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Rinehart Prepares to Open New Restaurant Downtown
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The owner of O’Donold’s Pub & Grille expects to open his latest venture, a hot dog shop and brewery, in the former Old Precinct space within the next two months, he says.
“We’re hoping to be open Thanksgiving weekend, at the latest Christmas,” said Christian Rinehart, owner of the new Susie’s Dogs and Drafts.
Workers were busy Thursday tearing out walls and otherwise preparing the space on North Phelps Street for the new restaurant, which is named for Rinehart’s mother.
Through a market study, Rinehart found that the downtown market wants lunch options for $5 or less. So the menu at Susie’s will offer locally sourced gourmet hot dogs and homemade beverages including root beer, ginger beer, sodas and milkshakes. “It’s going to be kind of a neat thing. It’ll be very family friendly,” he said.
The concept came out of an inspiration Rinehart said he had a few years ago that “beer and hot dogs kind of make sense,” he recalled. The availability of the Old Precinct provided a venue for the concept, and the downtown provides a pool of potential lunchtime customers. “There’s really no other mass like that in this area,” he remarked.
The addition of Susie’s will add variety to downtown dining options, said Lyndsey Hughes, downtown events director for the city. “This is just going to add another option for people who work downtown,” she remarked.
In addition, the site for the new restaurant is around the corner from O’Donold’s downtown restaurant/bar on West Federal Street and just 13 miles from the O’Donold’s in Austintown. “Austintown is our main store but downtown does just as well,” he said.
Brad Miller will serve as the head chef at Susie’s. Although not a classically trained chef, his background includes working at Michael Alberini’s Restaurant and Wine Shop and the Sprouted Table locally and Whole Foods in Cleveland.
“It’ll be a fun kind of place that will allow me to express a little bit of creativity,” he said.
Contractors are renovating the 6,600-square-foot space, about 3,600 of which will be for the restaurant, the other 3,000 for the brewery. The floors will be redone and restored to a “vintage look,” Rinehart said. The style will be what he describes as “shabby chic,” using repurposed materials from a couple of bars from the 1870s and ceiling tiles repurposed from the 1920s. “It’s going to be a really high-end but shabby look,” he said.
While the restaurant should be open by the holidays, the brewery won’t follow suit until after St. Patrick’s Day, a busy day for O’Donold’s, he said. The restaurant’s hours will be 10 a.m. to midnight for most of the week and stay open until 4 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Entertainment will focus on regional acts, and Rinehart invites bands to submit their CDs for the jukebox.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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