COLUMBUS (WCMH) — BJ Lieberman and his wife, Bronwyn Haines, are not going to let the coronavirus halt their plans to open their first restaurant in Columbus.  

“It’s definitely not what we had originally planned on and it’s certainly not ideal for a million different reasons,” said Lieberman, who will be the restaurant’s head chef. “We’ve been negotiating the lease on this space for the better part of five months now.” 

That space is the original Max & Erma’s building in German Village, most recently the home of Wunderbar and Pierogi Mountain. They know the legacy this building has for the neighborhood and the city, and want to make sure they preserve that while adding their own flavor.  

“This building has been a part of this neighborhood one way or another for over 100 years, so we’re not audacious enough to think that we can come in here and just flip everything on its head and people are going to be cool with it,” said Lieberman. “We definitely don’t want to step on the history of this building. We’re just going to be hopefully a part of the living history of it.” 

That begins with bringing some family history to this special spot. Haines and her family have been the inspiration for the restaurant’s name: Chapman’s Eat Market.  

Haines’ great-grandfather, Peter Haiden Chapman, started a poultry business in Clintonville with two different locations in the city, both called Chapman’s Poultry Market.

“When we were talking about what to name it, I just kept going back to how cool that piece of the history was and just how classic that was,” Haines said. “I mean, why not just stick to the history of the family and of the area, and, I don’t know, it just kind of came together.” 

Haines said she always hinted at her husband to open up a restaurant in Columbus so they could move closer to her family. 

“The community is so loving and supportive,” she said. “It’s a proper city but really, truly still with a small community feel. The food scene is burgeoning. Like, there’s still room for so much more growth, but it’s already great.” 

Lieberman is looking to add to that scene, and he has a resume to raise some eyebrows.  

He went to the College of Charleston, where he met Haines. After that, he ventured north to New York City where he completed culinary school. It didn’t take him long to find a job. Immediately after finishing culinary school, Lieberman returned to Charleston to help open what is now one of the most renowned restaurants in the city: Husk.

Eventually, the couple moved to Washington D.C. where for seven years Lieberman partnered with three restaurants and became the head chef at two of them.  

“What I want to put out there as a chef really is kind of like an amalgam of everything that I’ve been through in my life. But then also everything that my staff has been through. I’m a really collaborative type person,” Lieberman said. “So, I didn’t set out to open a southern restaurant. I wanted to find a space that I really like and say this would make a cool restaurant and as soon as we found this space, what I was thinking I wanted to do really shifted.” 

He said his vision for Chapman’s is elevated dining, but not pretentious.  

“Definitely not fine dining from a white table cloth stand point but we are going to take the preparation of the food that seriously,” he explained. “Right now, we’ve got it set up where the menu is going to be like small plates to share and then some larger things, which would be closer akin to appetizers like soup, salad, appetizer-type things.

The menu will also include some starch dishes such as pastas and rice and two or three larger items such as whole fish and chicken to share amongst the table.

It goes far beyond food for Lieberman. The first hire he made for Chapman’s was a bar manager, and he found someone with lots of local expertise, Seth Laufman, the former owner and bartender at Blind Lady Tavern.

“He’s very creative and playful and wants everything to real excit people but not be heavy handed or over the top,” said Lieberman. “We’re going to focus on natural and organic and just easy-drinking affordable wines.”

That includes non-alcoholic drinks. Lieberman wants to put ingenuity into that list as well.  

“That’s like a big piece of the puzzle. That’s really important,” he said. “We’re going to have a whole section of low alcohol or non-alcoholic cocktails and mocktails.” 

While he has a vision for what he wants Chapman’s to be, Lieberman is aware a lot of this restaurant planning will be unplanned due to the coronavirus. Right now, he has no idea what the restaurant guidelines will be like when it comes time to open.

“My accountant and I basically have plan A, B and C right now, which opening one restaurant is stressful enough,” he said. “We are basically planning to open three different restaurants. When we’re ready and able to open, we’re going to open. And depending on if we’re allowed to have guests in the building at that point, or if we have to go to with an all-takeout model or whatever it is, that’s what we’re going to go with.” 

Still, he feels that it’s important to open up his doors during a time when so many are closing.

“Just the comfort of having someone else cook you a meal I think is enough in a lot of ways,” he said. “We’re going to do our best to have the hospitality just ooze through what we’re doing.”

Lieberman said he originally hoped to open at the beginning of June. He’s still shooting for his original date, but believes realistically it’ll probably be late June or early July.  

“I think people are just excited to have something to look forward to,” Haines said. “Just a bright spot among this.”