PHX, SEA, TPA, MSP, DEN, San Diego - all cities not too far from NEO's 3.5MM or so people have between 3x-5x the # of restaurants on OpenTable that CLE does...  Even local CLE chains that could use the help competing with nationals and foodie independents (namely Hyde Park, Hospitality, etc..) have shunned OpenTable. I remember Ken Stewart's tried it - and apparently they could figure it out... too confusing or so it was reported...  Get with the times...

It's very expensive for a business to join, and while certainly MS can afford it, other smaller restaurant owners don't care or see the need to join, especially while they are still getting plenty of reservations the old fashioned way. This town isn't like NY. You can easily call and get a reservation most nights at most restaurants in town with a decent lead time and OT is really, IMO, for larger markets where people are actually competing for reservation dates/times and planning dinners many weeks or months in advance in order to get in to certain places. While it's a convenience for diners, it's not yet worth the investment to most of the local owners.

Ah. I just called them and made it the old fashioned way.

 

I'm with you.  I love the idea of opentable (making ressie when venues are closed is great), granted I dont use it, Things 1, 1a, 2 & my nephew/nephews GF use open table all the time.  When I need to make a ressie at a place that doesn't know me, I just pick up the damn phone.  All that extra is too much.

 

It's very expensive for a business to join, and while certainly MS can afford it, other smaller restaurant owners don't care or see the need to join, especially while they are still getting plenty of reservations the old fashioned way. This town isn't like NY. You can easily call and get a reservation most nights at most restaurants in town with a decent lead time and OT is really, IMO, for larger markets where people are actually competing for reservation dates/times and planning dinners many weeks or months in advance in order to get in to certain places. While it's a convenience for diners, it's not yet worth the investment to most of the local owners.

We've had this conversation before, and from a professional point of view, I dont agree with all you've written.  But lets leave it at that without going off topic.  ;)

 

FWIW, here is a little more about this. this is a bit old, but was posted by the owner of Incanto in SF as to why he wasn't on OT anymore. Excerpted from http://incanto.biz/2010/10/22/is-opentable-worth-it/

 

"The more important question is whether OpenTable’s role is a good thing for restaurants and their customers...Not being entirely sure of my own hypothesis – a few months ago I took an informal survey of several other restaurateurs here in San Francisco and in New York, all of whom offer seats through OpenTable, asking them about the value of OpenTable from the restaurateur’s perspective.

 

Only one of the dozen or so I spoke with said he felt that OpenTable increased the value of his restaurant and that he wouldn’t imagine opening a new project without it. The rest were less than happy. The recurring themes were the opinion that OpenTable took home a disproportionate (relative to other vendors) chunk of the restaurants’ revenues each month and the feeling of being trapped in the service, it was too expensive to keep, but letting it go could be harmful. The GM of one very well known New York restaurant group, which spends thousands of dollars on OpenTable each month, put it to me this way, “OpenTable is out for itself, the worst business partner I have ever worked with in all my years in restaurants. If I could find a way to eliminate it from my restaurants I would.” Another high-profile, 3.5-star San Francisco restaurateur told me he feels held hostage by OpenTable. For the past several years, his payments to them have been substantially more than he has himself earned from 80-hour workweeks at his restaurant. But he believes that if he stops offering it, his customers will revolt and many would stop coming to his restaurant. So he keeps paying, but carries a grudge and wishes for something better.

 

What are the actual economics of listing your restaurant on OpenTable? First and most importantly, the restaurant pays all the fees. Diners not only don’t pay any fees directly, they earn rewards for showing loyalty to OpenTable. This is the crux – and brilliance – of OpenTable’s business model: OpenTable has convinced restaurants to pay it substantial fees while it takes the customer relationship out of the hands of the restaurant and places control into OpenTable’s hands. Then, after having lent their names to the service, enabled OpenTable to attract online diners, and funded the construction of a powerful database of customers loyal to OpenTable, restaurants find that they themselves no longer own the customer relationship. Restaurants that want continued access to those diners now have to pay OpenTable for the privilege. This may be at the core of why many restaurateurs quietly resent OpenTable.

