L'Albatros

More than 30 years ago, Cleveland Magazine credited chef and restaurateur Zack Bruell with introducing the area to an emerging west-coast trend of bistro dining and fusion cuisine. Bruell brought the concept from his work with famed chef Michael McCarty of the landmark eatery, Michael’s Santa Monica—a restaurant recognized for influencing dining attitudes throughout North America with its California nouvelle cuisine. Bruell imported the new style to Cleveland, where he opened Z Contemporary Cuisine in Shaker Heights in the early 1980s. Although he eventually sold Z, Bruell’s fans did not forget him. He got back into the game in 2004 with the opening of Parallax in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. In only a few years, Bruell opened more fine dining restaurants: Table 45 at the InterContinental Cleveland, l’Albatros, and Cowell & Hubbard. Bruell is the only restaurateur in Cleveland to have nine successful restaurant concepts within the city limits, plus a restaurant-style catering and events company. Zack Bruell is and will always be at the forefront of Cleveland’s restaurant scene.