CMH Gourmand – Eating in Columbus & Ohio

Dining, Donuts, Dives and Diatribes

  • Recent Comments

    Marines Michalowski's avatarMarines Michalowski on Spain Restaurant
    Steve's avatarSteve on Columbus Pizza History: A Slic…
    Sharyn Smith Skelton's avatarSharyn Smith Skelton on Columbus Pizza History: A Slic…
    Linda shaw's avatarLinda shaw on Ding Ho, Wor Sue Gai: Columbus…
    BoomerGenX's avatarBoomerGenX on SKY Gourmand: The Cooker is Ba…
    Betty's avatarBetty on R&M Bakery – Newark…
    scottalberts's avatarscottalberts on Columbus Pizza History: A Slic…

  • Categories

  • Top Posts

  • Archives: August 2006 to Now

Short North Secrets

Posted by CMH Gourmand on October 17, 2007

The Short North has a lot going on all the time. It might seem inaccessible or even too cool for some people. Such is not the case. Here are a few tidbits that might improve your Short North experience.

Beat the crowds and find a convenient parking space

The best days to hit the Short North are Sunday and Tuesday. Sunday promises free parking meters and some decent chances at finding an easy parking spot. A few places might be closed or open later in the day – but for the most part all of the Short North is open to you. Tuesday nights are basically dead – you can hit almost any restaurant in the area without reservations or a long wait. In the restaurant biz – the freshest food day is often Tuesday – after Monday deliveries.  The main challenge is finding a place for lunch on a Saturday – (Betty’s and Rigsby’s will cover you.)  And another time – Short North on an OSU game day…. better odds for an open table.  

Two Tuesday night special spots

The Rossi

 

895 North High Street

614.299.2810

This is the closest to true NY style pizza I have found in town. The toppings are top notch. The bottom crust is thin and might collapse on you if you do not do the classic NY fold before your first bite. The end crust is slightly crisp and chewy – perfect. The Rossi is more bar than restaurant, but this means you can get quick service if you hit this spot late on a weeknight, especially after 9 PM on a Tuesday. Mix in a mojito and you have a perfect night for $20.

Rosendales

793 North High Street

Columbus, OH 43215

614.298.1601

Richard Rosendale is a culinary star. He has been a chef in some of the finest kitchens in Europe and the United States. He is team captain of the 2008 US Culinary Olympic Team. He has won over 40 national and international culinary medals. He was named 2005 Chef of the Year. And, he opened his first restaurant ever, in Columbus. Good call Richard! If you want to sample the food and the atmosphere on the fly – slink into the bar on a Tuesday or Wednesday night around 8:00 PM and try out the bar menu. Lamb Slyders and fries…not bad.

Matt, the man behind the bar at Rosendales, also has some good beer tastings in the works. One will be on October 25th at 7 PM – with a tasting of 30 American Microbrews with some light appetizers. This one does require a reservation. Cost is $30.

Posted in bar, Columbus, culinary knowledge, restaurants | 1 Comment »

A shout out for Saveur… Chicago my kind of town

Posted by CMH Gourmand on October 13, 2007

Saveur Magazine devoted the October issue to the cuisine of Chicago – from high end haunts to out of the way deep dish pizza joints, places for jibarito’s (a little hillbilly sandwich) and a bit of sleuthing on Mother in Law sandwiches, this entire issue made my mouth water and my heart long for Chicago. I usually don’t pay much attention to the magazine but the cover had me at Chicago and I was enamored enough to take drastic action to get it.

Here is a taste of the issue for you – savor this sample of Saveur.

October Issue of Saveur – Chicago

Posted in culinary knowledge | 1 Comment »

Columbus Brewing Company – Something old, something new, something bottled, something brewed

Posted by CMH Gourmand on October 6, 2007

Columbus Brewing Company (CBC)
525 Short Street
Brewery District
614.464.2739 (Brew)

Web site

Lunch:
Monday – Friday
11:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Dinner:
Monday – Thursday
4:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Friday
4:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Saturday
5:00 PM – 11:00 PM

CBC (Columbus Brewing Company) used to be a CMR (Cameron Mitchell Restaurant) until manager Doug Griggs and brewmaster Mike Campbell bought the restaurant in 2007. Both owners remain actively involved in daily operations, Doug minds the menu and Mike tends the taps.

