CLEVELAND, Ohio - The description on the sign for Banter, a craft beer and wine bar-shop on Detroit Avenue that opened this month, will jar you slightly - but only for a second.

Located on Detroit Avenue between West 73rd and West 74th streets, Banter's sign touts three items rarely seen together: Bottles. Sausage. Poutine. It's almost something out of a Christopher Guest mockumentary.

"The overall kind of feeling is to do something that had not been done in Cleveland," said Matt Stipe, one of the owners.

Simple, sans-serif white letters cling to the food-offering lists. Co-owner Tom Owen describes it as a "funeral-home board."

Don't expect a block full of trendy restaurants or bars; Banter sits across from a Family Dollar and a day-care center, and is flanked by fast-food eateries.

Here are five things to know about Banter:

The space

Why the name? "Banter," Stipe said, "is what everyone does over great food and great beer."

The space is really three segregated areas lined together.

"We want things to pop," Stipe said. "The floor is the signature art piece of the place. All individual, hand-laid pieces were shaped into squares." The wooden pieces are from the old Elyria High School basketball court.

The space, which sat empty for about 15 years, used to be a bar called Cheerio. The owners have renovated quite a bit but are leaving some of the original walls intact, with exposed cement and bricks from several eras.

A vintage table more than 90 years old and salvaged from an East Side church sits toward the back of the wine room and will be used as a gathering spot for mini-classes or winemaker visits.

The beer

Ten beers on draft are carefully chosen, including international offerings like Duvel's and Liefmans Goudenband to locals like Fat Head's Holly Jolly and Market Garden's Prosperity Wheat. Perennial craft favorites like Dogfish Head's 60 Minute IPA and Chicago-area Two Brothers' Domaine DuPage also are being poured.

When its inventory is entirely in place, expect as many as 550 bottles in stock, including 80 large-formats. Six packs and individual bottles are for sale. Corkage fees range from $1.50 to $2.50.

"We're not focusing on any region when it comes to beer," Stipe said. "People are not loyal to region. People drink on style, rather than country."

Stipe said he doesn't discount the possibility of evolving into a brewery, but that idea would be "many years down the line."

The wine

A dozen by-the-glass offerings are poured in addition to the 220 bottles being sold now. When inventory is compete, there will be 350 bottles lining the metallic shelves.

"We want to modernize the dusty old wine shop," Stipe said. "We're going the more boutique route. You can pick up Kendall Jackson at Giant Eagle. We wanted to showcase boutique wines and introduce people to really, really awesome wines."

Wines like Botanica, an Oregon Pinot Noir that Stipe procured. And Horseshoes and Handgrenades, a blend of red grapes from the Northwest crafted by Andre Hueston Mack.

The food

The menu, which consists of 10 poutine dishes and 10 sausages, came about after the owners immersed themselves in research: Two and a half days in Canada, 23 orders of poutine and - for Stipe - nine pounds added that he's almost shed.

"No one (in Cleveland) does really great authentic Montreal Poutine," Stipe said.

Chef Adam Lambert makes the sausage and created the menu. After he opens his own place in 2016, he will stay on as a consultant.

"This is definitely the smoothest opening I've ever been a part of," Lambert said.

The owners

Three owners:

* Matt Stipe, wine, worked at all of Sam McNulty's properties in Ohio City - Bar Cento, Bier Markt, Market Garden Brewery and Nano Brew.

* Adam Gullett, beer, Bier Markt, Porco Lounge and Tiki Room.

* Tom Owen, helps Lambert, worked in Chicago.

"Ultimately," Stipe said, "all three of us are bartenders."

At least one of them will have an iPad on them all the time to cash people in and out without having to go up to the register, Stipe added.

In the end, he said, Banter is about recognizing that craft beer, good wine, and well-made food "is to be celebrated."

"We want this to be a conversation," he said.