A Bedford Staple Rooted in History
If you have been around the greater Cleveland area for any length of time, specifically the Bedford area, you have probably heard or seen the Sirna name at least a few times.
If you are a Bedford native, or you frequent Bedford for any reason, it is also quite probable that you have been to Sirna’s Café at 795 Broadway for what can only be described as the best comfort food money can buy.
And if you at some point became a regular, it would not have been unusual for you to be greeted warmly with a handshake, and by name, by Sirna’s original owner Leo Siran, who established Sirna’s Café in 1953. Sadly, Leo left us in 2018, but not before taking his time in finding just the right person to buy Sirna’s: Brett Holycross.
Full disclosure on a number of things: I got to know Brett first from the business side of things as one of his wholesale beer representatives, but I got to know him down the line as a friend as well, which I will detail a bit more later. There is no denying, Brett’s personality can be an acquired taste, but it was clear from day one that he was determined to not only protect the Sirna’s legacy of great food, good times, and better friends, but get the Sirna’s name in front of as many new folks as he possibly could.
Holycross bought Sirna’s from Leo in 2017, just before Leo’s passing. I also knew Leo well enough to know that he simply would not sell, or allow himself to pass honestly, without knowing that Sirna’s would be left to capable hands. I can honestly say that Leo can rest easy, as he chose very well in Brett Holycross.
The Evolution of Sirna's
Early on, Brett knew it would be a challenge to blend the old with the new, that his number one goal would be gaining the confidence of longtime customers while at the same time brightening up Sirna’s admittedly dated imagery to attract fresh faces to the bar/restaurant.
“Sirna’s used to be a bar that served food, now it is a restaurant that has a bar," said Jan, one of three Sirna’s employees still with Brett today.
Another challenge became updating quite a bit of equipment to help accomplish these goals.
Now that doesn't mean Brett has done anything to what was always a Sirna’s staple — great food at a fair price. If anything, he has taken that one step further not only with his everyday food offerings — which includes those Sirna’s burgers they are known for — but by expanding offerings at great prices to creating special events like his Annual Customer Appreciation Day, which includes a pig roast, clam bakes, and even Valentine's Day, where every woman who comes in for dinner receives a Sirna’s rose.
Every Wednesday morning before retiring, when I would stop by for Brett’s beer order, I would find him in the back kitchen personally preparing lunches for the local senior center. It was nothing to catch him on the phone, other times negotiating his way through the menu for an upcoming Bedford Bearcats high-school reunion, plans for a Kentucky Derby party or even his now-famous Christmas in July event that he puts on. He has even built his own snow-making machines for the event.
A few years back, Holycross even had a group that puts on murder mystery events stage one that journeyed through historic downtown Bedford and ended at his bar. It was highly successful, but when I asked if he was planning on doing the concept again, his answer was simple: "We’ve gotten too busy for it.”
I did mention how Brett and I became more than a business relationship, and that came in September of 2022 when my brother, who lived right up the street from Sirna’s for over thirty years, passed away. I happened to mention to Brett that we wanted a place to hold a memorial lunch for family and friends. I did not bring it up for him to consider hosting, it was just to talk it through, but before I could finish, Brett pretty much had a menu planned and ready to go two weeks later. When the time came to settle up, he refused anything for the food, and said, "Ralph, you believed in me from day one when I bought this place, so you just handle your bar tab and take care of my staff (gratuities), so let me do this for you”. And I can honestly tell you that I am not the only one who would have a story like this to tell about Brett.
Just a couple more tidbits about Brett and Sirna’s. One is that when Chanel High School was meeting the wrecking ball, Brett could not bear to watch the old football field scoreboard get demolished as well, so he did what any rational person would do: he picked it up and is storing it in the Sirna’s parking lot. He was most excited to show me that this fairly large scoreboard — I would have to say maybe 25 feet long by 10-12 feet high — was powered a simple regular 120-volt plug, not extremely complicated at all. Now that was a few years ago, and the running joke between us ever since has been when we'll see it light up, and he swears this summer it will finally happen.
I saved the best for last. When he was telling me about the murder mystery event, he told me that it took people participating though areas of Sirna’s I did not even know existed. Back rooms, upstairs, and unbelievably, an actual speakeasy for invited guests only that Shaker Heights native Paul Newman was known to visit. Pretty cool, right?
I will leave you with this, which is Brett’s retelling of the last piece of advice Leo left him with before handing over the keys. Leo knew that many who go into the bar business fail because they become their own best customers. That was his last, best advice to Brett: “Don’t become your own best customer." That is the story I never get tired of Brett sharing.
Okay, last thing. The next time you go to Sirna's, make sure to tell Brett that Ralph sent you!