On Thursday evening, July 17, diners were basking in the pleasant summer weather on the patio of Light Bistro, enjoying the celebrated restaurant’s menu of sandwiches, pizzas and small plates focused on quality local ingredients and artful preparation. The next day a sign on the door said it was closed for good after more than seven years at that location.
According to that message, which is also posted on the website, owner Eric Dietrich and chef/owner Matt Mathlage have opted to focus on their other restaurant, Peachtree Southern Kitchen & Cocktails, in Hudson, which they opened late last year.
The building, which they own, has been put up for sale. It has a fabled culinary history. Prior to becoming Light Bistro, it was Parker’s New American Bistro, run by chef Parker Bosley for two decades. Now every other non-chain restaurant in town boasts about its fresh, local, sustainably grown and raised, seasonal ingredients. Bosley was the first to bring the concept in Cleveland, becoming an evangelist for the cause. He’s now chef in residence at Fresh Fork Market, working to find new ways to spread the gospel. Mathlage continued the tradition of starting with quality ingredients, although he deployed them in a more casual manner.
It’s a tradition he is continuing at Peachtree, although applied to a different cuisine: that of the southern Atlantic coast. At the Peachtree website, he describes what they’re doing as “somewhat of an extension of what Parker’s chef/owner Parker Bosley cooked: local produce, lots of organic ingredients, a vegetarian menu. …What we will offer on the menu will be tough to duplicate at home.”
Light Bistro is offering fu refunds on gift certificates or they can be used at Peachtree.
Cleveland, OH 44113