Goodbye Columbus

A year ago, our first night in Columbus was spontaneous and magical. We were strolling through the outdoor luxury of Easton when we decided to treat ourselves to a steak dinner at Smith and Wollensky. They were having a surf and turf special and we feasted like kings, dipping our lobster tail bits in drawn butter. We sat outside on the terrace, overlooking the massive silver doors of Tiffany's, mesmerized by the pastel glow of a nearby fountain. The lavender sky seemed to melt right into the water and the kids danced around to celebrate the beauty of our new hometown.

Magic can be hard to duplicate, but we decided to try on our last night in Columbus. I'm not sure if it was the marbled steak or the lure of the fountain, but we danced again, this time to say goodbye to Columbus.

Happy Wordful, not so Wordless and Way-back wednesday! 

Columbus Taco Trucks for Cinco de Mayo

The Columbus food scene never ceases to surprise me with its diversity. When we moved here last summer, I braced myself for date nights at Applebees and TGI Fridays. Instead I was delighted to discover a rich food scene with markets filled with artisan foods, authentic Japanese restaurants, and locally-made ice cream in a bevvy of creative flavors. (And you can now get any of the incredible Jeni's ice cream flavors shipped to your home anywhere in the US - Salty Caramel, Goat Cheese with Roasted Red Cherries, Pear Riesling, Wildberry Lavender are just a few...) I've been eating like a queen ever since I got here.

Last night, Columbus took me by surprise again when I finally tried first hand its elaborate network of taco trucks.

You might be surprised to learn, as I certainly was, that Columbus is home to over 30 taco trucks. They seem to be sprinkled throughout the outskirts of the city. Although they initially catered mostly to the hispanic population in Columbus, a group of enthusiastic foodies formed the Columbus Taco Truck website and have dedicated themselves to spreading the word to the general population.

For Cinco de Mayo, Jim, Bethia, and Andy, the masterminds of the Columbus Taco Truck movement, organized a meet up at Taco Nazo. Groups of people filed in throughout the night, greeting each other before stepping up to the truck to order their dinner. Many of the attendees had biked in from Columbus in full spandex attire to enjoy a dinner of authentic Mexican food. As the sun set, they jumped back on their bikes and sped away home.

I've been a faithful reader of Jim's blog since I first moved here, and he graciously responded to one of my comments by offering to give me the rundown of the Columbus taco trucks. I'm not sure I would have had the chutzpah to explore these unfamiliar parts of town on my own, not knowing about the safety of the neighborhoods or the quality of the food.


I was blown away by the food. When there is no decor, no tables, no music, the food has to stand on its own. And it did. I expected to be overwhelmed by the spices, but instead my mouth was zinging with flavors and freshness. We began with the Cinco de Mayo special: a green posole stew served with some crunchy tortillas and your choice of onions, lime and radishes as garnish. It packed just a little heat and was filled with generous chunks of dark chicken meat. Usually stew satisfy, coating the mouth with rich sauces, but this one woke my senses up, and made me eager for more.

Then we continued our tasting with a chicken burrito and some steak tacos. The tacos were my favorite. The meat was charred with spices but tender and flavorful. The tortilla was soft and tasty, unusual for something that usually goes unnoticed. And the taco was topped with a generous amount of vibrant green cilantro and lettuce and ruby red radishes. I topped it with some hot sauce and every bite. This morning I woke up craving more.

After just one visit, my taste buds are hooked on what the taco trucks are selling. I spent the night talking to other converts like Bear of Slow Food Columbus and Mandy of Wild Goose Creative, hearing about the taco truck with amazing roast chicken and the one that serves ice cream. Those trucks are apparently located on the West Side of Columbus and that's where I'll be headed next.

Diving into the Columbus Social Marketing Scene at M by Cameron Mitchell

A few days ago, I had an unforgettable meal at M, a gorgeous Cameron Mitchell Restaurant in downtown Columbus. I wasn't with my husband, having a second anniversary celebration at Columbus' most romantic table. I wasn't even with out of town visitors, spreading the gospel of Columbus' impressive dining scene. Instead, I was in a sleek enclosed-glass private dining room with nine other social media influencers, all members of Taste Casting.

Taste Casting is an ingenious new company that harnesses the influence of socially networked individuals to spread the word about restaurants. The TasteCasting team enjoys a complimentary tasting, and then gets to work, armed with an assortment of digital cameras, Flip camcorders, Blackberries and laptops. The TasteCasting team broadcasts about their experience to their friends and acquaintances via blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Whrrl, Flickr, and countless other of the latest social media tools. And before you get all jealous, you should know that Taste Casting is not limited to Columbus. They also have teams in 22 cities all over the US.

