A secret no more: the “east side” location for Trentina, Jonathon and Amelia Sawyer’s new Italian restaurant, is the old Sergio’s in University Circle. That 35-seat spot, which had a 20-year run, has been vacant since it abruptly closed a few months after the death of chef-owner Sergio Abramof.
The Sawyers have released the video that will accompany their Kickstarter campaign, which will go live within days, says Sawyer. The amount the couple hopes to raise — $21,999 — is far less than the overall funds they’ll need to open and get going.
“This is not full funding, just a nice alternative to traditional financing,” Sawyer explains. “The truth of the matter is, a lot of us artisans are more skilled with their knives and cutting boards than they are an Excel document or filing loan applications.”
Donors to the Trentina Kickstarter can earn rewards that range from a dinner party for 20 people and a cooking class with chef Sawyer to a cocktail or even table named in your honor.
“We wanted the rewards to be really tangible and experiential, not lofty,” Sawyer adds. “The sentiment for us is, this is a restaurant for Clevelanders by Clevelanders. It’s an opportunity for us to really go out on a limb with a high-end restaurant, and to showcase some of the tableside touches and theatrics that people love at the Tavern.”
Thanks to a relatively turn-key property, the Sawyers hope to open in May or sooner.
Check out the video here.
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2014.
I don’t understand why the Sawyer’s need my money when they frequently Tweet out pictures from multiple week vacations with their family. Sorry, I didn’t get to go to Italy for two weeks. So, I have money in the bank.
I agree, I was annoyed when the bearded genius yelled at an RTA driver. Sawyer started by slapping on the window (he appeared to be wearing headphones while riding his bike), he then screamed at the driver. However, his account of the incident differs (of course). I honestly don’t see why he can’t pay for his own restaurant with the proceeds from all those $12 drinks at Greenhouse Tavern.
Perhaps Chef’s Widow should focus less on fundraising and more on not offending a healthy portion of customers with her radical, liberal views and condemnation of anything she doesn’t agree with, politically. Republicans are customers, too…
Oh, but I like the chef, so will be donating…
Will this place also look down their nose at my party of 8 like they did at Greenhouse when a few people ask for a soda because they weren’t drinking cocktails and then get the speech of why they don’t carry Coke/Pepsi etc… products? Will this place’s bartenders make mojitos that taste like water for guests of mine that were visiting from London and were excited about going to Greenhouse and then when we take them back to say that they didn’t put simple syrup or muddle the mint enough, we get an attitude of they are the bartenders and we should drink what they make because we don’t know what we are talking about? The attitude and they way many who work there carry the aura of snobbiness is such a turn off, many of us have stopped going to Greenhouse. Good luck with this new place.
Agreed on GHT. The staff has developed a superiority attitude that’s very obvious. Diners feel like they’re lucky to have a seat. Understand there’s a very fine line between exclusivity, and superiority in the restaurant business.
At the end of the day, it’s great food and probably the best in CLE. For that, I’ll overpay and deal with a-hole bartenders/servers once in a while.