CMH Gourmand – Eating in Columbus & Ohio

Time To Make The Donuts – Part 1: Destination Donuts

Posted by CMH Gourmand on April 9, 2013

With all of my hubris about the death of the cupcake and my pontificating about the merits of the classic donut, one might think I was building up to something. That is correct. Readers of CMH Gourmand are bright, astute go-getters who can see a preamble from long across a long counter. Time for the ballyhoo!

It is high time for the donut to go gourmet. The right gal for the job is Heather Morris. She is not some fly by night money grabber, this donut dame had her sights set on donut dominance for quite some time. She loved donuts as a kid. She saw a hole in the local donut market: independent shops making the treat by hand. And she knew she needed to find a niche, grocery stores and large chains sell donuts cheap. There are incalculable costs we pay for a lower price tag on a donut: less flavor, more preservatives and a loss of creativity among them. Heather wondered if people would “get it”. Would they pay more for a mere donut? She knew she needed to make her products different and memorable, so she named them Destination Donuts.

But if you fry them, will they come? Heather had faith that the common man in Columbus would pay a little more for a much better product. But she need she needed to get her donuts in row first. Heather did her homework. She dusted off some lesser used culinary skills and training before she got started. Spent a lot of time perfecting her recipes and craft at home – testing, retesting, tweaking, tasting, etc. She even shadowed a place called Dynamo Donuts in the city by the bay to get a sense of how to make a good donut better. And, like me, she read about, studied and stalked donuts shops and trends around the country.

Instead of going out of the frying pan and into the fryer, she decided to start slow. She secured commercial kitchen space she could rent by the hour. She set her sights on the North Market and arranged to be a guest vendor there on alternating weekends. She launched in November of 2012. She kept her day job while staying up late and getting up early to make the donuts then transporting them to sell at the market. In spite of sleep deprivation and little word of mouth other than social media, she kept a smile on her face, asked customers and others for feedback and kept tweaking the art of donutery. She sold out. And then she almost sold out again. Then she started leaving no donut behind consistently. After that she added more slots at the North Market while forging a relationship with the Hills Market (prime or uptown) and Hills Market Downtown. She recently added Luck Brothers Coffee…because coffee goes well with donuts and everyone can use a little luck in a new business. She is now crafting her treats over 100 hours a month and looking for more places to sell her doughy love bombs.

What gets people interested and keeps them coming back? Her flavors combinations are inventive, some combine complimentary tastes while others compare and contrast ingredients. Examples include: Blood Orange and Dark Chocolate, Butterscotch Sea Salt, Pink Grapefruit, Lemon Blueberry, Strawberry & Rose Water……. You get the idea. The flavors vary from occasionally bold to mostly subtle but never unbalanced.

So with the concept proven and the sell outs persisting what is next? More flavors…of course. More locations to sell at… yes? But what am I waiting for the most? More cake donuts. So far most of the cake donuts have been holes. I waiting for the full size, deluxe cake donuts. And maybe some type of apple, bacon, sausage and something fritter. If things go well, maybe Heather will get her own donut bakery some day soon. If she does, what part of town do you think would be the best fit?

Find out more:
Destination Donuts
HeatherDonut on Twitter

Posted in bakery, culinary knowledge, desserts, donuts | Tagged: Destination Donuts, Donut Queen, Gourmet Donuts, Heather Morris | 7 Comments »

Donuts – The New Black: A Dialogue on Donuts

Posted by CMH Gourmand on April 7, 2013

“__________ is the new Black”. Consider the phrase, if you will. You know bacon is/was the new black. We know this is true because it was on a T-Shirt (at Surly Girl Saloon, suggestion to place it on a t-shirt attributed to this writer) and because bacon has become ubiquitous to over the toppedness. Let me ask for your permission to have you to add another phrase to the lexicon and then strip it down and throw it away.

Donuts are the new black. Yes, yes they are. But like the color black, donuts are and were: timeless, never out of style, available and accessible to the common man and understood to joe average. Black and donuts were never new in our lifetime or those of our forefathers. They are always with us but sometimes we see them in a new light.

There has been an ongoing dialogue on donuts in this blog. I think I may have accidentally discovered a trend or renaissance or rebirth just before it hit its stride. Looking back on previous commentaries on donuts, I think my sentiments and mindset was established back in 2011. There is a small segment from an older post I have copied below for review.

