Hodge’s restaurant to close in downtown Cleveland

Hodges restaurant in downtown Cleveland is scheduled to close this year

Hodge's restaurant in downtown Cleveland is scheduled to close this year.The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Hodge's in downtown Cleveland will close this year, Scott Kuhn of the Driftwood Restaurant Group has confirmed.

The restaurant will not renew its lease, which ends around Friday, Dec. 27, Kuhn said.

The closing is a result of Driftwood wanting to keep its focus on Playhouse Square locations. The company, which has offices in the Hanna Building, operates Cibreo Italian Kitchen, Green Rooster Farms and Bin 216 all within a block of each other. This year it also opened Republic Food and Drink in the former Otto Moser's space.

The company's only restaurants not in Playhouse Square are Washington Place Bistro & Inn in Cleveland's Little Italy and Welshfield Inn in Burton.

"We just had to sit down as a company and say 'what are we doing, where does our focus need to be, what are the pros and cons of continuing on?' " Kuhn said. "We've had a great relationship with K&D, the landlord.

"Our home is really Playhouse Square. We determined the best thing for our employees and customers is to finish what we started in Playhouse Square."

Kuhn said the employees have been informed of the decision and will be moved to other Driftwood restaurants.

"I hate reading those stories where workers show up one day and there's a note on the door," he said. "Our employees are aware of the plan. They are a big part of our company."

Kuhn's business partner Chris Hodgson opened Hodge's in 2012. Hodgson

was honored as Best New Chef in the Great Lakes region by voters in Food & Wine magazine’s The People’s Best New Chef 2014 competition.

Kuhn hopes to open another restaurant in Playhouse Square, but nothing is set in stone.

“We’re kind of waiting patiently,” he said. “It will happen sooner rather than later.”

Hodge’s is at 668 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.

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