Nothing But Love :: golf blogger

The Velvet Tango Room

I ran into Paulius at the elevator today, as he was bringing two Boston Terriers back from an afternoon constitutional. Paulius owns and is host at a little night spot located on the precipice of the true industrial Flats on the near west side of Cleveland on Columbus Avenue, just south of Abbey Road, he named The Velvet Tango Room. I had promised him several times that I'd pay him a visit there, since we are neighbors, but I'm not a drinker, let alone one with a sophisticated palate; so, I had put off the visit until Friday a couple weeks back.

As the time closed in on midnight, my lovely wife and I made the short trip. I have seen Paulius, wearing a blue pinstripe seersucker suit, dusty-blue-and- cream-colored saddle shoes, and white panama making the trip to work on his 26-inch, green bicycle with balloon tires, one-speed, and coaster brake ... reminiscent of the bike upon which I learned to ride. And walking into The Velvet Tango Room with Paulius coming to the door to greet us with a warm smile, truly excited and happy to have us visit his establishment, was reminiscent of a small club seen in some of the movies of the 1940's ... the ambience and architectural details suggesting that Lauren Bacall or Lana Turner might emerge from the back room into the shadowy, low-key lighted room into which Paulius escorted and seated us.

A piano-bass jazz duo supplied the live background music, which is a nightly staple of The Velvet Tango Room, not intrusive, but adding to the atmosphere. The non-alcoholic drinks the bartender made for us (we gave her free rein on that) were refreshing, one an orange whipped drink, something like an Orange Julius, but smoother and lighter, the other with ginger ale, which is made on the premises, with freshly-squeezed orange juice, and a dash of fresh lemon juice, and a curl of lemon rind. We ordered Bananas Foster, which Paulius made for us tableside in the classic manner, which was rich, but with the various flavors playing together well.

Paulius has written, in defense of the higher-than-average price of his cocktails, that: We take huge pride in our craft. Take for example, a scotch sour. We hand squeeze a fresh lemon and a lime for that individual cocktail, and mix it with homemade syrup. We do not use “lemmix” or any other artificial prefabricated “sour mix”. The “well” scotch we use to make it is Johnnie Walker Black. This costs upwards of $40.00 a bottle. Most bars use well liquor that is under $10 per bottle. The cherry served with your scotch sour is either a homemade maraschino using fresh cherries from the West Side Market when in season, or Fabri Cherries imported from Italy. We ultra purify all waters used for ice and/or mixers.

More than the drinks, however, was the comfortable feeling engendered by our host and his professional staff, who were not obtrusive, but responsive, and were not pretentious, as some have stated. We lost track of time and stayed well past the 1 a.m. closing time without being hurried and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. And we will return ... with a couple friends who have refined palates.

Posted by Bill at June 24, 2006 09:20 PM