📰 The Buffalo is closing (for now)

Good morning, Cleveland! This is The 216 Scoop: The Cavs are officially stuck in NBA purgatory — not bad enough to tank, not good enough to scare anyone 🏀

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John Petkovi & Jude Perez

The Cavs came in with championship aspirations. Halfway through the season, they’re just another mediocre NBA team:

They’ve lost six games to sub-.500 teams vs. seven all last season.

They have the NBA’s worst three-point defense and their worst overall defense in four seasons.

Evan Mobley isn’t the superstar the team had hoped for. Darius Garland has been a negative on both ends of the floor.

The Cavs closed out the first half of the season with a loss against the lowly Jazz (which lost by 55 points in its previous game).

Within minutes, the Cavs were down 21-4 – one of their ugliest starts in years.

"They lost by (55 points) and were ready to go,” lamented Donovan Mitchell. “We are all at fault for not coming out ready to go.”

They’re a team playing with low energy and effort and little joy – and must turn it around, starting tonight, when they open the second half of the season in Chicago against the Bulls.

For 30 years, it was an anchor of Lakewood’s West End nightlife scene. Those days are over.

Harry Buffalo on Detroit Avenue will serve its last drink on Thursday.

“I’ve been there for 30 years and it’s doing OK,” says owner Tony George. “But it’s in need of a refresh and rebrand.”

Harry Buffalo sits amid a row of places like Georgetown/Vosh, Around the Corner, Riverwood Café, Dewey’s Pizza, India Garden, Mercury Music Lounge and Cilantro Taqueria.

“I own the building, love the area and I’m not going anywhere,” says George, whose portfolio of bars-restaurants includes Summer House in Lakewood. “I still haven’t figured out what I’m going to do next – it could be a restaurant or a whole different thing.”

The downtown and North Olmsted Harry Buffalo locations are not affected.

For three wild and woolly years, Ghoulardi notched unprecedented ratings and warped the collective mind of Cleveland.

Ernie Anderson — who hit the airwaves on a cold, snowy night in Jan. 1963 — seemed like the last guy to don a lab coat, fright wig and weird beard to play B-movie horror host.

He hated the low-rent flicks he’d play on his show and ruthlessly mocked and interrupted them with sound effects and firecrackers – something no host did before him.

It made him an anti-hero and an inspiration to legendary area bands, from the Cramps to the Dead Boys, Pere Ubu, Pagans and Chrissie Hynde.

Ghoulardi ruled through mayhem and led a legion of freaky followers.

"I saw some of the clips he did, but I didn't latch onto it until I took a trip back to Cleveland with him,” his son, filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, once told me.

The director of “One Battle After Another,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Boogie Night” recalls that trip:

"Three steps after getting off the plane, he already had people coming up to him -- it was madness how many people loved him."

Check out our Instagram and Facebook pages to watch a vintage clip of Ghoulardi.

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Secret Movie Night: Midnight Rental movie host Lenora will roll out the best – or worst – in VHS campy horror classics at the Grog Shop. There’s a themed menu to boot. 8 tonight. Info.

Grateful Dead Night: The Dead started out playing garage-psych stompers and morphed into free-form jam wizards. Bob Weir, who died on Saturday, led them through it all. At 8 p.m. Thursday, the Mercury will host Dead tribute band Sunshine Daydream – for a jam that will double as a celebration of Weir’s legacy. Info.

Greg Warren: One of the sharpest wits on the comedy circuit, he mixes relatable guy with acerbic rogue. Yes, they come for the live shows, but also after seeing his hit standup specials, “The Salesman” and “Where the Field Corn Groes.” At 7 p.m. Thursday, he hits Hilarities for the first of a five-show run. Info.

Verdi’s Requiem: The Cleveland Orchestra performs one its repertoire’s most dramatic pieces – a dramatic choral work that blends operatic drama with sacred text, sadness and joy. 7:30 p.m. Thursday (also Saturday and Sunday).  Info.

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Akron’s loss is Cleveland’s gain – and it goes by the name Mid East Café Restaurant.

The just-opened halal restaurant in Kamms Corner pairs Mediterranean staples with  American classics.

Last year, the area saw a rise in international spots that brought faraway flavors to Cleveland.

Mid East comes via Akron – where Ali Youasaff operated a popular restaurant.

That is, until a fire forced it to close last summer.

“I’m from Cleveland and really like the area,” says Youasaff, whose Lebanese family migrated to the U.S. from Egypt. “I grew up with the food and everything we serve is made fresh.”

The dolmas and falafel are stellar. The Palestinian lemonade is delightful – very minty and flavorful.

A big, greasy, beautiful piece of real-deal Cleveland vanished when Steve’s Lunch burned down in a 2015 fire. Opened in 1953, the iconic diner ran 24/7 and closed only twice -- in 1963, the day after John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and for a few days in 1972, after a fire.

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41 °F 🌡️ 22 °F | 🌧️➡️🌨️ (Rain transitioning to Snow) | 75% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 20 mph (≈ 17 knots)

24 °F 🌡️ 19 °F | 🌨️ (Lake Effect Snow Showers) | 60% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 19 mph (≈ 16 knots)

28 °F 🌡️ 24 °F | ☁️ (Overcast & Flurries) | 25% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 14 mph (≈ 12 knots)

_{Please note that weather conditions can change rapidly. For the most up-to-date information, consider checking a reliable local weather service.}

Away vs. 76ers, 7:00 PM January 14 (Wednesday)

Away vs. 76ers, 7:00 PM January 16 (Friday)

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