There seem to be a lot of special memories connected with donuts as well as special connections to people and place. College and donuts seem to pair well. Late night dining and early morning road trips line up nicely with these doughy treats. There is always a certain camaraderie connected to donuts. Maybe because donut counters are the great equalizer of the masses just like diners are. Maybe it is because the lowly donut is cheap and fast and easy to share. There is a reason boxes of donuts pop up at any office. A box of donuts offers diversity and democracy to everyone – grab a donut and pass the box on. There seem to be a lot of reasons that donuts do us right.

Maybe the tightening of belts with a faltering economy or the death of the cupcake or just the desire to for a simpler treat is why we are starting to see a revisitation of the donut, but with a twist. Just like home-town gal Jeni, asked what if, and started to pair untraditional flavors with ice cream so too are we starting to see a new spin in donuts. I have been looking for like-minded donuteries in my travels and I have found quite a few, most notably Glazed in Charleston, South Carolina and Federal Donuts in Philadelphia (skip the intro if you click on the link). Now, if it was just what I have rambled about so far, I might be inclined to side with you and think this is just me being obsessive and siloing my personal quirks into a paradigm shift, but I am not the only one zeroing in on the rise of donuts. Saveur, the only food magazine I make an effort to purchase and read devoted a whole issue to donuts (see the photo at the top). The issue covered the best places, recipes, donut gear and etc. Jane and Michael Stern listed some of their favorite places and were kind enough to mention Bill’s Donuts. There are many great places in the nation and lot of history to support the donut as an American Icon. The rise of donuts was concurrent with the rise of fast food. While we did see some donut chains rise (Dunkin’ Donuts, Tim Horton’s, Krispy Kreme) and fall (Spudnuts), donuts have largely remained a local, regionalized food in mom and pop shops with a few signature items and recipes that distinguished them from others.

A person can buy a couple donuts on the run for less than a scoop of ice cream, or the cost of one cupcake or the price of a slice of cake. They can eat one on the go without slowing down their day. No fork of knife is needed. And what pairs best with the coffee culture that has perked up in the capital city. Another thing to love or hate about a donut….you need to eat them soon after you buy them. Sure, a few donuts hold up and hold out to the next day, but most are best within a few hours out of the fryer, so it you want the best, you need to eat it soon. Instant gratification….there could be worse things.

I have heard of several new and exciting donuts ventures coming our way. While we wait for those businesses to bloom, I will soon be profiling two donut pioneers who are out now, spreading the gospel of a good donut. I think it will be easy to bring you on as donut disciples. In the meantime, I have a question for you to ponder and answer (I asked this before but received no response). Is it donut or doughnut? Take a surf on the internet, you will see quite a bit on the subject. I picked my side long ago. I go with donut. Donut is more economical, the spelling saves space and ink. The ugh….do we really need that? Sure, dough vs, do is supported by the fact that dough is used in the construction of donuts, but doesn’t that seem a little high falutin, like saying hamburg steak. Again, I want to hear your opinion, but in my mind, a donut is more than the dough, it is the end result of what is added to it. So it deserves a different name, and a donut by any other name, is just not the same.

Posted in donuts | 5 Comments »

Quickbyte: Buckeye Donuts Revisited

Posted by CMH Gourmand on April 3, 2013

I wrote about Buckeye Donuts, briefly, over 5 years ago, as an entry on this blog. The post was long before the Ohio Donut Trail adventures. I can’t say I look for a reason to go to Buckeye Donuts but the place deserves more attention that I gave it years ago. Two things brought Buckeye Donuts back on my radar.

Several months ago, I was contacted by a researcher looking for a food to represent the Ohio State University. They pitched me several dishes they found via web research but none of them seemed like a good fit to me based on the criteria they gave me. Try to think of any iconic food for Columbus or The Ohio State University and you are likely to be stumped. I love Adriaticos but there are pizza places on every college campus. I was looking for something that had staying power that did not suck and had at least some history. Looking at OSU today, most of the places I would have eaten at are long gone. Then I thought of Buckeye Donuts. It has been on campus since 1969 with the same owners. What could be more Buckeyecentric than Buckeye Donuts? How about a Buckeye Donut at Buckeye Donuts. Yep – a chocolate frosted yeast donut with a giant dollop of peanut butter in the center to mirror the candy of the same name. That became my suggested pick for the contest. Just as the Buckeyes did not survive March Madness, so too did the Buckeye Donut find defeat in its bracket as well. Drat.

