Thousands have ended the night face-down at the outpost on South Beach, but what happens when the infamous Clevelander bar opens in the new Marlins Park?
Tater tot nachos, for one thing. With wide left field frontage, only the second in-stadium pool in Major League Baseball, and a full bar and menu, turns out the swath of new Cleve was a pretty great place to take in a game Monday night: seats along the outfield fence offer a close-up view of Logan Morrison, the bar borders the massive home run feature on one side and the see-thru Marlins bullpen on the other, and management has the option to keep the post-baseball party hopping until 3 a.m.
Best of all, the Clevelander pool is going to come in quite handy come the dog days of summer. Uniformed attendants provide towel service, and lockers are provided for guests to store a change of clothes while taking a dip. A DJ looms large over the chlorine proceedings, but not too loudly: the game is still audible, and conversation is easy. With the space limited to no more than 240 people, we never even saw a line for the restrooms.
There's also no need to quit the action to stand in line at concessions. Clevelander servers go seats to shallow end taking orders for items like The Magnum, a foot-long beef hot dog wrapped in bacon and dressed Chicago style ($12), the aforementioned Tater Tachos with cheese, chili, jalapenos, guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo on top of crispy fried tater tots ($13), and the Sweet Potato Popper Sundae made of flash-fried sweet potato puffs, crunchy pecans, vanilla ice cream and a rum caramel sauce ($8).
The drinks are thoroughly Clevelander, with a full bar topped off with the same Raging Bull (frozen vodka and Red Bull) and Miami Vice (half pina colada, half rum runner) that you find -- or avoid -- on Ocean Drive. More TVs are being added to the space by the day, meaning there's nowhere you'll stand where you can't see the game, and it's already possible to double-dip by catching the Heat behind the bar while the Fish are on the field.
How to find this outfield paradise? The new free City of Miami Trolley drops off just yards away (try parking at Jackson Memorial for $5-8 and hopping on), but if you're on foot look for Snarkitecture's fallen Orange Bowl sculpture and turn in to find the Cleve's famous art deco neon sign, just like you'd expect. Tickets to watch the game in the Clevelander space start at $50 at Marlins.com, and standing room bar spots are available each game day at the Center Field Box Office.
Photos from a game at The Clevelander:
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