Worthington Pub Crawl / Stroll

I acknowledge that a pub crawl is a little outside the typical scope of this blog, but with St. Patrick’s Day in view - why not. All of these spots are within the distance you could hurl a beer bottle so the strolling is minimal. This would be a great way to spend a late afternoon with a gang of friends - share a few beers and an appetizer or split a meal at each place. I plotted out the paces, (if you opt to jaywalk) it is 165 steps from door to door.

P.K. O’Ryans Irish Pub

666 High Street

Worthington

614.781.0771

Web Site

Happy hour is Monday - Thursday from 4:00pm until 6:00pm. The place offers a wide range of pub style meals with several beers on tap. Happy Hour gets you: reduced prices on draft and domestic bottled beer plus 1/2 price appetizers. The regular menu item to try here is the Irish Stew - a hearty mix of slow cooked beef, onions, carrots and potatoes with at least a pour of Guinness mixed in - served in a bread bowl. That will keep you warm.

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Old Bag of Nails
663 High Street
Worthington

614.436.5552

Old Bag of Nails Web site

The best menu item is the Famous Fish Sandwich. It easily serves two. My favorite reason to go here is the Fried Snickers (not available at all locations - but you can count on it here.) It is battered and devine, served with ice cream. There are plenty of beers on tap. It feels like a true pub when you walk through the door. Since you just hit O’Ryans you may think you are on the Emerald Isle - until you notice no one has an Irish accent and everyone is talking about the Buckeyes. This is the original Old Bag of Nails and has the best “feel” of any of the locations. There are old beercans and other pub bric a brac lining the walls. Many of the staff have worked at this location for years and they know their regulars by name.

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Worthington Inn

649 High Street

Worthington

614.885.1223

Web Site

Most people do not think Happy Hour when they think of Worthington Inn - but there is room at the Inn within the spacious bar area. Their happy hour is the longest on this stroll - Monday to Saturday, 4 - 7 PM. They offer domestic beer and well drink specials. However the best deal here is the discounted plates to share specials. The Worthington Inn is a very good restaurant and their “bar food” is more than one would expect.

1/2 off “Plates to Share”

Artichoke-Spinach Dip

Grilled Flat Bread Pizza

Provolone, tomato sauce and pepperoni

Seasonal Bruschetta

Our Famous Parmesan-Truffle Fries

House Cheese Plate

Warm Garlic and Herb Potato Chips

Blue cheese dip

Flash-fried calamari

Thai sweet-chili sauce and napa slaw

Roasted Pepper Hummus

Aunti Carol’s Sauerkraut Balls

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La Chatelaine

627 High Street

Worthington

614.848.6711

Web Site

There is a nice selection of French wines along with some hard to find Belgian and Euro beers on tap at the bar. If this is your last stop for the day consider picking up a bakery item as you are walking out the door - for a snack or maybe for breakfast the next day. The wine bar happy hour is from 5 to 7 PM. If owner Val Wielezynski is behind the bar - ask him about anything - he has great stories to share about the restaurant, his family and life in general.

So that is your Pub stroll agenda - a mix of small town and uptown for a Eurotrash style day out in the heart of Worthington.

CMH Podcast….unleashed!

OK - the new podcasts are a little rough and certainly no Splendid Table or This American Life - but for the sake of learning about technology….. a Podcast was born. I think each one gets better. I finally broke down and bought a nice USB headset to improve my sound quality which I hope you can hear in episode 5 <the Beer Episode>.

Columbus Food

We open to harsh criticism or nice feedback because we aim to improve. The mission of Columbus Food is to learn about podcasting and to have fun. Trust me - I can not stand the sound of my voice so I know this is not a star vehicle for me. Heck, you can hear my dog Toby barking in episode 4. If you want to be a guest star or contributor - let me know - the more - the merrier. If you have an idea about a topic for an upcoming foodcast - e-mail away!

Episode 4 is the best of the bunch, my friend Kevin Cordi, a professional storyteller tells a tale of a restaurant we hit very late at night in his hometown of Akron, intertwined with our collective memories of food. Kind of a “This American….Lunch”.

We are listed in iTunes. Search for Columbus Foodcast in the iTunes music store or follow this link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=274971060

Chicago Tribune on Cleveland, let’s get Columbus on the List!

Linked below is a recent article on Cleveland from the Chicago Tribune. This is worth a read for anyone, especially Mike Symon and Michael Ruhlman fans. Cleveland is getting recognition as a culinary city….hmm, recall my earlier post on Columbus vs. Cleveland.