The establishment has a ten-year history and a loyal following but ongoing creative changes should only encourage more people to flock to his hard to find nugget in the Brewery District. CBC did some recipe spring cleaning, keeping and tweaking some old favorites while adding sixteen new specialties. One hot new entrée is Fresh Saffron Linguini, a combination of jumbo shrimp, crawfish, spinach, diced tomato, white clam sauce and parmesan draped over a bed of linguini from local specialty shop, Pasta Ditoni’s (?).

Other mouth-watering features include Pecan Crusted Sea Scallops and Cuban Roasted Chicken – not what you would expect from a brewing house.

A perfect finish to a fine meal is the Baby Key Lime Pie – a small but tall tower of thick graham cracker crust, key lime filling, raspberry coulis and raspberry whipped cream with a shaving of lime on top – a bargain at $4.75.

Jaime, the head bartender, mixed things up at the bar with new drink recipes such as the Espresso Martini (Van Gogh double espresso vodka, Kahlua Especial, and Baileys) and The CBC Cosmo (Pineapple Finlandia vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice and hand squeezed lime juice). These concoctions serve as tempting competition for the in house brews.

There are some subtle changes in the décor as well. A few new colors and some wrought iron wrestled away from the original design create an atmosphere of rustic lodge lounge meets retro swanky chic.

The hand crafted house ales have not changed. This taster’s choice for the total brewhouse experience is the CBC Tasting Flight, a serving of the six house beers and the seasonal special in three ounce glasses. (The selections are Columbus Ohio Honey Wheat, Columbus Apricot Ale, Columbus Pale Ale, Columbus 90 Schilling, Columbus 1859 Porter and Columbus IPA. Until late October, the seasonal selection is Keller beer, (an unfiltered German Lager). The price is still right for this sampling, at $4.75

This fresh and original version of CBC is well on track to be a dining destination for customers old and new. There are at least two more reasons to be at CBC. Pizza and a Pint Nights (for $10) are Monday through Thursday. If you can be on call for something on tap, sign up at the CBC website, you will receive a few days notice for the tapping of the first keg of seasonal beer. Freshly brewed beer and free samples of food from 6 to 7 PM create a more convivial and classy atmosphere than a college keger.

Side Notes

Strange coincidence or cool quirk of fate?
Doug Griggs and Mike Campbell worked together for some time before buying CBC. When they were closing on the purchase, they learned something new about each other – they both have the same birthday – October 30th. Hmm, might be a good night to drop by CBC.

Blast from the culinary past
Sous Chef Brian Cook is a now a vegetarian – but that does not stop him from cooking up some excellent carnivorous and fishatarian dishes. Columbus gastronauts often lament the demise of Ricky Barnes’s Galaxy Café from the 1990’s. Brian was a Galaxy veteran so the Cuban, Tex-Mex fusion flavors and over the top technique from the Galaxy era do show up in some of the new CBC creations, expect more additions with the change of each season.

A version of this appears in C-Bus Magazine

Columbus Brewing Company on Urbanspoon

Posted in CLOSED | Tagged: | 4 Comments »

North Market – Harvest Festival on Oct 6th – be there!!

Posted by CMH Gourmand on September 30, 2007


As if hanging out at the North Market is not fun enough…..

The North Market Harvest Festival is this Saturday. Fall is my favorite season and the North Market will be featuring some of the best tastes of fall – pumpkins, squash and such along with all types of special events.

This is also a great opportunity to show your cooking skills and win a gift certificate from the market in the process.

The baking contest will have three categories –

Pumpkin bread (loaf or muffin)

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

The Gourmand will be one of the judges for this event! I expect to be sleeping off a food coma in Goodale Park shortly after the tasting ceases.

“The first place winner of each competition will receive $50 in North Market gift certificates. All home-baked entries will be available for purchase with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit North Market Development Authority. To register or for more information, please call the North Market at (614) 463-9664. Participation is limited to 12 entries per contest.”

Posted in culinary misadventure, markets, pies | 1 Comment »

A Trip North – a cheesebarn, Westside Market, “Big Fun” in Coventry and more

Posted by CMH Gourmand on September 27, 2007


I recently headed to the Greater Cleveland area for a social call. The weather was perfect and I had some spare time so some sumptuous culinary detours were incorporated into my journey.


For decades, the sign for Grandpas Cheesebarn on I 71 has taunted me. I never had time to stop to check the place out and I became convinced it was a tourist trap. Or so I told myself. It is at exit 186, near Ashtabula. The cheesebarn is a short 500 feet from the interstate so I figured I could drop in for a peek.