 

The access fees can be substantial, particularly for restaurants operating on thin margins. One independent study estimates that OpenTable’s fees (comprised of startup fees, fixed monthly fees, and per-person reservation fees) translate to a cost of approximately $10.40 for each “incremental” 4-top booked through OpenTable.com. To put that in perspective, consider that the average profit margin, before taxes, for a U.S. restaurant is roughly 5%. This means that a table of 4 spending $200 on dinner would generate a $10 profit. In this example, all of that profit would then go to OpenTable fees for having delivered the reservation, leaving the restaurant with nothing other than the hope that that customer would come back (and hopefully book by telephone the next time).

 

In truth, the actual fees incurred for an “incremental” table may be higher than the $10.40 figure, which assumes that every reservation booked via OpenTable.com is an incremental reservation, i.e. composed of guests who would not have otherwise visited the restaurant and were seated on a table that would otherwise have sat empty for the evening. It’s easy to imagine that, had a restaurant not been listed there, at least some of those booking on OpenTable.com would have otherwise gone to the trouble to find that restaurant some other way.

 

OpenTable’s pitch to restaurateurs is that the 5% average restaurant profit margin applies only to schmucks who don’t offer reservations through their service. If you sign on with OpenTable, goes the pitch, you will fill more of those empty tables and see an increase in business, the marginal profits of which will more than justify OpenTable’s fees. Your restaurant will be more profitable than the measly 5% to which you have grown accustomed. This pitch is perfectly tuned to the psyche of the independent restaurateur; we always believe we can find a competitive advantage that will enable us to do it a just a little bit better than the guy across the street.

 

However, once everyone’s restaurant is listed on OpenTable.com, does it still provide that leg up over the guy across the street? Under the old conventional wisdom, restaurateurs considered OpenTable a competitive advantage, in which OpenTable would pay for itself by tapping into a new source of business. Under the new conventional wisdom, however, OpenTable is now considered a gateway to a desirable set of customers (you savvy online diners know who you are). Anyone wanting access to these customers must now pay this new per-customer tax, or risk failure. This is the hard-edged reality of the role OpenTable now plays within fine dining. By controlling access to a growing population of diners, it’s increasingly rare when an ambitious new restaurant decides it can forgo being a part of the service.

 

It is simply not credible to argue, on an industry-wide basis, that a solution that materially increases the operating costs of every restaurant (and therefore the cost of dining out) will also stimulate customers to eat out more frequently, on the whole. My suspicion is that it will actually have the opposite effect. OpenTable’s hefty fee structure (and resulting billion-plus-dollar market capitalization) may have something to do with its dominant market share in online restaurant reservations; there is not yet a strong, fully viable competitor to challenge its grip on its 14,000 customers. On the other hand, perhaps the high cost of doing business with OpenTable merely reflects a harsh reality for which restaurateurs have no one to blame but themselves: the truth that by permitting a third party to own and control access to the customer database, restaurants have unwittingly paid while giving away one of the crown jewels of their business, their customers."

 

FWIW, here is a little more about this. this is a bit old, but was posted by the owner of Incanto in SF as to why he wasn't on OT anymore. Excerpted from http://incanto.biz/2010/10/22/is-opentable-worth-it/

 

"The more important question is whether OpenTable’s role is a good thing for restaurants and their customers...Not being entirely sure of my own hypothesis – a few months ago I took an informal survey of several other restaurateurs here in San Francisco and in New York, all of whom offer seats through OpenTable, asking them about the value of OpenTable from the restaurateur’s perspective.