The other inspiration that has Buckeye Donuts on my mind is my upcoming exploration of the new wave of donuteries popping up in Columbus.

A final note. When I visited Buckeye Donuts to get a photo of a Buckeye Donut (which I had never tried), I did have to pause for a moment. This little donut shop has survived over forty years on campus. It has seen nearly every small family business around it closed and it has watched the colossus of Campus Partners take the soul from High Street. It is still standing. It has added gyros, and breakfast and a 24 hour menu to the offerings and it has survived and thrived in a tiny space. Buckeye Donuts defeated the odds and it deserves respect for that alone – whether serving donuts or not.

Posted in donuts, Ohio Donut Trail | Tagged: Buckeye Donuts | Leave a Comment »

A Conversation About the Fall and Timely Demise of the Cupcake Fad

Posted by CMH Gourmand on April 2, 2013

I carry a lot of grudges. However all of mine are rightly held and only maintained for significant transgressions against me or my honor. While I know this may not be healthy for me, it is unavoidable – due to my pedigree – Scottish DNA and a distant connection to the Hatfield’s if I want to grind an axe, it is best to let me do so.

That being said, let me say for the record that I hold no malice for the cupcake or any cupcake maker. I have eaten more than my fair share in my day and I still do. In fact, I am paid to eat cupcakes. People come to my place of employment and a good 4% of them tell me they make the best cupcakes ever. Unfortunately, while many think they make the best cupcakes sadly, few people really do, they usually make one component pretty well. So I eat the cupcake, make a few suggestions, point out that no retailer or wholesaler wants to see another cupcake vendor for at least the rest of the decade and I wish them well. And I suggest that look to expand their product line and diversify their baked good offerings.

The heyday of the cupcake craze occurred almost a decade ago in New York City and the Ivy League areas of the east coast. The high point of cupcakery was when a cupcake shop was prominently featured in the show Sex in the City. There was a cupcake gold rush afterwards. Bakers rushed to expand and liven up their cupcake offerings and some choose to specialize in this baked treat to get in while the getting was good. The problem is as popular as the cupcake became, very few were very satisfying and even fewer were good enough to crave and want to have again sooner instead of later.

Don’t get me wrong, there were and still are some fine cupcakes out there but most of them are a consistent “meh”. Name one cupcake I like, you challenge: Pattycake Bakery Lemon. This never disappoints and I never feel ripped off when I buy one. Name another, Local Bake Shop, anything with booze in it. Both vendors make a wide range of items and keep their cupcake inventory low. Large numbers of cupcakes in multiple varieties sitting around waiting to be bought has never boded well.

That being said, let me share with you what has been wrong of 99% of the cupcakes I ever tried. Let us refer to the below listed scenarios as the cupcake conundrum. One of two things is typically wrong, often both of these two things are wrong.

Problem 1: The cake part is good, flavorful, moist, dense but the icing sucks.

Problem 2: The icing is good, maybe even great, but the cake part sucks, it dry, airy, an afterthought merely included as a holding area for icing.

Other variants of the cupcake conundrum.

Combine 1 and 2 above, both suck

Have either 1 or 2 above and charge $3.00 or more for one cupcake that is too small.

The cupcake won’t fit into my mouth or a more normal and appropriate person can not take a single bite of the cupcake without it falling apart, using a fork, or some other logistical nightmare. A cupcake was designed to be eaten by hand without the need for a place setting or a handful of napkins. It should be a portable treat. Most often this is because the icing to cake ratio was 10:2 – with 4 to 6 inches of icing rising up from the cake. Sure this looks good, but it is impractical to eat. As a rule, I would say a good cupcake would be the size of a clenched fist. Unfortunately most of the cupcakes I have tried made me clinch my fists afterwards. The high-end cupcakes left me feeling overcharged or underwhelmed. To sum things up and to steal the lyrics from the Monks and their 1979 hit, “Nice Legs, Shame About The Face.”

Is it just me that is down on the cupcake? No. The Age of the cupcake is over. Locally, this is shown in the closing of Bakery Gingham, the only business that really showcased the cupcake fad in Columbus. I liked the early days of the business when in occupied a small space in Brown Bag Deli. When in moved to a larger spot in German Village something was lost in translation. I think that some of the magic of cupcakes is lost when they go from micro production to retail production. When a second sales location started in the Short North, I knew the business was destined to end, too much, too fast and too spread out.

