📰 Why Are Clevelanders Lining Up at 6 AM?

Good morning, Cleveland! This is The 216 Scoop: Cleveland. Being a Guardians fan should probably come with a complimentary blood pressure monitor. The series is tied, the boys are coming home, and our stress levels are doing just fine. Totally fine ⚾🧢🏠

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John Petkovic & Jude Perez

The melting pot is a frying pan in Cleveland – where immigrants from Eastern Europe to the American South brought recipes from home.

They mixed them with new ideas, flavors, and approaches to cooking they found here.

Fall is here and so is comfort-food season.

The Polish Boy was invented here in 1942. Enter Virgil Whitmore – an African American Texas transplant living in Mount Pleasant.

“He brought Texas flavor to the neighborhood and ended up starting a whole new approach to food with the Polish Boy,” says grandson Virgil Whitmore III.

So was City Chicken – by European immigrants looking to replicate chicken with cheaper pork in the 1920s.

 “It didn’t matter what nationality you were—everybody made City Chicken,” says Chef Michael Symon.

But there also uniquely Cleveland takes on other comfort foods.

“It gets colder and we start eating like Clevelanders,” says Lidia Trempe, aka pierogi queen and owner of Rudy’s Strudel in Parma.

“It’s how goulash, paprikash, sausages, and cabbage became so popular here.”

We’re lucky to have so many places that serve up Cleveland comfort. These hit the spot:

Cleveland’s once-thriving beer scene had gone dark. The city’s last major local brewery shut down. Ohio City was in decline.

That didn’t stop Pat and Dan Conway from rolling the dice in a building that once housed a feed-and-seed store.

There were 100 craft breweries in the country when the brothers founded Great Lakes Brewing in 1988.

Now there are more than 9,500. But Great Lakes has stood above the crowd in no small part due to its beloved Christmas Ale.

They started making it in small batches, and the brothers would deliver them in a station wagon.

“We never dreamed it would have such a cult following,” says Pat Conway. “It kept growing to the point where people would drive from other cities to get some.”

Now they line up at 6 a.m. to get a taste of the ale, when 'Great Lakes celebrates the release of its Christmas Ale with First Pour. 11 a.m. Thursday. Info.

More than a mix of cinnamon, honey and ginger, it’s a signifier of Christmas and a sip of Cleveland.

Cleveland’s latest plans to rebuild Hopkins airport is like a flight to an exciting destination – that you can’t book for a long time.

The plan:

The much-needed renovation will cost between $2.1 billion and up to $3 billion.

But the waiting list is very long.

While the main terminal is still expected to open in 2032, the concourses much later — 2033 to 2039.

Bright future, years of disruption.

WEDNESDAY

Linda Lindas: The L.A. band brings their high-energy collision of punk, punk, garage-rock, and rowdy, riot grrrl, spirit to the Beachland Ballroom. 8 p.m. Info.

THURSDAY

Fright Market: The B-Side gets ooky-spooky with a Halloween-themed market featuring vendors, tarot readings and music by DJ Wretched. 6 p.m. Info.

Ghostbusters in Concert: Watch the1984 classic film as an orchestra plays along on stage. Northfield Park Racino. 7:30 p.m. Info.

👉 View Listing on Zillow

Coming into the series, Cleveland would’ve been happy to split two games in Tampa.

The Rays desperately needed Tuesday’s 3-1 win – and Cleveland played like they were content to give it to them.

A costly error by Jose Ramirez extended the fourth inning in which Tampa scored all three of its runs.

Other issues:

Now, the good news:

Bernie Kosar, 1985. Cleveland proclaimed Oct. 13 “Bernie Kosar Day” to honor one of the city’s most beloved athletes. The Boardman native engineered his way onto his favorite team via the NFL Supplemental Draft and has remained “one of us” ever since.

Ooh and don’t forget! Tag @The216Scoop on Facebook & @scoopcle on Instagram to get your photos in the Scoop!

66 °F 🌡️ 57 °F | 🌧️ (Showers) | 20% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 10 mph NNW (≈ 9 knots)

63 °F 🌡️ 59 °F | ☁️ (Cloudy) | 30% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 11 mph ENE (≈ 10 knots)

62 °F 🌡️ 44 °F | 🌧️💨 (Showers, Windy) | 61% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 22 mph W (≈ 19 knots)

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

Home vs. Ravens, 1 PM October 18 (Sunday)

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