 

Only one of the dozen or so I spoke with said he felt that OpenTable increased the value of his restaurant and that he wouldn’t imagine opening a new project without it. The rest were less than happy. The recurring themes were the opinion that OpenTable took home a disproportionate (relative to other vendors) chunk of the restaurants’ revenues each month and the feeling of being trapped in the service, it was too expensive to keep, but letting it go could be harmful. The GM of one very well known New York restaurant group, which spends thousands of dollars on OpenTable each month, put it to me this way, “OpenTable is out for itself, the worst business partner I have ever worked with in all my years in restaurants. If I could find a way to eliminate it from my restaurants I would.” Another high-profile, 3.5-star San Francisco restaurateur told me he feels held hostage by OpenTable. For the past several years, his payments to them have been substantially more than he has himself earned from 80-hour workweeks at his restaurant. But he believes that if he stops offering it, his customers will revolt and many would stop coming to his restaurant. So he keeps paying, but carries a grudge and wishes for something better.

 

What are the actual economics of listing your restaurant on OpenTable? First and most importantly, the restaurant pays all the fees. Diners not only don’t pay any fees directly, they earn rewards for showing loyalty to OpenTable. This is the crux – and brilliance – of OpenTable’s business model: OpenTable has convinced restaurants to pay it substantial fees while it takes the customer relationship out of the hands of the restaurant and places control into OpenTable’s hands. Then, after having lent their names to the service, enabled OpenTable to attract online diners, and funded the construction of a powerful database of customers loyal to OpenTable, restaurants find that they themselves no longer own the customer relationship. Restaurants that want continued access to those diners now have to pay OpenTable for the privilege. This may be at the core of why many restaurateurs quietly resent OpenTable.

 

The access fees can be substantial, particularly for restaurants operating on thin margins. One independent study estimates that OpenTable’s fees (comprised of startup fees, fixed monthly fees, and per-person reservation fees) translate to a cost of approximately $10.40 for each “incremental” 4-top booked through OpenTable.com. To put that in perspective, consider that the average profit margin, before taxes, for a U.S. restaurant is roughly 5%. This means that a table of 4 spending $200 on dinner would generate a $10 profit. In this example, all of that profit would then go to OpenTable fees for having delivered the reservation, leaving the restaurant with nothing other than the hope that that customer would come back (and hopefully book by telephone the next time).

 

In truth, the actual fees incurred for an “incremental” table may be higher than the $10.40 figure, which assumes that every reservation booked via OpenTable.com is an incremental reservation, i.e. composed of guests who would not have otherwise visited the restaurant and were seated on a table that would otherwise have sat empty for the evening. It’s easy to imagine that, had a restaurant not been listed there, at least some of those booking on OpenTable.com would have otherwise gone to the trouble to find that restaurant some other way.

 

OpenTable’s pitch to restaurateurs is that the 5% average restaurant profit margin applies only to schmucks who don’t offer reservations through their service. If you sign on with OpenTable, goes the pitch, you will fill more of those empty tables and see an increase in business, the marginal profits of which will more than justify OpenTable’s fees. Your restaurant will be more profitable than the measly 5% to which you have grown accustomed. This pitch is perfectly tuned to the psyche of the independent restaurateur; we always believe we can find a competitive advantage that will enable us to do it a just a little bit better than the guy across the street.

 

However, once everyone’s restaurant is listed on OpenTable.com, does it still provide that leg up over the guy across the street? Under the old conventional wisdom, restaurateurs considered OpenTable a competitive advantage, in which OpenTable would pay for itself by tapping into a new source of business. Under the new conventional wisdom, however, OpenTable is now considered a gateway to a desirable set of customers (you savvy online diners know who you are). Anyone wanting access to these customers must now pay this new per-customer tax, or risk failure. This is the hard-edged reality of the role OpenTable now plays within fine dining. By controlling access to a growing population of diners, it’s increasingly rare when an ambitious new restaurant decides it can forgo being a part of the service.

 

It is simply not credible to argue, on an industry-wide basis, that a solution that materially increases the operating costs of every restaurant (and therefore the cost of dining out) will also stimulate customers to eat out more frequently, on the whole. My suspicion is that it will actually have the opposite effect. OpenTable’s hefty fee structure (and resulting billion-plus-dollar market capitalization) may have something to do with its dominant market share in online restaurant reservations; there is not yet a strong, fully viable competitor to challenge its grip on its 14,000 customers. On the other hand, perhaps the high cost of doing business with OpenTable merely reflects a harsh reality for which restaurateurs have no one to blame but themselves: the truth that by permitting a third party to own and control access to the customer database, restaurants have unwittingly paid while giving away one of the crown jewels of their business, their customers."