It was pretty much as close to a perfect night as you could get. Not only was the food stellar, but getting to sit with a bunch of foodies who are equally passionate about social media was such a treat. I took copious notes getting recommendations on restaurants, blogs, and food markets, only taking breaks to tweet and eat.

And boy, did we ever eat.

There were seven courses when all was said and done, thankfully, each one was just a tasting size. Erin Chittum, M's executive chef, came out towards the middle of the meal to talk to us about how she strives to incorporate fresh local ingredients. Even their cocktails are all made from fresh squeezed juices in house. They were not only fun, but delicious. Lisa (@xmainer1) and I both had the pineapple mojito but neither one of us was bold enough to finish off the vodka marinated pineapple chunks. The grape crush, made with fresh red grapes, looked even more fun.

The menu at M can best be described as nouveau American with hints of Asian flavors. There were many comfort dishes which were brought to a new level by luxury ingredients. The mashed potatoes were topped with lobster. The mac and cheese was topped with black truffle shavings. And the chophouse corn was flavored with bacon drippings.

Although the steak and eggs were incredible, a worthwhile cholesterol inducing treat composed of a filet mignon topped with a goat cheese hashbrown, a dippy quail egg, bearnaise, and caviar, the seafood is what I'll be craving. I thoroughly enjoyed the Maryland crabcake served over a fragrant tomato gazpacho and the porcini crusted white tuna with wild mushrooms. There were also some Asian dishes such as the tuna tartare infused with a bracingly fresh yuzu vinaigrette and the interesting wasabi pea encrusted tuna salmon avocado sushi roll.

We finished with a light dessert that really showed off M's attention to fresh ingredients. It was a simple peach soup with fresh berries and organic yogurt sorbet. The dish was simple, letting the sweet peach shine through. A perfect way to end the meal.

M is definitely a special occasion type of place. The main dishes ranged between $23 and $34. But they do have a couple of fun specials going on this fall so you can at least check out the dazzling decor, even if you don't want to spring for the full meal. Thursday evenings are wine enthusiast night, featuring 50% off all bottles of wine priced at $100 or less. Beginning October 1, there is happy hour every weekday with $5 glasses of wine and $5 martinis. On Fridays, sushi at the bar is half price.

Omakase at Kihachi - a Trip to the Depths of Japan in the heart of Columbus

To find a special place to have our 11th anniversary dinner celebration, we turned to the recommendations of the Restaurant Widow, one of the many fantastic Columbus food blogs. We turned to her Best Of list, and opted for Kihachi, a Japanese restaurant that she labeled, "the best restaurant in the city. A very traditional Japanese restaurant, catering to the Japanese palate."

I called ahead, made a reservation, and put our fate in the hands of the chef by ordering their Omakase dinner. (Omakase is a Japanese phrase literally meaning "it's up to you." In the restaurant world, it's a meal that is at the chef's discretion.)

We expected a hip joint in downtown Columbus. (We are still very much at the mercy of our GPS as we have no idea where anything is.) Imagine our surprise (and delight) when we found ourselves in a strip mall just minutes from our house.

We walked in and were shown to a private Tatami house. We took off our shoes and climbed in to our secluded little den and waited for the feast to begin.

Calling it a feast is not doing the meal justice. For the next few hours, we had a once in a lifetime experience, a culinary voyage to the depths of Japan. We ate a total of nine courses over the next three hours, many had tastes that we had never encountered before. When we left New York, our last meal was at Nobu57, one of our favorite restaurants. This meal at Kihachi made me realize that Nobu has made a lot of concessions to the Western palate. Here at Kihachi, I truly felt as if I were eating in Japan. What an adventure!

Before I begin describing the meal, let me apologize for my neophyte descriptions of the ingredients. While I love visiting Japanese supermarkets, I am just an enthusiastic know-nothing.

We started with a trio of colorful small plates with distinctive textures. The octopus had been lightly boiled with pickled plum. A beautiful purple herb lay on top of sushi rice mounds on the second plate. And a bracingly briny geoduck clam topped with a creamy miso vinaigrette was sliced in a third bowl.

The next course was more of a composition piece, an assorted plate with foods of vastly different shapes, colors, tastes and textures. The two main characters were a dark baby octopus that had been marinated in miso and a flash fried baby pink whole sweet shrimp. Root vegetables and sea weed surrounded them, providing a variety of sweet and salty tastes that made our palates alive with the changes. I have to admit that I approached both the octopus and the shrimp with some trepidation, but both were excellent, although in very different ways. The octopus was rich and savory from the right amount of soy and miso, and the shrimp, which we ate whole, was sweet and lightly crunchy.

