Veteran Columbus chef Derek Bush is gearing up to bring a new neighborhood spot to Hilliard, with Medley Kitchen slated to land inside the massive TruePointe development and target a September 2026 debut. The concept is billed as a chef-driven restaurant with a rotating, comfort-forward menu built around versatile ingredients, aiming squarely at locals who might stop in weekly for everything from low-key dinners to date nights.
According to Columbus Business First, Medley Kitchen will open inside the new TruePointe mixed-use project in Hilliard and is aiming for a September 2026 opening. The restaurant is already listed as a future tenant on the development's site, per TruePointe.
Bush says the goal is to build the kind of place regulars quickly claim as their own. “Some of the best food in Columbus isn’t widely publicized - it’s anchored in neighborhoods full of loyal supporters who treat it as their own,” he said in a statement. Columbus Underground notes that Bush previously led operations at Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, has worked with Ohio State’s hospitality program, and that his company Culinary Collectives will run the Medley Kitchen operation.
TruePointe's Plan And The Local Context
The TruePointe project - described as a 60-acre live-work-play district positioned between Hilliard, Upper Arlington and Dublin - is lining up a mix of local and national tenants, with several restaurant concepts already in the pipeline. The development timeline indicates that multiple retail and restaurant spaces are expected to start welcoming customers in late summer 2026, which puts Medley Kitchen on track to open alongside that broader rollout, according to The City of Hilliard.
Medley Kitchen's arrival would mark a notable addition to Hilliard’s dining scene and a key test of TruePointe’s strategy to anchor its retail corridor with chef-led concepts. Menu specifics and a locked-in opening date are still to come, but Columbus Business First first reported the Medley Kitchen name and its projected timeline.
