Lindey’s Lake House Credit: Douglas Trattner
Rick Doody has been a restaurant guy ever since he stopped being a restaurant boy. His mother Sue opened the iconic German Village, Columbus restaurant Lindey’s in 1981. While 40 years is quite the achievement in this ruthless industry, Rick and brother Chris managed to top Mom by launching the Bravo and Brio restaurant group, which they sold after 25 years to a private equity firm for $100 million.

More recently, of course, Doody opened Cedar Creek Grille in Beachwood, Coastal Taco in the Flats, and Lindey’s Lake House, which opened in November adjacent to Cedar Creek.

Next up for the serial restaurateur will be Lindey’s Lake Bar, a more casual spin-off that will take up residence in the former Jammy Buggars space (15625 Detroit Avenue) in Lakewood. That popular restaurant lasted seven years before shuttering this past summer.

Describing the concept, Doody compared it to Coastal Taco in terms of its cool, casual vibe, but the menu would be considerably more diverse.

“If we can broaden the menu to include wood-fired pizzas, burgers, small plates, salads… I think it has more sustaining power, but still has the same cool, hip vibe,” Doody said.

Even before the first one even opens its doors – likely not before the snow has long melted – there are tentative plans to seed the landscape with future units.

“We might do three or four of those in town,” he adds.

This article appears in Jan 2-8, 2019.

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.