The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Tweaking the recipe
Randal Johnson has been successful for more than 25 years owning Molinari’s, but new challenges having him looking for answers
Chef Randal Johnson, who opened Molinari’s in 1991, said this past May-June-July has been the worst three-month stretch in the history of the Mentor business.
“It’s a very fragile market,” he said. “There are at least four new restaurants in the area but not that many more potential diners. All of us are sharing a smaller slice of the pie.”
Weekend evenings, which once saw up to 120 diners in his dining room, are now bringing in 50 or 60, he noted. Servers who depend on good tips to augment the $4.12 an hour they earn weren’t making the money they’d come to depend upon and left for jobs outside the hospitality industry or for other restaurants.
Johnson wants to bring diners back to his restaurant at 8900 Mentor Ave. He is not alone in that type of struggle — several restaurants are seeing a decline diners this summer.
When he first began Molinari’s, he was seeking to get out of the restaurant business. He had a young family and wanted more time of his own over the 70 hours per week he was devoting to his chef job at an area country club.
“So I began Molinari’s as a market in this same space selling high-end gourmet ingredients, and I gave cooking classes,” he recalled.
Regular customers — one of whom was an architect — suggested he establish a small eatery in the middle of the market.
“Soon we had a 26-seat restaurant and a six-seat bar,” he said.
The concept was a hit, and soon people were coming from near and far — willing to wait weeks to secure reservation. So, before long, Molinari’s expanded.
People like Johnson’s stylish take on common foods and the fact they can browse in his wine store and pay just a $5 corkage fee for a wine they purchase in the market.
“In other restaurants, they’d pay up to three times what they bought it for,” he said.
That corkage fee is still an attraction. But he’s also offering
new dishes, new hours and a newly decorated space to bring people in.
For many years, lunch was a daily offering.
“But we’d have a staff of five and serve just 10 lunches,” he said.
“We needed to serve 30 lunches to break even, and we had to stop bleeding, so lunch had to go.”
Dinner hours were moved up to begin at 4:30 p.m. with service until 10. A new pizza oven was added seven years ago so diners could order pizza and a glass of wine and have a dinner for two for about $30.
A few weeks ago, happy hour was instituted in the bar from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through
Fridays. Those who come get $2 beers, $5 glasses of wine and $5 snacks that include a Mini Shrimp Cocktail, Poutine with Cheese Curds, Gochujang Spiced Deviled Eggs and Pulled Pork Sliders.
Last week, Johnson initiated a Couples Dinner on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. A bottle of wine is included with each dinner, and couples choose between a petite baby green salad or a Caesar salad, move on to a choice between chicken piccata with red rice and green beans or a grilled pork tenderloin with sweet corn salsa and sweet corn polenta, finishing off with a shared peach sundae. It’s $35.
In the two and a half decades since Molinari’s opened, Johnson’s children have grown up and gotten married, the chef had hip replacement and shoulder surgery, and his own marriage ended. In the meantime, the country went through a recession, which the restaurant weathered, and Johnson fell in love with another chef, Leanna Christie of Executive Caterers at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights. The two will marry in October.
“I still love cooking, and Leanna and I cook at home together all the time,” he said.
Earlier this summer, Molinari’s underwent a drastic redecoration, with new carpeting, new lighting and new chairs in the bar. Tables in the dining room were lowered by six inches and new booths installed. The result makes the place look airier and more spacious.
As Johnson sees it, both he and Molinari’s are on a roll.
“Since I’ve had better hours without serving lunch, I’ve lost 25 pounds and have just had the best (medical) checkup ever,” he said.
“I have several staffers who have been with me for 16 years, we’ve begun (using food-delivery service) UberEATS, and people are liking our new menu items.”
Especially well received is the Summer Salmon Special, which is served with French Potato Salad.
He shares the potato salad recipe with today’s readers.