Before you wonder if it was just a case of Columbus, or Arch City as some call it now, not being ready to play with the big boys of Food Fads New York City, San Francisco and Boston, think again. Multiple writers and publications have announced and eulogized the death of the cupcake fad starting in 2009.

So is this just me piling on to an already beaten path of cupcake slam dunking? No! I am merely preparing you for an upcoming series about the rise of a new trend, not a fad, a trend. Donuts, are the new black and they are going to hit the capital city with a vengeance in 2013. Stay tuned for more details and stories soon.

Posted in culinary knowledge | Tagged: Bye Bye Cupcake | 4 Comments »

Stan The Donut Man, Dayton: The Ohio Donut Trail Continues

Posted by CMH Gourmand on March 31, 2013

Those of you coming late to the Ohio Donut Trail series would be well advised to backtrack to get caught up on where we are to date, the sixteen donuteries worth a mention as of March 2013 will be found in this link -> Ohio Donut Trail.

For those loyalists who have followed this series, I offer a brief update. I still feel firmly that DK Diner has the best overall donuts of all of those sampled so far. As for second place, I struggle a bit. Perhaps it is Bill’s in Centerville, Auddino’s near my home or Donald’s Donuts in Zanesville. There is much work left to be done. While I have covered most of the better donuteries south of I-70, I have yet to sample any of note in Northern Ohio. I do have list of at least four more donut shops to try before I make a far-reaching, final decision on what is the best of the bunch. On a related note, there is a change in the culture of donuts that has occurred over the last few years, and I will be writing about that in great detail soon so the donut trail series will serve as a fine primer for you.

I found Stan the Donut Man on a fluke. I was making my annual Dayton Daytrip to visit a few of my favorite places there: El Meson, Ester Price Candies, Bill’s Donuts and Dorothy Lane Market. While making an itinerary change to head to Bill’s, I caught Stan the Donut Man out of the corner of my eye. I hit the brakes and glided into the parking lot like I had planned it. I could tell by looking at the exterior that this place had a enough character to make it likely to be good donut destination.

What are the signs of a potentially good donut spot? It looks old, maybe a bit run down (check). It looks like it was built sometime between 1930 and 1960 (check). It says donut not doughnut (check). When you walk in there is an older gentleman sitting at the counter with the appearance of sitting there most of the day, everyday, for last least a decade (check). Yep, things were looking promising as I approached the door. On the downside, it was late on a Saturday afternoon and there was just one small tray of miscellaneous donuts leftover from the customer orders of the morning. I thought I may have missed the donut bus.

Among the few donuts left, I spied a glazed croissant. For those of you familiar with my study of the donut sciences, a glazed croissant, sometimes known as a dosant or cronut, is a prime indicator of the practice of advanced donut production. I was a bit wary of the place and had planned just to pop in to get one donut to sample for consideration of future in-depth study but once the glazed croissant was sighted and acquired, I went into full investigatory mode. Unfortunately for my designated diner, this meant some significant sampling sandwiched in between Esther Price Candies and Bills donuts. The man behind the counter sensed my passion for his trade and he had empathy for the fact that there was little left for me to try. To help with my decision-making, he gave me a free sour cream stick and a few donut holes to try out while I plotted out which donuts to try among the survivors of the day.

The long narrow sour cream sticks were something I had not encountered before. The donut holes were yeast donuts and had clearly been out for a few hours but they tasted great. In the cake vs. yeast donut debate, I am firmly a cake donut man, but I would drive a few extra miles for these yeast donut holes. The glazed croissant was very good. The other donuts sampled, which transpired 3/4’s of a day later, were still fresh and tasty. I did not get a chance to sample enough of their line up to place Stan’s in the top seven donut spots to date, but with a few more exhibits for consideration, I think it would be a contender.

There were a few other observations indicating Stan’s stands tall among it’s Dayton area donut peers. The small selection of specialty donuts features regional classics: Davey Crockett’s, Bow Ties and the very rare Pineapple Fritter. As an aside, the presence of a few wooden stools, well-worn by time, is always a prime indicator of potential donut greatness.

