The new Fahrenheit restaurant is about to open in Downtown Cleveland, and it has something to offer everyone.
"This is my dream," said Rocco Whalen, chef and owner of Fahrenheit. "I'm here for it. This restaurant is as extra as the word [extra] is popular with the youngins!"
Chef Whalen says he has a lot to show Cleveland.
He and his wife, CEO Alexis Dankovich Whalen, and their team are opening Fahrenheit in Public Square this week.
"It's a small slice of what we wanted to bring to Cleveland," said Whalen. "I got a 20-year lease. So, I don't speak in 'maybe' or 'hopefully,' but I got a 20-year lease, and I plan on doing another 20 if Cleveland will come with me, we'll do it together again!"
To open this new venture, Whalen had to say goodbye to an old friend.
He closed Fahrenheit in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood last month after opening it more than 20 years ago when he was 23.
"You don’t just get the luck, you don't just get the chance, opportunity, timing, sprinkled with a little luck, vigor, discipline... all that is the recipe, and Tremont gave that to me," he said.
Whalen says he loves Tremont and will be back often.
"You're going to see me at the Literary or the Flying Monkey on certain nights," he said. "You can't take the 20 years of history out of where I've come from."
Whalen was born and raised in Northeast Ohio. He graduated from Mentor High.
His mom and grandmother brought him into the kitchen at a young age. Which gave him the recipe for success in overcoming the bullying he says he was experiencing.
His mom's meat slicer and cart are in Fahrenheit's kitchen to this day.
"I'm that guy who wants you to slow down and have a dinner with your mom," he said. "I can't. She's in Heaven, but she's upstairs in the Rose room and the Rosé patio -- the Rose Manetti Whalen Rosé all day room!"
Whalen's culinary career has taken him to many places and ventures, but his dream has always been a restaurant of this caliber in the heart of his hometown.
"I think when you walk into the dining room, you've got old Hollywood meets Las Vegas meets new Cleveland," he described of the dining room decor.
He has designed his kitchen to give back.
There are 75 more employees at the new restaurant, and Whalen says the people on his team are the secret to his success.
"I'm only as good as that last meal that goes out or that last bit of service you see in the dining room," he said.
Whalen said he believes in good operators offering good wages and benefits. He said there are many in Cleveland that do that, and at this point of his career says he wants to empower the next generation.
"Got guys in the kitchen like Brody, an entry-level sous chef that's blowing me away. Those kinds of things are the things that get me going,” he said. “Those are the motivating factors."
The new Fahrenheit is in the old John Q's steakhouse, which closed in 2013. Prior to that, it was Vernon Stouffer’s.
Whalen says they were able to salvage and reuse Stouffer's bar from 1958. You'll find it now in their private event space.
The building remodel is beautiful and modern. It is a deviation from what it was, but not where it’s going.
"Development begets development, and you’re seeing that firsthand here in Public Square," said Audrey Gerlach with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance.
"The impressive progress Sherwin Williams has made on their headquarters project, and then, of course, the restaurant itself will be part of the 55 Public Square residential and office development that K&D has done," she explained. "Right next door is 75 Public Square which is Millennia project. The redevelopment of the Renaissance Hotel and all of the work Bedrock is doing with Tower City. It’s really just part of the momentum, and I think it’s a product of all for that collective development here on the square."
Rocco says he wouldn't have done this big of a project unless he believed in the city.
"Not only believe in your city, but believe in where your city is going. Believe in the content of the people in this city," he said.
The pillars of Cleveland’s skyline make up Fahrenheit’s iconic view from its rooftop patio, which is the first for dining in Public Square.
Whalen hopes the experience at his restaurant will be equally as memorable for you and your family.
"What am I going to do but cook great food and make people happy," said Chef Rocco. "That’s what I’m here to do. I was meant to do that, and I’m just so happy that Northeast Ohio and I -- call it home.
Fahrenheit opens Friday at 4 p.m.
Whalen says to expect some classic menu items from the Tremont days, along with a bunch of new options as well.
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