Southern and French cuisine restaurant to open in Historic District

Earlier this year, Lori Gilpatrick and Chris Williams were looking for jobs in the Columbus restaurant industry when they found much more than they had anticipated.

The two friends and recent co-workers — Gilpatrick is a general manager and Williams is a chef — had worked together at a couple of places in the area when they heard of possible jobs at a new restaurant in the Historic District.

“When we got there, we found the restaurant was for sale,” Gilpatrick said.

Their plans suddenly changed and they went from employees to owner-operators.

By the end of this month, they plan to open 7^th Street Provisions in the former Cafe 222 and Vintage 222 space that has been shuttered for about five years. The restaurant will be a blend of Southern and French cuisine and will feature a menu that will change regularly.

Under 7^th Street Provisions LLC, Gilpatrick, her husband, Scott, and Williams, bought the property in January for $140,000, according to city records. Columbus businessman Mike Milligan previously owned it and planned to open a restaurant. But that never happened.

The property was part of a zoning battle that ended in July 2015 when Columbus Council approved a variance, sought by Milligan, to allow a restaurant to open at the corner of Seventh Street and Third Avenue.

“We would not be here right now if that had not taken place,” Gilpatrick said.

The initial plan was to quickly open a restaurant in the century-old structure.

“We thought we could do some real quick cosmetic work, and the longer we were in here the more we fell in love with the building,” Gilpatrick said. “We saw the opportunity to make it what it really could be.”

And that is a small, chef-driven restaurant that has a distinct atmosphere and cuisine.

Williams, who has worked in kitchens in his hometown of LaGrange, Ga., as well as Charleston, Savannah, Orlando, Newnan and Columbus, also has worked on and off in the construction business.

“I don’t know any other chef who actually built his restaurant,” said Gilpatrick, who has worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry since she was a teenager growing up in Detroit.

During the last nine months, the two have worked to streamline the kitchen and change the decor in the 2,000-square-foot facility.

“As I moved place to place, I only wanted to work with the best chef, so in between that I would do construction work, residential remodeling to fill the gap,” Williams said. “I love working with my hands.”

There is also a nod in the decor to the history of the cinder-block structure that was a butcher shop in its earliest days. They hung a large cast metal bull head high on a wall in the back of the restaurant.

“The French butcher shops used to hang the head of the kind of meat they were selling that day,” Gilpatrick said.

The name also reflects the butcher-shop history, she said.

“The name, with provisions in it, is a nod to that past,” Gilpatrick said.

As they did the remodel themselves — making cabinets, booths and putting in a new floor — they made a decision to move with caution and not open until they were ready.

“I saw what happened at The Social and some other places,” Gilpatrick said of the downtown Columbus restaurant that failed after two restarts. “You got one chance to finish the building’s guts. We can go back and buy different equipment, but this is the impression.”

The restaurant looked like it was ready to open on Tuesday when Gilpatrick and Williams showed it off. But there are still details that have to be completed.

They won’t put an exact date on the opening, but they say the restaurant will open by the end of the month. The plan is to open for dinner on Wednesday-Saturday and brunch on Sundays.

Williams said the construction has put them “in a time warp,” but that is all about to change as they focus on the food.

“The food here is going to be very welcoming,” Williams said. “But it will be done classic, in a sense.”

And the menu will be based on fresh and available ingredients, Gilpatrick said. It will also feature different wines, craft beers and craft spirits.

“This will be a different experience all together,” she said. “The wine list will rotate. I would rather do all craft beers and bourbons. You like Canadian whiskey, great? I am not going to have Crown, but I will have one.”

They will keep the entries affordable, ranging between $15-$29.

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Southern and French cuisine restaurant to open in Historic District."