Stan’s is about 2 miles away from Esther Price Candies on Wayne Ave. With a quick cut over to Far Hills Ave, you are near Dorothy Lane Market and a quick crossing of 675 over to Centerville, Bill’s Donuts. If you are so inclined there is a LaRosa’s pizza near Bill’s creating a regional iconic eatery tour all within a short distance of each stop. I suggest you take a cooler, some bottled water and take a few breaks to stretch your stomach muscles in between. There is another Stan The Donut Man in West Chester, Ohio (I found this in a Google search, but I do not know if the two locations are connected).

1441 Wilmington Ave
Dayton, OH 45420
937.293.1080
Hours: 5 am to Midnight

Posted in donuts, Ohio, Ohio Donut Trail, Road Trip | Tagged: Donutery, ohio donut trail, Stan the Donut Man | 6 Comments »

Smokeout BBQ: Doing Business in Clintonville

Posted by CMH Gourmand on March 24, 2013

I first noticed the Smoke Out BBQ trailer set up for the BBQ trade one Saturday afternoon in the dead of winter. It was set up at Robbie’s Hobbies in Clintonville conveniently near my abode. Inconveniently, I had just eaten at Ray Ray’s. This niche spot in the Beechwood subsection of Clintonville hosted the mighty Per Zoot Food Truck for a few days last spring. Across the street, Beechwold Hardware hosted Tatoheads in the early days of the Tatonation’s birth. This is not the easiest part of town to start the mobile trade. The parking lots are small, the traffic is dense and there are blue hairs just around every corner getting ready to pull out right in front of you at 1 mph. However, the neighborhood loves to support new local businesses and there is a certain mobile karma in the area.

So back to my first encounter. I was full so I just bought the smallest sandwich possible and samples of each uniquely names sauce (Fargo, Athens and Amarillo). My diagnosis. Good sauce. Good que. I hoped that I might see them again. More Saturdays than not I saw them plying their trade at the corner and hoped they might stick it out. As it turns out, they will be so here is my exclusive world premiere interview with John Becker – the man with the handlebar mustache.

Smoke Out BBQ and Catering
4578 N. High Street
Beechwold / Clintonville
614.256.7900
Facebook
http://www.smokeoutbbq.com
Fridays and Saturdays 11 am to when they run out, most recently, about 2 pm

Who else works on Smoke Out with you?
A: I have a business partner, Eric Grant, and our wives may be on
location from time to time. Our sons will be learning the art in the
years coming.

When did you first get interested in BBQ.

A:I spent summer and winter breaks of college working for a landscape
company. We would cut mature apple trees from a local orchard, split
the wood, and sell it to local BBQ joints. Back at OU in Athens,
through trial and error, I learned to take a fatty cut of meat, wood
smoke, and patience and turn a cheap cut of meat into something better
than steak.

What is your BBQ style – Texas, Carolina, etc., if any?
A: I have eaten BBQ extensively in the Carolinas, Texas, Memphis, and
St. Louis. I enjoy good BBQ anywhere. The food we offer is the food we
like to eat with the meats being smoked by local cherry wood. Smoke
Out BBQ is pork oriented, but we also offer pulled chicken and brisket
on a rotating basis. The menu will expand once spring hits.

What inspired the trailer?

A:Eric and I both have experience in construction. We bought the
trailer shell and turned it into a fully functional kitchen ourselves.

You make many of your own sauces, any stories about that; family recipes, win any competitions, etc.
A: As much as possible, our offerings are homemade: sauces, rub, slaw, Mac N Cheese, etc. I’ll take a thumbs up or a smile from a customer who likes our food over an official award any day.

What are the next steps for Smoke Out? Do you hope to open a restaurant, do more catering?
A: I am just happy that I have the opportunity to share my favorite BBQ with my neighbors in Columbus.

Posted in BBQ, Clintonville | Tagged: smoke out BBQ, smokeout BBQ | Leave a Comment »

Creole Kitchen: An A for Authentic

Posted by CMH Gourmand on March 21, 2013

A fortunate circumstance of my paid profession, is my proximity to Creole Kitchen. As much as I drool when hearing the mention of Chef Butcher’s Beignets, Étouffée, or other goodness, the hours and location on Mt. Vernon Ave., was just not convenient to my day-to-day travels in my previous work life. Now, I am a short five-minute drive away. This winter I have been getting lunch to go about once per week. I used the first three months of 2013 to study Creole Kitchen. These are my observations.

