Distill Table In Lakewood: Look Inside This New Restaurant

LAKEWOOD, OH — Eddie Tancredi wants to help all of Lakewood. In fact, he wants to help all of Northeast Ohio by creating a sustainable, environmentally friendly and locally sourced restaurant on Madison Avenue. His dream will take the form of Distill Table, a restaurant attached to the set-to-open Western Reserve Distillery.

The restaurant is set to open in the fall, which Tancredi said could mean September or late November depending on permits and construction. Once the doors do swing open, it will represent the culmination of a decade-and-a-half-long journey.

(Stay up-to-date on all things Lakewood: Subscribe to the Patch Lakewood newsletter. You'll be the first to get Patch's uniquely local and in-depth coverage.)

"Since I was 12 I've wanted to open my own restaurant," he told Patch. "I knew I was going to attend culinary school since my junior year in high school.

He started his pursuit of a life in the cooking arts when he attended Le Cordon Bleu in Pittsburgh. It was there that he combined his two passions: cooking and competing. He joined the Junior Hot Foods team, the competition team for the school.

From there he landed at the Greenbrier, a resort in West Virginia with an intensive chef training program. Tancredi did a three-year apprenticeship at the resort, learning how to cook in various styles, for quantity, and, most importantly, discipline.

Located among the mountains of West Virginia, the Greenbrier was surrounded by a lot of nothing. The nearest attraction was a Wal-Mart, and that was a 15-minute drive away. Tancredi's apprenticeship class started with 13 members, and only three graduated. The lush and lonely beauty of the Mountain Mama is not for everyone.

Tancredi kept competing and kept developing as a chef. He found himself wandering through Europe, staging (like unpaid internships) at world-famous restaurants. Among the restaurants he spent time at was the London-based Fat Duck, which has received the coveted three stars from Michelin.

Wanderlust behind, Tancredi decided he wanted to compete for the U.S. in the culinary Olympics. So he moved to Columbus and became the sous chef for the team's then-captain. His strategy worked, and he made the team. But his captain's restaurant closed in 2010, and Tancredi found himself out of a job again. So he went back to the hills of West Virginia and the Greenbrier, and he kept competing.

In 2012, he moved home to Solon to found his own restaurant but instead found himself still out on the competition circuit. In 2013, he won the title Chef of the Year from the American Culinary Foundation. He also represented the United States at the 2016 Global Chef Challenge.

Then the Metropolitan at the 9 called him and asked him to design its menu. Tancredi seized the opportunity and became a managing partner. It was close to his dream. So close. But not quite there.

The years of accolades won and globetrotting were wearying. Tancredi longed to own his own restaurant, independent of partners and bosses. After four years of being home in Northeast Ohio, he wasn't any closer to truly fulfilling his dream. So in September of 2016 he started looking around for an opportunity. And one presented itself.

Farm To Glass To Farm To Table

While looking for loans and researching possible sites, a broker said he knew a guy starting a business in Lakewood. Some kind of distillery. Maybe Tancredi should talk to him.

That connection ended up being Kevin Thomas, the founder of the soon-to-be-opened Western Reserve Distillery. And Thomas wanted a restaurant at his site.

"The distillery that Kevin is doing will be something that Cleveland doesn’t have," Tancredi said. "It will be a true farm-to-glass distillery. The nice thing about this whole thing will be that we’re taking the grains we’re mashing to livestock on farms, and then I’ll be using some of the livestock on my menu."

The goal is to create a sustainable loop. Grains from the distillery will go to farms to feed livestock, the livestock will be slaughtered and become menu options for Tancredi's restaurant. Farm to glass to farm to table.

Tancredi wants everything on his menu to be local. While that may not be possible from the onset, he's hoping that as the restaurant grows, it can inspire farmers and other vendors to either expand or open new ventures.

Because of the local focus, you can expect certain menu items to be seasonal. Tomatoes will likely become more difficult to acquire in late February in Northeast Ohio, for example.

The menu will be broken down into sections, including Tancredi's house-made meats, cheese and antipasta. There will also be sandwiches and oven-baked pizza that will be made with Tancredi's own sourdough.

"I will have five chef specialties," he said. "I want people to share items. I want people to try a bunch of different things as an experience and pair it with our mixology program and using Ohio craft beers."

And the all-things-local philosophy will extend to the drink menu. If a beer isn't made in Ohio, don't expect to find it on Tancredi's menu. Instead, he will have a rotating list of seasonal draft options and a long list of canned and bottled Ohio beer.

"If it's not from Ohio, it's not on the menu," he told Patch.

Details of the Restaurant

Sustainability won't just be a menu philosophy for Tancredi. He wants the building itself to be as efficient as possible. He said there's a water return filtration system that will be installed on the Distill Table patio, an air recycling system for some of his cooking devices and a plan to install tree lawns for the city.

One of the unique qualities of Distill Table will be its parking options. Unlike other spots in Lakewood, Tancredi's restaurant will have about 30 parking spots for customers. There will also be several bike racks for the city's cyclists.

Inside, there will be approximately 60 seats. There will be an open kitchen design that includes a chef's counter, with 10 seats for customers to interact with the chef during their meal. There will be a communal area with two high tables that will fit about 16 people at a time. Stools will be tucked underneath those high tables, offering folks a chance to sit if their legs get tired.

There will also be a bar area, a lounge with low tables and a high bank area with an additional 12 seats.

Outside will be the summertime patio. There will be an additional eight bar seats outside and 12 to 20 additional seating options on the patio.

To support the sustainability program, Tancredi is reaching out to the community and local organizations and asking for fundraising help. He has created a GoFundMe to kickstart his program. You can support the development of Distill Table by clicking here.

Photos from Eddie Tancredi