Get baked - Gypsy Beans & Baking Co. offers muffins, croissants and more.

Located halfway between Downtown Cleveland and Lakewood, the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood is a commuter's dream. Home buyers priced out of the Ohio City market, or those just impatient with its rate of progress, are snatching up deals a dozen blocks to the west. Scads of lawn-averse upwardly mobile professionals are plopping down deposits on freshly built townhouses and condos. And who wouldn't, with amenities like nearby Edgewater Lakefront Park, an RTA station and the promise of a lakefront redevelopment plan?

Of course, the next logical progression for a neighborhood that reaches this level of critical mass is the arrival of new bars, restaurants and coffeehouses. Some have already sprung to life, others are close to opening, and a few notable restauranteurs are kicking the tires of vacant storefronts.

You can't have a great neighborhood without a great coffeehouse, an unofficial town hall for community residents to gather and discuss the minutiae of the day. In late winter, just such a place appeared, thanks to Niki Gillota. Located at West 65th and Detroit, the epicenter of Detroit-Shoreway, Gypsy Beans & Baking Co. possesses all the qualities of a great café. It is independently owned and operated, open from early morning to late in the evening, and it serves the perfect blend of beverages, food and sweets.

The double storefront, once a discount store, greets customers with well-worn wood floors, black-and-white photography and large chalkboard menus. Glass display cases flaunt fresh-baked muffins, croissants, sweet breads and cookies. Behind the counter, antique bread and meat slicers serve as functional art.

Gypsy's coffee beans are locally roasted and blended specifically for Gillota. The house espresso blend, for instance, features seven different beans roasted in three distinct styles. A list of Passport Drinks reaches to all points of the globe for inspiration. The Galapagos melds chocolate, praline and caramel; the Antarctic, vanilla and mint.

Thick-crust, square-cut pizza ($3.50) is available by the slice. Or, if you prefer your pizza a la Napoli, delicate, thin-crusted flat breads ($3.25) are on hand as well. Sandwiches are stuffed with quality meats, cheeses and tantalizing house-made spreads and sauces. A caramelized onion and goat- cheese spread jazzes up the beef and cheddar ($7.95), while a zesty sun-dried tomato and caper tapenade lubricates the Italian ($7.95), a dense layering of salami, pepperoni, cappicola and provolone. Sandwiches include chips, slaw, Greek pasta salad, marinated green beans or potato salad.

Across the street and down the block, it's all about macaroni and cheese. Cheddar's, adjacent to and operated by Snicker's Tavern, is a seven-table bistro dedicated to all things noodly and cheesy. Open since early spring, Cheddar's boasts a menu of some 20 different riffs on mac and cheese, each with a different combination of pasta, sauce and accoutrements.

More than just a gimmick, the combinations are well-considered and downright dreamy. The Western Mac ($8) is a deep bowl of wagon-wheel pasta tossed with a blend of melted cheese, beefy chili and chopped onions. It tastes like a gourmet version of Hamburger Helper. In the Black Forest Mac ($8), a mix of pasta noodles and sautéed mushrooms are enrobed in a smoky Gouda cheese sauce. For an additional $4 you can top it with a sliced, grilled chicken breast.

For now, the menu focuses solely on burgers and entrees (which include a nice green salad). There are no appetizers, though our server did say some would be added soon. There is a full beer, wine and booze list.

Around the corner, "Irish Pete" Leneghan is putting the finishing touches on what close friends are calling his "legacy bar." Stone Mad is a two-and-a-half-year labor of love that often found Leneghan, owner of Tremont's Treehouse bar, on his hands and knees laying acres of gorgeous stone pavers. Inside, skilled craftsmen have constructed two magnificent barrooms, one featuring black walnut, the other floor-to-ceiling oak. A dining room in the rear will serve upscale pub fare.

To encourage conversation, Stone Mad will have no televisions or jukebox, but it will have a sprawling stone patio with water and fire features. An intricate tile mosaic of Leneghan's ancestral town, Ballycroy in County Mayo, brightens up the pub's lower level.

Chef Marlin Kaplan, owner of One Walnut, is getting closer to pulling the trigger on a Detroit-Shoreway location. And other chefs are eyeing the area with strong interest. Even the dusty old City Grill, home of the $1 burger, has freshened up her act. It's all very good news for the pioneering Clevelanders who have headed west in hopes of a happier, better-fed life.