Under the Table

Restaurant Week: Till

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 12:39:00 -0400

Last week, Till’s $20, 3-course dinner special beckoned to us like icy beer on a sweltering evening

Speaking of which, Till’s beer-tail — the almost Saison-y Old Porch Swing — was pretty refreshing on the place’s packed little patio. Still, I preferred Till’s bracing and thoroughly terrific martini riff called the Martinez, made with Ransom, that great “Old Tom”-style, scotch-colored gin

Fried green tomatoes with shiitake melon seviche was a beautiful first course that popped open eyes with color and propped open palates with astringency

Homemade sausage and biodynamic cheddar biscuits was a different, more comforting type starter that gently massaged the mouth into awakeness

This loaded Lamb burger on a homemade bun rules Columbus right now

But the Vegan Mac & Cheese with blackened tofu brought a lotta unexpected meatless fun to our tongues too — and reminded us how high Dragonfly could make uninteresting-sounding, hippie-ish food really soar

This potent and pretty Watershed Sling was refreshing and a very capable “intermezzo”

If this heavily adorned brownie-like “Mexican Hot Chocolate” looks kinda melty from sitting in the intense July heat, it was. Fortunately it was devoured so quickly it had little chance to further disintegrate

Even better was this re-imagined goat cheese tiramisu with poached peaches. Yeah, it might sound kinda over-thought, but it was light and lively and actually unforgettable.

On another finishing note, I was glad to see Till so busy last week that I had to wait for a seat. See, I was too ignorant to make reservations (like everyone else there, I suppose) yet the friendly Till folks still managed to sneak me in. On the downside, it was a drawn-out and protracted dinner service — good thing I had nothing better to do than sink deep into the late summer evening and slowly enjoy the growing night.

Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:01:00 -0400

No, this is not a pizza from Harvest, though it might easily pass for one. Actually, this beauty came from a soft-opening tasting at the soon-to-be Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza in lower Worthington. (Head’s up folks: I expect Natalie’s to instantly become an elite pizzeria).

Baked at around 800-1200 degrees in (I believe) the city’s only anthracite coal-burning pizza oven ever (a la some of the oldest and most famous East Coasters, such as NYC’s venerated Lombardi’s), it had a lovely, thin crust that terminated in a puffy, charred edge. In other words, it’s the kinda pizza that gets my juices flowing.

Owned by some of the great people responsible for Columbus’ legendary Aardvark Video (who brought John Waters to town, and where movies were categorized by “Ozu” and “Bertolucci” more so than “action” or “comedy”), Natalie’s will also be a live music club — expect alt-country, blues, jazz and singer-songwriter “Americana.”

Natalie’s is planning to open next weekend, with Ricky Barnes (former owner of the Explorer’s Club and a terrific musician who used to play semi-regularly at another groundbreaking classic Columbus spot — Stache’s) and his band “The Chickens” will help kick things off on Saturday night (i.e. August 4th).

I’m guessing you can tell I’m pretty excited by this place’s potential.

See you at Natalie’s…and expect to see my review of it in Alive as soon as it works out its opening jitters and settles on its liquors/ wines and beers lists.

Pies & El Camino

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:02:02 -0400

Pies Gourmet Pizza Bistro is restless chef Bill Fugitt’s latest destination. It’s located in the unglamorous suburb of Reynoldsburg — which means, as a good 20 to 25 minute cruise from my Clintonville house, it is a destination. So is it worth the drive? You bet.

On the left is Pie’s creative take on the Bloody Mary. Not so bloody, huh? That’s because muddled heirlooms stand in for tomato juice. This makes it a much lighter cocktail with blasts of spice and citrus arousing garden-y garnishes such as that fresh dill sprig and those bobbing ’maters.

To the right is the almost pie-like (not pizza pie, from whence this place gets its name, but dessert-y pie) Peach Sangria with lotsa flavor from cinnamon and cantaloupe.

In the background are the terrific free macadamia nuts they ply you with in the upstairs bar — my preferred place to dine here.

Up close and personal with that not-so-bloody cocktail

These meaty charred dates were popular and earned raves from every table near me (they were recommended by the waiters, who, BTW, would eagerly engage in conversation with diners over menu items and ingredient sourcing)

The Brussels sprouts were also widely lauded — check out their enticing color.

Below is the veggie pizza, which I liked fine, meaning I think Pie’s other stuff is actually more interesting

El Camino Inn was my other story this week. It’s another Corbin project, and like other members in that restaurant family (The Rossi, Club 185, Little Palace), it’s built for fun.

