Downtown Cleveland just got a lot sweeter. Good Graces Bakery + Café quietly flipped on the open sign Thursday, slipping into the ground-floor retail space at the AECOM building and serving weekday coffee, pastries, and made-to-order breakfast and lunch sandwiches. Owner and pastry chef Grace Cohan is back in her hometown for the project after years of baking and cheffing in other cities.
As reported by Cleveland Scene, Good Graces has taken over the glassy lobby corner at 1300 E. 9th St., a spot longtime downtown workers will remember as the home of Anna in the Raw. The Scene piece runs through the early menu and notes that the café plans to rotate a different soup, quiche and pizza each week. The story was published on Thursday by food writer Douglas Trattner.
Menu highlights
The weekday lineup leans into both sugar hits and savory comfort. On the sweet side, the menu features cinnamon rolls, homemade Pop-Tarts, pecan praline brownies, and a strawberries-and-cream cake. Savory options include avocado toast topped with a soft-cooked egg, a ham-and-cheese puff pastry and a breakfast sandwich that stacks an egg soufflé, cheese, ham and a crispy hash brown on a brioche roll. According to Good Graces Bakery and Café, current hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
About the baker
Cohan is a classically trained pastry chef and chocolatier whose résumé stretches well beyond Northeast Ohio. She served with the Peace Corps in West Africa before spending more than a decade in Austin, working in restaurants, hotels, and chocolate factories. Cleveland Scene notes that she opened Good Graces "to create the kind of place she always wanted to visit."
Where it fits downtown
The AECOM building’s ground-floor strip has seen a steady turnover of food concepts in recent years, and neighborhood coverage points out that Anna in the Raw previously occupied the space Good Graces now calls home. CoolCleveland documented Anna in the Raw’s run at 1300 E. 9th St. as the building continued to reshape its retail roster.
Good Graces is already taking orders and posting menu updates online, and downtown workers can find hours, contact information, and pre-order details through the café’s website. According to Good Graces Bakery and Café, the address is 1300 E. 9th St., Suite 104.
