Cleveland's 25 Best Restaurants

Among cozy banquette seating, chef Douglas Katz's Mediterranean mezze space is one of Cleveland's most exciting new dining experiences.

by Dillon Stewart | Apr. 28, 2022 | 12:00 PM

Carolina Kane

Carolina Kane

These days, I get a lot of requests for restaurant recommendations from friends and family. Lately, no matter what style of food or neighborhood they ask for, they’re all getting the same answer: Go to Zhug.

Douglas Katz’s exploration of Middle Eastern cuisine just might be Cleveland’s most important dining experience right now. Still, not enough people have cozied up in its pillowed banquette seating, snapchatted envious friends pictures of their sumac-speckled nigella seed and burnt onion hummus ($13) or polished off the Yemenite curry fried chicken ($17) with harissa honey. The small plates menu features an exciting blend of influences from Katz’s travels and his 20-year run at Fire Food & Drink.

I know parking is a hassle in Cleveland Heights. I don’t care if you’re picky. Don’t let the no-reservation policy's potential wait scare you. Get to Zhug now. zhugcle.com

Our full list of 34 Best Restaurants, 10 Best New Restaurants and reader-voted Silver Spoon Awards is your guide to Cleveland’s best bites.

Dillon Stewart

Dillon Stewart is the editor of Cleveland Magazine. He studied web and magazine writing at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and got his start as a Cleveland Magazine intern. His mission is to bring the storytelling, voice, beauty and quality of legacy print magazines into the digital age. He's always hungry for a great story about life in Northeast Ohio and beyond.

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