EC’s decent-enough tacos son muy barato (only $2!) and buddy up great w/the place’s cervezas

I’m a sucker for fried masa, and this gordita (L) and tostada (R) werepretty fun to munch on (especially the gordita) and also stoopid cheap ($3 apiece — you cannot go wrong w/ that price)

If you’re really hungry, go for the mess-tastic Cubano torta (note: Cubano is shorthand for “throw everything in there!”) which, weighing in at $8, is the most expensive thing on the menu

This dark (obscura) beer is from a newer Mexican brewery and its one you don’t run into often. As I recall (I drank it during that crazy 4th of July weekend) it had dark chocolate and even coffee aspects to it.

Wandering into NoMad and the year's bar-setting meal

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:40:16 -0400

Holidays are kinda made for inventory-taking, right? Well, with that in mind, I figured since tomorrow is that grand All-American midsummer’s holiday, it might be a fine time to update this truant blog with “What I Ate” on the traditional beginning-of-summer holiday — BTW it was crazy-great.

When I read that the NoMad restaurant in The NoMad Hotel (note: NoMad stands for North of Madison Square park) was the site of a newer, cocktail-ier, “more casual” restaurant headed by super-brilliant, Swiss-born chef Daniel Humm, I knew I had to dine there while in NYC for a Memorial Day getaway.

Do you know about Humm? He’s the top toque at fabulous Eleven Madison Park (NYT 4-stars, Michelin 3-stars, i.e. the highest possible honors in the entire world); I happened to be lucky enough to dine at EMP last summer — and I couldn’t have loved it more.

Anyway, Humm’s been in the news recently as this current NYC topdog cook just won the 2012 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef. Believe me, he deserves it. Here’s a look at our Memorial Day lunch:

NoMad’s (free!) bread service is a rather husky and lavish affair which stars this mammoth, warm and crustily seductive potato-crested loaf. Yeah, it coulda been the veritable meal-in-itself, but we were on a mission

Egg Poached with asparagus, quinoa and parmesan — delicate yet explosive and a carnival of textures

Tagliatelle King crab, Meyer lemon & black pepper — I’m a pasta whore and I would gladly hit the streets for weeks for this deceptively simple ensemble. It was especially unusual because, at first glance, it was in essence sauce-less. One bite into the sublime handmade noodles, though, told me they had to’ve been cooked in a bright Meyer lemon sauce which the pasta had completely soaked up — and which detonated off the insanely fresh shellfish. A more artful application of cooking basics — salt, pepper, butter — would be hard to imagine

Halibut Slow-cooked with spring peas, saffron & lemon-thyme. This butter-bathed dish was one of those deals where you taste every single, super high-grade ingredient in its pristine and individual state while you simultaneously taste it synergizing with its platemates into something different and even more special

Working with NoMad’s sommelier, we paired our courses with cocktails — fun!

Here are the superior cocktails we enjoyed that day — some of which rhymed with the food, some of which drew brash counterpoints with it, all of which we marveled over (note the glasses, ice, garnishes…). Believe me, we can’t wait to go back to NoMad!

Haymarket Suze, cucumber, lime, pale ale

Satan’s Circus Rye whiskey, Thai bird chili-infused aperol, cherry heering, lemon

Velvet Cobbler Amontillado sherry, Riesling, Lemon verbena

Panamericano Pisco Acholado, Cocchi Americano, Dolin de Chambery Blanc Vermouth

Yeah, I’ve been neglecting this blog lately, I know. But...

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 21:50:00 -0400

Some of Taco Dan's chalkboard menu

Taco Dan's curb appeal

Wacky hat with your fish tacos?

Oddities abound here

TD's giggly named margaritas

TD provokes head shakes & double takes

Loaded Nachos w/ chorizo were fun

Interior dining option

Flo's"Can you believe these people?"look

Yeah, I’ve been neglecting this blog lately, I know. But it’s so ridiculously hot out now that I’ve got nothing better to do. This brings me to one of the strangest “restaurants” I’ve been to in a while — which is saying something. It’s Taco Dan’s in Granville, which shares its “this old house” space with a vintage clothing store and is where patrons order food and adult drinks in the kitchen then hang out on the porch. Think the Andy Griffith show meets Northern Exposure… with margaritas.

(Click on the photos for captions)

This racy and fun stuff all came from the small but spotless...

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:19:47 -0400

Oxtails w/ mac-n-cheese and cabbage

Jerk Chicken w/ plantains and cabbage

Curried Goat w/ mac plus rice-n-peas

Kingfish Escovitch

callaloo w /rice and peas and plantains

This racy and fun stuff all came from the small but spotless Ena’s Caribbean Kitchen, a locally beloved homey and family-run Jamaican place that does a steady take-out business out on Cleveland Avenue. Stay tuned for a review in an upcoming Alive.

