Posted: 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Middletown restaurant to re-open with new owners

By Rick McCrabb

Staff Writer

    MIDDLETOWN — Eighty years after it opened, and five years after it closed, a Middletown landmark was sold earlier this month, and the new owners hope to bring it back to life.

Chef Ken Ledford and bartender Emily Profitt recently purchased The Meadows from the previous owner Mike Mandzak III and plan to reopen the “upscale” restaurant in the next two to three weeks, Profitt said. She said the name and phone number will remain the same, and because The Meadows was established in 1934, the interior will feature photos of gangsters from that time period.

    Ledford said all of his dishes will be made from scratch and will feature fresh ingredients. Before buying The Meadows, Ledford, a chef for more than 30 years, worked at the Golden Lamb in Lebanon, L’Auberge in Kettering, Refectory Restaurant in Columbus, and Jeff Ruby’s and Clovernook Country Club in Cincinnati.

    Profitt has been a bartender for 15 years at Clovernook Country Club and Four Bridges Country Club, she said.

    The lunch menu will feature $5 soups, a $14 blackened steak salad, sandwiches that start at $7 and entrees include from Scottish salmon for $15. The dinner menu ranges from $7 sandwiches to filet mignon for $30.

    Profitt said she and Ledford were drawn to The Meadows because owning a restaurant was always a dream of theirs. She’s confident The Meadows can be successful again.

“We will get the old-timers to come back and attract new customers,” she said. “We are excited. We think it will be a big hit. We are going to make it. We are determined.”

    The Meadows has a long history in the city. Mike Mandzak Jr. built the restaurant from the ground up in 1934, then it was operated by his son. Back then, The Meadows’ rustic wood paneled interior featured historic prints from the old Sorg Mansion instead of sleek flat panel TVs.    It harkened back to the days of executive lunches, a time when Mandzak said Armco executives would conduct business deals over soup and sandwiches. A back booth in the corner had a phone specially installed for The Journal reporter to call in any transactions made there, he said.

    In 2009, in recognition of its 75th anniversary, the restaurant received a proclamation from the city. The framed proclamation hands near one of the wooden booths.

    For years, The Meadows was one of the favorite restaurants in the city. But when the executive offices at AK Steel, which were located near The Meadows, moved to West Chester Twp., business, especially at lunch, fell off, Ledford said.

     But since they purchased the business on May 5, Ledford and Profitt said residents top by periodically to see what’s happening at the restaurant. They said Middletown residents are excited that The Meadows is reopening.

    Profitt said she believes the city is turning the corner. She said she sees a city on the rise, not the respirator.

    She understands the work that is ahead of them. On Monday afternoon, both of them were cleaning up the inside of the restaurant.

    “When you own a place, you take even more pride in it,” she said. “You’re not working for someone else. You’re working for yourself.”

THE MEADOWS

WHERE: 2102 Yankee Road, Middletown

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; closed Sundays

MORE INFO: www.meadows1934.com or 513-422-2131