Krema Nut Company

Located at 1000 West Goodale Boulevard, Krema Nut is not exactly a dream storefront location...forget about pedestrian traffic--they're lucky if you glance their way as you're speeding towards or away from the city. If you've never ventured inside this tiny nut and candy shop, however, it's your loss; For just inside lies an authentic kid-in-a-candystore (literally) experience.
In addition to their homemade nut butters and expansive collection of candies, snack mixes, toppings, sugar-free candies and, of course, nuts, Krema Nut Company houses an unassuming cafe serving up all the nut-related, decadent treats-masked-as-lunch-options you dreamed of as a child. I'm talking peanut butter and jelly milkshakes, people.

From the collection of sandwiches, all Krema Nut Butter based, and all under $5, I ordered 'The Kicker', Made with hot raspberry preserves and hot & spicy peanut butter slathered between two thick slices of Great Harvest bread (I had my choice of white or wheat, but figuring I would have my share of simple carbohydrates on this trip, I chose the latter: very conservative for someone about to down a dairy concoction fortified with peanut butter and delicious, sugary strawberry jelly.) The hot & spicy peanut butter was...well...mind-blowing. Topped with sweet and spicy raspberry preserves it was almost, ALMOST, overwhelming.

The hot and spicy peanut butter is available by the jar, thank heavens.

My dining companions ordered the 'Classic Old Timer' and the 'PB-Nana'. I feel I should have stated this sooner, but feared it might dissuade you from patronizing this fine establishment: These are NOT your typical PB&Js, with just enough Jiff peanut butter and Smucker's grape to satisfy an awkward 6th grader, made (with love) by a mother who still insists on packing a brown paper lunch--don't forget the Snack Pack!

These sandwiches are burly.

The 'PB-Nana' came on perfectly toasted white bread with a generous portion of your choice of smooth or crunchy peanut butter, honey, and what seemed like halves of banana which were described as 'slices'. Half this sandwich would satisfy an Iron-Man competitor, I'm sure of it.
The 'Classic Old Timer' seemed slightly more delicate: a traditional (though amply portioned) PB&J made with strawberry preserves and topped with slices of fresh strawberries. With other sandwich toppings including homemade cashew butter, chunky apple fruit spread, and honey nut cream cheese, I will be sure to return to sample more. Half-sies?

And then came the aforementioned Peanut Butter and Jelly Milkshake. Prepared, by the by, with vanilla ice cream made on premises. The also make, obviously, peanut butter ice cream, as well as buckeye, chocolate and strawberry. This milkshake was delicious and I would go back to order it alone; in fact, it might be preferable to attempting to tackle one of these hefty sandwiches simultaneously. For those less gastrically adventurous (or gluttonous) they also offer white and chocolate milk, water and other soft drinks.

Take your kids, your husband...shop for gifts...whatever excuse you need (that is unless you have a nut allergy; do not step within 500 yards of this place.) I highly recommend stepping off the beaten path to support this local gem and expand your Peanut Butter and Jelly consciousness.

Mazah Mediterranean Eatery

If anything is obvious at Mazah, located at 1439 Grandview Avenue, it is the home-cooked, authentic feeling of the restaurant itself. It is owned, with pride, by Maggie Ailabouni and from her place behind the bar and in the kitchen she oversees the experience of each of her guests. I do not use the term 'guests' loosely- as Ms. Ailabouni and her staff treat each diner as if they were invited to a special dinner party; our particular waiter seemed so excited to bring us our food and beverages I thought his head might explode from the corners of his (absolutely genuine) smile. 

My friend and I ordered libations from the hand-written cocktail list. Martinis: double mango and double guava, respectively, and they were relatively stiff and laced with syrupy sweet nectar (After inquiring as to what, exactly, made the martinis "double" mango or guava and speculating with our server who clearly did not know, he returned to the table with our cocktails and, triumphantly, with an answer-- a double shot of vodka, obviously.)

We ordered the "couple's" combination-- which was a healthy portion of warm pita served with falafel, hummus, baba ghanoush, fava beans, three bean salad, cabbage salad, tzatziki, tabbouleh, mediterranean potato salad, rice, olives, and a choice of meat or veggie entree--we chose the meat filled dough pocket (Sfiha, or Sfeeha.) We also had our choice of soup or greek salad--so we chose one each of the salad and the lentil soup. The salad was your typical greek salad, with a good amount of feta, tasty olives and a light, bright vinaigrette. The lentil soup, highly recommended by the server, came with fried pita crisps but was otherwise your typical, diner-style lentil soup--not mind-blowing, but not bad. The combination plate proved to be more than enough food for two diners, the portion sizes at Mazah are quite generous. 

