ORANGE VILLAGE, Ohio - Oak and Embers is expanding, bringing its three-fold alliterative vision of barbecue, bourbon and beer to the Pinecrest development in Orange Village.
It will be the third location for the restaurant, which has locations in Chesterland and Hudson.
"Barbecue, bourbon and beer - I'm not going to stray off of that," owner Marc Garofoli said. "That's our recipe, that's what we'll stick with."
Target opening date is April 1, 2019, for Oak & Embers to open its doors in Pinecrest, the retail-shopping-entertainment district at Harvard Road and Interstate 271.
"The majority of people in that area of Pinecrest are going out to dinner about four times week," Garofoli said. "That's the highest I've ever read."
The Pinecrest location will have 200 to 220 seats compared to Hudson's 340. Pinecrest will have a similar design, with a patio on the side with sliding-glass doors, square bar as the focus and televisions tuned to sports.
Garofoli sees Pinecrest as a safe community that focuses on families.
"All the many restaurants will draw traffic to each other," he said.
In addition to the shopping and residential housing, the development boasts a handful of restaurants with unique identities, from burgers at Shake Shack to craft beer at City Works, entertainment and Italian food at Pinstripes to the "polished casual" of Firebirds and others to come.
"I think the recipe for success at Pinecrest has been written," Garofoli said. "I think we're the final equation. They have the different corners of the world covered."
The attention to detail that went into the first two Oak & Embers will continue at Pinecrest, he said. For instance, Marc's wife, Gretchen, put four layers of paint on the interior walls in Hudson. It results in a cool, rustic brush look throughout the space.
"Pinecrest is pretty much going to be looking a lot like this place," he said.
Garofoli is experienced in the restaurant industry, having worked as a server, cook, bartender and owner, from downtown Cleveland to the suburbs. He and his wife met when both were bartenders at the Harbor Inn.
"In this business you learn every day," he said. "I've been in this since I was 15. I learn something every day."
What he has learned is that freshness counts. Nothing is frozen. Produce is non-GMO, hydroponic and local - "How do you beat that?" he says.
A smoker will be positioned behind a glass wall, transparent to customers. Oak & Embers offers 120 Bourbons. (One case of Bourbon goes into 30 gallons of sauce, he said.)
And yes, there's that $3,000 bottle of Pappy Van Winkle's at $60 a shot, but scores of bourbon flights are available. All 16 taps are local beers, and craft-beer fans will appreciate this: Tap lines are cleaned every other week - an expensive quality-control proposition for any restaurant or bar.
Next year, he said, Great Lakes Brewing Co. will fill bourbon barrels with beer for the restaurant.
The Pinecrest location of Oak & Embers, which opened in Chesterland in 2004 and Hudson in 2017, might not be the last.
"I'd like to look west," Garofoli said, mentioning Avon, Westlake and Rocky River as possibilities.
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