Freshly brewed plans to perk up The Rendezvous
Richard Otto, owner of Beantown Café, and head chef Martina Cronin, pose outside The Rendezvous bar on Model Farm Road, ahead of the launch of a new food offering. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
THE owner of bustling Beantown Café on Model Farm Road has bought into The Rendezvous bar and is set to introduce a casual dining experience after a more formal food offering was axed before Christmas.
New Yorker Richard Otto is also planning to open a third Beantown Café in Cork city’s suburbs in April, adding to the two he already has: one at the junction of Farranlea Park/Model Farm Road and the other on Western Road, next to the “Pink” clinic. The third Beantown Café will open in Grange, replacing the now closed Perry Street Market Café at the junction of Cooney’s Lane and Grange Road, across the road from German supermarket Aldi.
Mr Otto’s decision to become a shareholder in The Rendezvous – a longstanding fixture of Cork’s suburban pub trade – was inspired by his desire to “get it going” having observed its changing fortunes for six years, since opening his first Beantown Café across the road in 2018. At the time The Rendezvous was closed, having shut unexpectedly at Christmas 2017, under a second generation member of the O’Donovan family, who have a background in hospitality and in the off-licence trade. It later sold for close to €1.5m at the end of 2018 to Joe O’Sullivan, who had previous pub/club experience, before changing hands again in April 2023, after it was purchased by financial advisory firm MC2 on behalf of private clients, for a figure in the region of €2m.
The pub had been closed for a year, but re-opened under the new owners with award- winning chef Pat Kiely brought in to head up the kitchen. Mr Kiely had run high-profile French restaurant Les Gourmandises on Cook St in the city centre for 18 years. However the fine dining experience ended before Christmas and Mr Otto is now set to introduce “a more casual, more affordable experience”.
“I’ve been across the road for six years looking at this place and I was looking at it not getting going so I left my number behind the bar and they [Jim McCarthy of MC2] reached out to me,” Mr Otto said.
Mr Otto, a former school teacher who began his career in hospitality in Brooklyn, will have as his head chef Martina Cronin, formerly of The Square Table in Blarney, a quality restaurant that she ran with her twin sister Patricia. Ms Cronin’s impressive CV includes dual-Michelin Star Chapter One in Dublin (under Ross Lewis) and Residence on Dublin’s Stephen’s Green under Graham Neville. Earlier in her career, she worked with Ciarán Scully in Ballycotton’s Bayview Hotel and under the Brennan brothers at the Kenmare Park Hotel in Co Kerry.
More recently, she took a step back from the kitchen while working for K O’Connell fish merchants in the English Market but was “missing the madness of the kitchen” and has returned to The Rendezvous as new head chef.
Mr Otto’s wife, Corkonian Anna Lisa Riordan, a pastry chef, who was brought up down the road from The Rendezvous, will look after the dessert menu.
Mr Otto said he has high hopes for The Rendenzvous, where the menu will include “a good burger”, fish and chips, three different types of pie and options for vegans and vegetarians.
“We want people to be able to eat out and not feel like they are breaking the bank every time. If you want steak, you will still have to pay for that, but our aim is to keep the price down, to get the pricing right.” Mr Otto is hoping to have an off-licence also – albeit not of the run-of-the-mill variety. “It will be more like a wine room attached to the bar, a more intimate experience, with a sommelier,” he said.
He is hoping for buy-in from the local community.
“It’s called The Rendezvous, which translates to “meeting place” and that’s what I’d like it to be. I’m looking to bring a neighbourhood "local" back to life,” Mr Otto said, adding that they hope to introduce the new menu from March 5.
His third Beantown Café should follow a month later, with an April 1 opening date pencilled in for Grange. Perry Street Market closed there last November.
