coles
Lexington, KY - Like many restaurateurs, Cole Arimes’ affinity for food started early and in the family.
Arimes was born and raised in Lexington. His grandfather owned and operated a neighborhood food market called Arimes Market, then located on the corner of Cramer and Walton. It was a market with a variety of foods, and one of Arimes’ earliest food memories is of plucking olives from the store olive bucket.
On countless occasions during his youth, he road his bicycle through or by the parking lot at nearby 735 E. Main St.
After graduating from Sayre School, Arimes attended Centre College and got a taste of food service while working at the Second Story Cafe on the Centre campus. Subsequently, he worked at the Joseph Beth Cafe when it originally opened at the Lexington Green Bookstore. When Joseph Beth opened in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was offered a position there, which he accepted, continuing a ground-up education in foodservice.
After a period with Joseph Beth, he joined the Don Pablo’s organization and continued his hands-on culinary education. From there, Arimes secured a position with Chester’s Roadhouse, which was a high-end steakhouse and part of the Maisonette Group in Cincinnati.
Arimes had spent much of his career in the front of the house (service) but had a burning desire to learn the cooking/kitchen aspect. At Chester’s, he worked the saute station and other positions, learning all that he could absorb. While there, he worked with some great chefs, methodically honing his craft.
After five years at Chester’s, Arimes went to work for the Kenwood Bistro Group (KBG) and their upscale casual concept Trio. After a few years, the Kenwood Bistro Group opened Embers, an upscale steak, seafood and sushi restaurant. Arimes moved from Trio to Embers and became its executive chef. Between Trio and Embers, he worked for KBG a total of 12 years.
Like many chefs and culinary professionals, however, he had a desire to own his own restaurant. In the fall of 2011, he learned of an opportunity to move into the Onizim’s location at 735 Main Street back in his hometown of Lexington.
Ably assisted by his support team, which included his mother, Beckki Turnbull, her husband, Bill Turnbull, and Bill’s brother, Rick Turnbull, they secured the rights to open their own restaurant there.
This building, located at the corner of Main and Ashland Avenue, is a Lexington icon and has been the site of several businesses over many years.
Arimes and his team gradually transformed the interior and exterior in ways that maintained its original charm but updated it to give it both an eclectic look and feel,
combined with a French country casual ambiance.
The menu at Coles 735 Main is consistent with the ambiance and offers customers many options. There are actually two menus: one designed for the dining room and another for the bar and gazebo. However, customers can always order off either menu.
The starters section (appetizers) includes some unique offerings, such as panko-fried avocado, duck confit frisee salad, a warm marinated olive plate and spanakopita (potato nest, stewed tomatoes and caramelized shallot cream). Salads include a grilled Caesar, iceberg wedge, roasted beet and goat cheese and chopped house.
The entrees feature some fairly traditional items, like a black Angus Falls New York strip, petite filet, seafood medley, pepper-seared big-eye tuna and rotisserie Amish chicken. There is also a Moroccan butternut squash stew, shrimp and grits, Kobe burger, and a horseradish-citrus-crusted Scottish salmon, along with many other intriguing dishes.
The bar bites menu is a wide-ranging, fun line-up of choices. There are Kobe sliders and spicy tuna sliders along with mini-Hot Browns. The duck fat fries are fried crispy in duck fat and served with an herb aioli. Weisenberger grit fries, a vegetable tempura plate, duck spring rolls, artisan cheese plate, and a grilled Scottish salmon salad are among the offerings available.
One of the unique things that Coles 735 Main is doing with its bar is to be the first restaurant in Kentucky to carry keg wine on tap. This new delivery system for quality wine enables wine to be distributed and stored such that the product is less expensive but still high quality and more eco-friendly. Serving some wine by the glass from the barrel has long been practiced in Europe and is now catching on in the United States. Additionally, the restaurant will carry a wide range of beers and rotate some tap beers seasonally.
The restaurant has a website (www.coles735main.com) and a Facebook page.
The restaurant will be open Monday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends.