CLEVELAND, Ohio – Acqua di Dea, just four years old and located in downtown Cleveland’s Warehouse District, is a delightful dining spot focused on handmade Italian and seafood dishes. Exposed brick walls and modern furniture give the space a refined, but not stuffy Greenwich Village vibe. It’s suited to a romantic date or special occasion meal.
The Happy Hour, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., is good for friends to catch up after work, especially if you live downtown. As usual, this Happy Hour duo arrived early to get a seat at the bar. Other barstools filled up gradually with a buttoned-up afterwork crowd, but the bar was definitely long enough to accommodate a crowd.
The bar lists seven cocktails including the bourbon-forward Acqua Manhattan while other drinks are based on gin or vodka. For happy hour these are $8, but go up to $14 after 6 p.m.
Paris was pleased to see variety and nothing too sweet. She chose the White Lady, a classic cocktail created in New York in 1929. It’s composed of gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white. The bartender gave it a tongue-in-cheek description “Orange Julius for grownups.” Giggle if you will, but it was refreshing and makes adulting more fun.
Alex tried the La Pera, a light, fruit-forward combination of pear vodka, St. Germaine and pear puree. Despite some skepticism, the martini was a refreshing take on overly syrupy pear versions at other bars. The inclusion of fresh fruit made it taste like biting into a fresh pear.
We also got to taste the Basilico, made with Bombay Sapphire gin, basil, grapefruit juice and orange liqueur. Fresh basil shines in this sipper, and the smart inclusion of gin resulted in a well-balanced cocktail. Beer and wine are also available.
The Happy Hour menu lists items in Italian with English descriptions. Eight appetizers are just $8 each. They include four seafood, three pasta and one salad selection … all, of course with an Italian influence. Six pizza options are also lower priced — $12 – during the magic after work time slot.
Deciding among these was a challenge. We started with the lump crabcakes with tomato sauce, breadcrumbs and basil olive oil drizzle. These petite cakes were mostly crab with just enough filler to hold them together, which felt especially noteworthy for a happy hour dish.
The pappardelle ragu was a rich, flavorful standout. It is made with sofrito, roasted tomato sauce, bone broth, ground brisket, bone marrow, Amarone and parmesan Reggiano. The various components may be unfamiliar in a home recipe, but they come together in one tasty note. Who thought pasta would be Paris’ favorite dish?!
A serving of veal tortellini with parmesan Reggiano and cream sauce could have been dinner for one of us. The delicate pasta folds pack in rich and tender veal, and the light cream sauce didn’t overwhelm the dish. Acqua de Dea clearly mastered its pasta recipes, as this was Alex’s favorite dish.
Choosing just one pizza was tough. We narrowed it to Frutti de Mare and Truffle. Because the restaurant specializes in seafood we settled on the Frutti de Mare which is topped with shrimp, lobster meat, homemade tomato sauce and Fontanella cheese. The pie was larger than expected, and intrigued us into coming back and trying other toppings.
Overall, Acqua di Dea is a great value and a classy dining spot in a busy downtown location. You may need cash to pay and tip the valet unless you luck into a street parking space.
Acqua di Dea is at 500 West St. Clair Ave., Cleveland. Dinner reservations are encouraged.
This year everyone is spending more on feeding themselves at home or restaurants. Despite tight budgets, most people – especially extroverts like reporters Paris Wolfe and Alex Darus — need to get out. And, like everyone we need to support local restaurants to keep them in business. Sometimes that may be as simple as a Happy Hour dinner. So, we launched “The Happy Hour Project.” Paris and Alex will regularly visit independent restaurants in Northeast Ohio for happy hour and report back on the vibe, food and cocktails and how they’ll impact your budget.
Send your Happy Hour suggestions and reasons why to Paris Wolfe at pwolfe@cleveland.com or Alex Darus at adarus@cleveland.com.
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Dining and Cooking