On our trip to Ohio last year to attend
the opening of Certified Angus Beef's Education & Culinary Center, we spent a fair bit of time eating at the establishments of Chef Jonathon Sawyer: The Greenhouse Tavern, which was the first green-certified restaurant in Ohio, where we swooned over the industrial chic reclaimed style of the Greenhouse Tavern, while we inhaled hearty, elegant and inventive dishes like foie gras steamed clams with butter, red onion brulee, and late harvest viognier vinegar; amazing animal style frites w/ bacon, two fried eggs, whole grain mustard, mozzarella cheese curd & brown gravy; and then there was the roasted pig's head w/ bbq sauce, raw vegetable salad, brioche bun, lime & lettuce cup. And Noodlecat which brings the best of both Tokyo and New York City ramen culture to Cleveland. Since that visit, we have also become regular readers of
Chef's Widow, the entertaining, opinionated and honest blog kept by Amelia Sawyer, where she tells the truth behind being a restaurant family. Team Sawyer has recently launched a Kickstater campaign for their newest restaurant project — Restaurant Trentina, which takes inspiration from Amelia's ancestral homeland of Trento in Italy.
In their
Kickstarter video the pair emphasize that "Trentina will be the first restaurant Jonathon and I will be opening on our own. No outside influences, just us. Stripped down and simple, Trentina will be an intimate restaurant showcasing the food of the Trentino region of Northern Italy." Donors to the Trentina Kickstarter can earn rewards that range from love & gratitude, t-shirts, a PSA (pasta supported agriculture, dinner party for 20 people and a cooking class with chef Sawyer to a cocktail or table named in your honor. Also the knowledge that you will be giving a rad culinary couple support on what promises to be an interesting — and delicious — project.