Mabel's BBQ

Michael Symon's downtown smokehouse builds a self-described Cleveland-style barbecue, folding local Bertman Ball Park Mustard into its house sauce. The kitchen is known for a giant beef rib, a pound-and-a-half cut rubbed with coriander, black pepper, and mustard seed, pastrami-spiced and meant for two to share. Counter-style service on East Fourth Street keeps the focus on smoked meats.

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Michael Symon's East Fourth Street room is the one place claiming a Cleveland style of barbecue, built on a sauce made with local Bertman Ball Park Mustard. Cleveland Scene singles out its Polish Girl, a twist that brings smoked pork to the plate on a chassis of kielbasa from the longtime West Side Market butcher J & J Czuchraj, topped with coleslaw and sauce. Order the Polish Girl.

Picks from Cleveland Scene, Cleveland Magazine, and Signal Cleveland