Jon Lane hasn't owned a restaurant before, but he's worked in several of them.
"My dad owned a banquet facility and I've worked in fast food, fine dining, and was a bar tender for Four Peaks and Dos Gringos for a while," he says. "If you're in the restaurant business, it's [restaurant ownership] just the career path you see."
Lane, a native of Traverse City, Michigan, and partner Pat Walsh are the folks behind O.H.S.O., the eatery and nano brewery located in the former home of the Black Forest Mill German Restaurant at 4900 East Indian School Road. The building is undergoing major renovations before its opening on November 15 -- among them, updating the 1970s interior, adding a patio, and making room for a small brewery operation where guests won't just be able to brew their own beer, they'll be able to get it on tap as well.
"I researched a lot of small batch breweries in Portland and Michigan," says Lane, who is also a home brewer, "But I don't think anyone in the Southwest is going to do this like we are."
Lane, who would like to see more breweries in Arizona, plans to have 36 craft beers on hand at O.H.S.O. with half of them being from Arizona. In addition, he plans to have 25 wines by the glass with Arizona wines helping to make up the list. The alcohol will be ready to go by opening day, but the nano brewery, requiring federal approval, won't be ready until next year.
And if the beer and brewery aspects aren't enough, Lane has hired chef Nate Hibbard, formerly of Kai and D'Vine Bistro & Wine Bar in Chandler, and who used to own his own barbecue place in Colorado, to head up O.H.S.O.'s menu of American comfort food (including barbecue) and Italian favorites with the bread being baked on-site.
So why the Arcadia location?
"We had been looking all over Tempe," Lane says, "and then one day when we were having a meeting at Black Forest, we chatted with one of the workers who said the owner was struggling. We liked the location and spoke with the owner who was interested in selling the place. It happened a lot quicker than what we expected."
The German Sausage Co., in the same building, will continue to operate.
Lane also tells me that the name O.H.S.O. stands for different things to both he and his partner and that he wants to leave it open for interpretation for his guests.
"But you could say," he adds laughing, "that everything is O.H.S.O. good."
O.H.S.O. will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner and a beer brunch on the weekends. For more information and the food and drink menus, go here.