 Our dining companion ordered the Fattoush--a tomato, onion and cucumber salad, served with crumbled toasted pita, feta and olives and the Za'atar bread--flatbread spread with a minced herb and sesame seed mixture.
My impression of Mazah was favorable: the food ample and tasty, the atmosphere homey, and the service prompt and sincere. This is not your sleek hipster restaurant, decked out in dark wood and low lighting, and with a cocktail list as long as the menu. And this isn't fine dining--the food is piled high, without a hint of negative space on the plate. This is home-cooked-from-scratch, just like Grandma would have made if your Grandma was Isreali or Turkish or Greek or Lebanese.
I will definitely be choosing Mazah over it's nearly neighbor, the Grandview Heights franchise of Aladdin's Eatery Systems, Inc. (better known as simply, Aladdin's) the next time I get the craving for Mediterranean. My conscience can rest easy knowing that I am supporting a local, family-owned business, even if my main, selfish objective is to try one of the delicious looking sandwiches I missed last time. 

*Happy Hour* Vino Vino

At 1371 Grandview Avenue, adjoining it's parent restaurant, Figlio is Vino Vino Restaurant and Winebar. Opening at 5 pm Monday through Saturday, they offer a happy hour from 5 to 6 pm Monday through Friday. You'll want to be prompt, as the place fills up quickly with locals in the know of this little-advertized deal.

The Happy Hour includes food specials as well as $3 short pours of the house red or white wine and $4 Sophia Coppola Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine, which arrives in an adorable little pink can designed to make you smile (and if the can doesn't--the bubbly will.) There are also 'baby' martinis offered for $3 --be sure to ask for yours stirred and not shaken, or the seemingly oblivious bartender will shake it into a coma, leaving it half water and crushed ice. 

The food, simply put, is fantastic. The $3 happy hour food choices include your choice of a cup of the soup of the day, a 6" personal pizza, or your choice of several small salads. 

I ordered the Baby Wedge Salad which came topped with hard boiled egg, tasty little tomatoes and bacon. The dressing took this generally mundane hunk of iceberg to a new level. Not your typical mayonnaise-y blue cheese dressing which is often found suffocating salads of this type, Vino Vino topped it with a tangy, mustardy vinaigrette--the perfect compliment to the heavy egg and bacon and crisp lettuce.

The personal Pizza Margherita was good but nothing exceptional, with plenty of cheese, fresh basil and thinly sliced tomato. The Crab Cake (from the $4 menu, i think,) was very, very small, but was served with a delicious creamy tomato condiment that cooled my anger over the portion size slightly. It also came with a scoop of unsettlingly dry rice--I couldn't figure out why exactly, except to maybe bulk up the dish.

For $4, you could also order a mini Sirloin Burger with cole slaw and chips, Fish Tacos, or Fish Lettuce Wraps which consist of the Fish Tacos, in lettuce.

We strayed from the happy hour menu to sample the Baked Goat Cheese appetizer, a crisply coated round of goat cheese atop a mound of slightly sweet and herbaceous chunky tomato sauce. It was served with dressed greens and toasted bread points, drizzled with balsamic reduction. 

We were glad we strayed, and happier still when the asparagus bruschetta arrived--piled high with fontina, prosciutto, asparagus, and pickled red onion. It was $7 on the small plates menu, and worth every bite. 

Even with several regularly priced menu items, and two glasses of regularly priced (and full-sized) wine-- our bill came to just over $50 for 2. One could easily order a few of the tastier happy hour items, say, a pizza, a salad and a couple glasses of wine and walk out satisfied for under $20. If you miss happy hour, never fear: prices here are reasonable, the ambiance is classy, but inviting, and the food is delicious (the non-happy hour variety being exceptional.) Just remember to keep an eye on the bartender.

Jury Room

If, like me (and 17.8 million Americans) you are of Italian descent, you know that we can be a bit particular about our marinara sauce. We tend to turn up our nose at all red sauces which have not been made by our Grandma, or according to her precise (completely ambiguous) directions. The most presumptuous of us might even be slightly aggressive about the whole matter.

In a nutshell, what I'm saying is, when it comes to marinara sauce, my Grandma can kick your Grandma's ass.

So I'm sure Executive Chef Catie Randazzo of Jury Room (22 E. Mound Street) would understand when I say that I did not care for hers. She would probably be less forgiving, however, when I say I wasn't crazy about anything at all. Although, based on Yelp and Urbanspoon reviews, she should probably be used to it.
From what I gather, Jury Room is more miss than hit far more often than the 'people have different tastes' mantra of so-so chefs allows.