Let’s start with the location. As mentioned, it is off the beaten path. It my be mildly inconvenient to many food enthusiast’s outside of the neighborhood. The place is easy to miss buried in a newer strip mall in an old neighborhood. That is no problem for Chef Butcher, he has no problem getting customers through the door. He chose the location and the neighborhood to make a commitment to the community. Much like Franklinton, the King Lincoln District has been “up and coming” for a long time. Unfortunately the upward slope of that bell curve has been pretty flat, but Chef Butcher is a man of patience.

Now a segue at the pedigree of the place. Chef Butcher was born in Louisiana. He had has cooked and “chefed” extensively in many places. He had a much written about run at Michael Oliver’s in the 1990’s getting some press and attention as one of the few culinarians in Central Ohio that could do Cajun and creole right. Even though Chef Butcher is advanced in years, he ability to move a line has not slackened after years of blackening.

The place is small, simple and spartan. There is standing room for carry out orders. While there is 2 to 3 small two top tables, unless it is very slow and not crowded, you won’t find anyone eating at them. For those that know to ask and visit at the right time and crowd volume, there is a “Chef’s Table” back in the kitchen area. A few select people (I did it once) can eat at a beaten wooden table that seats 2-4 depending on the collective girths of the party. The kitchen crew includes a family member or two and the service counter is always efficient and often friendly if it is not too busy.

Here is an inside tip. Call your order in. The phone will often get picked up. If it is busy, it may ring forever or you might get placed on hold and forgotten about. This is not a negative reflection on the staff, there are just so many orders one can take and actually be able to fill them. If you do happen to walk in and place a “live” order don’t fret, you will still be served. If orders are backed up and you have time to kill, might I suggest driving to the Angry Baker on Oak Street to get a dessert to go. The round trip to and from Angry Baker to Creole Kitchen, with a few moments to make a selection, can be done in as few of 19 minutes. There is one advantage of just dropping in to place your order. There are always five to six really good daily specials (see some examples below) like a meatloaf sandwich.

Now for the food. For whatever reason, the offerings at Creole Kitchen don’t photograph very well, so there will be little food porn. Take a moment to study the menu below and I’ll elaborate on some of the item you may want to try in a bit.

Everything I have sampled is great. It tastes of true Louisiana roux. On may dishes you will be given an opportunity to choose how spicy you would like it on a scale of 1-10. The scale is more spice than heat, but a 10 will not sear your tongue, but it will tame and clear your sinuses in quick order. My favorites include the Mac and Cheese, Crawfish Étouffée,, Chicken Andouille sausage Jambalaya, the french fries and a simple Po’ Boy. I have not had an opportunity to try breakfast. I have heard it is great and often crowded so that being the case I’ll leave that breakfast to Nick.

The Mac&Cheese is simple, plain pasta with a think but saucy mix of cheese. It often serves as a buffer to the heat of another dish. It will remind you of the best diner or cafeteria Mac&Cheese from your formative years. Sadly, as simple as this dish is, and as much as it is a staple of The US of A, I rarely find one I like.

What is it about the fries that makes them so good? They still have the skins on them. They are like fair fries but a bit denser and yet somehow soggier at the same time. The fries also serve as a heat buffer when needed. If you look in the bottom of our carry out bag, you will always see packets of hot sauce to douse your fries in, in case you feel you need the kick.

What makes Crawfish Etouffee and the other dishes so good? I’m not sure. It is in the sauce and the simplicity of the ingredients themselves. The whole is always greater than the parts at Creole Kitchen.

The Po’Boys are make better by their bulk – very large sandwiches for sure, but the clincher is the bread. It is toasted, lightly buttered and the slight crunch of the bread adds to the complete Po’ Boy experience and also keeps the sandwich from collapsing from the slightly wet fried proteins inside. I only have one bone to pick with the sandwiches. The Muffuletta on the menu does not meet my definition of the sandwich or my other eating experiences with them elsewhere. But, I’m not from Louisiana and Chef Butcher can run circles around me in any kitchen, school me up on a thing or three and probably whup my ass good too.

Here are a few more tidbit’s on the place. They make their own potato chips, served in a brown paper bag. These are a great choice to munch on if you think you will be waiting on your order for a while. You can also join the Creole Kitchen text club for a free bag of chips with your order. I will admit that I joined the club while I was placing my order the first time I tried the chips. It may not be a best practice but I was hungry and wanted to test the technology. The restaurant sells their own spice mix but I have yet to try it. If you do, let me know. They also support other local businesses including a cookie maker and a sweet tea company.

There is a lot more to like about Creole Kitchen but that should be enough to get you through the door. Creole Kitchen is too good and too cool to be forgotten but unless it is right in front of you, it can be an easy place to let fall by the wayside on your dining to do list.

Creole Kitchen
1052-B Mt. Vernon Plaza
King Lincoln District (The KLD)
614.372.3333 (FEED)
http://creolekitchen.biz

Posted in food | Tagged: Chef Butcher, Creole Kitchen | Leave a Comment »

VOTE CMH GOURMAND: 614’s Best of Columbus Survey (to March 31st)

Posted by CMH Gourmand on March 17, 2013

I am asking for your vote. 614 Magazine is asking the citizens of Columbus to vote on their favorites throughout the city. CMH Gourmand is listed as one of the choices for Best Local Blogger in the People and Community Category.

You can click ->HERE<- to vote.

You do need to create an account with 614 to vote, this will take less than one minute.

If you vote in 46 of the 108 possible category entries, you have a chance to win $3000 in groceries.
You do not need to vote in any other category other than Best Local Blog, if you choose not to. Therefore voting could take you as little as 2 minutes. Consider this to be like supporting your local NPR station – you are just supporting your local blogger.

I want to win. This is the first time I have been nominated.

During the campaign I vow to:

Run a clean campaign.
There will be no character assassinations of my fellow nominee's and there will be no sex scandals.
Because this will be like sweeps week, but longer, I am going to write a lot more content between now and March 31st.

If elected, I will:

Bring back Pizza Gran Prix
If I win by a very large margin – (defined as a blow out, where the next nominee is not even close), I will sing the song Elected by Alice Cooper Karoke at a place TBD before the close of 2013.
While there might not be a chicken in every pot, out of respect to my vegan friends, I will write about chicken or a chicken.
I will not sequester my posts for the rest or the year

How you can help:

Please consider me for your vote
Please share this post on Twitter, Facebook, as an e-mail blast to your friends, neighbors, family and co-workers unless you work for some lame state agency that forbids such things as forwarded e-mails.
Please let people know that have not read my blog, that it is worth reading and I am worth voting for. The best way to get up to speed and to drink the Kool-Aid of CMH Gourmand is to read -> THIS and THAT.

I would also ask that in consideration of the vote for CMH Gourmand, that voters consider the contributions made to Taco Trucks Columbus, Street Eats Columbus and WCBE Foodcast as a larger act of work. And finally, please consider, I get fat so that you don’t have to.

Update: I did not place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Thanks you those that voted. If you wanted me to win and are disappointed find more people to read my blog.

Posted in food | Tagged: VOTE CMH GOURMAND | Leave a Comment »

The Crest Gastropub: Jumping the Shark or the Gun?

Posted by CMH Gourmand on March 11, 2013

My heart skipped a beat when I saw this ad last week.

I read the description first. I thought bold, progressive, cool. When I looked at the photo, I felt warm, whole and pure. Then I looked at the bottom of the ad, read the address and (in my best Clay Davis voice from the Wire) said, “Shheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttt”.

Disclaimer 1:
I love Clintonville. It is my home. It lacks little but what it does lack the most is a good depth of restaurant choices. I would love to see a farm to table gastropub in my community, especially one I could bike or hop, skip and jump to. This community NEEDS and is screaming for more restaurant choices. I will do anything legal or at least morally defensible to support better choices in my community. The (Clinton)Ville wants the Crest Gastropub BAD! I support that.

Disclaimer 2
I am normally the nice guy blogger. I write about the good. I ignore and don’t write about the bad and try not to snipe. I am pretty sure the only dismissive note on a restaurant to date was Fabian’s and that was long ago.

Disclaimer 3
I want the Crest to succeed. I have read everything about the place. I drive by twice per day. I have been happy to see the progress and how the new design is shaping up. They took a true dive bar and at least on the exterior, have done a good job of transforming it to a tavern. Or might I say….Gastropub.

