Two weeks ago, Paul Jagielski, a Charleston-trained chef, opened Henry's at the Barn (36840 Detroit Rd. 440.934.6636). Located in Avon's Olde Avon Village, Henry's is constructed from an 1830s stone-and-wood barn that was moved to the site last spring. The eminently comfortable restaurant features a cozy barroom with fireplace, a 60-seat dining room that shares the same see-through fireplace, and a cocktail lounge tucked into an upstairs loft. Driftwood that Jagielski plucked from the Lake Erie shore now serves as the bar and foot rails. Rather than the ubiquitous bar-top nut or pretzel bowls, Henry's offers pimiento cheese and crackers. "If I were to welcome you into my home," says Jagielski, "I'd offer you pimiento cheese." Hospitality doesn't stop there. A pile of blankets sits by the back door for folks who care to snuggle up to the outdoor fire pit. The menu features lowcountry classics like Charleston she-crab soup, shrimp and grits, and chilled seafood. Oysters on the half shell are served with cocktail sauce and shaved iced malt vinegar. Skillet-fried oysters are presented in wax paper and could not have been more crisp. They are served with hot sauce, blue cheese dressing and celery. It was an order of shrimp and grits that made me swoon, Southern-style; shrimp and andouille sausage in a cayenne-spiked cream sauce served atop creamy stone-ground grits. The "Henry," by the way, was Paul and wife Tracy's faithful golden retriever. Henry's is open for dinner and Sunday brunch.

According to John Stuchal, a monastery is a place of retreat, escape and rejuvenation. He hopes to provide those same sensations at his new tea-centric restaurant, The Monastery (1844 W. 25th St., 216.575.1832). A longtime culinary instructor and previous restaurant owner, Stuchal moves well past simply offering a large catalogue of international teas — he uses tea as a key component in his cooking. "In areas where tea grows," he explains, "tea is used as a seasoning, not just a beverage." Stuchal uses tea to season pork tenderloin, sun-dried tomatoes and house-cured bacon. Lapsang Souchong, a smoked tea with an aroma of fire, provides a smoky undertone to other dishes. The 25-seat Ohio City restaurant, which opens this week, is dolled up with marble-top tables, hand-rubbed walls, tapestries, castle doors and Himalayan salt candles. Tea is served in silver pots. The small menu features formal tea accompaniments like scones, as well as more substantial offerings like Jamaican roast chicken with jasmine-infused pasta pilaf.