Blue Door in Cuyahoga Falls brings back dinner with new chef after Alejandro Najar exit

Dinner service is back at the Blue Door Cafe and Bakery in Cuyahoga Falls, starting with soft opening dining Aug. 4 and 5.

David Chin is the new dinner chef at Blue Door, after working for a decade as the chef de cuisine at Flour, an Italian restaurant in Moreland Hills. The new menu he's developed at Blue Door has Asian, Italian and Belgian influences.

Limited reservations are available from 5 to 8 p.m. for the soft opening Aug. 4 and 5 at bluedoorcafebakery.com/dinner. Beginning Aug. 9, dinner will run 5 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday at 1970 State Road.

Chef Chin, aided by newly promoted sous chef Joshua Hopkins, has created a smaller menu that includes three small plates, four medium plates, four large plates and a dessert.

"We kept it a little bit small this time because I didn't want them to bite off more than they could chew," Blue Door owner Michael Bruno said. "In the Marine Corps, we always say 'brilliance in the basics.' "

The goal was to make the menu exciting but not so unusual that customers don't recognize the fare, he said.

David Chin's background lends to dishes with diverse cuisine influences

Chin learned to cook from his grandfather, who emigrated from China. The chef formerly hosted weekly ramen pop-ups at Flour featuring homemade ramen noodles, inspired by his grandfather.

Dinner dishes with Asian influences at Blue Door include small plate dumplings with berkshire pork, Szechuan chili, peanut and sesame; ramen with berkshire porkbelly, miso broth, six-minute egg and nor; and turbot, a butter-broiled whole fish with Japanese dashi broth, napa and mint slaw, Thai basil and cilantro.

Ceviche also will have an Asian influence, featuring salmon, coconut, Thai chile and radish.

"He just likes to use elements from Asian cooking and incorporate them into, say, an Italian dish or a French dish if it's a good fit," Bruno said of the new chef.

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Italian offerings are caponata (eggplant, olives and onions) and white bean puree dips with local garlic and flatbread; and cacio e pepe, which is hand-rolled pasta with Parmigiano Reggiano, black, pink and green Szechuan peppercorns and egg.

Two dishes — a burger and heritage chicken — will be finished on a binchotan grill. The hot-burning charcoal grill, which burns at 800 degrees, creates a charred flavor.

Also offered will be a Mishima 7-9 score strip, a marbled steak whose marbling is graded on a Japanese grading scale.

"A 7-to-9 score is crazy marbled," Bruno said of the rich steak. "We're gonna keep the price reasonable so that people can actually afford to eat it."

Blue Door's new online dinner menu does not yet have prices.

Rounding out the menu is gazpacho as well as the return of moules-frites — the national dish of Belgium that features mussels in mustard, shallots, cream and white wine with fries. Bruno said the sauce at Blue Door is a little thicker than other broths so it coats the mussels.

Finally, peaches and cream shortcake will be offered for dessert.

David Chin comes to Blue Door after Alejandro Najar's exit

Chef Chin comes on board at Blue Door after former Executive Chef Alejandro "Alex" Najar resigned June 17 following tension between him and Bruno. Najar, who ran dinner service at the restaurant for about five months, won third place in the 21st season of "Hell's Kitchen" in February.

Alex Najar quits: Blue Door chef's departure reveals tension between Alejandro Najar, owner of Falls restaurant

Bruno said he's known Chin for nearly a year. The chef previously interviewed at Blue Door but Bruno didn't have a position for him at the time.

"I think he's going to be really good for us," Bruno said.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Dinner returns to Blue Door in Cuyahoga Falls with new chef David Chin