When the Knotty Pine restaurant closed its doors in 2012, residents of Grandview Heights bemoaned the loss of a favorite local establishment. The space at 1765 West Third Avenue (which is technically in Columbus, but only by a few feet) has been occupied by the Rude Dog Bar & Grill for the past 18 months, which abruptly closed its doors without notice (its website only lists Polaris and Pickerington locations).
The space won’t sit empty for long though, as the new owners have announced today that it will once again carry the Knotty Pine moniker with an updated concept.
“We’re bringing it back with a fresh face by launching a microbrewery,” says new owner Jay Kessler, who is unaffiliated with the original establishment. “The community needs something unique here that they can call their own — that’s something that the original Knotty Pine had. It was somewhere you go for dinner and end up sitting at three different tables because you’d end up running into your friends and neighbors — we want the community to have that type of environment again.”
Kessler says that his home brewing skills aren’t enough to scale up to a larger operation, so he’s hired a local brewmaster with thirty years of experience to help set things up and consult on recipes. Similarly, Kessler hired Chef Bret Perichak to run the kitchen, who will be relocating just two miles down Third Street from Katalina’s.
“Our menu will be truly American with an Italian flare,” says Kessler. “The Knotty Pine always had Italian dishes on the menu, and had an Italian lean to it — so I think we’ll see those influences in our flavor profiles and meat choices.”
The Knotty Pine Brewing Company is scheduled for an early March opening. The restaurant will be open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner with weekend brunch service. Kessler will keep the establishment closed on Mondays to focus on brewing operations and expects to launch in March with a porter on draft and additional beers to be added to the rotation throughout the rest of the year.
“We have some exciting ideas this Spring to use local produce for making wheat beers,” he says. “You can’t source everything locally, but we will do as much as we can.”
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/knottypinebrewing.