A prime rib this serious probably deserves its own introduction.
In this Ohio steakhouse, dinner comes with more than just a thick cut of beef. The property’s story stretches back to 1844, while the restaurant itself has roots going back to 1934.
The name changed over the years, but the old-school steakhouse spirit stayed put. Today, the kitchen cuts its own USDA Prime and Choice beef, and keeps rotisserie-roasted prime rib carved to order throughout dinner service.
That is a lot of history sitting next to your mashed potatoes.
Thankfully, prime rib is more than capable of carrying the weight.
The Restaurant Story Starts Long Before The Timber Lodge Name
You can trace this property’s story back much farther than the current restaurant name.
Samuel Clark built the first structure on the thirty-two-acre property in 1844. The land later passed through several families, and the farmhouse was rebuilt, used as a school, and eventually sold to the Keller family.
The restaurant chapter began in 1934. The Kellers expanded the farmhouse and opened the Pine Tree Tavern, starting a dining history that would continue through several owners and several names.
Rudy and Marie Durinka purchased the Pine Tree in 1954 and operated it for the next twenty-one years. During that period, the restaurant developed as a fine-dining operation, while the property also included Carol Jane Lake, a summer family resort.
Later operators included Palmer Oslie, his son Scott, Barb Shano, and David Wilkenson, who ran Golfers at the Turn.
The timeline matters because Timber Lodge is not one restaurant that has operated unchanged since the 1930s.
It is the current chapter in a property that has repeatedly returned to restaurant use.
The names changed. The dining rooms evolved. The tables kept finding another reason to be set.
The Pine Tree Tavern Set The Stage For What Came Next
Before the lodge-style decor, the property had already spent decades building its restaurant history.
The Keller family opened the Pine Tree Tavern in 1934 after adding onto the old farmhouse. Twenty years later, Rudy and Marie Durinka purchased the business and operated it for twenty-one years.
Their tenure helped establish the Pine Tree as a fine-dining restaurant, while the surrounding property also supported Carol Jane Lake as a summer family resort.
The Pine Tree did not pass directly from the Durinkas to Timber Lodge. Palmer Oslie took over next, followed by his son Scott. Barb Shano later operated the Pine Tree, and David Wilkenson eventually ran Golfers at the Turn on the property.
That sequence makes the history more interesting than a single uninterrupted ownership story.
Different operators kept adapting the same address to their own version of dinner.
By the time Ron Levitt purchased the property in late 2002, there was already plenty of restaurant history to work with.
The next step was not erasing the Pine Tree era.
It was giving the old property another identity strong enough to stand beside it.
Timber Lodge Arrived In Late 2002 With A Lodge-Style Reset
A historic restaurant property does not need to remain frozen in the decade when dinner service began.
Ron Levitt purchased the property in late 2002 after having been a guest at the Pine Tree. He brought together friends and associates who shared an interest in restoring the restaurant and reshaping it around a lodge-style concept.
Timber Lodge came out of that work.
The current restaurant presents itself as a lodge-style steak-and-seafood operation, with aged beef, prime rib, seafood, and substantial dinner dishes at the center of the menu.
The Timber Lodge name therefore belongs to a newer chapter than the restaurant history itself. The property’s dining timeline reaches back to the Pine Tree Tavern in 1934, while the lodge identity followed Levitt’s 2002 purchase.
Current ownership has changed again. Lynn Zarcone is listed as owner, with Dana Zarcone serving as CFO.
That keeps the property in another active chapter instead of turning the history into a museum label.
A building can collect several identities without losing the earlier ones.
Timber Lodge is simply the one serving dinner now.
Rotisserie-Roasted Prime Rib Is Still A House Signature
Here is where the history lesson turns back into dinner.
Timber Lodge’s prime rib is rotisserie roasted and hand-carved to each order. It is available every day the restaurant is open, keeping the roast in regular dinner service rather than limiting it to one weekly special.
That makes prime rib one of the easiest places to begin if the steak section starts creating too many choices.
The restaurant also gives the roast more than one job.
Its lounge menu uses shaved prime rib in sandwiches, including a Philly-style version and the Jacalope Dip, which pairs shaved beef with Swiss cheese and au jus.
That means the same basic ingredient can move from a carved dinner portion to a much more casual sandwich format without leaving the building.
Timber Lodge has multiple Medina County honors for prime rib across different years, along with recognition for steak, seafood, and fine dining.
The awards are part of the record.
The current preparation is the more useful detail when you are deciding what to order.
Rotisserie roasted. Hand-carved. Available every dinner day.
Prime rib has a remarkably uncomplicated job description here.
The Beef Program Goes Beyond One Famous Roast
Prime rib gets plenty of attention, but Timber Lodge does not stop cutting beef once the roast is spoken for.
The restaurant says it uses aged USDA Prime and Choice beef and hand-cuts that beef on the premises. That gives the steak side of the operation a clear identity beyond one signature roast.
New York strip remains part of the restaurant’s current presentation, while Beef Wellington continues to have a place in the Timber Lodge lineup as well.
The lounge menu extends the in-house beef work in another direction.
Steakburgers are ground in-house from filet tenderloin and served on brioche buns. Shaved prime rib appears in multiple hoagies, giving the more casual menu its own connection to the steakhouse kitchen.
That makes the beef program less of a one-dish show and more of a repeating theme.
You can stay with a carved prime rib dinner, move toward a steak, or choose something built from the same beef program in a sandwich format.
If prime rib is the reason you pulled into the parking lot, the rest of the menu still gives you backup plans.
And if you decide against beef entirely, the seafood side is there to complicate a perfectly good decision.
Medina County Awards Give The Prime Rib A Paper Trail
Plenty of restaurants call a dish famous. Timber Lodge can point to a documented list of local awards instead.
The restaurant’s history page records multiple Medina County honors for prime rib over the years. It also lists recognition for steaks, seafood, and fine dining across different award cycles.
That makes the prime rib’s local award history easy to separate from ordinary menu adjectives.
The roast remains part of current service too, still prepared on the rotisserie and carved for individual orders rather than existing only as something from the restaurant’s past.
You do not need an award list to decide whether prime rib sounds good for dinner.
But the record does help explain why the restaurant continues to put the roast near the center of its identity.
The useful part is that the history and the current menu still overlap.
This is not a retired specialty preserved in an old newspaper clipping. It is still being carved when the restaurant opens for dinner.
The trophy case can handle the history lesson. The cutting board has the current assignment.
The Current Schedule Keeps Dinner Focused On Evenings
The final part of the plan is timing.
Timber Lodge currently opens Tuesday through Thursday from four p.m. to eight p.m., Friday and Saturday from four p.m. to ten p.m., and Sunday from three p.m. to eight p.m. Monday is closed.
Holiday schedules can alter those hours, but the regular weekly pattern keeps the restaurant focused on dinner service.
Sunday begins an hour earlier than the rest of the week, giving you a three p.m. start before Monday’s closure.
Once the doors open, prime rib remains available each day, while steaks, seafood, Beef Wellington, lounge sandwiches, and house-ground steakburgers give the menu several directions beyond the signature roast.
You will find Timber Lodge at 2809 Pearl Road, Medina, OH 44256, on the same property where the Pine Tree Tavern began serving diners in 1934.
More than nine decades after that restaurant chapter began, the property is still being used for dinner under another name.
The building changed, the restaurant’s name, as well as the ownership.
The weekly schedule changed too.
The idea of putting a serious piece of beef on the plate proved much harder to dislodge.