Back in Port
By Amber Matheson
The War of 1812 inspired a flag, a national anthem … and a restaurant?
That’s right. After the Island House hotel’s once-storied restaurant space sat vacant for almost a year, local entrepreneur Bill Van Der Giessen took up the cause. Along with longtime local restaurant manager extraordinaire Kevin Lowe, he opened 1812 Food & Spirits and Rosie’s Bar & Grill at the historic venue in Port Clinton, Ohio, last August.
“This adventure into the 1812 restaurant is a venture of love for the city, and social responsibility,” Van Der Giessen explains. “This is hopefully my gift to the development of Port Clinton, my belief in the future of Port Clinton. It’s a wonderful town, and it needs to be and deserves to be all that it can be.”
Van Der Giessen is no stranger to economic development in the region. After a career in business management, he purchased Catawba Island’s Nor’Easter Club in 1993. By the late ’90s, he was fully retired from his business career — and busier than ever. But after 17 years of operating the club, VanDerGiessen had enough.
“I said I was done with the restaurant,” he remembers. “That was my swan song.” He sold the Nor’Easter, turned to property development in the area, and his restaurant days seemed to be over. Until, that is, Lowe came calling. He was trying to revive the shuttered restaurant inside the Island House, which had once hosted presidents, celebrities and locals alike. Van Der Giessen couldn’t help himself.
“There had been wonderful operators in the restaurant originally,” he says. “It was the place to be, to be seen. It was a wonderful environment for many years.” Together, Van Der Giessen and Lowe have brought the old space (which has housed restaurants since 1886) back to life.
On our recent visit, the dining room vibrates with the laughter and conversations of a full house of guests. Much attention was paid to restoring the restaurant to its former grandeur. A beautiful old wood bar anchors the space. The Victory Bar, as it’s known, is surrounded by nautical decorations including a portrait of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry himself (painted by the late local artist Joe Haggert), historic rifles and paintings of windblown ships.
One might assume Van Der Giessen is a bit of a history buff. Turns out, he’s truly fascinated with the history of the area, both distant and recent.
“The name was selected to commemorate the fact that we were in the eye of all that activity,” he explains. “The battle of Lake Erie could be seen from the shores adjacent to Port Clinton.” Rosie’s, meanwhile, is a reference to a colorful character who once ran a house of ill repute in the city. “She was a madam, nefarious, but a very generous benefactor to the area,” says Van Der Giessen with a chuckle.
Rosie’s Bar & Grill holds true to the laid-back, old-fashioned barroom vibe of its namesake, but 1812 is a study in fine dining. We settle in to the stately bar while waiting for our table, choosing a glass of wine from a mid-sized list and — of course — a Great Lakes Brewing Co. Commodore Perry IPA draft. While the décor is a steadfast homage to the history of this area, the menu is relatively modern, with an appetizer list heavy on seafood, and a range of salads, burgers and hearty entrees.
We start with the prime rib rolls ($10), which, true to their menu description, feature incredibly tender prime rib. Wrapped around juicy, creamy pepper-jack cheese, the rolls are succulent little pops of flavor just the right size for an appetizer.
On the entrée menu, we’re pleased to see Lake Erie walleye and perch listed under “Lakes & Seas.” Van Der Giessen confirms that the fish is sourced from Lake Erie year round, and purchased locally whenever possible. We opt for the Walleye Your Way, bruschetta-style, ($22), an option that arrives in a Parmesan crust with a fresh, heaping, tomato-and-garlic topping. Diners have four options among the walleye and perch, including a traditional fried-fish dinner, but we enjoy having lighter choices alongside the classic dish.
Among the restaurant’s signature dishes (the so-called “1812” dishes), the 1812 Stuffed Pork Chop ($19) seems most intriguing. An oversized chop stuffed with port-soaked prunes and proscuitto comes topped with an apple-butter bacon sauce. It’s truly a dish for pork lovers and, on that level, it works rather well. The limp prosciutto is a bit of a disappointment, but the tender pork and tasty bits of bacon more than make up for it. The sweetness of the soaked prunes and the apple butter lend the dish a supremely decadent quality. We love the heady sweetness of the dish, which is a perfect foil for pork, but some might find it a little too overwhelming.
The menu is full of surprises, from those port-soaked prunes to the butternut squash sauce on the Pasta 1812 ($14) to the Grilled Veal Liver ($15) topped with onions and bacon. Side dishes are typical, from baked potatoes to oven-roasted asparagus; we pair the fish with the house blue cheese coleslaw and wipe the bowl clean — it’s creamy and tangy and probably not very healthy, but oh so good.
For fellow history enthusiasts, Van Der Giessen has included a short explanation of the war on the menu, a thoughtful idea that carries the theme through in a smart way.
Portions also are typical of fine dining: large but not the mega-extra-large dishes you’ll find at some places. So we dive into dessert, choosing a slice of the Big Fat Carrot Cake ($12) and the chocolate cheesecake ($8) off a proffered tray. Both are delicious, but the prices seem a tad high.
The restaurant’s prices may push the envelope for this sleepy lakeside town, but Van Der Giessen and Lowe seem well on their way to recreating a side of Port Clinton that hadn’t been seen in a few years.
“It has been wonderful,” says Van Der Giessen of his first year in business. “The local people are supporting the restaurant. It has exceeded my expectations.” And he’s getting to enjoy some of that “see and be seen” atmosphere he’d been missing. “One of the things I love about the restaurant business is that I get to walk around the tables and meet new people and the same people,” he says with a smile.
Info to Go
1812 Food & Spirits and Rosie’s Bar & Grill
102 Madison St.
Port Clinton, Ohio
419-960-7546
1812foodspirits.com
rosiesbargrill.com