The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Chagrin Tavern cooks up changes
Chagrin Tavern in Eastlake makes changes in kitchen
With new leadership in the kitchen, the Chagrin Tavern staff is looking toward a fresh start with a new menu.
“We are all running this together,” said Jay Hannan, a newly hired kitchen coordinator alongside Doug Brown. “I’ve known Doug for 30 years. We’re childhood friends and we kind of came into this together. We’re in the process of tweaking things.”
The Chagrin Tavern opened in June in a brand new building at 196 East Island Drive in Eastlake.
“I owned a restaurant for the last 15 years coming into this and I’ve learned more working with different people,” said Chris Miklaucic, a kitchen coordinator and a Mentor native who has been at the restaurant since its beginnings. “I kind of got stale and wasn’t really doing much because I was by myself for so long. We’re looking to add a few people to the kitchen as well.”
Now, the team of six in the kitchen is spreading the responsibilities among each other.
“I’ve been off and on cooking since I was 18. I’ve been in quite a few kitchens and corporate kitchens. We’re working as team back there instead of a lot of eyes and attitudes,” said Hannan with a laugh.
To Hannan, the adrenaline of a good push when a restaurant is busy is what drives him to be in the kitchen, as well as putting together nice dishes and thinking outside of the box.
“Not necessarily do things that have been in the past, but bringing in some of those ideas and putting our own twist on it,” Hannan said. “When you have a team and you’ve worked with someone for a while, you kind of know what that guy is already thinking and this guy is already a step ahead of you.
“It’s a cohesive flow that gets the food out of the kitchen fast and we know
we’re going to be doing that this summer.”
Hannan said the restaurant has already experienced busy weekends where new plans and ideas, which have been streamlined, have come together. The lobster mac and cheese could be a potential big hit, as well as the caesar salad and a caesar salad wrap, he said.
“We have pizza specials on Wednesdays,” Hannan said. “Chris has tweaked the sauce to make it a lot better and we have some different specialty pizzas that people should come and try. We’ve added a ton of wing sauces, we’re starting trivia on Wednesdays and we have a Monday night wing special — 65 cent wings.”
Much like his childhood friend, Brown has been cooking off and on since the age of 18 and has taken charge of the breakfast menu at the restaurant.
He said he’s spent much of his time watching his aunts and his mother cook in kitchens while growing up.
In addition to the leadership in the kitchen, Hannan said a new cook was brought in who also bakes, which will make Chagrin Tavern more than just a burger and wing stop.
“She’s going to be putting
on a couple of new desserts. Peanut butter pie — that’s going to be a staple,” Hannan said. “She’s very creative, and we’re going to have different desserts all the time. We have a little bit of everything and homemade desserts, and there’s nothing better.”
In addition to the regular menu, the restaurant
will have a Valentine’s Day special that will consist of a bone-in ribeye, lemon pepper scallops over spinach risotto and a surf and turf meal — a filet and crab legs with a choice of potato and vegetable.
The restaurant is also now offering prime rib on Friday and Saturday nights, and with Lent around the corner, Chagrin Tavern will be specializing in Lake Erie perch and walleye dinners.
“There’s got to be a lot of drive in someone,” Hannan said. “You have to be motivated to work in a kitchen because you’re up against it all the time. If you’re organized and driven, you can succeed.
“I’ve worked with a lot of egos and I like to keep that out, and try to do it all together,” he added. “That’s why there’s not a title here. We have our own separate responsibilities, but at the end of the day, we are going to make this thing go.”