We started with the Calamari--a small, overly greasy portion served with a cup of previously mentioned marinara and without any pizazz.
White Anchovies Salad--a few anchovies mixed in with cherry tomatoes, big hunks of celery, LOTS of olive oil and brioche croutons which were both undercooked and underseasoned. Served with a side of arugula in vinaigrette.
and the Arugula Salad--which was a nice sized portion of good looking arugula with a tasty vinaigrette, Parmesan shavings, not enough cracked black pepper and those same insipid croutons.

Not a stellar start, but it was still Happy Hour, so at least our drinks were cheap and the selection of beers and cocktails was notable. Also our server was more attentive and pleasant than I've had at any other restaurant in the Betty's line (sadly, this isn't saying much.)

For Entrees we ordered the Grilled Shrimp, Ohio Bounty Pasta with Chicken, Sam's (famous? best? I forget which hyperbole was chosen) Manicotti and Spaghetti with Meatballs and a marinara/alfredo mixture which was raved about in another review. I don't even know how to describe these items beyond, "Eh."

Manicotti

Ok, so maybe I can...the shrimp entree didn't have a speck of salt in it--to the extent that I felt they might have kept it quarantined in a salt-free section of the kitchen. The Spaghetti was over-sauced and lumpy, the meatballs gristly, the pesto on the Ohio Bounty Pasta dry, the chicken underseasoned and the whole thing not especially 'bountiful'. The Manicotti was a huge portion, but nothing to write home about (In fact, I wouldn't bring it within 100 yards of my Grandma.)

Look at those bountiful tomatoes!!

Spaghetti w/ meatballs

I overlook flaws like these occasionally in Liz Lessner's other restaurants--they're not four star establishments, after all, and people generally go there for a fun time that doesn't break the bank. I get that. Really I do. And I do like the restaurants, and what they've done for the Columbus restaurant scene (if not the culinary scene.) I didn't complain about the stalest cupcake I've ever attempted to sink my teeth into at Surly Girl, or the nearly frozen broccoli at Betty's, or even the salad at Tip Top that was missing half the ingredients listed on the menu (until now.) But Ms. Lessner is trending towards the worse, and I'm concerned. Is the kitchen staff underpaid? Chefs inexperienced? Is she simply spreading her resources too thin?

I vow to investigate this further. Most likely while imbibing one (or more) of those $3 signature cocktails at Surly Girl, Dirty Frank's, Betty's or Tip Top... Probably not at Jury Room.

*Happy Hour* Nida's Thai on High

Having received some pretty enthusiastic recommendations, I'd been wanting to try Nida's for a good while now. How fortunate for me that after a very long walk on a very beautiful day I emerged onto High Street at Second Ave shortly before 4 pm--just in time for Happy Hour at Nida's Thai on High.
The Happy Hour specials run from 4-6:30 Monday through Friday and include $3 & $4 sushi rolls and appetizers, $5 cocktails and discounts on beer and wine. How fortunate indeed.

For beverages (after, of course, eagerly draining 2 full glasses of water: parched from our trek,) my walking companion could not resist the Thai Iced Tea nor I the Gott Lightening--a Gin Cocktail with triple sec and tamarind nectar. It was tasty but light on the booze, so if you're aiming for a real deal, order the Dirty Ginger Martini--Citrus Vodka spiked with fresh ginger juice. They had quite an extensive and interesting cocktail list, all at the discounted Happy Hour rate.
The drinks arrived a little (ok, very) slowly from the bar, but the service was friendly, and she kept that water flowing so I never felt snubbed for dearth of a beverage.

We ordered Hamachi (Yellowtail) and Salmon sushi rolls, along with their Spicy counterparts. The sushi rolls were on the small side (and poorly wrapped) but the fish was fresh and the spicy variations were not the heavily spiced, pureed fish ends that you normally find in sushi restaurant 'spicy rolls', but nice hunks of Yellowtail and Salmon, with a delicate but slightly tongue-searing dry spice added.
Not on the Happy Hour menu, but reasonably priced and quite tasty were the traditional Thai soups--The Tom Kha and Tom Yum, which we tried with chicken. Both were a little skimpy on veggies and meat, but the broth was expertly spiced--savory, tart and sweet.
We also sampled the Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls and the Japanese Squid Salad from the happy hour appetizers. The spring rolls were good, with a nice flavor but again, poorly wrapped and lacking the dramatic crunch that I look for to offset the cool sponginess of the fresh wrapper. The squid salad on the other hand, was phenomenal. The texture was perfect--just the right balance of tenderness and chew, and the flavor was addictive--light and fresh but salty and spicy all at once. I would have ordered 3 more plates of it if i hadn't finished the rest of our spread feeling like a fat-bellied Japanese money cat.

The danger with happy hours is that, once having discovered them, you will never come back during the regular, sad hours. This can make the servers resentful of happy hour guests, and reluctant to offer them the full benefit of their assistance. We never felt ignored, rushed, pressured or like the cheapskates...
ahem...frugal diners that we are, and that will definitely keep me coming back to Nida's for happy hour--and maybe someday to pay full price for dinner.

Basi Italia

Basi Italia is a very good restaurant, and with just a little tweaking, it could truly be great. If I weren't making it my personal mission to dissect every aspect of an establishment, I could find little for which to fault the cozy little place tucked into an alley in Victorian Village, at 811 Highland street. So let's just get those faults out of the way:
1. the paper menus were dirty; not unforgivable, but the wine list was particularly filthy and in my book, that's just unappetizing.
2. The service was not professional, and not particularly attentive. Glasses were delivered hot from the dishwasher for white wine, which our server addressed by saying "let those sit for a minute, they're kind of warm." He disappeared for quite some time on multiple occasions, namely, when we needed something--more wine, or the check (which seems a particularly difficult trick, as we could see every inch of the dining room and the kitchen--then again, it was 'Vino on the Veranda' night)
 3. My personal pet peeve is visiting Italian restaurants which don't offer espresso. Basi Italia does not...and as our server confessed, the regular coffee offered is 'not so good'.

Ok. Now that that's out of the way--the very good stuff.

1. A well-rounded and reasonably priced wine list, from which we sampled an excellent 'Charles and Charles' Rose and a tasty Pinot Grigio.
2. Delicious appetizers/salads, of which we tried the Baby Iceberg Wedge with Pancetta and gorgonzola, Grilled endive with roasted Peach, Baby pecorino (I actually didn't write down this cheese, so I'm not sure this is accurate, but it was bordering on stinky, melty, and quite good) and toasted walnuts and the nearly ethereal Parmesan Creme Brulee, served with olives and olive-oily toast points. Shortly before our appetizers arrived, we were served a cute little paper lined glass of house-made, satisfyingly salty, savory biscotti.

3. Good sized portions of entrees, with obviously fresh and local (where applicable) ingredients.
We had the Grilled Shrimp special, with sweet corn, tomatoes, pesto and couscous, the Lobster Capellini--served with a beautiful half-Lobster tail perched atop the pasta and some pretty pea shoots (again--not sure they were pea shoots, but that's my best guess--crunchy and mild in flavor,) and candy-colored baby heirloom tomatoes, the Mustard-crusted Trout (though for having 'mustard' in the title, it just tasted like breading to me) which featured a salad of pickled onions and peppers and the same possibly pea-shoots and the Potato Gnocchi with mushrooms, grape tomatoes and sweet corn.

4. Tasty desserts of manageable portions. These are not your 'chocolate volcano', 'death by chocolate' or 'big as your face carrot cake'-variety desserts. We tried a lemon cheesecake with blueberry sauce, which was very light, and not too lemony or saccharine-sweet. We also tried a chocolate dessert--small slabs of rich dark chocolate interspersed with coconut and dried cherries, served with berries, obviously fresh whipped cream, and raspberry coulis...which would have been perfect with an espresso.

All in all, I found Basi Italia to be quite pleasing. The novelty of finding such a cute restaurant, with worthwhile food, in the back alley of a likewise cute neighborhood is enough to warrant a recommendation. I'm looking forward to returning on another 'Vino on the Veranda' night--to find out just what our server was getting into.

Min-Ga Korean

Located at 800 Bethel Rd, in the shopping plaza behind the picturesque 'Johnny Buccelli's', Min Ga is an unassuming and seldom noted bastion of good Korean soul food in Columbus...if only because no one eats Korean soul food in Columbus. It would be a stretch to call the decor 'decor', or the service 'service', but what it lacks in the traditional evening-out trappings it makes up for in real, heart-of-the-matter Korean cooking. 

I must admit, I'm no expert in Korean gastronomy, and the over-arching 'fish-sauce-iness' is something to which I've gradually had to adjust my palate, but judging from my companion's reactions even the novice epicure can find something to love at Min-Ga...provided they arrive with an open mind (and a little more cash than the average strip-mall, easterly oriented chow house requires.)
It's worthwhile to note that our excursion was centered around my sister's upcoming trip to South Korea. My sister is a pescatarian and the friend whom she is visiting exhibited uncertainty as to whether he could find her suitable fare in his host country. That is, a meat-free meal in a place where the language and signage is...let's just say, incomprehensible. Our mission was to seek out the names of dishes free from pork, beef, blood sausage (called, confusingly, 'Sundae') and the like. 
Happily, we found a variety of solely (no pun intended) fish-based dishes. 

We started with the seafood pancake: A delightfully light egg-pastry topped with scallions, shrimp, bay scallops, tiny mussels, octopus and squid and served with a sweet/spicy sauce. It was delicious, and would have sufficed as a meal on its own for the solitary diner.

We then ordered a variety of entrees: Seafood Bibimbap (meaning, in Korean, 'mixed meal') in a clay hot-pot, Joki Kui--salted yellow croaker (head on, particularly unattractive fish) Japchae with Beef, Japchae with Tofu--both stir-fried rice noodle dishes and Kimchi Seafood Tang- a spicy, broth soup with abundant and multifarious sea creatures. Our meals were accompanied in the traditional Korean manner with a number of 'Banchan'--side dishes, which included kimchi, cole slaw, hot peppers, several variations of marinated potatoes, marinated turnips, seaweed and cucumber, cabbage and cucumber and what was described as 'fish cake' but was evidently bean curd skin. These were all lovely additions, each an adventure in taste and texture, and led us each to complete (if not exorbitant) gratification.
For someone wanting to stick their toe in the delightful, yet intimidating world of Korean cuisine, I recommend the Bibimbap--an interesting yet understandable variation of a more recognizable 'fried rice' (they offer fried rice, too, but having not tried it, and loving the Bibimbap, I'd say go for it) or any of the Japchae as deliciously different, but not TOO different (or spicy) as an inaugural foray into Korean flavor. From there, decide what you like and if you won't like it, your server will probably tell you so. Thankfully (and unlike in South Korea) the menu offers helpful translations of all of the dishes...and if you've got $11.95 to blow on blood sausage---let me know how it was.

A letter to Mr. Dae Oh.

Dear Mr. Oh,
It is out of sincerest concern for your business ventures that I tell you that your sushi is, well...bad.
Having dined before at Shoku in Grandview, and last night at Red in the Short North, it is my advice that you do better, lest these establishments join Tyfoon in the overcrowded pool of ill-conceived, short-lived, now-defunct 'trendy' sushi restaurants. It wouldn't be a fatal flaw if the poor quality of your food were not matched with astronomical pricing, tiny portions, lack of creativity and lackluster service.
As it is, the fish (even the salmon and yellowtail which was suggested as the freshest) was not fresh, and as I had noticed before at Shoku, inexpertly cut. I know, I know; We're in Ohio, thousands of miles from the ocean, but I've had better sushi from a strip mall joint in Gahanna. It was priced higher than the exceptional quality sushi restaurant where I worked on the upper west side of Manhattan, the rolls were obviously lifted from a variety of more successful sushi restaurants in town (all of them slathered with spicy mayo and tempura flakes,) my husband's $9 cocktail arrived in a half-full (I guess in this case, half-empty) martini glass  and the ambiance was spoiled by 3 giant-screen TVs perched above the otherwise lovely sushi bar.
As there was nothing satisfactory about my dining experience last night, it would be cruel to elaborate much further, but there is a general half-assedness that pervades each of your establishments in which I have been unfortunate enough to have dined. Given that both Red and Two Fish were nearly completely empty during prime dinner hours (albeit, on a Monday--but with 'buy one get one half off' sushi, you should be able to draw more than 6 diners) I would say that it's time to re-examine your strategy--purchasing, menu development, hiring, training...everything.
I want you to succeed. I want you to keep pouring money into the Short North. So please accept this letter as a sort of intervention: go to rehab and then we'll talk again.

Why blogs are relevant, specifically, this one.

First and foremost, this is not a magazine. This is not a newspaper. I do not have deadlines, quotas, or advertising loyalties. I do have a strong desire to see excellent restaurants succeed and steer diners towards exceptional experiences. I want the Columbus culinary world to continue to grow: stimulating our appetites and our economy.
Mission statements aside, I like you. I have inside information via delivery drivers, cooks, servers and chefs around the city and if i can warn you away from a filthy kitchen or chronically bad service I consider it my responsibility to do so...if you've ever felt the gastrointestinal devastation of E. coli (poop, people. It comes from poop) or waited 45 minutes for a glass of water, you can appreciate my motivation to prevent future hardship.
So. The plan is to tell you about great places, warn you about bad ones, throw in a recipe or two, keep the poop references to a minimum, and hopefully entertain us both.