 

 

This says nothing about the actual fees and how they are calculated nor that there are two types of OT services.

Thats pretty interesting.  So you'd think a competing service would come in....  And I mean, what about Cleveland Independents and all the different local restaurant networks that exist in Cleveland creating a local version of Open Table. 

Thats pretty interesting.  So you'd think a competing service would come in....  And I mean, what about Cleveland Independents and all the different local restaurant networks that exist in Cleveland creating a local version of Open Table. 

Many restaurants have their own systems, but don't have the end user support functions that equal the offering OT does.  Not to mention the built in Marketing and POP service OT can provide.

 

ETA:  OT bought their closest competitor.  A company in the UK.

I guess I'm just saying that plenty - thousands - of other restaurants of all shapes and sizes in cities 10-20%ish+/- NEO's size have decided OpenTable is a good option...  I'm not talking LA or SFO or NYC... I"m talking 504 in Denver, 327 in Seattle, 290 in San Diego, 231 in MSP, etc... vs. 107 in NEO...  We all know all those properties aren't full every night and diners don't need reservations at all. However, proportionately, it would appear that restaurants other similarly sized metros have embraced OT much more than they have in CLE... whatever the reason.

 

Maybe OT haa convinced them - and I would argue this way - that not being on OT is like not having a website in this day and age... IF people didn't go to restaurants here, we wouldn't have restaurants - so don't know why the OT kind of restaurants that wish to succeed would take a non-OT approach when they embrace OT in other cities...  I'd argue that biz diners coming to CLE are missing out on non-OT places, because that's how I think when I go to other cities, unless I know a non OT spot.

 

I checked my OT account have made perhaps 150 OT reservations in recent years - probably 30% out of town. But I don't always use it to book a reservation. I often use it to determine when I don't HAVE to make a reservation... so add another 50-100% on to the total I note - just getting info. Sort of like shopping for item in person at Best Buy to touch/feel the item but then buying online at Amazon for a lower cost.

 

And - as noted - can make ressies 24/7/365... As a night owl, this is a good thing.

I guess I'm just saying that plenty - thousands - of other restaurants of all shapes and sizes in cities 10-20%ish+/- NEO's size have decided OpenTable is a good option...  I'm not talking LA or SFO or NYC... I"m talking 504 in Denver, 327 in Seattle, 290 in San Diego, 231 in MSP, etc... vs. 107 in NEO...  We all know all those properties aren't full every night and diners don't need reservations at all. However, proportionately, it would appear that restaurants other similarly sized metros have embraced OT much more than they have in CLE... whatever the reason.

 

Maybe OT haa convinced them - and I would argue this way - that not being on OT is like not having a website in this day and age... IF people didn't go to restaurants here, we wouldn't have restaurants - so don't know why the OT kind of restaurants that wish to succeed would take a non-OT approach when they embrace OT in other cities...  I'd argue that biz diners coming to CLE are missing out on non-OT places, because that's how I think when I go to other cities, unless I know a non OT spot.

 

I checked my OT account have made perhaps 150 OT reservations in recent years - probably 30% out of town. But I don't always use it to book a reservation. I often use it to determine when I don't HAVE to make a reservation... so add another 50-100% on to the total I note - just getting info. Sort of like shopping for item in person at Best Buy to touch/feel the item but then buying online at Amazon for a lower cost.

 

And - as noted - can make ressies 24/7/365... As a night owl, this is a good thing.

 

OT started in San Fran then moved to NYC, Vegas, then Orlando.  They hit all the tourist spots first.  Then they do regional/metro sign up marketing blitzs, which they offer lower fees. 

 

However, internet usage is not as high in NEO as in other regions say DC, Baltimore, Atlanta, Denver.  OT uses nielsen internet information to go to regions where they know there is high internet and mobile usage.

