Jonathon Sawyer, former executive chef of Michael Symon’s short-lived Parea (and onetime unfortunate forager of mushrooms), is set to open his second restaurant in Cleveland next Tuesday. Noodlecat will serve Japanese-style noodle dishes, made with local produce. “Selfishly,” the chef tells the Plain Dealer, “I’ve just wanted to have good noodles in Cleveland ever since I’ve come back from New York City.”
Last year, Food & Wine named Sawyer Best New Chef for his work at Cleveland’s Greenhouse Tavern. Noodlecat’s menu, inspired in part by Sawyer’s after-work trawls through New York’s subterranean noodlehouses, will feature ramen, soba, and udon. The chef told the Daily Meal that David Chang makes New York’s best ramen, but that he also looked to Hung Ry, Rai Rai Ken, and Yakitori Taisho while researching the menu for Noodlecat.
Menu research also took Sawyer to Japan, Canada, and even Australia. In the end, however, it was a talking cat that led him to his new space, just around the corner from the Greenhouse Tavern. See video below for evidence.
Chef Jonathon Sawyer’s Noodlecat restaurant opens Tuesday on Public Square [Plain Dealer]
Noodlecat [Official Site]