I loved it. Grandpa’s has all types of free samples of cheese as well as fudge, pickles, and other treats. They also serve sandwiches and such. They sell a vast array of trinkets and knicknacks. You should block out at least 30 minutes to look around and you might even want to grab lunch here. Grandpa’s has a wide variety of high quality cheese and other foodstuffs to purchase, so if you need a goumet gift on the fly – this is a good place to go.

Grandpas Cheesebarn


The next stop was Westside Market in downtown Cleveland.

Westside Market


The Westside Market is an old school market with about 100 vendors selling cheese, produce, pierogies, fresh meats, baked goods, ethnic specialities from around the world, and all types of artisan foods. This a must visit for people that are even mildly interested in food.


Due to circumstances beyond my control, I ended up having a great Cambodian meal next door (instead of feasting on the goodies inside the market) at:

Phnom Penh

1929 West 25th St

216.357.2951

Wandering across the street, I discovered –

The Bier Market

1948 West 25th St.

216.344.9944

 

This bar serves a huge variety of Belgian and other hard to find beers. In October, a restaurant will open in this building with a chef returning from Michael Symon‘s venture into NYC – expect great food and great beer from here in the near future!

My next stop was in Coventry for a very rushed reunion tour of the culinary, toy, book, and antique treasures located on the main drag in this little burg. The two highlights were Big Fun for cool retro toys and Tommy’s for cool veggie friendly food. Tommy’s has the bonus of having a small book store connecting to it.

Big Fun

1827 Coventry Rd

216.371.4386

For more info on things to do in Coventry, check out –

Coventry via Wiki

And for Cleveland fun, it really does ROCK….still…

Cleveland Resource for Fun – Scene Magazine

Posted in food, markets, Ohio | 1 Comment »

Jeni’s Ice Cream – three small scoops

Posted by CMH Gourmand on September 20, 2007

The media love affair with Jeni’s continues…..

Jeni’s Ice Cream was featured by the Food Network on Unwrapped on September 10th 2007. I know the feature peaked a lot of attention because I received 321 hits on my blog the next morning and most of those were views of my posts about Jeni’s. Unwrapped recycles episodes frequently, so check the Food Network site for future repeats.

The third Jeni’s location opened recently in the Short North. The address is 714 North High Street. Jeni’s has now come full circle. Old fans will note that Jeni’s first foray into the world of ice creaming was Scream Ice Cream in the mid 1990’s, in a location not too far (North Market) from the new High Street scoop shoppe. The original Jeni’s at North Market is still scooping it out!

Posted in Columbus, ice cream | 1 Comment »

A Pistachio by any other name – Pistacia Vera, still as sweet

Posted by CMH Gourmand on September 13, 2007

Pistacia Vera

541 South Third St.

German Village

614 220 9070

Web site

One of the first blog entries I created was about Pistachio – a cool little sweet kitchen in the Short North. I stumbled in on a day when I needed something sweet to happen – and so it did. Now, about a year later, they have changed their name and moved…but the relationship continues :>. Pistacia Vera opened on September 4th which turned into a very busy Tuesday.

All of the goodies remain – pastries, cookies, confections, truffles, tarts, tortes and more. My favorite are the macarons – in particular pistachio and pecan. These half dollar sized cookies offer perfection for $1.

The new location has a lot of history to it, with the original building in place since the 1880’s. Pistachia’s space has some great design features and natural lighting. The staff are a pleasure to interact with. Pistachia Vera is well placed for a perfect weekend morning in German Village, it is located within easy walking distance of the Book Loft and Katzinger’s Deli.

I also learned something on my latest trip. Since Pistacia uses the finest ingredients and no preservatives – they advise that all desserts be consumed within three days of purchase. In my case, I am struggling not to eat all of them within three minutes.

Post Post

Starting March 3rd, 2008

Monday – Closed

Tuesday – Thursday; 7 AM to 7 PM

Friday and Saturday – 10 AM to 10 PM

Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM

Hours subject to change

Pistacia Vera on Urbanspoon

Posted in bakery, culinary knowledge | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

Hills Market Beer Tasting – a hoppy good time

Posted by CMH Gourmand on September 5, 2007

Hills Market (Beer tasting and more..)