 

You're right about the thinkingof bookers.  That is where OT fails, they cannot convince old school restaurants to get on board.  If there is a unique venue in cleveland say "The Top of the Town" that has a huge regional draw, good food and ambiance, that type of restaurant uses not being on OT as a plus. 

I have never had an issue getting a table in Cleveland walk in or reservation  (unless you are going to that goofy Melt) I think of open table as something you do when you are traveling to another city and MUST try a certain place and you have certain time parameters. Things get tight about ~7pm on Fri-Sat, but otherwise, come on...it won't be a long wait.

and i dont in nyc either for exactly those reasons. just anecdotal, but i dont know anyone who uses open table in nyc. its not the end all be all. you can just show up these days and restaurants are glad to have you.

Wait a minute- from that article all this fuss is over 14,000 users?  Across the country?  Is that a typo?

"14,000 customers" would mean 14,000 restaurants I believe, since they are the paying entity.  The "users" are actually part of the product (since they don't pay anything).  (The users are customers of the restaurants, but not customers of OpenTable.)

Re: Opentable, I've used it before (once or twice) but I don't see the pressing need for it in Cleveland. I don't see how it saves me any time - most restaurants pick up the phone promptly and are happy to take reservations. I've really used OT as a way to scout out who's already booked for the evening, and I'd bet calling would produce some tables here and there due to cancellations moments before, etc.

Melt could definitely use OT's services (or Melt should simply do something similar themselves).  Even at the eastside location which is supposed to be better equipped to handle the volume, the wait is far too long.

So, getting back on track.....  The mister and I are pretty psyched about the new downtown Lizardville.  While it will differ from the existing one in Bedford (which is awesome, BTW, if you haven't been), it will be almost like having Cleveland Beer Week all the time!  And actually, I think the location will work considering how many offices there are around there.  I think plenty of people will be sticking around after work to go there.  Maybe it'll even convince Captain Tony's to stay open nights and weekends!  You're a pizza chain for f*uck's sake!  You would have a ton of delivery customers if you'd just stay open like Guy's and Rascal House!

I'm still a little dubious if it can hold onto customers past the end of happy hour. However,  Pacers over on 12th does pretty well  into the evening and I'm assuming this will be a pretty large upgrade. Does anyone know what space it is taking over? Is it the old Key West space?

A very recent article from Fortune talks about some of the headwinds that OpenTable is facing.  Could be interesting times for them, especially if they get a worthwhile competitor.

 

OpenTable's rise and fall is a cautionary tale

 

January 3, 2012: 8:50 AM ET

 

OpenTable is a reminder for investors eager for a piece of a hot tech IPO: It doesn't take a stock bubble on the scale of the 90s dot-com mania for investors to lose money on a supposedly hot Internet stock.

 

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

 

FORTUNE -- Nothing lasts forever, but the speculative momentum that can drive up tech stocks is especially fleeting. Just ask OpenTable

 

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/03/opentable-rise-and-fall/

YAY! I know this won't be great news for you urban folks, but us SW burb people are excited. And hey, regional growth is good for all. From the Scene:

 

"Slated to open this summer in the Plaza at SouthPark, across from SouthPark Mall, the restaurant looks to be the restaurant group's first "repeat." Diners in and around that area can look forward to a new Rosewood Grill, which builds off the success of the two-year-old Hudson concept. The original is casual, comfortable, sophisticated and — most important — affordable. The setting is sexy, the food fresh, well-executed and flavorful."

 

More at the link:

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2012/01/10/hospitality-restaurants-to-build-upon-rosewood-grill-success

 

Had our company Christmas party at XO last night (great food as always and super service....best waiter I had any where in a long time).

 

What I was very happy to see was a good crowd for a Monday night in Jan. (with a big football game on the tube to boot) at a not cheap restaurant.  I really thought we would be one of the few tables in the place and, while not packed, a decent crowd.  Good tidings, in my opinion, for the warehouse district.

