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After overseeing an ambitious two-year construction project, Carla Batista and Gustavo Nogueira are nearly ready to move the Larchmere location of Batuqui to its new home down the block. The last day of operation in its current spot will be Sunday, August 31st and the first day of service in the new space will be Tuesday, September 2nd. (It’s all business as usual at the Chagrin Falls location, which has been humming along for four years.)
The move takes the owners from a charming 130-year-old Victorian to an exquisite Craftsman-style structure built in 1922 that was long home to St. Paul’s Evangelical Church. Inside and out, the building impresses with soaring ceilings, stained glass windows and stunning fixtures.
“It’s a very special place,” says Batista.
The principal asset of the new space, however, is its size. For a decade, Batista and Nogueira managed to make do with just 38 seats. Down the block, they will be able to serve about 180 guests when you combine inside and out, upstairs and down.
Of course, the move is bittersweet.
“That little place has a special place in my heart and I really appreciate that the beginning was there,” Batista shares. “It was 11 years ago when we started to think about it – and for me, 38 people was a lot of people.”
When guests sit down for a meal at the new location, they will find all their favorite dishes like Brazilian cheese bread, cod fish croquettes, xim xim, grilled picanha and feijoada. But a larger kitchen means that the chefs will be able to offer more specials going forward, says Batista.
A lower level dining room has its own bar and plenty of seating. Also tucked away down there is a small retail shop, reminiscent of the owners’ former Ipanema Market down the street, that stocks Brazilin imports like Pilão coffee, Brahma beer, sweets, biscuits and other dry goods.
When the new Batuqui opens next week, it will join the four-year-old Chagrin Falls location.
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Douglas Trattner
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