Lakewood, like many neighborhoods, suffered a series of devastating restaurant losses in 2024. Eric Williams shuttered El Carnicero after 11 years, Matt Fish closed the original Melt Bar and Grilled after nearly 20 years, and Jill Vedaa and Jessica Parkison closed Salt on a high note after eight years.
But in this business, when one door closes, it won’t be long before that door reopens with somebody else turning the key. In the case of Salt, that person is Andrew Revy, who owns Immigrant Son Brewery a half mile away in the same neighborhood. After being approached about the potential of taking over the space, Revy says had no choice but to consider it.
“When opportunity presents itself, as any true entrepreneur will say, then you pursue it, especially when it falls in your lap,” he explains. “You take a good, long, hard look at it and you try to say no every which way possible. But when it's too good to pass up, then you go about putting together a project that we hope and know that people will love.”
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Revy says that despite having his hands full with his three-year-old brewery, he was impressed by the space, its history and potential. He enjoyed Salt many times as a diner, he says, and looks forward to guiding the property into its next chapter.
“This space is very appealing because it is turnkey: you have a James Beard Award-nominated chef who built a kitchen to her specific skill sets and vision. It’s a great location. It's in Lakewood. It's a stone’s throw from here.”
In late winter or early spring, Revy will open Sofia’s Kitchen + Bar (17625 Detroit Ave.), which he describes as an upscale-casual American bistro.
“Where corner bar meets chef-driven bistro,” he adds.
Heading up the kitchen is veteran chef Andy Strizak, whose resume includes stops with a who’s who of Cleveland’s top culinary mentors – stretching clear back to Parker Bosley at Parker's American Bistro. Other employers include Michael Symon, Karen Small and Ben Bebenroth. Like those mentors, Strizak strives for fresh, local and seasonal product at all turns.
As a turnkey property, there is little in the way of heavy construction needed prior to opening. Revy will change the look and feel of the space, while shifting the entrance from the Rockway Avenue corner of the building to the front on Detroit Avenue.
"Ideally, when people walk into Sofia’s Kitchen + Bar, they embrace it as a brand new and vibrant space. Salt will live on in our memories, but we’re here to bring a new, fun concept in a wonderful space people can enjoy.”
When it opens in the coming months, Sofia’s will be dinner-only seven days a week.
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