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The Flats East Bank still is a construction zone, but plans continue to come together as it applies to the food scene. In addition to Fabio Salerno’s new location for Lago, Ken Stewart’s steakhouse, and Shawn Monday’s Flip Side, we learned details regarding one of the few remaining spots.

When The Willeyville (pronounced like smiley-ville) opens in early June, it will mark the return of Chris DiLisi. DiLisi was opening chef at Flour in Moreland Hills, and chef at Baricelli Inn for five years before that.

DiLisi describes his restaurant as “seasonal American with global inspirations.”

“I hate buzzwords like gastropub and bistro,” the chef says. “Everybody has these images about what those words mean. At this point it seems cliché to say chef-driven, nose-to-tail, local, sustainable… All I am promising is we are sourcing the very best meat, fish, produce, and dairy available. It’s going to be great food, great service — whatever you want to call it.”

The full name of the restaurant is The Willeyville, Handcrafted Consumables. DiLisi aims to push the envelope on housemade food, including the craft cocktail program. Meats purveyors will include Miller grass-fed beef and New Creations pork. In-house charcuterie and house-baked wild-yeast breads will join housemade bitters, tonics, and ginger beer.

The menu — still in the works — will feature plenty of small plates, snacks, and entrees. One idea the chef is toying with is various street foods on sticks, like pork nuggets made from gelatinized and fried pulled pork. “It’s a great way to utilize the whole animal,” he notes.

Prices will all be kept south of $20.

The 3,000-square-foot space will seat 90 in and another 30 out. DiLisi describes the room as warm and rustic, with reclaimed wood and tables constructed by A Piece of Cleveland.

Willeyville, says DiLisi, is an homage to Cleveland’s first mayor John Willey, who dubbed the area Willeyville.

“Picking a name for a restaurant is a weird thing, but we looked up the history and thought it was great,” says DiLisi. “It’s an homage to what the area was — and were doing old-school cooking, old-school cocktails…”

Willeyville will be open for lunch 6 days and for dinner 7, including family-style Sunday supper.

This article appears in Feb 13-19, 2013.

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.

11 replies on “Plans Divulged for Remaining Flats Resto Spot”

  1. Fuck all these big shot chefs and their restaurants. People acting like it’s our civic duty to eat at some celebrity chef joint 5 nights a week. But you watch and see. The Eats Bank Flats project will put other restaurant hot spots out of business. How many restaurants can a city that loses 150 residents per day support? Enough with the restaurant hype. Not a one of them is as good as Giovanni’s anyway. But, I’ll cook at home, thanks.

  4. PH8059: Be a tool for this filthy corrupt city if you like. The East Bank Flats project is publicly subsidized. Looks like a lot of greedy crooks are looking to make money off the taxpayers, as usual. You’ll never wake up. As for me, these chefs can go fuck themselves, I won’t eat there.

  5. its always nice to have a new place to go to for that special time…if others can’t keep up..oh well…i think its called free enterprise; i always more jobs in the area, i wish them the best of luck

  6. Robert, what is your great idea to continue the momentum already happening downtown? We would all love to hear it. Do you ever even venture downtown or do you barricade yourself indoors as soon as the sun goes down in your suburban subdivision and head out to the local mall and Applebee’s for a night out on the town? Apparently I’m not the the only one who feels this way judging by the number of people “disliking” your post lol.

  7. Robert, to piggyback my above comment, why do you live here if it’s so filthy and corrupt lol? It seems to me only a moron would continue to live in a place they despise so much.

  9. For twenty bucks, I expect something on my plate a little bigger than some teensy yupster-foodie portion that wouldn’t fill my feline’s food dish. Nor do I want to give the keys to my 4-speed to some skinny jamoke of a valet who can’t drive a stick. For these two reasons alone…I’ll eat in the neighborhoods, and eschew(pun intended) the joys of eating anywhere near downtown.

    Chuckles the Clown

  11. DONT GET ALL GASTRO PUB DOOSH THOUGH….
    Keep it simple….
    I’m tellin’ you…Elsewise you be in and out in 6 months….

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