Steam’s creator and owner Marcus Meacham is running a new kitchen. Putting his business of steam bun sandwiches on the back burner, he’s looking forward to bringing a new style of fine dining to Latitude 41.
“It already feels like a home environment for me, so I’m super comfortable here,” said Meacham, who was a cook in the Latitude kitchen nine years ago. “And it gives me a chance to show off my fine dining skills, because, you know, people who just heard about me in the past year or so think all I do are steam bun sandwiches.”
That’s not to say he won’t be bringing some steam elements into the new menu, which won’t be finalized for a few months. He’s still working with the menu set up by Jonathan Olsen, who ran the kitchen prior to moving over to The Keep at LeVeque Tower.
Recognizing a shift in food preferences from fine dining to fast casual, Meacham wants to lean in that direction, with “a more inviting feel, something a little more relatable to the people in Columbus, where they want to eat frequently.”
He added, “It’s called Latitude 41 Destination Restaurant, but I want to make it more of an everyday eatery.”
He’s still feeling it out, but he mentioned upgraded pizzas with sour, New York-style dough, a caramelized apple and jalapeño Johnnycake with bourbon maple syrup and fried fennel, a series of burgers, and his own take on shrimp and grits. Whatever the menu ends up being, it won’t stay that way for long. Meacham is currently doing six-course tasting menus for dinner, and he’s looking forward to trying out new tasting menus daily, or even completely new menus daily. Today, on May 3, he’ll be making an octopus salad.
“Things have been a little stagnant, so my job is to come in here and be a big spoon, and just stir everything up a little bit,” he said. “I don’t want people to get the same experience every time they come in.”
Planning to have everything set by August, Meacham is spending the interim getting his “team of ninjas” ready in the kitchen. The servers and bartenders are adjusting as well, learning how to promote his food and creating all new cocktail offerings to complement Meacham’s menu.
As for Steam, which got its start at Little Rock Bar in Italian Village, it’ll be a few years before it’s heard from again. Meacham was planning to fill a spot at the North Market, but reconsidered given the upcoming construction. He’ll be back at it once he finds a new location, but he doesn’t seem to be in a hurry, appreciating his dive back into the kitchen after being more of an owner-operator for so long.
“And who knows?” he said. “Maybe part of my plan is to bring Steam into Latitude. That’s a major possibility.”