Sauce the City gains 2nd stand in Ohio City Galley

Vic Searcy shown Monday at A Taste of Black Cleveland The Food Showcase 3 point 0 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse is bringing a burger concept into Ohio City Galley.

Vic Searcy - shown Monday at A Taste of Black Cleveland: The Food Showcase 3.0 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse - is bringing a burger concept into Ohio City Galley.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Sauce the City is expanding in a familiar location.

Thursday, Vic Searcy is scheduled to open The Burger Shop in Ohio City Galley, where he already has an eatery. The additional concept will focus on brisket-rib-eye blended sliders he bills as "the best cuts in town."

To that end, Searcy embraces multiple flavors in his cooking. In 2019, his brand, Sauce the City, took first place in the Launch Test Kitchen event at what is now Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in the dine-in category. He won for his Cleveland hot chicken, whose spices are accented by the city's ethnic roots: Polish, Hungarian, Italian, African-American and others.

What drives Searcy in the kitchen is the makeup of the city.

"Cleveland," he said, "is a melting pot."

Monday, Searcy was back at the annual food event, now called A Taste of Black Cleveland: The Food Showcase 3.0. The always smiling Searcy served up street-corn bowls with sweet heat chicken, sweet corn tossed in Cleveland hot seasoning topped with housemade cream and fresh cilantro.

Ohio City Galley takes an incubator-business approach to the restaurant world, offering a stall in the space to a quartet of eateries. Sauce the City was part of the initial group that started in 2018. His first restaurant will remain. OCG is in the renovated space formerly occupied by Massimo da Milano at West 25th Street and Detroit Avenue in Cleveland.

Ohio City Galley's other current tenants are Pie2 (pizza) and Grains and Greens (salads and grain bowls).

The Burger Shop's logo even includes a barber-shop pole image, playing on the "best cuts in town" double-entendre-like tagline.

Searcy's Cleveland hot chicken also can be found in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse's revamped Loudville section near the Budweiser Brew House, which opened when the arena's renovation was completed in late 2019. Life is going well for the chef, whose only complaint is the same one many Cavs fans have.

"They just have to win some more games," he said.

Related coverage

Ohio City Galley set to open in Cleveland - sneak peek

Chefs highlighted at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse event (photos, video)

Ohio City Galley adds restaurants

2019 Launch Test Kitchen winners

For photos and videos on the extraordinary food and drinking scenes in Northeast Ohio, follow @DineDrinkCLE on Instagram.

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