Salem chef returns home to open gastropub inside building where parents met
At The Rumpled Queen, chef and owner Annie Gano is all about honoring family and serving gourmet comfort food.
Gano grew up in Salem before moving to New York to attend The Culinary Institute of America.
She started her career in Chicago as a line cook, working her way up at Hogsalt Hospitality to chef and executive culinary director. After eight years, she took a position with the Richard DeShantz Restaurant Group in Pittsburgh.
“I was traveling all the time, and I had an amazing job and an awesome company that I worked for. But I wanted to get back closer to home,” she said. “I always knew I wanted to open my own restaurant, but as soon as I moved home, COVID-19 happened. It was just a hard time for restaurants in general.”
At the Richard DeShantz Restaurant Group in Pittsburgh, she worked as director of operations while starting the setup for The Rumpled Queen.
“I wanted to take all the different things that I’ve done in my career and all the awesome cities I worked in, and bring a piece of that back to my hometown for my family and the friends of our family, because there wasn’t really anything like my restaurant in the area,” Gano said.
She was able to move into the former DeRienzo’s restaurant in Salem, which was where her family went for regular Thursday night dinners.
“My parents had their first date here, so it’s got a lot of history, and I know a lot of other people have been engaged here,” she said. “The restaurant holds special memories for people, and we’re giving it new life so the next generation can make their memories in a new location.”
Gano’s restaurant opened to the community in April of 2024 as a gastropub, where she serves best-sellers like chicken pot pie and steak tartar.
“The community response thus far has been incredibly positive, and what’s even more exciting is that it’s not just Salem that’s coming here; we’re pulling people from all over Columbiana and Mahoning counties, and Pittsburgh,” Gano said. “The overwhelming majority of Salem has been nothing but incredibly supportive and excited about not only the investment that I put into our community, but just having another option that isn’t similar to what we already had.”
The Rumpled Queen is open from 5 - 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and from 4-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 387 S Broadway Ave. in Salem.
