A new American-style chophouse is coming to Fort Wright, with plans to open inside the former Frisch’s Big Boy restaurant at 20 Kyles Lane.
The concept is being developed by Billy Grise and Mitch Arens, co-owners of Covington-based Italian restaurant Carmelo’s and founders of Something Underground Hospitality. The new restaurant will mark the hospitality group’s second concept following Carmelo’s, which opened in November 2024 at 434 Madison Ave. in Covington.
The restaurant’s name has not yet been announced. According to a news release, the name will draw inspiration from the history of Dixie Highway through Fort Wright. The stretch of road running uphill from Covington toward Park Hills was once known as the “Gourmet Strip” because of its concentration of restaurants.
The upcoming chophouse is expected to seat approximately 160 guests and will include an outdoor patio. The concept will focus on American-style food and familiar comfort dishes designed to evoke the experience of family dinners, potlucks, cookouts, and celebrations.
“For me dinner was a table full of food and a room filled with everyone I love,” Arens said in the release. “That’s what we want to re-create here. Comfort food you recognize before you taste it, that hopefully brings back memories of the potlucks, the cookouts and family celebrations so many of us experienced during our childhood.”
The new restaurant will occupy the former Frisch’s location at 20 Kyles Lane. Frisch’s relocated to a new restaurant at 494 Orphanage Road in August after a two-month renovation.
Grise and Arens bring extensive experience in the Cincinnati-area restaurant industry to the project. Grise previously worked as head chef at Rookwood and Quan Hapa before serving as director of food and beverage at Hotel Covington and later with Thunderdome Restaurant Group. Arens has worked with Cincinnati restaurateur David Falk at Boca and Nada and later developed experience with Cajun, Creole, Caribbean, Southern, and French flavors while working in New Orleans.
The duo launched Something Underground Hospitality in February 2025. Their first concept, Carmelo’s, serves traditional and contemporary Italian dishes, including house-made pastas and its signature one-pound lasagna plate.
An exact name, opening date, and operating hours for the new Fort Wright chophouse have not yet been announced. The restaurant is expected to open sometime this winter.
What Now reached out to the company for additional information about the upcoming chophouse, including its name and opening plans, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
