Flavor Expansion: Steele House Kitchen and Bar Dishes Out Elevated Craft Fare

Darby’s on 59 has been successful for years — but with only 10 tables inside the 1,000-plus-square-foot restaurant, it fills up fast. So, when Dan Mazzola’s lease with Rockne’s at a Stow property ended in May 2025, his son, Todd Mazzola, and his nephew, Josh Speas — both Darby’s co-owners — knew they wanted to create a fresh, independent, larger restaurant with the same high-quality standards.

“We have a chef that we work with and comes up with new menus a lot, and we make a lot of our food from scratch, try to source a lot of things locally,” Todd says. “We don’t cook food with a microwave.”

With 27 tables in an about 5,000-square-foot space, Steele House Kitchen & Bar opened in December 2025 with almost double Darby’s capacity. Renovations included knocking down a wall dividing the main dining area to open it up and relocating the bar to become a central focal point, expanding it to 18 seats. The team installed new flooring, painted the recessed tin ceiling black and trimmed it gray and more to transform it into a neutral, sophisticated space.

In collaboration with Todd and Speas, Darby’s chef Eric Higgins designed Steele House’s elevated American menu. With a kitchen that’s about 2,500-square-feet — versus 200-square-feet at Darby’s — Steele House has a greater capability to try new dishes like wings, which are available in Cajun or jerk rubs or barbecue, garlic Parmesan or house Buffalo sauces — as well as smoked or hot Not Yo’ Daddy’s Mexican Hot Sauce from Akron.

On Steele House’s larger menu, find more options for soups and sandwiches, including the top-selling shaved rib-eye Philly ($16.99) with Swiss, provolone, mushrooms, onions and garlic aioli on a hoagie.

The popular tempura-fried green beans ($11.99) are a Darby’s carryover. They are hand-battered in tempura, drizzled with sweet soy glaze and served with house Sriracha ranch for dipping.

“The batter turns into nice, fluffy batter on the green beans,” Todd says. “The sweet soy gives it a little bit of sweetness to it, and then the Sriracha ranch adds a little bit of heat but creaminess at the same time.”

Other appetizers include hand-breaded mozzarella wedges ($9.99), served with Parmesan and house marinara. Steele House also makes its dressings, including the tangy red wine vinaigrette that comes with its Steele House salad ($14.99), which features Akron hydroponic mixed greens, grilled chicken, cheddar, tomato, cucumber, egg and onions.

Fans of Darby’s a la carte sliders will appreciate Steele House’s slider pairs, served with a side of coleslaw or hand-cut fries or chips. Try the short rib ones ($15.99), topped with creamy — but not overpowering — thyme horseradish aioli and caramelized onions.

“We braise the short rib in house,” Todd says. “It takes us all day to braise it and make it nice, soft, tender. It’s a really good item. People enjoy it a lot.”

For entrees, try the blackened salmon ($25.99). It’s prepared on the grill and served atop creamy lemon goat cheese risotto, house Cajun cream sauce and sauteed squash and zucchini ribbons.

“The presentation is really amazing,” he says. “People are always blown away by how much food it is.”

Browse beer, wine and cocktails like the blueberry lemonade martini ($10.99), with blueberry Stoli, triple sec, lemon juice, simple syrup and a sugar rim, and the Empress Shirley Collins ($11.49), with Empress gin, Sprite, lime juice, grenadine and maraschino cherries. Bar manager Lyndsey Hill comes up with cocktails seasonally, like the rotating SH Spritz ($11.49) — which for summer, features prosecco, elderflower liqueur, grapefruit juice, soda water and muddled mint and lime.

“The elderflower liqueur is really good,” Todd says. “The grapefruit complements the prosecco really well, and the mint and lime give it that greenery that makes it look really nice.”

With the ability to serve more people expertly crafted fare, Steele House complements Darby’s well and stands out in the Stow dining scene.

“If you like good American cuisine but made from scratch, made how you would want your food to be made, that’s how I feel we set ourselves apart from a lot of the other restaurants that don’t take time or effort to do things that way,” Todd says. “It’s a ton of work. The prep is way more intensive.”

4240 Hudson Drive, Stow, 234-312-9499, steele-house.com