Oberlin, Ohio - Executive Chef Jim Barnhart, a native of surrounding Lorain County, oversees The Hotel at Oberlin’s 1833 restaurant, named for the year both the college and the town were founded.
Chef Barnhart has created breakfast, dinner and bar menus with small bites and social fare to share at this restaurant that honor surrounding Ohio farm country, nearby Lake Erie and the progressive Oberlin College environment. So while the breakfast menu offers steak and eggs, it also has a root and tofu scramble with parsnips, carrots and potatoes.
Chef Barnhart’s approach is to take on the classics "and make them cool again." That’s why you’ll see Midwestern favorites such as deviled eggs and Lake Erie Walleye on the menu of 1833. Those eggs are piped full with a cream egg mix of chives, cornichons, sweet paprika and sweet relish. That walleye is served with a citrus butter sauce ad shares a plate with a spring vegetable fricassee and shoestring potatoes.
He's also a fan or wild plants that grow locally, greens that even many residents aren’t aware of. They include "wild foraged ramps, a mild spring onion, which grow alongside creeks and in backyards. And there are morel mushrooms all over the place in Ohio."
The ramps and the morels find their way into his Forged Ramp Gnocchi, which are served with a Gruyere cream, a slow cooked egg and sea salt.
Chef Barnhart, a Lorain County native, has his own seven acre spread nearby and grows a wide variety of vegetables, some of which into the kitchen of 1833. But his mission is to source locally as much as he can and get to know the area farmers.
"I'm working on building more relationships with local farmers," he says. "I have a local supplier for Gerber chickens, which are all natural, antibiotic free and humanely ranged nearby. I’ m also sourcing Muscovy ducks raised in Oberlin, which is truly hyperlocal."
As fall approaches, Chef Barnhart plans to roll out his Ohio-style chili, use local apples for apple tarts and get creative with root vegetables, like his "sweet carrots tossed in oil and salt, roasted at 600 degrees for three minutes and garnished with parsley."
Apart from an extensive list of cocktails, wines and bottled beer, 1833 offers.
Chef Barnhart, who previously worked at The Wyndham Cleveland at Playhouse Square and The Ritz Carlton Cleveland, oversees the catering menu for events and weddings at the hotel’s 6,500 square foot meeting and function space. At the 70 -seat 1833 restaurant, he also takes care of the lobby bar which offers 10 drafts on tap, all of them from Ohio, including Burning River Pale Ale, Citrus Dog IPA and
Golden Helles Lager. Regardless of where a guest is sitting or the time of day, they can order what they want.
"If it's 10 pm and someone wants Gran-Ma French toast, we'll make it," Chef Barnhart says. "There’s no pretense about it."
The Hotel at Oberlin
The Hotel at Oberlin, owned by Oberlin College, is a 70-room property that opened in September 2016. It is the first hotel in the US to incorporate solar, geothermal, and radiant heating and cooling, and is on track to qualify for the rigorous LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The hotel also includes a 6,500 square foot meeting and function space as well as 1833, a restaurant overseen by Executive Chef Jim Barnhart. The Hotel at Oberlin is managed by The Olympia Companies, who have created a new breed of sustainable, environmental and philanthropic boutique hotels that they manage, develop and/or own The Hotel at Oberlin, 10 East College Street, Oberlin, Ohio 44074 www.thehotelatoberlin.com.
Click here to request renderings of The Hotel at Oberlin. Photography will be available in mid- June.
Press Contact:
ConranPR
Gayle Conran
gconran@conranpr.com
P 212.447.1010
Twitter @gayleconran