Last Saturday I was so inspired by “I’ll Have...

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:01:08 -0400

Blur of activity, but eating was easy

Michael Jones' luscious savory custard

Curds and Whey scored high w/...

A tongue-exploding blue cheese and...

This creamy and dreamy beauty

Taste of Belgium's Croquey-wich

Bluescreek's awesome mini lamb gyro

Spice Market's bold pulled pork slider

Pam's inspired popcorn mac-n-cheese

Last Saturday I was so inspired by “I’ll Have Another” winning the super-exciting Preakness Race that I went out and honored that champion horse’s name by “having another” over and over at the annual and always super-fun North Market Apron Gala. Good thing I was as hungry as a horse (and equally thirsty for chilled Albarino and refreshing Summer Teeth beer)!

Click on the pics for info.

Curious about Curio? You should Be!

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:16:00 -0400

Last night after the ToDO bash, I accompanied some friends to Curio, the new bar owned by and attached to…

Harvest Pizzeria. Check out the cool, low lighting—it and the overall vibe reminded me of modern, noveau speakeasy-type clubs I’ve enjoyed in NYC and DC (i.e. the kind of no-sign, uber-fancy cocktail joints where you have to “know” something or someone and still might have to wait in a nearby dive until some guy— often a dubious English dude even more dubiously claiming to be named, like, Nigel—calls your cell with permission to enter).

These Magrittean chapeaux provoked some knowing smiles

This kind of wacky animal head thing (a la Freeman’s in NYC) is also emblematic of the genre…

…as are the kind of “artisanal/specialized/form-fitting” ice cubes seen in the above intriguing Curio cocktails (the green curiosity is a most unusual margarita made with—prepare to gasp—kale and ginger; its partner, a summery Italian-style refresher called the Silver Dollar Pony, reminds me a lot of something I drank in Venice).

Happy Taste of Dine Originals!

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:25:00 -0400

To hell with silly and chilly New Year’s Eve, I think most chowhounds around town observe the significant passage of time with the annual arrival of another wonderful springtime Taste of Dine Originals party. Since this must-attend, May-staple event is happening again Thursday, that means local farmers markets are now up and running and patios are buzzing as we all warmly welcome—with open arms and “opener” mouths—the most delicious and fun time of the year kicked off by the most delicious and fun soiree of the year.

Here are some of the official details (ticket info is at the end of this post): The 2012 chapter of ToDO (featuring fabulous food from our fifty best restaurants!) is taking place this Thursday, May 10, from 6-9:30pm at its new location, Capital University’s Capital Center. Once again the very worthy beneficiary of the proceeds is The Buckeye Ranch.

Here’s a peek at some of last year’s delectable treats

Deepwood’s take on carpaccio

Basi Italia’s Polenta

Basi’s Peas & Parmesan

Pistacia Vera Macarons

Hungry yet? Get your tickets here and remember, the dough goes to a really great cause!

See you there (FYI: the weather’s gonna comply with clear skies and temps in the mid 60s).

Dining Ideas For Cinco de Mayo, Knead, Alterna-Mai Tais and an outbreak of Blue Teeth, or, just another weekend in Columbus

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:31:59 -0400

I’ve had a bumpy couple of weeks. Don’t ask!

Anyway, I’ll spare you the gories, but suffice it to say—and heed this warning!—a shady youth spent addicted to fancy pastries will come back to haunt you. But prior to this recent excruciating period (of swallowing—almost exclusively—smoothies, soups, and pain pills) I had some fun. Here’s a look:

I once got wobbly drunk at a bullfight and gobbled a pork rind the size of my hotel pillow (if I had a peso for every time I said this…just kidding, but heavily imbibing was the only way I could survive that odd yet riveting ritual of casual brutality). Anyway, that massive, sun-drenched snack was conjured back in my head when I spied these gigantic chicharrones at La Plaza Tapatia—an amazing Mexican supermarket that can provide hours of wide-eyed fascination.

Even shopping for laundry detergent is more fun and colorful there.

Also fun and colorful: the daily buffet ($10) at the restaurant located right in the store. While that food is far from fancy, it’s worth an authenticity-seeking pilgrimage because some of the fare there is a lot like what I’ve eaten in Mexico City in diner-style restaurants. And heck, its steaming and supple homemade tortillas alone would make it worth a visit.

