By: Dan Eaton – Staff Reporter, Columbus Business First
Originally Published: 12:13 PM EST – January 31st, 2022
Cameron Mitchell Restaurants is cooking up something new for German Village.
The Columbus-based dining group will take over the former G. Michael’s Bistro & Bar space 595 S. 3rd St., where it will open a fine dining Italian restaurant. (No name has been released yet.)
“We’re blessed with a lot of great restaurants,” President and COO David Miller said. “But we’ve always had one gaping hole – German Village.”
MIller said the company has been looking for an opportunity in German Village for about 15 years, but they could never find the right fit. One of those was the former Max & Erma’s space further south on 3rd Street, where it contemplated doing an Italian eatery almost five years ago (and well before the celebrated Chapman’s Eat Market took the spot).
That’s the same kernel of an idea the restaurant group is finally developing this year.
“We’ve always wanted to do fine dining Italian,” Miller said. “Something warm and cozy with a nice outdoor space.”
The opportunity was brought to Cameron Mitchell Restaurants after G. Michael’s closed last fall after 23 years.
Miller said they’ll take the first floor and use some of the second floor for storage. The rest of the second floor, which had been event space for G. Michael’s, is going to become offices for a new tenant.
The company hopes to expand and improve the patio as well.
“We’re willing to be patient to find the right spot,” Miller said. “We looked in New York City for seven years. Now we finally found the right opportunity in German Village. We’re excited to be part of the great restaurant community there.”
It’s not the only new Italian restaurant in development at Cameron Mitchell Restaurants. It’s bringing a new concept called Valentina’s to Bridge Park in Dublin this year.
But Miller said the two spaces are not the same.
Valentina’s will be more of a polished-casual space focused on Northern Italian cuisine, with pizzas, fresh pasta and a “lively atmosphere.”
The German Village space will be more intimate, with more of a fine dining feel. And the menu will be classic Italian cuisine. Details on that are being developed now.
“We’re a long way from what it will be, but this is going to get a lot of love and a lot of attention,” Miller said.
The new Italian restaurant will be Cameron Mitchell Restaurants 19th concept spread among 41 restaurants nationwide. It’ll be the company’s 23rd restaurant in Central Ohio.