After that came the most elaborate tempura I've ever had: shrimp pate wrapped in lotus root. Soup was the following course - an intoxicating mix of eel and spongy mushroom.

Sashimi came next: unbelievably fresh fish. There was sea bream, velvety fatty tuna, Japanese Jack fish, and mackerel sandwiched between lime slices. The fresh seafood was followed by sweet caramelized pig cheeks and a soft shell crab served in a broth with tofu.

We were about to explode, struggling to finish the crab (probably the least interesting dish we had all night), when our waitress poked her head in to announce, "dinner is coming soon." We turned to each other, certain that we had misunderstood and that dessert was soon to come, but instead she brought in a beautiful platter of sushi including a toro scallion roll.

When she next knocked on our paper door, I was scared. I just didn't think I could eat another bite. Mercifully, she was carrying dessert. A small plate of thinly sliced poached pears with one lone dark blackberry. What an ideal way to end this incredible feast!

As we waited for the check, we replayed the meal, amazed by all we had experienced. Little by little, we both grew nervous, wondering this meal would go down in the books as not only our most exotic anniversary dinner, but also our most expensive.

Once the check arrived, we were relieved to see that the Omakase dinner was $85 per person - an incredible value for a feast of a lifetime.

Landing in Foodie Heaven at the North Market

I had many preconceived notions about the culinary scene in Columbus. None of them were good. I imagined that I would be becoming an expert on the fast food options in the Midwest.

When we visited Columbus to scope out neighborhoods, we had a wonderful meal at Lindey's. I got a sense that I was underestimating the dining opportunities.

A few weeks after our real move, we discovered the North Market, and I fell in love. It's a large indoor market in downtown Columbus with a wide variety of stalls. We walked around with huge smiles just gawking at all the delicious food.

It was just so hard to choose! I ran from stall to stall, admiring the organic poultry, the gleaming vegetables, the fiery salsas, the colorful pastas, and the caramelized waffles before finally settling on a feast of crepes.

We went back last weekend on Saturday morning to take advantage of the outdoor farmer's market. They must keep the fees low because there were some really small producers which was so nice because they were really happy to chat with the kids. I love for them to get a sense of how food is produced, that it doesn't just magically materialize in the supermarket display.


Our most fascinating encounter was with the beekeeper of Honeyrun Farm. We spent some time with him, hearing about his 80 hives and marveling at the different tastes of spring and summer honey. He invited us down to check out the farm and I plan to take him up on it. I'm hoping that seeing all those bees in action might cure us of our irrational fear. At the very least, it will make a good blog post!

Now that I've been disabused of my notion of Columbus as a culinary wasteland, I've decided to make it my mission in life to spread the word about what a great city this is for foodies. But if I don't watch out, I won't even have to open my mouth to tell people about the foodie scene, the Columbus ten that I'm busy putting on my butt and thighs will speak for itself.

Discovering City Barbeque

Chefdruck's Tasty Tuesday
Our last week in Columbus was mostly a blur. Hanging out with three small children in a new city threw our carefully scheduled lives out the window. I would pull out of our hotel parking lot, planning on squeezing in an errand before a twelve o'clock lunch and suddenly it would be 1:30 and all the kids would be crying from hunger as I drove desperately down an impossibly large highway, searching for anyplace to eat.

As a result, our meals filled our bellies but were low on originality. When we weren't hitting a McDonald's, we were eating at nationwide chains like TGI Friday's or Ruby Tuesday's.

Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty of great meals at chain restaurants, but I was hoping to get a sense of the local restaurant scene, a preview of what we would be discovering in Ohio.

The last place I expected to have a good meal was at a baseball stadium, but that's just where I experienced my most memorable meal of the trip: a sweet and tangy pulled pork sandwich with some smoky baked beans and creamy cole slaw with just a hint of pepper. I washed it all down with an ice cold root beer and finally felt not only full, but thoroughly satiated.

City Barbeque is a chain, but it's an Ohio chain, with 13 locations throughout the state. I can't wait to see what else they offer at one of their full restaurants. I wonder what other surprises the Columbus restaurant scene has in store for us.

This Tasty Tuesday doesn't have a recipe because we've been pretty much living out of our suitcases these last few weeks. I'm craving my own cooking more that anything right now... and really looking forward to breaking in our new kitchen in Ohio.