Comfest!!!!!

Comfest!!!!!!

Comfest is my favorite festival in Columbus. One of thing I look forward to each year is volunteering at the Wine Booth. Being a wine booth volunteer is the best gig at Comfest. It is a legacy to hold on to once you make it on the wine booth team. I am going to miss my Saturday crew this year - but I will be pouring on Friday at my customer service oriented booth.

More Wine Booth information:

For the last 13 years, Natural State Wines has provided a variety of natural and organic wines to Comfest’s two wine booths (we usually serve 7 ounce cups). The selection of wines this year was: Honeyrun Blackberry (served chilled - a crowd pleaser for 4+ years), Frey Biodynamic Chardonnay, Orleans Hill Syrah, Nuevomundo Cabernet-Malbec, Badger Mountain Riesling (another crowd pleaser), and Bodegas Iranzo Sangria. (Post Post - Thanks to everyone visiting the Park Street Wine Booth from 8 PM to 11:30 PM on Friday - we had a blast, wiped out our stock and earned $150 in tips for charity. I have a new appreciation for bartending Friday nights!)

If you have never attended to Comfest - go. If you have never volunteered for Comfest - do it this year, 4 hours of light labor gets you a T-Shirt as well as food and beverage tokens. And those Comfest T-Shirts come in handy - see below.

Surly Girl Saloon

Open from 11 am-2 am every day. Surly Girl recently expanded their menu as well and kept the Frito Pie.

As a volunteer thank you this weekend - volunteers that wear your COMFEST T-SHIRT (from any year) get you a FREE cupcake with any purchase Friday - Sunday.

A little bonus tease from Surly Girl for volunteers-

“Will it be banana cupcakes with peanut butter icing? Yellow cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting? Double chocolate with a cherry on top? You gotta come in to find out.”

Items of Note: New Campus BW-3 and outside dining at Clintonville Northstar

BW-3 will open a new OSU Campus (Mega-sized) location at the corner of Lane and High on June 25th. There will be promotional events for the first two weeks so expect some good freebies. The new place is gigantic and includes a second floor patio with a view of north campus.

Word of mouth from the staff at the Clintonville Northstar (aka Northstar North) - we should expect outdoor dining soon. (Post Post - June 30 - The tables are now in use) The tables are being custom made. The same materials and design is being as the inside tables so a fine table, like a fine wine - takes time. I’m looking forward to dining under the stars with a burrito later in the summer.

White Castle Exhibit Needs Beefed Up

 

 

I made an excursion to the Ohio Historical Center for a serving of fast food history - an exhibit on White Castle Hamburgers. It was interesting however, if the exhibit was the sole purpose of a person’s field trip - I think most people would have a beef.

Admission to the Historical Center is the equivalant of a couple sacks of Slyders - that might hurt if you are not also interested in Ohio History, First Ladies, and Native American artifacts. On the plus side - parking is reimbursed via a token and each admission comes with a coupon for a free White Castle hamburger. Here is a peek of what you will see - reading this post will take about the same amount of time as viewing the exhibit in person.

 

 

I hope the exhibit gets beefed up over time. There is room to do so and even though White Castles are small and the company is not a mega chain - White Castle is critical in the culinary history of the country and Columbus.

White Castle 101

White Castle was the first fast food chain ever. The first location opened in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas with 5 seats. In 1934, the company moved the headquarters to Columbus due to the prime logistics of our fair city. The Company continued to grow and develop innovative techniques in food preparation, marketing, and building materials as well patents on several food related items. All White Castle locations are company owned and operated - no franchises. You can find White Castles in 11 states. The company started a division for building materials and construction to build and design their locations (originally using porcelain). White Castle was ahead of the times in hiring women and minorities. This small (in comparison to our other local fast food capital burger chain Wendy’s) company has done some big things. If you are intrigued - grab the book Selling ‘em by the Sack by David Hogan.

For more web information - here is the wiki on White Castle.

A couple more noteworthy tidbits.

White Castle copyrighted the term Slyders in 1994.

For the special someone, many White Castles offer a candlelit table for two on Valentines Day. Hamburger Today provides the low down on this treat.

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The Ohio Historical Center/ The Ohio Historical Society has all kinds of White Castle Corporate information

The Ohio Historical Center is closed on Mondays.

Hours are:

Tues, Wed, Fri, and Sat 9 AM - 5 PM

 

Thurs 9 AM - 9 PM

 

Sunday and Holidays Noon - 5 PM

If you want to get more information on White Castle beyond the exhibit - the library and archives have plenty of things to look at.

Hours are:

Weds and Sat 9 AM - 5 PM

Thursday 1 PM - 9 PM