I wrote about La Plaza Tapatia in this week’s Alive (Hints: if ordering off the menu, try the enormous—and enormously delicious—molcajete; and pass on the uncharacteristically disappointing margaritas in lieu of, say, micheladas (sorta beery Bloody Marys) and/or Mexican beers w/sides of tequila.

Another real-deal market/restaurant is La Favorita, a dinky place (next to Anna’s “A Taste of Greece”—I laugh every single time I think of that quote-yoked self-description) that, again, makes great diner-y Mexican vittles.

Above is a knockout bowl of soulful lamb soup that makes me shake my head and pound on the table when I greedily slurp it up (note: the menu says it’s made with “chivo,” or goat, but that’s not usually the case). It’s kinda like posole—a gloriously intense meat-laden broth studded with hominy and self-detailed with chilis, lime, cilantro, onions and so forth. This stuff is awesome!

Continuing in the key of awesome was this powerhouse version of pasta carbonara fashioned with perfect homemade noodles, a local egg plus killer house-cured “lambcetta” and more raciness from chili flakes. I ate it with extreme relish at Knead, where I and some friends also enjoyed…

…one of Knead’s terrific burgers—made with great Pat LaFrieda beef, of course!

Not being a group intimidated by a swarm of food, we likewise eagerly dug into Knead’s spicy and satisfying chili relleno.

But wait, there’s more! Like Ray Ray’s at Ace of Cups sucked back with a gin-based Mai Tai starring the dynamic duo of Ransom Old Tom (love it!) and (cucumber-y) Hendricks gin (more love), along with homemade orgeat syrup. This delightful drink is what happens when kitschy tiki gets taken seriously—and I applaud it thoroughly!

WARNING: the next photo contains graphic and potentially disturbing images!

With this bit of cotton candy-fueled hubris, we circle back to the dangers of a misspent youth. Yeah, its all sugary fun and games now, but in a couple of decades…well I guess some people just have to find out for themselves why dentists often own yachts.

For those more open to the hard won lessons of others, though, I present this loony blue picture as a cautionary tale of reaping what you sow!

Enjoy Ray Ray's BBQ with a Beer at Ace of Cups This Weekend, Try El Arepazo's Grown-Up Brother in Gahanna, and Check Out Some Top Notch Italian "Street Food" Sandwiches at Per Zoot, or, What's in at terrific new food outposts

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:25:38 -0400

I dug into the above beautiful hunks of insanely tender ham on Easter Sunday, and sometimes I think I can still detect its powerfully sweet, smoky and salty scent wafting off my now-lonely fingers. Praise be to the lord indeed! Anyway, it came from Ray Ray’s and is very special meat.

Speaking of such special meats…tomorrow, Ray Ray’s (of “Hog Pit” and altogether killer barbecue fame) begins his reign at his new home-base location at Ace of Cups. Bonus: with these roomier digs, RR will be serving through two windows to double his speed and halve your wait.

Bonus #2: To celebrate this launch, Ace of Cups will be opening at lunchtime (it usually opens at 4:00) all weekend, thereby observing hours that coincide with RR’s billowing set-up (i.e. the source of love letters to the neighborhood delivered via smoke signals). This means if you show up anytime after high noon this weekend, you can take your wonderful food inside of AoC, cop a squat (weather permitting, the patio will be the place to be), order a lubricating alcoholic beverage, and have access to bathrooms as well as great music. Now that’s my idea of food cart dining!

Will this brilliant all day bar-and-barbecue policy continue? Maybe, maybe not—I suppose showing up and voicing your pleasure might help.

In more meals-on-wheels news, the above sandwich tasted even better than it looks—and it looks damn good, right?. It came from PerZoot, a newish and terrific Italian food truck (how rare is that?) that makes excellent focaccia sandwiches like this killer Tacchino (pronouncement hints: “ch” in Italian is always pronounced like a “k,” and most Italian words are accented on the penultimate syllable).

Note that PerZoot’s amusing name is Mean Streets-like slang for prosciutto (BTW: I’m referring to the brilliant, sad and hilarious breakout Scorsese movie from the early ’70s about NYC’s “Little Italy” toughguys—the flick’s currently in rotation on, I think, Cinemax; this is good news for spendthrift cable addicts like me, who PAY THROUGH THE NOSE FOR EVERY FRIGGIN’ CHANNEL ON THE PLANET ).