I have missed every Hills Market special event this summer – wine tastings, crab boils, you name it, so I was determined not to miss the beer tasting last Wednesday.

The Hop Head Beer Tasting was on August 29 from 5.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Beer expert Kristine Eley tended beer bar on the Hills Market veranda pouring a selection of seven new and mostly hard to find hoppy beers. The price of $10 was well worth it.

These were the beers sampled:

American IPA

  • Summit Extra Pale Ale
  • Boulder Mojo India Pale Ale
  • New Holland Mad Hatter
  • Bell’s Two-Hearted

American Pale Ales

  • Otter Creek Pale Ale (my favorite for the night)

American Double IPA

  • Stone Ruination
  • Stoudts Double IPA

Kristine had a lot of interesting information on each brewery and beer. She has traveled extensively around the US learning about beer and the brewing process. All of the fine sampling selections she collected for the tasting can be purchased at the market. The next tasting will be near the end of September.

I also learned that there are some serious, hardcore beer lovers in Columbus. There are some cool beer events in town and many friendly people that will happily share their drinking discoveries. You can get more information from the Beer Advocate website.

Posted in bar, beer, culinary knowledge, markets | Leave a Comment »

Tommy’s Diner – Not All Greek to Me

Posted by CMH Gourmand on August 29, 2007

Tommy’s Diner
914 West Broad Street
614.242.2422

Tommy’s is a downtown destination filled with a continuous flow of steady customers. The décor is quintessential of the 50’s and 60’s with lots of likenesses of James Dean, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and other hallowed Hollywood stars hanging out (on the wall) mixed in with other nostalgic items and neon signs. This is a classic American diner with bouncy booths, a U shaped counter with stools, black and white checked floors and a retro sign outside.

Tommy Pappas, is the owner, he knows his many regular customers by name. Tommy is more likely to be at the front register– greeting people as they arrive and checking on them as they leave but he still slides behind the grill when he can if he is not mingling around to mediate the banter between servers and patrons at the counter. The servers are very friendly and some can be a little sassy.

Tommy and company behind the grill

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are served from 6 AM to 3 PM each day. In addition to a large menu of typical diner fare, there are several varieties of gyros as well as lamb and feta enhanced entrees – reflecting Tommy’s Greek heritage. Best bets can often be found among the 5 – 6 daily specials that can vary from corned beef and cabbage to Grecian chicken. Other favorites include old-fashioned milkshakes and house made rice pudding.

The food gets you to the door and the fun and friendly staff that treat you like family keep you coming back.

Diner of the stars?.. Kathy Pappas, Tommy, Marilyn, and the King

Tommy minding the till…

Corned Beef and Cabbage – a daily special

Tuna Melt with Curly Fries

Tommy's Diner on Urbanspoon

Posted in Columbus, Diners, restaurant reviews, restaurants | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Morone’s Wednesday Pizza Buffet – French Fry Pizza

Posted by CMH Gourmand on August 23, 2007

Morone’s Italian Villa

1490 Bethel Road

614 457 7444

Morone’s web site

I received a tip from an esteemed colleague about French Fry pizza at Morone’s. I found this fascinating. I am a huge fan of potato pizza, so French Fry pizza seemed – very decadent. How could you go wrong by mixing French and Italian cuisine? As if this was not enough, this pizza is featured as part of an all you can eat buffet that includes potato pizza and cookie pizza as well.

The price is $7.99 for an impressive spread – soup, salad bar, six entrees, Italian bread and a variety of pizzas. The buffet is Wednesday only – 5:30 to 8:00 PM. I could not get a decent photo of the French Fry Pizza but it looks fantastic. The fries are thick, shoestring style and well cooked. The sauce had a strong ketchup component to it. The combination of ingredients and flavors may seem odd – but it worked well. The cookie pizza had more than enough chocolate and sweetness to satisfy even with a very thin slice. I thought there was a good selection of pizzas and entrees – which included lasagna, two chicken dishes, meatballs and a couple pastas.

 

Service was great – my water glass stayed full and the server gave me a heads up when the French Fry pizza came out of the oven and on to the buffet – she could tell I was worried about missing out on the experience.

 

There is also a lunch buffet 11 AM to 2 PM which is similar. The regular menu was full of a variety of typical Italian fare as well as some interesting items such as fried chicken salad, barbecue pizza, as well as deep dish and Sicilian style pizzas.

Posted in pizza, restaurants | Leave a Comment »

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »