But that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, the 4,500-square-foot space went to first-time operators with very big ambitions. As Square 22 took shape over the past weeks and months, curious neighbors began peeking into the windows, hopping onto the restaurant’s Facebook page and chatting up construction workers, anything to get a better hint of what was in store for the community.
“We wanted to build up a little mystique without putting paper over the windows like a lot of new restaurants do,” explains general manager Dan Stroemple. “As you can see, we thought we were building something special.”
Practically in the shadow of the Ziggy-adorned water tower, Square 22 indeed is something special. The bartop alone will stop a diner in his or her tracks, yard upon yard of live edge black walnut polished and shellacked to high luster. Above the bar is a warm and rustic wood-paneled design feature built of barn wood liberated from Kentucky. The number 22 is carved into the wood and illuminated by blazing red light.
Anterooms are separated from the main barroom by large sliding panels that simulate multi-pane warehouse windows, complete with missing lights of glass here and there. Despite being new construction, there are real beefy wood rafters travelling across the ceiling and walls covered in deep-hued palate wood from an old steel mill.
“It’s a new building; there are no old brick warehouses out here in suburbia,” Stroemple says. “So we said, let’s build it urban industrial. We’ve softened some edges, so it’s really more suburban industrial.”
Nobody understands the Strongsville dining scene more than Stroemple, who has spent the last 30 years of his life running Don’s Pomeroy House, which sits all of 500 feet away from Square. He says that suburban diners often are erroneously described as unadventurous or old-fashioned.
“They’re more adventurous than you think,” he says. “They’ve been going to W. 25th and East Fourth and Tremont for years. We’re going to bring a little bit of that here and give them the opportunity to not have to drive so far.”
From his well-equipped open kitchen executive chef Chris Bruder will preside over a broad and appealing menu of contemporary American foods. Bruder, too, made the jump from Don’s, where he was the number two chef for 15 years. His culinary chops include a stint at the famed Fulton Bar and Grill in Ohio City.
“It’s a great opportunity for me and a way that I can better express my creativity,” says the chef. “Don’s is more continental and we couldn’t go very far outside the box because of our clientele. Here I can be creative but still not stuffy enough to have white tablecloths.”
The team describes the menu as going from burgers to prime steaks and everything in between. On it you’ll see the same sort of items commonly found in gastropubs and bistros closer to town. Starters include Ahi tuna poke with ponzu, pork belly skewers with blueberry barbecue sauce, charred cauliflower with Meyer lemon oil, and poutine-style frites topped with brown gravy, cheese curds and a fried egg. Flatbreads are gilded with pork belly and crispy chicken skin or Danish brie and enoki mushrooms.
For the chicken and grits, Bruder sous vides thighs, breads and fries them in cast iron, and pairs the crispy nuggets with cheddar grits. There’s a New England lobster roll filled with butter-poached Maine lobster, a grilled bone-in pork chop paired with savory bread pudding and au jus, and bourbon-braised short ribs served with spaetzle. True to their word, there’s a $12 burger on the menu as well as a $50 20-ounce bone-in Certified Angus Beef ribeye.
When you add up all the seats at the bar, at high-tops, in cushy booths in quiet side rooms, and on two patios, one four-season, one seasonal, you end up with around 220 seats. That’s a fair amount of spots to fill, but nothing in comparison to the three floors of dining down the street, says Bruder.
“After working over at Don’s for so long, this is nothing,” he says. “With the buzz that’s going around I’m nervous we’ll run out of seats and food. I feel like we’re going to be so busy for the first six months. Now, the thing that I have to make sure of is that we keep those people coming back.”
When it opens in late October, Square will serve dinner seven nights a week. Lunch will be added a month or so down the road.
This article appears in Oct 5-11, 2016.
Mr Stroemple is a first class person to work with. I am confident that this spot will be a great addition to our community. Looking forward to visiting soon!
patio sucks sitting right on pearl road what a lousy place for patio
There is no doubt – this place will be a huge success! The decor, the food preparation, the service, the management will all come together for a magnificent experience!
Do you have an exact date for opening yet?
I have never been treated so poorly as I was last night by ANY restaurant. As you can see clearly on their yelp page they offer take out with no restrictions listed. I also saw that although their bar opens at 4 the restaurant does not open until 5. I got my order together for 4 people which would have totalled approximately $100, and called at approximately 5:15 PM on Saturday. A person by the name of Dan answered the phone and sounded pleasant, so I explained I was calling to place a take out order. He abruptly stated that I could not place a take out order. Surprised, I’m sure I said something to the effect of “pardon me, did you say I could not place a take out order” He immediately sounded agitated that I would dare question him and went on to explain quite rudely that I could place an order but it would be several hours before it could be filled because they have to take care of their inside customers (which I assume mean the ones that are eating on site). I was so shocked that a new business would be even close to this kind of service, that I did retort that I would think a business would care about all of their customers. I explained to Dan at that time that I was placing a take out order because we have a terminally ill person in our family on chemo that cannot go out in public let alone in weather at 8 degrees. He then retorted very nastily something to the effect of “well how am I supposed to know that, I guess I can make it happen, what are your two orders?” I was still so taken aback by the entire caustic conversation that he set the tone on that I was literally stunned into silence. I told him the order was actually for 4 at which point he was really irritated. I expressed my dismay at the entire conversation, and he then asked me “well ma’am have you ever tried to run a restaurant?”. At this point I let him know I would make other arrangements. Ok now a little back story on our situation is that we heard of this restaurant and their excellent food, had a discussion with the above mentioned family member who said they would love to try it. So we spent 2 weeks planning around chemo & holidays of going and being able to do take out based on this restaurants advertising, never imagining that they obviously don’t believe in good customer service as apparently they think people only patronize businesses for the quality of food. However, I cannot even speak to that because I was not “allowed” to place an order. All I can say is this, either Dan needs to find a new line of work or the restaurant needs to work on Staffing or they need to properly advertise their services. Not only at this point has the restaurant lost this $100 business, but more than that they’ve lost my respect or any future business or recommendations. I also feel that customers should NOT have to explain themselves or special circumstances to a business to get fair and equitable service. Just like you Dan, how was I supposed to know you can’t handle take out orders when you advertise without the qualifications. Granted I have NOT run a restaurant but I’ve been in customer service for almost 20 years and NEVER would put the burden of my job on my customers or make them feel as though they bear the responsibility to know the inside and outside of my operations. Shame on you, shame, shame. You have no excuse for the way you behaved. And yes, I will be posting this in every available forum. I was shaking I was so upset because we had spent 2 weeks planning only for me to have to call that family member who we can barely get to eat, who was actually looking forward to Square 22s food, that we had to change plans. I’m just utterly disgusted.