Anyway, the delightful PerZoot truck is a stylish wheeled sandwich-maker that bakes its own focaccia, on which they assemble their flavor-bomb sandwiches. Though their softer-than-classic (which makes sense for a sandwich ) rosemary-kissed and perfectly salted focaccia sometimes deliquesces under the weight of PerZoot’s totally homemede roasts and garnishes, it’s very good stuff (yet more Italian trivia: focaccia gets its name from the Latin word, “focus”, which means hearth, which is where the ancient Romans actually baked it—I learned this from the great Marcella Hazan’s books).

Here’s my review of PerZoot in this week’s Alive

Another wonderful newcomer to the local food scene is El Arepazo’s inspired Gahanna branch called Arepazo Tapas & Wine. Their no BS sangria tastes like nice, “everyday” Spanish garnacha wine simply accented with fruit. Yet more good stuff.

Also seriously good are these real-deal, Spanish-style tapas (BTW: I’ve eaten things exactly like this in Spain, where they are about as common in bars/cafes as chips and pretzels are in the states). On the left is Spanish-style chorizo with its delicious fattiness partially tamed by an acidic red wine sauce; on the right are clean-tasting shrimp boldly flavored with garlic, chile flakes and butter. No, they’re not big earth- shaking snacks, but they certainly are classic and enticing flavor-forward tidbits that go great with adult beverages and juvenile conversation (if you’re sitting with me, that is).

Though grazing on tapas and sipping on sangria (or good—i.e. not sweet!—Latin American cocktails) is a highly recommended way to have a helluva festive time at this super-fun new Arepazo, they also have stuff like the above Cuban sandwich—and I like their take on the sometimes-called media noche (literally “middle of the night”, i.e. midnight snack).

In arriving properly toasted and smashed (thereby concentrating the filling’s flavors and providing fun crunching textures) and made with pulled pork, pickles, melted cheese, mustard, what seemed like a sorta garlicky tomato relish plus slivers of what the menu called “Serrano ham,” (but tasted kinda like capicola) it gracefully—and tastefully!— danced around a boundary between classic and eccentric.

Read the rest of my review and see some mouth-watering photos at columbusalive.com

A couple days in the life of G.A. and wife

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:14:54 -0400

Bored last week, we found ourselves shopping for bargains at the amusingly downscale Marc’s, where smart consumers can score big on great deals.

In search of yet more econo-wise fun in the same strip mall, we decided our next diversion should include things that were swallow-able; cue to this meal-in-itself appetizer platter.

This assemblage of mostly fried stuff kicked off a breezy and take-it-easy evening of eating cheaply, having drinks, and casually catching some sports outside on an early spring night. We ordered the above starter at…

…Banh Thai Bistro, which has gotta be one of the oddest eateries in the area. Wild looking inside (even borderline psychedelic), it’s also got a wacky little patio where you can leisurely sip Singha beers while your baseball team does a stink-up job on convenient out-of-doors TVs. Oh yeah, and you can eat other decent Thai food out there, like the above larb, which tasted good even if the ground chicken meat was a bit overcooked.

Now cut to a scene Downtown.

“You keep your wife’s name out of this, Ashby!” is surely timeless and sage advice. However, since I’m not Ashby, it doesn’t pertain to me and this post.

This is one of many classic New Yorker-style cartoons (BTW: I’ve been reading and loving that magazine since I was in junior high school) penned by James Thurber, whose name has been appropriated by the restaurant in which it hangs inside of the Great Southern Westin hotel (where a wealth of other Thurber ‘toon prints are also viewable; note the grand old Great Southern was originally built in the late 19th century). Said restaurant—Thurber’s bar—was the subject of my review in this week’s Alive.

Thurber’s Bar has recently rolled out a new menu, and it’s definitely got some worthy stuff on it. For instance, calamari has obviously been done to death, but the above version stands out for its pleasantly salty crunchiness and for the sheer meatiness of its perfectly fried big, juicy and thick hunks of squid. It comes with a fairly sweet fig and cinnamon sauce it doesn’t need, and in fact was the kind of thing I’d occasionally re-dunk the sea-meat into just to revisit the weird sensation it created in my mouth. (Unless you’re easily amused by things that mildly put you off, like I am, I suggest you skip it and opt instead for a more appropriate squirt of lemon)

The spinach salad here also rose above the norm—we also dug the bitter brightness of the preserved lemon garnish it comes with.

A couple days later on a Saturday afternoon, our salads came from the great Harvest Pizzeria. Both of these (arugula with housemade ricotta and a Greek-ish “chopped”) were top-notch, plus they’re steals at only $2, when ordered with a $7 (another steal) lunchtime pizza. And they go swimmingly with…

…Mason jars (still au courant, n’est pas?) filled with relaxing Saturday afternoon beers…

… which also hit the sweet spot with our Saturday afternoon pizzas.

