For years, Karen Gorman has been on the path to restaurant ownership, running a successful catering company and helping others open spots of their own. By late May, Gorman will open the doors to the Crumb & Spigot, a small neighborhood tavern on the edge of Chagrin Falls.
“I always liked those crazy signs over in England, all colorful and fun,” says Gorman regarding the whimsical name.
Located in the former Western Reserve Bread store (16783 Chillicothe Rd.) at the corner of Washington and 306, Crumb & Spigot will feature a large bar, communal seating and a wood-fired oven.
“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” notes Gorman. “We just want to do some really good, from-scratch food that people can recognize. We just wanted to open a place where people could come more than once a week, maybe after the movies.”
The “crumb” refers to the pizzas exiting the wood-burning oven while the “spigot” refers to the bar, specifically craft cocktails and both beer and wine on tap. A full one third of the 45 seats will be at the lengthy bar, Gorman says.
In addition to the pizzas, entrees like fish, chicken and steak will be finished in the wood oven. There will be plenty of (non-fried) bar snacks like meats and sausages, and a large number of vegan and vegetarian options.
Gorman’s partner in the operation is Ryan King, a veteran cook who has worked in a number of Cleveland restaurants.
“It’s kind of a food desert out here,” Gorman says of the far east side. “We’re always looking for somewhere to go where we don’t have to go all the way downtown or to the west side.”
Crumb & Spigot will be open for dinner only and Sunday brunch.
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2014.
Went to the Crumb & Spigot last night. The interior was very vibrant and classy. The food was okay nothing special. We had a specialty pizza and felt it was not worth the $16.00 price. The wine and beer (I had a French blanc $9.00) was pricey for the location as was the beer ($6.00 per glass) in regard to other restaurants in the area. The wait staff were attentive but was ask several times to remove my salad that I had not finished. We will try again but this will not be a place we will go regularly like Burntwood.
I visited the Crumb and Spigot last night for happy hour with girlfriends. The cocktails, wines and specialty beers were rather pricey. We asked our waiter lots of questions about various menu items and he was sadly rather uninformed and a bit clueless about culinary lingo. We ordered the pretzel hot dog and meat ball appetizers, and a sausage pizza. The hot dog and meatballs were good (loved the spicy mustard) AND the first bites of the pizza were great – but almost half-way toward the crust, there was nothing left BUT crust; no sausage, no cheese and barely any sauce. The crust was yummy ~ but perhaps spreading the ingredients further on the pie would be helpful. I also LOVED the décor and especially the large planter gardens filled with fresh herbs ~ a lovely and fragrant touch! The other diners nearby all raved about their dinners, especially the sloppy joe sandwich, beer-can chicken and fresh walleye. I’ll be back – but may skip the pizza.
Disappointing. The sloppy joe tasted like Manwich. Nothing special and rather boring. The “homemade” bun was cold and also boring. The very small portion of chips that came with it were all broken into VERY small pieces and resembled the crumbs you get at the bottom of the bag…maybe that’s what the restaurant is named after. The help seemed timid and clueless. Beautiful place, but they need a LOT of work. It would have been nice if the owner/manager came around to ask how we were enjoying our meal. Not sure if one was on the floor.