While closing Banter’s Gordon Square space in October 2020, Matthew Stipe and his team had plans on returning to the neighborhood. Now, more than three years later, they’ve followed through on that promise: Banter is prepared to open, bigger and better, at 5428 Detroit Ave., in the renovated former Minh Anh restaurant space.
“My heart just told me that it had to be this neighborhood,” Stipe says. “I feel like we're almost like a cousin that's coming back for Thanksgiving, or a friend that's been away for a while, and then he's moving back to the neighborhood.”
At its old location (half a mile west on Detroit Avenue) Banter made a big impact on the neighborhood and on the city’s dining scene when it opened in 2015. Its inventive poutine and sausage dishes were hits, and its selection of beer became a standby in the neighborhood. The restaurant appeared a few times on TV shows, on the Travel Channel, Food Network and the Cooking Channel.
In 2018, its success led to a second location at the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights, serving up a more family-friendly menu.
And then 2020 rolled around — and the coronavirus pandemic happened — and then Banter’s Gordon Square lease was running up. The team decided to close up in the neighborhood, for a little while. The decision was a tough one, Stipe says, but one that they’d been debating even before the pandemic hit.
“We had maxed out what we could do. It was a little bit limiting in terms of the amount of seats that we could have, and the rooms were kind of disjointed, so there was already the idea of moving locations,” Stipe says.
When famed Vietnamese restaurant Minh Anh closed in 2021 — and when plans were announced for the development of a high-end apartment building called Welleon (formerly Waverly & Oak) next door — the restaurant's new home made perfect sense for the Banter team.
“I've always said that Minh Anh was such an important restaurant to the West Side, and to the Greater Cleveland dining scene, that I feel like we are the right stewards to take over that space,” Stipe says.
But don’t expect the same tiny dining area and fish tank that welcomed diners at Minh Anh; the space, and its next-door counterpart, have been completely renovated into a spiffy, modern bar with booths, tables, greenery and funky bird-themed artwork. In the back of the main room, the old Minh Anh sign hangs: an homage to the building’s legacy.
Just as the space has evolved, so has Banter. The new Gordon Square version plans to limit its retail offerings, selling fewer take-home beverages, and will introduce a brand-new “unique but approachable” cocktail menu designed by consultant Jason Basa-Nemec of Chicago company InBar Cocktails.
“I think that each time that we've been able to open a new spot, it's a way in which we've been able to evolve,” Stipe says. “So this really gave us an opportunity to start new, to improve, but to still stay true to who we are.”
About 80% of the dishes will be consistent between Banter’s Gordon Square and Van Aken locations, with a few elevated specialties offered just at Gordon Square, Stipe says. He mentioned quirky plates like confit duck leg poutine, chicken shawarma poutine, venison sausage and currywurst joining the menu — along with new corndog variations and desserts.
The new Gordon Square Banter only aims to add to the energy of the neighborhood, joining other established restaurants like Astoria, Happy Dog, Flight and Old 86.
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"We’re in a great core group of restaurants, and really, even, small businesses,” Stipe says. “If anything, this is maybe one of the better little stretches in Cleveland to go out for a night where you have so many other great options, not even talking about food and drink. You have Superelectric Pinball. You have the Capitol Theater. You have so many different artistic theaters in the neighborhood.”
And now it's official: Banter is back home.
“[There’s] just something different about Gordon Square, Detroit Shoreway neighborhoods. You saw the impact that individual people, small business owners have — you could really affect change, and really make a difference and be someone in this neighborhood. There's more of a communal, collegial feeling to this neighborhood, that we're all in this together,” Stipe says. “It’s just a really great, wonderful place to be.”
See more photos of Banter below:
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