This was a halftime refresher between visits to the Riffe Center’s smartly curated 100 Years of Columbus Art show and the terrific—and fairly comprehensive, and thus very rare—David Smith exhibit at the Wexner Center (whose intriguing premise was that the titanic Ohio-born abstract sculptor was more influenced by the social and geometric idealism of the Russian constructivists than he was by his AbEx contemporaries, as is often contended); both the “100 years” and David Smith shows have just concluded their runs (you missin’-out slackers).

OK, by now you must be ready for some canine cameos, right? Well then, you’re in luck.

What? Do you have something for us? You can see us, right?

This was yet more Saturday afternoon art—a “drive-thru” performance that was part of a dog-sitting day my wife happily called the “Flo & O Show” aka “A Visit from Cousin Oliver.”

In lieu of applause, the wife and I generously handed out much-appreciated biscuits.

Heads up: Ray Ray's Hog Pit is moving

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:05:14 -0400

If you’d like your Ray Ray’s BBQ with more parking space and extra squatting options plus a dose of real rock ’n’ roll and/or a cold beer now and then — well, you’re in luck. In three weeks — end of April — Ray Ray is taking his smoking set up to Ace of Cups. More delicious details to follow….

Park It in the Garage, or, More Fun in Louisville

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:30:00 -0400

Garage Bar is like a playground for adults, where booze and great food fuel the good times—we popped in for this brunch:

A Bloody Mary (damn spicy) or three garnished with monster-sized chilled Gulf shrimp helped me ease my unsteady way into a rocky morning after a particularly wild Louisville night

Poached Eggs & Country Ham with Weisenberger grits and red-eye gravy was a revelation and a red-eyed, day after—curing miracle; the salty country ham around these parts is a must!

The Monte Cristo pizza fashioned with house-cured prosciutto, gouda, sorghum and runny local eggs on a blistered, chewy and thin handmade pizza crust is everything salty, sweet, rich, cheesy and starchy a morning penitent needs.

Unless you’ve also got Shuckman’s smoked salmon with cream cheese and a much-too-rare homemade bialy (with a crater studded with capers and so forth) that I’d eat every morning if I could

But what’s an indulgent brunch without a gloriously gratuitous dessert course? This Belgian Waffle with pecans and (of course!) ridiculously good “bacon marmalade” was our lily-gilder.

Click for more photos of Garage Bar at night

If It's March It Must Be Louisville

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:15:00 -0400

The Blind Pig was our first stop (it keeps all-day hours) on our annual pilgrimage to Louisville for the Humana Theater Festival (which we’ve been going to for almost a decade). Here’s a taste of a late afternoon perk-me-up.

The Pig is a good representative of this New Orleans-meets-Austin-in-Kentucky city of fun/art/great food and drink (like an ocean of bourbon) and racy touches of Appalachian funk plus Southern-style grandeur.

This terrific gingered-up cocktail (New Wave Old Fashioned) was as potent as it was delicious.

Also gleefully knocked back were these: Campari Sour (tart, bitter, refreshingly Italian, and smooth from a foam-creating shake with egg whites) and Penny Paloma (like a fizzy margarita)

We also dipped into these booze-soaker-uppers (it was about 4 p.m. and we still had two plays and a big dinner awaiting us later that long and outrageously fun evening): Mussels—big, juicy and fresh-tasting—cascaded with with an avalanche of garlic, onions and a pesto cream sauce (great to sop up with crusty, locally made Blue Dog Bakery bread); in the background are killer, crispy cornmeal-jacketed fried oysters.

The house mascot is also representative—of Louisville’s funky sense of humor.

Stay tuned for more!

Short on North, Long on Flavor, or, What I Ate: Lunch at Tasi and a jaunt to North Market

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:44:00 -0400

Questa minestra e molto delizioso!

A couple soups I recently loved at Tasi Cafe (i.e. Rigsby’s without the fuss) were the extremely impressive (above) ribollita (which means reboiled, as in add day-old bread to stretch and thicken yesterday’s minestrone—this usually makes it even better than the day before), which tasted at least as good as versions I’ve had in Tuscany; and…

…this zesty Lentil and Italian sausage.

Like those soups, this refreshing chicken salad (with a light, lively and lemony olive-oil-based dressing) illustrates that Tasi really “gets it” when it comes to basic but really authentic Italian food. By this I mean that the cuisine is based on mostly simple recipes, so to achieve its greatness, you can’t cheap-out on ingredients or take measly shortcuts.

