Grandview Heights Moment in Time
Grandview Avenue between 1st and 5th avenues is regarded as one of the most popular dining and shopping areas in Columbus, but it was ignored for many years.
Businesses had moved out and buildings had fallen in disrepair. The persons most responsible for the revival of Grandview Avenue as a destination for shopping and restaurants likely were Hubert and Helga Seifert.
Hubert, known as "Chef Hubert" or just "Chef," started a career as a chef in Europe before he and Helga came to the U.S. He was hired as the personal chef to Austin "Dutch" Knowlton, an architect and shareholder in the Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati Bengals. Hubert, Helga and their daughter, Nicole, made Columbus their home.
According to Chef, he met Columbus otolaryngologist Dr. Leo Wagenbrenner at an event, and Wagenbrenner told him about the Grandview Bank Block, which anchored a strip of shopping along Grandview Avenue. It had fallen in disrepair, and Leo (Tad) and his brothers Tom and Mike had plans to renovate the iconic Grandview complex and were looking to find potential tenants.
Chef and Helga decided to open an upscale delicatessen as a storefront in the north end of the Block in 1981, which they named the Gourmet Market. They sold bread, cheeses, fish and meats and select packaged products such as pâtés and caviar. They also did some catering. At first it was only a carryout, but some small tables were added outside on the sidewalk. Another storefront next door became available, so a dining room was added.
In an interview with WOSU, Chef said he and Helga had a desire to expand the deli into a restaurant but didn’t have a lot of money and the space had no liquor license. They went door to door in the community to lobby for a vote to allow the license so that they could open the restaurant.
They were successful and added a second dining area and outdoor seating. However, their high-end approach to dining ran head-first into a recession and changing dining tastes, and they realized they had to change to a more casual approach.
On a trip to Chicago, they saw a demonstration of a wood-fired pizza oven. They bought one and hired the head pizza cook from the California Pizza Kitchen in Chicago, and in 1991 added the more casual restaurant to the Gourmet Market. One of their customers was successful Columbus advertising and public relations expert Shelley Berman, who helped the Seiferts rebrand the restaurant in 1993 as Spagio European and Pacific Rim Cuisine, or Spagio.
They lobbied the city of Grandview to allow them to enclose the sidewalk to expand the dining space. A few years later, Chef followed his desire to open a European style high-end membership-only dining model, and opened the Aubergine Private Dining Club a few doors south of Spagio. They then expanded Spagio to an additional space next door, which they called Spagio Wine Lounge, opening an access door between them.
During the nearly four decades that the business flourished, Chef also impacted the Columbus restaurant scene in other ways. He worked with students at the culinary apprentice program at Columbus Technical Institute (Columbus State Community College) and at OSU and also hosted sous-chef apprentices at Spagio.
He hosted annual fundraising events that brought other famous chefs from across the country, supporting local organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the James Cancer Hospital. Over the years, Chef also trained some of Columbus’ most famous chefs, who went on to start their own restaurants or join existing fine dining establishments.
Just before the pandemic, Chef and Helga sold their restaurant to CityBrands, owners of Katzinger’s Delicatessen and The Wine Bistro, among other restaurants. Because of the impact of the pandemic, CityBrands sold it to Covington, Kentucky-based Agave & Rye, which opened June 22.
This restaurant and the Bank Block are featured in the free History Walks app.
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Grandview Heights Moment in Time
