CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — The newly relocated Edwin's restaurant is opening its doors this weekend, inviting customers to take their tastebuds abroad and try French cuisine.
Brandon Chrostowski, Edwin's Leadership & Restaurant Institute founder, president and CEO, said they’re taking over the historic Nighttown Bar and Restaurant building and giving it a romantic edge.
“This is just like Paris, if you were to dine,” Chrostowski said. “So you have a three course tasting, five course tasting, seven course tasting menu.”
The restaurant is focusing on fostering connections in a more intimate way, sprinkling the fine dining room, salon, brasserie and cigar bar with small tables and cozy nooks. Still, they’re keeping some of the spirit Nighttown alive through live music. The pink-themed dining room will become a stage for pianists and other musicians.
“We’re starting out with Jackie Warren’s Jazz Trio Friday, and we have the Latin Quartet with Sammy DeLeon on Saturday,” Chrostowski said.
The restaurant will also continue teaching skills to formerly incarcerated adults.
“This kitchen, if the volume keeps up as it should, we have ourselves, you know, again, a very cutting-edge culinary school,” Chrostowski said. “Real pressure, real volume, real skills.”
The program outgrew their decades-old home in Shaker Square, he said, after receiving a growing number of applicants year after year.
Now, they will train the next round of chefs in their newly constructed classroom.
“We have like, 40 students now, [and] we have another 50 students, next week,” Chrostowski said. “It’s going to be close to 100 people under the roof, so we definitely need that room to grow.”
Tia Eanes served one year behind bars before applying to Edwins’ culinary program; being a student has helped her reset her life, she said.
With lessons shifting to a new setting, Eanes said she is nervous but excited for the opportunities it will bring.
“I feel like I started something, like, I opened something,” Eanes said.
Chrostowski said customer affordability is one of their top ambitions, while also helping soon-to-be cooks save some cash.
Tristen Neuenschwander worked as a chef on the east side of Cleveland, but now is part of the next graduating class of cooks at Edwins.
“I would end up with probably $200,000 in debt if I were to try to get this education at a culinary school,” Neuenschwander said. “So this opportunity is not just for incarcerated people. This is for anyone who needs an opportunity to get a jump start, to get going, to move on with your life.”
Whether it’s at the bar counter or at a table for two, Chrostowski said he wants customers to get a bite of the city of love.
“The goal is to fall in love again, right? Whether it’s with someone or with food,” Chrostowski said. “This is a place to do it, and we hope you come out to try it.”
