Innovation and preservation mingle at Strip Steakhouse in Olde Avon Village, where developer and chef Ron Larson has established a venerable gathering place for those seeking a prime cut and fresh-sourced ingredients. If you’re game for a top-notch steak, Strip is your destination as a licensed and certified provider of black angus beef. 
“What makes us certified is the fact that every piece of meat on our menu is prime, certified black angus,” explains Larson, who curates a dining experience for guests that’s rooted in history. The historic Ewers Barn that houses Strip was reclaimed through the Barn Again program from a small town, Frederickstown, near Mount Vernon, Ohio. 
“The program was established to save historical agricultural buildings in Ohio as these buildings are being left to rot or demolished,” describes Larson, who conceived and developed Olde Avon Village by transplanting historic buildings to create a quaint district with independent shops. 
He started this preservation effort 23 years ago, and today Olde Avon Village includes 13 boutiques including Strip. “I’m a local guy from Lorain County,” says Larson, who lives up the road in Avon in a cottage on the 15-acre site of Stone Eagle farm, where he grows much of the produce served at Strip. If you’re familiar with fast-developing Detroit Road, you’ll know the farm by the landmark, historic stone home that sits close to the road. Larson is rehabbing the building into a bed-and-breakfast.
“I have been committed to making Avon historically significant, and I’m still trying to complete that goal,” Larson says. Meanwhile, at Strip, guests can duck into the warm and inviting barn, select creative dishes plated up by a staff that Larson says “is just amazing” and taste a combination of cutting-edge and classic. 
“In the summertime, we use all of the farm markets in this area, including Nagel Farm Market and Pickering Hills Farm, so the dishes are really farm-fresh,” Larson says, as he’s on his way to his farm’s hoop house to pick a prolonged season’s last microgreens for side salads.  
Strip is not just a restaurant, but a presence in the community as an active supporter of events, including the annual Christmas Candelight Walk. “These are things an independent, local restaurant can do that allow a community to absorb [the environment],” Larson says.