Familiar yet new: that’s the vibe Betts Restaurant aims to bring into the Kimpton Schofield Hotel when it opens to the public Aug. 6. Replacing Parker’s Downtown, Betts Restaurant provides a menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner options that utilize ingredients in surprising ways thanks to a collaboration between executive chef Robert Stauch and Terry Bell, the Cleveland Cavaliers personal chef. “I like to put a little twist on everything,” says Stauch, who brings 35 years of culinary experience. “There’s satisfaction in getting you to try something and look at it in a different way.” Here are three things to know ahead of the grand opening.
The restaurant will be decorated like a refined home. Named as a tribute to Elizabeth Schofield, the matriarch of the family from which the hotel gets its name, the setting will showcase a number of photogenic backdrops such as a wall made from penny tiles, a wall of mounted bowler hat lights and a metallic floral print wallpaper. There’s even an 18th century bust of a woman wearing gold necklaces and hoop earrings standing watch over the bar. “It’s this casual, fun atmosphere,” says Stauch. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We just want people to relax and have fun.”
The menu boasts a number of healthy alternatives. By working with Bell, Stauch was able to derive a number of fun new ways to create dishes that tend to be more gluten-free and vegan-friendly while also offering cold-pressed juices from Anna In The Raw. Take the Caesar salad for instance: rather than use an anchovy, egg and cheese-based dressing, Stauch created a dressing using capers, mustard, raw garlic and nutritional yeast. Even the croutons have been replaced with roasted garbanzo beans. Topped with pumpkin seeds, nutritional yeast and garlic powder, it’s shockingly fresh. “When you eat that, you wouldn’t know you’re not eating a regular Caesar salad,” says Stauch. “It becomes something that would be a vegan starter course.”
There is room for decadence on the menu. Available during Saturday and Sunday brunch, you’ll find a boursin mac ‘n’ cheese made with a bacon jam folded into a house-made boursin cheese and tossed with roasted garlic, macaroni and herbs. Even the fried chicken sammie on the lunch menu is fried in a batter made with chickpea flour, paprika, garlic and onions and topped with a jicama slaw and spicy adobo aioli. “It’s gluten-free fried chicken,” says Stauch.
When You Go: 2000 E. Ninth St., Cleveland, eatatbetts.com
