CLEVELAND, Ohio – After six months of renovation, La Ville Lumiere opened in late September. Chef/proprietor Kevin O’Connell utterly renovated and reinvented the area left vacant in 2021 by the Clifton Martini & Wine Bar.
The new restaurant is a French brasserie. A brasserie is usually a relaxed, snug restaurant that serves approachable, traditional dishes all day lengthy. That is what La Ville Lumiere goals to do.
The identify means “city of light” which refers, after all, to Paris and, curiously, to Cleveland. The Cleveland reference comes from being the primary metropolis on the earth to mild a public area – Public Square — with electrical arc lamps.
O’Connell, who has been within the restaurant enterprise for 30 years, has been working culinary companies in Cleveland for 3 years as he deliberate his full-service debut within the metropolis. He began each the Cleveland Sandwich Co. and the Cleveland Supper Club. Both at the moment are closed so he can give attention to the present enterprise.
Born in Buffalo, his mother and father moved the household to Los Angeles when he was younger. There O’Connell started working in eating places and fell in love with the enterprise. In simply two years he labored his approach from salads to government chef.
Eventually he had two meals vans and catered film units on the West Coast. After that and several other extra culinary stints, he was in search of his subsequent gig and his good friend Fahrenheit proprietor/chef Rocco Whalen urged Cleveland.
In June 2020, O’Connell made the transfer.
“I knew it was time to shift,” he says. “Moving here was an easy transition; I love that the community was welcoming.”
As his lease expired on the Cleveland Sandwich Co. area, the Wilshire Building at 10427 Clifton Boulevard grew to become obtainable. Perhaps it was kismet.
In March he began gutting the area and rebuilt it with tile and wooden floors, mirrors, white tablecloths, a granite bar and shades of blue.
“I don’t want people to be afraid of the tablecloths,” he says. “We want to make it pretty, to set the nicest table so you understand why you’re here. The experience will set us apart from others.”
The expertise, says O’Connell, begins with high quality meals. The kitchen workers cuts meat and handcrafts breads and pastries.
Among the starters on the menu are Caesar salad, escargot and steak tartar. Entrees embody bouillabaisse and several other cuts of steak in addition to French preparations of fish, scallops, duck and rooster. Of course, there’s a burger and a pasta. Perhaps, although, the piece de resistance is the shellfish tower.
In a world the place everybody goes craft cocktails, O’Connell simply needs to ship a well-made traditional cocktail. The record is what you’d count on — Negroni, boulevardier, Aperol spritz, French 75, Manhattan, old school and extra.
The wine record is curated by O’Connell and is 90 p.c French. Those who need wow and might financially assist it could need to ask for the Captain’s List. It incorporates choices from a personal cellar that O’Connell lately acquired.
Among the wines are some older Bordeaux vintages. These indulgences embody 1964 Chateau Palmer, 1964 Chateau Pichon Lalande and a 1963 Chateau d’Yquem.
The chef is expressively bold in desirous to be the perfect and fill seats each night time with completely satisfied clients. He’s not planning to create extra iterations of the restaurant.
“This is exactly where it needs to be,” he says of the dimensions.
A 42-seat restaurant, La Ville Lumiere is open for eating from 11 a.m. to midnight Monday by way of Saturday. That means the kitchen doesn’t shut till midnight, the eating room stays open longer.
The plan is to offer individuals a spot to dine after video games, theater and different late-lasting leisure, says O’Connell.
The 20-seat bar has an interesting completely satisfied hour with $6 batched cocktails and wine choices in addition to $10 bites.
In January, O’Connell plans to redo the facet room with a comfy Gatsbyesque library vibe with 40 seats and a craft/traditional cocktail bar.
“There’s a lack of this around this neighborhood,” says O’Connell. “I wanted to build something that the neighborhood could get behind.”
Send eating, consuming and tradition story concepts to Paris Wolfe at [email protected]. Review her earlier tales right here. Follow Paris Wolfe on Instagram @pariswolfe.
