Bellevue residents looking for a nearby fine dining experience should take this advice: Look up, because they won’t simply be able to walk into Bellevue’s newest restaurant right off the street. Instead, they’ll need to ride a glass elevator, looking over the Ohio River skyline, to the fourth floor of 119 Hamilton Ave. to get a seat at Northern Kentucky’s newest fine dining venue, MRBL.
“We acquired this building probably seven years ago,” says co-owner David Windmiller on last week. His son and business partner, Michael Windmiller, sits next to him at a table in the center of the restaurant.
There were no customers on this day, Dec. 21, but the restaurant was buzzing with activity. Two bar tenders arranged drinks behind the bar on the east wall while other staff members, all dressed in jet black uniforms, vacuumed the floors and tidied up the rest of the tables.
Opening night was only a few hours away.
“Since this space became vacant, we’ve been walking in this room over and over again looking at the view of the city, trying to figure out what would work really well here,” David said. “All we kept hearing over and over again—this would be an awesome spot for a really nice high-end restaurant.”
Pronounced like the word “marble,” MRBL specializes in steak, sushi and seafood. Chef Michael Kim (who was not at the table during the interview) headed the kitchen. He’s run kitchens from California to Texas and worked as a corporate chef in Iowa before coming to MRBL.
The Windmillers themselves are originally from New York. After purchasing the property, David said that they “fell in love with the area.” He credits the idea for the elevator to his networking efforts with Southbank Partners, an economic development organization focused on building out the Northern Kentucky region.
Much like their fondness for the area, David said they “fell in love with the idea [for the elevator], and we kind of ran with it.”
Getting everything together has taken some time, and Michael has been residing in Kentucky full-time for at least a year and a half as he’s readied the restaurant for business. David hopes to become a full-time resident of the state soon. Their vision for the restaurant was to bring New York and east coast style cuisine to Bellevue.
“High-end steaks, elevated sushi,” he said, meaning sushi that does more than conform to the predictable fare found in other restaurants. Guests can also help themselves to a variety of seafood dishes and a raw seafood bar.
But if there’s any dish that steals the show, Michael said, it’s the steak. Sourced from Meats by Linz in Chicago, it’s in a word, “phenomenal,” according to Michael, even though finding a worthy supplier was a challenge. The Windmillers tested beef from all over the country, including Atlanta, Georgia, and New York City.
“I will say that nothing came close to the beef we’re getting,” Michael said.
Other menu items include roasted chicken breast, multiple salmon dishes and a bone-in filet mignon, a dish that Michael claims is popular out east.
“It’s been an incredible amount of work,” David said, but “the city of Bellevue and Campbell County have been nothing but great people to work with… And they were very monumental in allowing us to pursue this dream.”
Visit MRBL’s website to make reservations and view the menu.