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Swish Swish — Eating Shabu Shabu at Kihachi

3 Jan

The recently ended holiday season was quite a bit of fun, and it involved countless food-related events that were worth blogging about.  I’ve already written about a few of those, lebkuchen cookies and Swedish rye bread for example.  But for every one blog I wrote, it seems like there were three or four other things I that could write about—indeed that I wanted to write about.  I just couldn’t find the time though.  I was too busy cooking and eating!

In an attempt to make up for the lack of posts over the past month, I’m going to recount one definite highlight from that period of time.

Earlier this year, Tania started working as a part-time tour guide for Columbus Food Adventures.  If you’ve been on the German Village walking food tour any time over the past several months, she’s probably been the one instructing you about the history and architecture of German Village and introducing you to the many awesome restaurants.  Like many companies out there, Columbus Food Adventures has a holiday party.  But unlike other companies, the entire business is built upon introducing people to awesome and interesting food.  So, it’s only logical that the holiday party would be similarly food-focused.

And it was.

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Well Dressed — FlipSide Burger (at Easton Town Center)

6 Dec

About the last place I ever plan on being around the holidays is out at Easton.  One time a couple of years ago I was forced out there because I needed to get a new vegetable peeler, and the only place I knew for sure that would have it was Sur la Table. (It’s an awesome vegetable peeler by the way.)

Just last weekend though, Tania and I found ourselves out there and thought we’d take advantage of the opportunity to try out the (relatively) new FlipSide burger location.  I was especially interested in trying it out because, in the not-too-distant future, the currently vacant former home of Yankee Trader will be home to the second Columbus FlipSide location.

For those of you not already familiar with FlipSide, its first location was up near Cleveland in Hudson, OH.  Their focus is on burgers and shakes, and boy do they have a lot of both.  The list of burger options was quite extensive, and picking one required more than a little bit of deliberation.

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I’m a fan of spicy things, and ultimately decided on the Chili Pepper Burger.  The combination of pickled jalepeanos, pepper jack cheese, smoked chili ketchup, sriracha sauce (not listed on the menu, but described by our waitress and, as you can see, appearing on the burger), and onion rings was the combination that ultimately swayed me.  There were many other burgers, including ones with brisket, shaved prime rib, and brie with date aioli that were also incredibly tempting.

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North-Side Dining — Nazareth Restaurant and Deli

28 Nov

As is obvious from this blog, I love food. And although a majority of the recent posts have involved my own kitchen exploits, you’d be wrong if you thought that meant I confined my eating to the products of my own kitchen.  Indeed, I go out of my way to sample and regularly patronize area restaurants.  In fact, I fancy myself pretty well-versed in area restaurants.

That doesn’t mean however that I’ve been to even restaurant in town.  I’ve not even been to all the places that are consensus favorites—even if they’ve been on my “must try” list for years.  Two such restaurants are Borgata Pizza Cafe and Nazareth Restaurant and Deli.  Both of these restaurants have garnered their fair share of accolades. (See Borgata Pizza here, here, and here. And Nazareth here, here and here.)

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Too Many Cooks — That Food Truck Takes Center Stage

25 Oct

Based on the proliferation of food blogs (like this one) out there, it’d be a safe assumption that there are A LOT of people in the world that really enjoy food.  And not just consuming it.  They enjoy talking about it, looking at it, and hearing from others who share a similar passion for the things that we eat.

Every month on the second Sunday of the month at Wild Goose Creative, an open, eclectic, and ever changing group of people gather to be informed and entertained by someone with a special food story to tell or lesson to teach.  Called “Too Many Cooks,” this regular event is open to all-comers with an abiding, or even passing, interest in food.  (Try to RSVP, space can be limited!)  It starts at 7 p.m. and costs only $5.  (Not only do you get to eat whatever is on offer for the evening, but Wild Goose Creative is a nonprofit, and any proceeds from the event go towards supporting their vast array of other programs and events.)

Too Many Cooks had been on my radar for a while, but I only attended my first event earlier this month.  Honestly, what finally pushed me into attending is that Tania took over organizing responsibilities. (If that’s not disclosure enough, I may have a conflict of interest when it comes to writing this blog post.  After all, if I said bad things, I could run the risk of physical injury.  But, after viewing the photos of the food for yourself, I’ll let you decide whether there is anything bad to be said.)

Although Tania’s involvement was the primary reason I attended, the identity of the featured guest came in a close second.  That’s because the most recent Too Many Cooks featured one of Columbus’s newest food truck all-stars: That Food Truck.

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Easy as (pizza) pie

2 Oct

There was once (and may still be for all I know) a frozen food commercial that proclaimed “when you have pizza on a bagel, you can have pizza any time.”  Now, I never understood why the frequency of pizza eating was dependent on it arriving via bagel.  And if you ask Tania, there is nothing about pizza in its traditional form that in any way prevents you from eating it whenever you want.

One of the reasons you can have pizza any time is that it’s incredibly easy. Of course, the easiest is always ordering delivery, something I admit to doing on a not infrequent basis.  But if you’re willing to put in a little bit of effort homemade pizza isn’t all that hard either.  It’s even easier, however, if you decide to start with a pre-made crust.  And here is where those bagel pizza people might be onto something: pizza crust doesn’t have to be traditional.

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Si Señor Sandwiches — More Peruvian than Machu Picchu

16 Sep Ceviche!

When most people in the United States think of Peru, they think of one thing: Machu Picchu.  Why do I feel comfortable generalizing like that?  Because I just returned from a trip to Peru.  No matter who I told about the trip, I could almost guarantee what their first question would be. “Are you going to Machu Picchu?” (Incidentally, the answer was no.)

What Peru should be known for, and already is in some circles, is their food.  Tania has told me however that no one wants to read about something that they can’t do.  So for the moment I’m going to spare you a detailed recounting of all the awesome things we ate while traveling.  Instead, I’m going to use this opportunity to sing the praises of a Columbus restaurant that is a personal favorite of mine, and that, incidentally, brings some of the deliciousness of Peruvian cuisine home to our fair city.  That restaurant is Si Señor.

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Asian Adventure — Touring Chinatown

12 Aug

Before I begin, I believe some apologies are in order. First, for what is going to seem like repetition.  I realize that my last post involved Chinese food, but, bear with me because that is also going to be the topic of this post.  It’s not that I love Chinese food (I do), but it’s that circumstances have conspired in such a way that cuisine from that particular Asian country has made up a large portion of my notable meals as of late.  Second, an apology to any and all of my friends in the greater Chicagoland area.  As you will see from the following paragraphs, I spent some time in the city lately.  Had there been more time, you can rest assured I would have called.  But the primary purpose of my visit was to celebrate my aunt’s 65th birthday.  The only other thing I had time for was eating some seriously awesome Chinese food. (See apology #1).

By now two things are clear: 1) I was in Chicago and 2) I was eating Chinese.  Many of you may have already deduced that I was in Chinatown.  The why may be less apparent.  I was there because my sister had given me a gift certificate for a food tour.  I could have used it in many different cities, but Tania and I decided that the Chinatown tour sounded the most awesome out of our options. (We were correct.)  So it was that we found ourselves last Sunday at the corner of Wentworth and Cermak awaiting our tour guide from Chicago Food Planet.

From top – Tarrow Puff, Shao Mai, and Char Sui Bao

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