Number of new restaurants roll into Cleveland, rock redevelopment of market

Nation's Restaurant News, July 21, 2003 by Carolyn Walkup

"Tremont is a very hot place right now. There is a lot of anticipation in the air about what happens down here," said Doug Petkovic, who is the owner of the brand-new Theory restaurant as well as a partner in four other restaurants in town. Theory is a chef-driven American restaurant focusing on fresh, simple ingredients with 72 seats, he said.

According to Petkovic, the Cleveland market is doing very well in spite of a number of restaurant closings in the past couple of years.

"The mediocre or just OK restaurants are finding it hard now that people are spending less money," he said, noting that some operations he knows of are down as much as 30 percent in sales from the year-ago volume.

Declining sales are not a problem at Fahrenheit. Chef and coowner Rocco Whalen, who opened the restaurant during spring 2002 in Tremont, said he would add 25 more seats in the neighboring storefront, bringing his total to 105.

"I am living out my dream," said Whalen, whom Esquire magazine's John Mariani named last winter as a chef to watch. Cooking since he was 14, the 26-year-old chef left Cleveland after graduating from culinary school to work for several Wolfgang Puck restaurants for a few years.

"We are trying to anchor Tremont as the place to go to eat in Cleveland," he said. "The more restaurants you have here that are doing good things, the better for everyone.

Clevelanders are becoming more savvy diners than they used to be, Whalen said. Their willingness to try new things allows him to draw from a variety of culinary influences, including Asian and Mediterranean.

"I use familiar ingredients, but I mix them up," he said. A few examples are seared tiger shrimp and diver scallops with crime fraiche garlic potato and lemon-mustard reduction; fig and prosciutto pizza with herbs and Brie; and an appetizer of Chinatown chicken spring rolls with cucumber sunomono and Hong Kong dipping sauce.

Complementing many of Tremont's restaurants is the 806 Wine and Martini Bar, which has a limited menu of appetizers and desserts. The vintage space has received a good amount of local publicity since partners Tony Prusak, Bill Schmidt and Tom Lanahan opened it last March.

Manager-bartender Jody Manning garnered some of that publicity when he placed second in the Best Drink Contest at this year's International Bar Show in New York with his Schnappuccino -- a concoction of butterscotch schnapps, Bailey's Irish Creme and espresso topped with Vietnamese cinnamon.

Two new upscale restaurants in other neighborhoods also are garnering their share of recognition. They are Classics, a fine-dining restaurant owned by the Cleveland Clinic and operated by InterContinental Hotels, and 3Birds, a newcomer in the suburb of Lakewood.

Classics is an updated version of another restaurant by the same name that the clinic owned and operated several years ago. Specializing in European classics and tableside service, Classics features such dishes as steak Diane, veal Oscar and poached Dover sole filled with lobster souffle and served in a lobster cream sauce. Checks average $98 at dinner and $50 at lunch, said Duncan Clements, director of food and beverage.