So reading the ad again. Here we go: Many elements of our menu are grown on our roof top garden, artfully prepared then dropped off at your table. If not from the garden, its naturally grown. That sounds great. However, there are some problems. The place is still under construction and looks to have a long way to go. My intelligence sources tell me The Crest plans to have: a great patio (new, very much bigger), a wood fired pizza oven, 60 beers on tap, a full kitchen sourcing local ingredients and they plan to make their own beer. That is ambitious. All of that also requires a lot of space, at least if you want to have a few seats for customers inside. The Crest is not exactly busting at the seams with square footage. So when I saw it was going to have a roof top garden, I was intrigued.

Channeling my best Encyclopedia Brown skills I drove to the Crest on Thursday night then stood on some pallets to check out the roof and obtain this picture.

So I noticed a couple of things. The restaurant is not open. There is no sign of a garden on the roof. When the garden is planted there will not be a whole lot of room for gardening after space is allocated for the hood system and the various things zoning requires for one to be roaming around on a roof. I have a hard time seeing how that rooftop is going to support a menu with any depth any time soon.

In the tone of “Bad Dog”. I say Bad Ad, Bad Ad, Bad, Bad, Bad Ad.

I am not sure who talked the owners into advertising a place that is not open as well as selling amenities and features it is not likely to have on opening day. That ad just seems like a poorly executed and ill-timed idea.

Some have called the shot and stated that 2013 may be the year of Gastropub. I hope it is. I hope it happens in Clintonville. In fact, if it could work anywhere, it absolutely should work exactly where it is located. The Crest is located in Bohemian “Baja Clintonville” home to the most progressive of the Clintonville Gluten-free Granola Eating Elite. If there was ever a community prepared to walk or ride their bikes to eat locally sourced, free range, grass-fed, organic goodness this is it. The area is teeming with demand from this type of food from people with a predisposition to it – highly educated, glasses wearing, NPR listening, non corporate consuming citizens with disposable income they want to keep in their zip code. The Crest just needs to show up to win. I mean any one of the several high trending elements mentioned before will get boots on the ground and elbows on the tables.

However, I opine that the cart has been placed well before the horse and instead of the philosophy of “if we build it, they will eat” I think we are seeing “if we build it up, we will see a shitload of money”. So I wish the owners well but suggest they ditch the ads which are far head of their time and spend the money saved on a different type of fertilizer for the roof top garden.

The Crest Gastropub
2855 Indianola Ave
Clintonville

More details -> here

Posted in Clintonville, culinary misadventure | 5 Comments »

Amuse Bouche: Alana’s Events and Items of Note

Posted by CMH Gourmand on March 7, 2013

What is an Amuse Bouche you might ask? It is a small taste offered for free by a restaurant as a sample of what they can do. Alana’s is one of the few places in town that offers these, 99% of the time, presented by Alana herself.

On that note, there are a few developments at Alana’s which warrant bringing to your attention.

Dine Originals is observing their Tenth Anniversary next week and as such, they are doing more than the typical Restaurant Week. So of course Alana’s has taken this as another opportunity to do anything other than typical. For the first time ever, at least officially, lunch will be served for one day only – Friday March 15th. It promises to be a great meal for $20.

It may be sold out by the time you read this, but Alana’s will be hosting a fund-raising dinner for WCBE for the fourth year in a row on March 18th. The price is $57 per head to match the number of years WCBE has been on the air. Much of the meal will be served family style. Your servers will be from WCBE (but not me unless there is an emergency). Find more details -> HERE <-

I spoke with Alana and Kevin about this last week and they were really excited to offer a meal and support WCBE again. They both find they enjoy the evening as much as their guests.

What else is new?

A new door mat:

The image above is also on new business cards and magnets for the restaurant. The card is pretty cool with some visual trickery going on. I tried to capture some of this in photos.

Notice the change to the color of the text and the size of the eyes as you are being hypnotized! This is the same card being manipulated by me. I did not capture the eyes changing but they do. I am sure a card like this costs a little extra, but it is a lot more fun, not unlike the restaurant it markets.

Alana’s is a seriously good restaurant that does not take itself too seriously. The cards are inspired on the ongoing themes of Paul Volker whose works are found in the restaurant. They are also at least a nod to Kevin’s (the front of the house and wine guy) keen fascination with the humor of the Simpson’s and of the world in general.

Posted in restaurants | Tagged: Alana's | Leave a Comment »

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