CLEVELAND — It was an icon along East 4th Street in Cleveland and the flagship of James Beard Award-winning chef, Jonathon Sawyer.
But on February 16th, The Greenhouse Tavern will be no more.
A place praised in Bon Appetit and Esquire, showcased on The Food Network and Travel Channel, Greenhouse Tavern was an institution that helped revitalize Cleveland’s food scene back in 2009.
“We are grateful for the love you have shown us over the years,” read a post on the tavern’s Facebook page Thursday.
The comments were grateful yet sad.
Last year, Sawyer and his wife spoke with Will Ujek outside Noodlecat in Crocker Park.
“I think over the next five years we want to be very smart about where we open,” Sawyer said. “Probably we’ll be regional.”
Sawyer also said the restaurant business was becoming harder.
“Now you need to be left brain and right brain. Whether it’s inventory, scheduling, HR and then the PR,” he said.
The comments came only months after he and his wife closed Trentina in University Circle. Several months after their 3 News interview, they would be closing Noodlecat too.
For now, The Greenhouse Kitchen inside the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse remains open along with Sawyer’s in Shaker Heights and SeeSaw in Columbus.
On Thursday, Jonathon Sawyer told 3News he is not yet ready to talk about the closing, but once his final meal has been served at Greenhouse, he will be ready to sit down and explain.