For more on Tasi—i.e. maybe the best casual restaurant in town—check out my article in this week’s Alive.

OK, time for intermission.

Since I don’t think I’ve mentioned Flo in a while, I thought I’d give you some catchup news. If at all possible, instead of leaving her home alone, we take her wherever we go. Because restaurants practice canine discrimination, though, she often has to wait for us outside. This frequently results in Flora keeping an eye on us while we’re eating so she can later critique our table manners (her standards are laughably low).

Speaking of laughably low, when viewed from certain angles, and at certain times in the development of her fuzzy coat, she is very, very entertaining to gaze at (she’s since gotten a clipping).

OK, back to “work.”

Obviously a visit to North Market offers lots of chomping options, recently I went in for…

…some Clever Crow pizza (goat cheese, potatoes and oregano-y stewed tomatoes) with one of their excellent little house salads (you can get this combo for like $6 or so)…

…and I also visited Jerry from Kitchen Little—who’s my old hiking and wine-drinking bud from a long time ago (but whom I rarely see since he’s produced a brood of needy little humans) for some of his rich, wine-y and terrific bison stew (think Boeuf Bourguignon Ohio-style) and his outrageous version of Chinese fried rice—made with duck eggs and cooked in luscious duck fat, of course.

Knead Madness--and Other Springtime Flings in The Year That Winter Forgot

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Now that spring has officially begun, I feel like we dodged a frosty bullet. See, I quit romanticizing about winter a long time ago. Oh, sure the snow is pretty—for about a week—but then the relentless brutality sets in. Here’s a few walking-outdoor-friendly activities I’ve been enjoying during the end of this winter of our much content.

On the eve of the Bucks’ scary matchup with UC, I thought I’d mention that a few days ago, I spent untold hours glued to hoops while intentionally stranded in a windowless arena on a couple glorious “late winter” afternoons. This actually had a mesmerizing effect on me I quite enjoyed; it was like the rest of life just faded away, and there was only this game, this crew of people, this inordinately solid chunk of moments in the hurtling spill of liquid time.

We came up for air—and back to real life—with a dee-licious happy hour visit to Knead, where our pig-out began with the appropriately named Porky Pie (Berkshire pork, house-cured bacon, ham, poblanos, Chipotle bbq sauce and a literal ton more) sold at a laughable HH $5. Also costing 5 beans was a slew of fortifying drinks to tide us over for the upcoming night session at the booze-free arena (though I did notice some unscrupulous types—possibly some among us—blithely wielding flasks in there).

I’m a pasta- maniac, and fat handmade noodles like this Asparagus Pappardelle also bring out the curly-tailed pig in me…

…ditto for this terrific Rutabaga Ravioli—homemade sausage, rich tomato sauce, cooked-down kale…

…and this ShamaLamBa (Colorado lamb shoulder, chimichurri, oven-dried tomato jam, pickled onion) made me wanna dance…

…but instead, I leaned over and ripped into this Knead “Brueben” (stout-braised Pat La Freida beef shortrib with kraut, Guggisberg swiss, “1002 Island” sauce, homemade wheat caraway bread), and it was a brewtiful chew indeed.

Speaking of brewti…, uh, beautiful, a visit to our Franklin Park Conservatory is always a transporting experience

And Thursdays present intensely beautiful deals there, as the $11 entrance fee is effectively offset with $10 worth of drink and snack tokens (try the guacamole).

Staring long into the above orchids while standing still in a quiet room—intensely funneling deeply into the furiously colored flowers—made us think of that remarkable Rilke poem “Core of the rose” (it goes something like: Where is to this inner an outer/On what ache do they lay such linen/ And what heavens are mirrored within it/ The sheltered lake of these open roses)

More orchids

A different flavor of strangeness came with these other bursts of color—which were accompanied by intermittent blasts of vertigo-inducing screeching that emanated from these caged macaws—hanging out with them for a while is really a wild little experience

Coy koi

But back to my mouth…I love Korean food, but until a recent visit to Diaspora a couple weeks ago, I always felt befuddled by the cruel dearth of refreshing and thematically correct Korean beer to enjoy with the famously salty, sweet and spicy stuff. Thank you Diaspora for finally, finally, finally bringing in OB (i.e. the dry suds David Chang ostensibly drinks all day)

It went great with this spicy Heart Attack Roll we dug into, whose charms—while real—were fortunately not as arresting as advertised. And of course there was…

…the requisite banchan…

Plus this steaming pot of gurgling hot love (Kimchi Jjigae)—for which the OB was much appreciated.

