Columbus vs. Cleveland; Zagat zips by Columbus
Posted by CMH Gourmand on December 12, 2007
A little debate has popped up on Chowhound. Which city has better food – Columbus or Cleveland? I can name 20 places in either city that can hold their own against any east or west coast eatery. Columbus can be prone to strip mall chain restaurants and can fess up to a culinary disability in the burbs – but CMH is a great restaurant town. Go support your city and your state, speak up for Columbus without dissing Cleveland on Chowhound.
I received my 2008 Zagat America’s Top Restaurants in the mail recently. Zagat raters get rewarded with a free guide from time to time in exchange for submitting restaurant rankings and pithy comments. The new guide covers 1,415 restaurants in 42 cities and metro areas. The guide lists pages of restaurants in Cleveland and Cincinnati but not a single Columbus restaurant.
Hmm…. Columbus is the 15th largest city. Columbus is larger than Cleveland and Cincinnati. And at least a few people outside of 270 have heard of Alana’s, Basi Italia, Handke’s, The Refectory, Rosendale’s, Rigsby’s and many more well known restaurants. How about local treats like Jeni’s Ice Cream, Denise’s, Just Pies, Pistacia Vera….
CMH Gourmand - Eating in Columbus & Ohio 
dirtgirl said
that pissed me off too! Oh well, I’ll hang onto my free copy as a travel guide.
ed said
Just a reminder though that Cleveland and Cincy are in reality larger Metro areas and lots of the restaurants listed aren’t actually in the cities. Not that Cbus shouldn’t be getting love, especially since its the only one of these cities that is growing, who knows how much longer we can fly under the radar – seems like newspapers are picking up on some of the great things here more often now.
Unlearned Hand said
Johnny’s On Fulton is the best restaurant in Ohio