 

A somewhat pleasant surprise was free parking in the lot at the southeast corner of  St. Clair and West Sixth.  The lot had a number of cars in it (again for a Monday night in Jan.) but when I arrived at 7:00 PM their was nobody manning the lot.  I asked the valet at XO about it and he said they sometimes just leave it on Monday nights and to just go ahead and park.  Those lots really must be gold mines if they can forgo income at certain times.

As someone who works in a restaurant that uses open table, I can say that less than 20% of our reservations are made online. People still like to call and needle the poor hostess with innate questions about the menu. Besides, unless you're a group 8 or larger, there is normally no problem getting a table.

Great review of SOHO.  My only complaint - they should have used one of my pics!!

 

Southern Belle

West 25th welcomes yet another fine new dining spot

by Douglas Trattner

 

When it comes to southern hospitality, nothing's more gracious than inviting in a stranger and setting out a plate of pimento cheese. That's precisely what takes place nightly at SoHo Kitchen and Bar, the latest in a flurry of new additions to Ohio City's restaurant row. Snug, cheerful, and glowing from within with candlelight, SoHo (short for southern hospitality) embraces visitors like a hug from Grandma.

 

Mercifully, Ohio City's newest eatery is not another gastropub. It's a "New Southern" bistro, serving fresh takes on cuisines such as Low Country, Cajun, Creole, and barbecue. Here, diners will find classic southern staples like shrimp and grits, catfish po' boys, and chicken and waffles, all dressed up for a more demanding modern audience.

 

More:

http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/southern-belle/Content?oid=2796322

Cleveland still gets the national respect with beer places:

 

Buckeye Beer Engine

La Cav du Vin

Bier Markt

 

Market Garden gets a mention in the Bier Markt write up as well.

 

America’s 100 best beer bars: 2012

 

Pubs, dives, taverns, canteens, watering holes and holes-in-the-wall: Once again, we’ve surveyed the lay of the beer-bar land and found 100 one-off spots where there’s a barstool any beer lover can call home.

 

http://draftmag.com/new/feature/americas-100-best-beer-bars-2012/

 

 

They also mention Winking Lizard. 

 

Portland dominates that list, they must have near 1/4 of the places in the west.  Not surprising, but I thought Seattle would have more.

Portland:  the place where the young go to retire.

Posting this here too, since it's heavily restaurant based (and I want to make sure you guys see it since I am the author!)

 

http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/features/dreamweekend011912.aspx

 

 

^Nice work! 

Thanks!

RnR,

 

I had a feeling that was you based on what you've said about yourself on UO. Nice article!

 

thx stpats!

Awesome job RnR! 

 

:)

Regarding the Tilted Kilt images posted above. My concern are those panels above the NaNa Wall system. It looks like they might be filled with different images and graphics. I hope design review questions that. Although I am a big fan of girls in short plaid skirts, I don't think we need those photos plastered all over the exterior.

While I'm not too excited about TK coming, I do like that they are engaging the street with the patio and NaNa Wall system to bring inside/out, outside/in.

Corky and Lenny's just opened an Express location in Pearlbrook Shopping Center (Brookpark & Pearl), where Goodman's used to be.

 

Yum.

Posting this here too, since it's heavily restaurant based (and I want to make sure you guys see it since I am the author!)

 

http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/features/dreamweekend011912.aspx

 

 

 

Awesome write-up, RnR! I'll be suggesting this article to friends and associates from out-of-town.

 

Corky and Lenny's just opened an Express location in Pearlbrook Shopping Center (Brookpark & Pearl), where Goodman's used to be.

 

Yum.

 

They are getting closer to Lakewood.... So they've got the East Side and now the South Side. Unless the fishies dig reubens, there's only side of town left to feed!

rnr that is so you -- pigs head -- way to rep the chowhounds lol! bravo. the whole tour.

One time Cleveland restaurant Frank & Pauly's reopens in historic Mentor home--

 

Frank & Pauly's opens up in historic Sawyer House (video)

Published: Friday, January 27, 2012

 

http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2012/01/27/news/doc4f21bc5bc1152703109409.txt

 

By Janet Podolak

[email protected]

@jpodolakatwork

 

Dennis Koury hopes to keep the vision of his late brother alive with the opening on Monday of the new Frank & Pauly’s Italian Restaurant in the historic 1843 Sawyer House, 9470 Mentor Ave.

