Partners Michael Schwartz and Shawn Monday had every intention of keeping Rick’s Café alive and open through the end of summer at least. The team, which also operates the restaurants One Red Door, Flip Side and 3 Palms, purchased the iconic 40-year-old Chagrin Falls eatery last month with plans to eventually install a new concept.

“This is the first time we ever purchased an existing restaurant,” says Schwartz. “We wanted to keep it going because summer, financially, is great. Plus, we wanted to introduce ourselves to the community, talk to guests, learn what items people would never want to see leave the menu, and evaluate the staff.”

Management and staff all agreed on a late-summer closing, adds Schwartz, but a rash of walk outs and no-shows from employees forced his hand.

“We don’t want to give bad service, that’s not who we are, so we made the decision to close now,” he explains.

Schwartz says that it will take him 60 to 90 days to make all of the necessary improvements to the old building before launching his and Monday’s new concept, which he intends to keep under wraps for the time being.

“I have a very clear vision of what I plan to do,” he says. “It will remain a neighborhood gathering place that will incorporate some of the flavors found at the places that we currently have in our other facilities like One Red Door, 3 Palms as well as a couple of Rick’s classics like the ribs and coleslaw.”

The crew will transform the dining room with a lot of natural, reclaimed materials like wide-plank floors, live-edge timber bar tops, and exposed brick. Crews will also update the bathrooms, expand and improve the kitchen, and jettison the six or seven microwave ovens that did much of the “cooking.”

“It will have an earthy always-been-there feel,” Schwartz says of the new restaurant.

This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2017.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.

4 replies on “Rick’s Cafe to Close July 25; New Eatery to Open in 60 to 90 Days”

  1. Fantastic news… This place seemed to have a strange appeal to many in Chagrin Falls (my wife and I are NOT among them, though we live inches away…) A few menu items were fairly tasty, but we couldn’t see past the grease and grime of the place and the crammed tables and the odd vibe.. It was just off… (the new owners do this for a living…. They have it down.. It will be good…. And clean… Oh and great MICROWAVE shade thrown to the formwe owner in the article.. Hilarious and true but will probably offend old Rick’s fans… The truth hurts )

    The new owners were put in a bad spot with the former owner opening his mouth with a little too much info too soon – about the restaurant not changing.. Folks already sounding off on them in the Chagrin social media.. Not fair.. If you wanted it to stay the same you should have bought it yourself folks.

    Much luck guys, can’t wait to try it…

    Now buy Gamekeepers….

  3. Inquiring minds wanna know:

    * Does anybody who’s NOT a headline writer EVER use the word “eatery” in Real Life?

    * Does “new concept” really mean “We think it’s broken, so we’re messing with it until it’s unrecognizable…but we think we’ve fixed it?”

    * In Northeast Ahia, does everybody come to Rick’s?

    *Or even everybody in Chagrin Falls?

    If I wanted to hear about the travails of Rick’s, I’d seek out the Chagrin social media…whatever the hell that is. Next time, just tweet or text those few Chagrined foodies who care.

    Chuckles the Clown

  4. I have inquired numerous times to ask if gift cards we bought for people this year will be honored with no response from new ownership. After reading this, I’m assuming that we can light a match to that money. While I’m excited to see what’s coming, I’m bummed.

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