New Book Releases

Cleveland loves its craft beer. The city's breweries are flourishing under a period of brewing renewal and an insatiable taste for quality local craftsmanship. But Cleveland's brewing industry hasn't always enjoyed such prosperous times. The industry boomed during the 1800s only to see Prohibition, dwindling demand and increased competition stifle production. Each brewery, one by one, closed its doors until none remained. In 1988, Patrick and Daniel Conway opened the fledgling Great Lakes Brewing Company, and the industry was born anew. Today, local visionaries are engineering the comeback and bringing national attention to Cleveland's award-winning craft brews. Authors Leslie Basalla and Peter Chakerian chart the remarkable history of the ups and downs of Cleveland beer.

Remember the favorites from Youngstown, Ohio in classic restaurants such as the MVR and the Boulevard, and other eateries that reflect a diverse and entrepreneurial history.

In Youngstown, Ohio take a tour of restaurants like the MVR and the Boulevard, which continue to reflect Youngstown's ethnic diversity and tenacious entrepreneurial spirit, as well as establishments like Overture, which offer a promise of urban renewal from a refurbished downtown. And raise your glass to the best-laid tables of a bygone era, from the Mural Room to the 20th Century.

Every food truck in Columbus has a story. Jim Pashovich, godfather of the local scene, honors his Macedonian heritage with his fleet of Pitabilities trucks. After working as a New York City line cook, Catie Randazzo returned to Columbus to open Challah! and wow the hometown crowd with her reimagined Jewish comfort food. Chef Tony Layne of Por'Ketta serves up rotisserie-style porcine fare in his tin-roofed truck. Established favorites like Paddy Wagon and Explorers Club pair with the city's best nightlife venues and breweries to extend their offerings at permanent pop-up kitchens. With insider interviews and over thirty recipes, food authors Tiffany Harelik and Renee Casteel Cook chew their way through the thriving food truck scene of Columbus.

Cincinnati is the home to food inventions, rivalries and restaurants that stand the test of time.

The Queen City boasts the invention of both Cincinnati chili and goetta. Mecklenburg Gardens, Arnold's, Izzy's and Scotti's have all operated for over a century. The French restaurant Maisonette was the epitome of fine dining, and Wong Yie's Famous Restaurant took Chinese cuisine from street fare to an exotic experience. Busken Bakery and Frisch's vied for Cincinnati pumpkin pie supremacy by taking digs at each other through billboards and redecorating a Big Boy statue in Busken attire. Author Dann Woellert explores the most iconic eateries, the German influence on Queen City food and what makes dining so unique in Cincinnati.

It was a different time. Ladies wore gloves, hats and nice attire to luncheons at the Woman's Exchange.

Shillito's provided a cosmopolitan environment for its patrons, while Mullane's was the perfect place to sip and socialize. The popular Good Morning Show radio program hosted by charming Bob Braun, and later Nick Clooney, was broadcast from McAlpin's Tea Room. Women gathered at Pogue's and Mabley & Carew tea rooms to celebrate birthdays, as well as wedding and baby showers, over dainty tea sandwiches. Author Cynthia Kuhn Beischel brings the Queen City's bygone downtown tea rooms back to life and shares more than one hundred beloved recipes.

Once known as the Rubber Capital of the World, Akron can also justifiably style itself a beer mecca. More than a century ago, brewers like Renner, Burkhardt and others vied for local supremacy. Although these forerunners disappeared, a beer renaissance blossomed in recent years, with today's craft purveyors serving up some of the nation's finest brews. Several of Thirsty Dog Brewery's beers have won awards, and Hoppin' Frog consistently ranks as one of the top one hundred breweries in the world. Rob Musson presents a chronological look at Akron beer from its origins along the Ohio & Erie Canal in 1845 to the present day, featuring one hundred vintage and contemporary images.

Over-the-Rhine is a place where a building owner can stumble upon huge caverns underneath a basement floor or find long-forgotten tunnels that travel far below city streets.

ts present mysteries are attributable to a past that transcends the common story of how cities change over time: it is the story of how a clash between immigrants and real Americans helped rob Cincinnati of its image, its soul and its economy. In the 1870s, OTR was comparable to the cultural hearts of Paris and Vienna. By the turn of the last century, the neighborhood was home to roughly three hundred saloons and had over a dozen breweries within or adjacent to its borders. It was beloved by countless citizens and travelers for the exact reasons that others successfully sought to destroy it. This is the story of how the heart of the Paris of America became a time capsule.