 

One of the earliest stone structures in Lake County, the landmark’s latest incarnation got its official welcome Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting hosted by the Mentor Chamber of Commerce.

 

The menu, including a prosciutto and Gorgonzola salad created by the late Wayne Koury, has been resuscitated and brought here from the original restaurant he established off  Public Square in downtown Cleveland. which closed.

Zachary Bruell's Cowell & Hubbard restaurant to open Friday, Feb. 3: Restaurant Row

Cowell & Hubbard, restaurateur Zachary Bruell's long-anticipated spot at PlayhouseSquare, opens for dinner Friday.

 

"How do I feel? Like something's wrong with me," Bruell says drolly, musing over unveiling his fifth restaurant in the city of Cleveland.

 

Any stage fright is based on the high expectations fans have for the acclaimed chef's latest venture, he says.

 

"People will expect the same level of performance as all the other restaurants, right out of the chute," Bruell says of the space at the corner of East 13th Street and Euclid Avenue. "That takes a little time, but we'll be there pretty quickly."

 

http://www.cleveland.com/dining/index.ssf/2012/01/zachary_bruells_cowell_hubbard.html

 

 

Also the website is up.

 

http://cowellhubbard.com/

^ thats great news. the interior should be nice -- maybe someone can get pics sometime? thx for the link -- i see they have shishito peppers as app, thats a real favorite of mine. lunch and happy hour too. more from the scene review:

 

Described as "Cuisine Vanguard," the menu will include French-inspired dishes like Beef Ceviche with Black Bread, Foie Gras Donuts, Lake Superior Whitefish with Coriander and Tomato Lime Compote, and Frog Legs with Butter-Poached Radishes and Thyme Butter.

 

Andy Dombrowski will serve as chef de cuisine, relocating from his current post at one of Bruell's other restaurants, Chinato.

 

Cowell & Hubbard will be open for lunch and dinner every day but Monday.

 

Restaurant Week menus are up!

 

Feb. 27- Mar. 4

 

http://downtowncleveland.com/events/restaurant-week/participating-restaurants-.aspx

Any initial reviews of Cowell and Hubbard?

 

From the few photos I've seen floating around on line (http://cowellhubbard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/MG_9650-e1328290900765.jpeg) the interior looks fantastic.

Sixth City Diner on West 9th in the former Waterstreet location has closed...it only lasted about 6 months.

^Boy am I behind the times...when did Waterstreet close?  If I recall it always did a good lunch business for being a bit out of the way (at least in my days going there which admittedly was 5-6 years ago).

 

I would imagine this will be a good space once the E and W building opens up.  Somebody should snap it up.

Any initial reviews of Cowell and Hubbard?

 

From the few photos I've seen floating around on line (http://cowellhubbard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/MG_9650-e1328290900765.jpeg) the interior looks fantastic.

I went there opening night.  The food was very good, and they have a great cocktail list.  The space is a knockout, but I don't see myself making many trips there.  I always feel like the dishes at Bruell restaurants are impeccably prepared and presented, but often lack a strong flavor profile.  I would except l'Albatros from this generalization.  I did go to the new Spice across from the Happy Dog last week, and the food there was excellent.  It's already one of my favorite restaurants.

do you feel that way about Chinato? It's really one of my fave places, but I almost exclusively go out for lunch.

I like all of his restaurants, and Chinato is probably second after l'Albatros.  I guess I just feel like they're always on the cusp of being really great, but don't quite seal the deal.  I still patronize Parallax, Chinto, and L'Albatros fairly regularly though.

I've had disappointing service more than once at L'Albatross. I'm reluctant to ever return. Plus those plastic white chairs are horrid.

^I like L'albatross but have to agree they have server issues.  Once it was a major problem.  Was not approached for twenty minutes after being seated.