As I look at this picture, it occurs to me that this is exactly the kind of dish people love to dig into during nippy weather—well I’m here to testify that to me, it tastes even better when eaten in shorts.

DeepWood Dine Originals Week

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:45:00 -0500

A couple nights ago, the ’Wood delivered several courses of deep flavors at a surprisingly shallow cost. In fact I’d say its $20 special menu has to be one of the go-to deals of the week. Here’s a peek:

Since we were sharing everything and serial-eating that night (i.e. dining at multiple restaurants) and the bargain was so basement-like, we “splurged” $9 extra on the rich, tart, sweet, Asian, European, crunchy, creamy, subtle and assertive Duck, Duck, Duck starter—fun!

And, man, this mostly housemade charcuterie plate was a beauty well-worth the $8 upcharge!

The hits kept rolling in with this sage-kissed veal meatloaf plopped atop lovely, coarse polenta and plate-lick-worthy shiitakes awash in butter and Marsala wine; call it a nimble re-saddling of an old Italian-American warhorse.

Dessert was a root beer “bombe” that, though it didn’t live up to its predecessors, was nonetheless eaten in its entirety.

Catch You On the Flipside, or, What I Ate: Flip Side Burger

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:41:00 -0500

Flip Side Burgers has brought its high-concept, Ohio-raised, grass-fed, and altogether brainy burger operation to Easton, and based on last night’s dinner, it’s fair to say I’m excited about this place. Here’s a taste:

Light and crisp tempura-battered fat shiitake caps and asparagus spears served with a fish-saucy sweet Thai chili dip. If you’re getting the notion now that this place ain’t your typical burger shop, you are most certainly correct.

Juicy Flip Side burger with sharp, two-year old aged cheddar, thick and crispy bacon and “charred balsamic vinegar red onions” (think French onion soup) on a dry-toasted, semi-sweet brioche roll. Uh-huh.

Bun-soaking and lusty Curry Lamb Burger with cuminy, curry yogurt slaw!

Triple-cooked fries with garlic chips that, after a head-swivel-provoking first bite alerted us to its delicious lardy cooking medium—a fact verified (but not advertised) by our friendly waiter.

Another thing I love about this place—really great shakes made with top-notch ingredients that you can improve by… wait for it…adding booze! I’ve seen this kind of brilliance in other cities (Baltimore comes to mind), but this was the first time I’ve encountered it in C-bus. The lovely slurp up top is a killer Medjool date/vanilla bean/bacon-infused vodka number—though wish I picked-up more of that latter component, the drink was outstanding!

This Flipper is the second of its kind, the first being in Hudson, Ohio. After eating here, not only am I eager to return (Bonuses: Full bar and Cavs on flatscreens), but I hope this company lives long, prospers, and reproduces heavily.

Not A Chipotle Off the Old Block, or, What I Ate: Papaya St. Grill

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:40:49 -0500

When I heard a handful of people comparing Papaya St. Grill in Dublin to Chipotle (but done Southeast Asian style), not only was I less than thrilled to check the place out, but frankly I thought “Who gives a flying pho?”

I mean Chipotle—and its legions of unoriginal copycats—have clearly tapped into an obviously successful and certainly zeitgeist-y business model, but though self-designed, trough-accessorized, inexpensive meals can provide quick and functional lunches, they’re hardly anything to get exercised over, right?

But still more highly positive Papaya buzz continued to leak out to me. Then one afternoon, a good pal of mine texted me that he was loving him some Papaya Grill, and I needed to get up to speed on this place. Well, not only was that guy right, but I soon learned that all those Chipotle comparisons were overstated. See, not only does PSG have plenty of actual menu items, but it’s also got a chef (who used to captain the fine Thai Taste on Kenny Road).

Here’s a peek

PSG’s refreshing—if very not spicy— take on the papaya salad straddles the culinary line between the preferred Vietnamese style (with mint and cilantro) and a more Thai style (with tomato)

This was the one Chipotle-esque order we ate. It was made by choosing: a (brown rice) “Bowl” —which came with simply but pleasant-enough steamed veggies; one of about a dozen ready-to-go sauces—we went with the aggressively bright (in a good way) lemongrass; and a protein—in our case it was very nicely fried tofu (warm, crispy outside, but creamy inside). This big bowl of health was a thumbs up, but…

…not nearly as memorable as this “Hawaiian Seoul” sandwich…or…

…this knockout dessert—“Roti with condensed milk” and “Ube” ice cream (ube’s a purple tuber beloved by Filipinos)

Expect more in an upcoming Alive