St. Hazard’s on Middle Bass Island is back. Dave Magden with the help of Patrick Bezuur will be operating the compound and look forward to taking it in a new direction that incorporates a European flair.
Dave Magden of Chesterland, Ohio, owns several businesses including Marine Services International, a freight forwarder. One of his side businesses included renting golf carts with Chris Zeitler at JF Walleyes. He enjoyed the time he spent on the island, and when he heard the Hazard’s property was open, he stepped up. Having spent many years traveling Europe for his freight business, he fell in love with the European approach to dining, the core of which was flavor and sourcing locally available ingredients that were of high quality and in many cases organic. In his travels, he had the good fortune to befriend Patrick Bezuur of Amsterdam. Patrick had many years of entrepreneurial restaurant experience. The two men have known each other for over fifteen years, decided to combine forces, and take the European concept and apply it to Hazard’s.
The first order of business? Cleanliness. The Hazard’s facilities have been thoroughly cleaned. They believe cleanliness is one of the foundations on which to build a great menu.
The vision regarding menu is to source locally produced ingredients. Per Patrick, “Our unofficial motto is ‘Food, and the stuff food eats.’ We want to mine the entire food chain for the most delicious ingredients and offer up a varied menu that reflects items available seasonally at the peak of flavor. This includes not only the produce, but meats as well. There will be some evergreen items on the menu but the menu will evolve based on what is available at the time.”
Per Dave Magden, “We kept the Hazard’s name. Over the years people have really enjoyed the venue and there is equity in the brand. Although we are keeping the Hazard’s name, we wanted to create a departure from the bar food they were known to serve. Patrick and I wanted to create a place where we wanted to eat. That means quality food, superb laid-back service, and an interesting bar featuring a small selection of first class wines and other sophisticated cocktails.”
Hazard’s will be open in May but a grand opening will take place on Memorial Day. Further information is available on Facebook, St Hazards.
Dave and Patrick can be reached at sthazards@yahoo.com.
– Contributed by Gordon Barr