FIRST LOOK: Chef Doug Katz prepares to open ‘Amba’ in Ohio City | Doug Trattner reports

CLEVELAND — A bit greater than a yr in the past, I interviewed chef Doug Katz within the constructing that was to turn into Amba in Ohio Metropolis. Again then, the house was a uncooked, industrial shell.

Upon return, I found a very remodeled house that can quickly welcome its first dinner visitors.

“It was a printing store, actually, with inexperienced partitions and concrete flooring and industrial ceilings,” Katz recollects. “I am fortunate as a chef that we’re getting ready meals and we get to eat it, as nicely, however the atmosphere that you simply’re consuming in—the service, the views—every little thing about it ought to make you’re feeling such as you’re having the very best time of your life.”

As he did at Zhug in Cleveland Heights, Katz labored intently with designer Kelly Shaffer to create a compelling and cohesive house that can transport diners. The deliberately darkish inside sparkles with candlelight and shadows solid from glowing lighting fixtures.

Above our heads is a twisted-rope ceiling and outsized rattan pendant lights. The bar consists of burnished metal.

The 5,000-square-foot property is comprised of two separate-but-connected areas: the primary eating room and Bar Amba, a cocktail lounge. There’s room for 80 visitors in the primary space and one other 40 within the barroom.

“You stroll by way of a double door space, and that’s Bar Amba,” Katz says. “It truly has its personal entrance. You are capable of get the identical meals, you are capable of eat it in there, nevertheless it’s a unique bar expertise.”

When Amba opens on Could 24, it is going to accomplish that with an Indian-themed menu of small plates that vary from crispy samosas to composed meat and fish dishes. Lots of the objects have roots not solely within the now-closed ghost kitchen of the identical identify, however again to Hearth Meals and Drink as nicely.

“So at Hearth, our focus was a tandoor oven,” Katz defined. “I beloved getting ready dishes in a tandoor oven, however we actually targeted on regional American meals.”

Two years in the past, Katz shuttered his 20-year-old restaurant Hearth as a result of that fashion of nice eating not labored, in his opinion. However now, he’s on the cusp of opening his second sizzling, new restaurant in lower than three years.

“I really feel like by way of the pandemic, by way of the unhappy occasions we had, this has been such an inspiration for me and our group,” he stated. “I believe it is going to carry me and our group into the longer term. Will probably be such a vivid spot for everybody in Cleveland, as nicely, and should you’ve been at Hearth and type of skilled that with your loved ones, that is actually the following step for us, and we wish to carry individuals together with us.”

Amba is situated at 1340 W twenty eighth St. in Cleveland. Opening day is Could 24, and you’ll comply with alongside on their web site.