CLEVELAND, Ohio — Jonathon Sawyer and his wife filed for bankruptcy, one month after the celebrated Cleveland restaurateur closed his acclaimed Greenhouse Tavern in the face of mounting financial troubles.

Sawyer and his wife Amelia Zatik filed their petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Cleveland on March 6 in an attempt to discharge their debts, most of which stemmed from the restaurant businesses they set up for their now-dwindled footprint on the local culinary scene.

The couple’s Chapter 7 petition says they have more than $560,000 in assets. Most of that value comes from the couple’s home in Bainbridge Township in Geauga County. The house is valued at more than $489,000. Their assets also include cars, a Vespa scooter, a Moto Guzzi motorcycle and other assorted items.

They owe more than $1.5 million to creditors for business loans and unpaid bills. The couple also owes the state $12,000 in taxes.

Sawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

The petition for bankruptcy follows Sawyer’s decision in February to close the Greenhouse Tavern. The restaurant was one of Cleveland’s most lauded dining destinations and served as an anchors of the city’s East Fourth Street entertainment district since it opened in 2009.

Sawyer, who won the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Great Lakes in 2015, also shuttered his high-end University Circle restaurant Trentina in 2019 and the Crocker Park Ramen noodle shop Noodlecat in January. His last name adorns a restaurant he was involved with in the Van Aken district, though the company Forward Hospitality Group operates it.

He is also involved in SeeSaw, a restaurant in Columbus with former Indians outfielder Jason Kipnis, though Forward also operates that spot.

The restauranteur told a cleveland.com reporter in February that he closed his restaurants in large part because of debt. He and his companies faced multiple lawsuits from companies, contractors and lenders.

Among the money owed was $571,000 for a loan defaulted on from Chemical Bank. Sawyer, Zatik and the company Team Sawyer all have liens filed against them.

The debts are laid bare in the bankruptcy filing. One section shows the unpaid companies related to the Greenhouse Tavern as of Feb. 25. The section lists more than $417,000 in unpaid bills, though $110,000 of that is owed to Chef Sawyer LLC, a company set up for Sawyer and his wife to receive salaries.

One of those debts, to food distributor Northern Haserot, is the subject of a lawsuit filed Feb. 7 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. The Cleveland-based company says Sawyer and Greenhouse owes it more than $18,000.

The petition also says that Sawyer pulled down more than $100,000 in gross income in both 2018 and 2019 and that his wife, a business partner in his ventures, also made money both years. Sawyer now receives unemployment benefits, according to the petition.

A meeting of the creditors to which the couple owes money is set for April 14.

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