I invited the Chicago Tribune writer to Columbus - hopefully your posts endorsing Columbus as a restaurant town will convince the Tribune to bankroll her trip here. If you were selling our city as a culinary hot spot - where would you take someone if you only had 48 hours……

Here is the article.

Chicago Tribune article - Cleveland?!?

Thanks to Saucisson (saw-SEE-sohn) ((is French for sausage)) Mac for passing this on.

Where would I take someone? - Graeters, Denise’s and Jeni’s - I am still pushing Columbus as Ice Cream Capital of the World (as cool as Indie Art Capital, right?). Pistachia Vera for some cookies. Breakfast at Starliner Diner and Banana Bean, lunch at Thurman’s or the North Market or Betty’s or Northstar, dinner at Alana’s, CBC, Rosendales or so many other choices. And a late night pizza at the Rossi. Hmm - I guess a visiting writer would need more time or at least an openness to doing some hobbit style second lunches.

Last Call for the Finer Diner

Formerly at:

4989 Cleveland Ave.

 

The Finer Diner closed doors for good on October 31st. Word is a hot dog and sausage outfit will move in.

The Diner built a loyal following in Columbus with a reputation for excellent pies, large portions and made from scratch home cooking for a low price. The Diner was small and cramped but it never seemed crowded since everyone was so friendly. Some regulars came in for lunch as well as dinner on the last day, almost all of them signed a farewell book so that they can be contacted when the Diner reopens someday. As a parting tip, two loyal customers gave a $100 GFS gift card for restocking the new Finer Diner.

 

Finer Diner Proprietor Abe Pendleton plans to continue on with catering while he looks for a new location in Columbus. Abe has been in the restaurant business for many years, this was his first outing on his own and it worked well for almost 4 years. If you are interested in ordering a pie (Pumpkin, Apple, Pecan, Key Lime, or one of many others), his famous Ho Ho cake, pasta sauce, or a catered meal from his fine Finer Diner Menu - give him a call. Abe can be reached at 614.397.3459.

Fun at the Ohio State Fair.. In Search of the Perfect Lemon Shake Up

I made a sojourn to the Ohio State Fair, I try to go once per decade. I really enjoyed myself this year, so I may change up to once every five years. I am a sucker for fair fare - elephant ears, funnel cakes, fair fries, and deep fried anything (in particular snickers and twinkies) - the Ohio State Fair has plenty of all that. I spied several food vendors that had signs stating as seen on Food Network.  I’d love to see Nigella Lawson at the fair!

This year, I was on a quest for the perfect lemon shake up. I am a super sucker for shake ups in the summer so with the hot, hot heat of Saturday - I was on a mission, I could not sip enough of these.

The first sampled was at Big Jeff’s Original, billed (on their sign) as the best at the fair. The stand is strategically located near the center of the midway. The one I sampled was light on the ice.

Shake up number two was at the stand run by JP’s Ribs. This one was the cheapest - $1.50 compared to the $2.00 standard. The shake up I was served was a bit watery. This stand is to the east of the Coca Cola Coliseum.

My third for the day was the best. The Marshall family has a berry farm that keeps them busy all year long. Since 1969, they have come to the fair to peddle their shake ups with raspberry or strawberry added in for an extra 50 cents. I opted for the lemon shake up with a raspberry twist. I was a little disapponted that the raspberry component was a spoonful of raspberry preserves (from their farm) - what I was hoping for were some real raspberries - but it shook together well. It turned out the be the perfect mix of lemon, ice, sugar and water. This was my Lemon Shake Up Best of Show for this year. This stand is located near the 17th Street entrance. I counted about 15-20 Lemon Shake Up opportunities at the fair - so if I missed the mark - let me know.

Other items of note at the fair.

A must do at the fair is a journey to the Dairy Products building to see the Butter Cow and to get a big heaping serving of fresh ice cream in a bowl. Also of note, several awards for best Ohio cheese went to Guggisberg and Pearl Valley (both mentioned in an earlier post). The top winners were Ragersville Swiss Cheese and Steiner - so now I will be on a quest to find those out in Amish Country.

A quick shout out to the Tracey family. Their Coney stand has been at the fair for over 50 years now. I wrote a short article mentioning them in 1998 for Ohio Magazine so I am glad to see them going strong.