Elizabeth Lessner’s Appetite for New Restaurants
Columbus Alive wrote
Appetite for New Restaurants
by Brittany Kress
October 4th, 2007
As a young bartender new to Columbus in the late ’90s, Elizabeth Lessner wasn’t impressed with the city’s restaurant and bar offerings. So in 2001, she opened one of her own, Betty’s Fine Food and Spirits.
Then she opened another. And another. And she’s currently brainstorming for a fourth.
The now Columbus-loving Lessner shares ownership of Betty’s and Surly Girl Saloon in the Short North and Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails, which opened Downtown this summer. Her string of success is rooted in years of waitressing; she calls herself a “lifer.”
“I’m actually working on a restaurant concept now with Carmen Owens from Surly Girl. At any given time, I’ve got projects in the works. I think the Columbus market is excited to have new restaurants and new places, and as long as there’s an appetite for new restaurants, then I’ll keep trying to feed them.”
“We’re looking into the new Jeffery Place. We’re very, very excited by the work that Joe Recchie is doing over there. It’s a green building, it’s introducing things like Zipcars, the mayor just tied it into the bike trails, and I’m really a believer in what’s going on over there. So I’d like to open a restaurant over there and I’m still working on the concept.”
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October 4th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
My reply is… whoot. I will go drop some coins.
October 4th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Yep, sure to be a winner!
October 5th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
how ’bout some german village/ brew dist. love?
October 5th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Amen to that! 8)
October 5th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
with the condos going in at the Salvation Army… more has to come. How is Claudaughs (sp.?) and the former Lotus (After Five I guess)?
October 7th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I was at Tip Top at 11PM on a Friday night and it was packed. Just goes to show that if you give people a reason to go downtown, they will. We need more nearby for late night dining, bars, cafes, etc. It looks weird with just Tip Top and Due Amici, they’re like an island of activity that needs to spread. Oh, and how could I forget The Shelf.
January 11th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
READ MORE
January 11th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
This’ll be a neat place to check out…when I’m 40.
January 12th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
you must only be 2 years old then!
January 12th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Huh?
January 12th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
…implying I assume that this project is progressing so slowly that it will take decades before this is all finished…
January 12th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
bingo!
January 12th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Yay! What do I win? :D
January 12th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
$10 gift certificate to the new Lessner restaurant in Jeffry Place.*
*gift certificate value will not be adjusted for inflation.
January 12th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
another downtown would be nice too. I also concur the GV/BD would be nice. SN just isn’t in need of anymore restaurants at this time.
January 12th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Sweet. I can use it with my Golden Buckeye card that I should have by that time and get a sweet deal! :wink:
January 12th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
I could use a new Lessner Joint in the KLD. 8)
January 13th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Haha … if she keeps this up, she’ll be Columbus’ next Cameron Mitchell before too much longer, though her restaurants are cut off a different block than CM’s. (I don’t think I’d see her opening a steakhouse … or CM opening anything like Surly Girl.)