No Toying Around: Ho-Toy Restaurant

A big tray of Chow Mein or crispy Orange Chicken historically
wouldn't be out of place at any of my big family gatherings

Chinese-American cuisine has, at least in my household, gained an increasingly important role at the family table over time. I was introduced mainly to the somewhat compact sweet side of the cuisine when my family moved to San Francisco, when boxes full of Custard Tarts or Sesame Balls would occasionally make their way home with my parents and grandparents.  Also memorable were the Haw Flakes, which reminded me of a far tastier rendition of a Communion wafer - my Grandpa would sometimes drive us into Chinatown after a day of fishing at the old Municipal Pier to grab a multi-pack, much to the joy of me and my siblings..

Later on, trays of Chinese-American cuisine standards like Sweet & Sour Pork, Chinese Fried Rice and Chow Mein would make appearances side-by-side by the Filipino standards I grew up with, mainly as a way to ease the cooking load off my elders as well as guaranteeing everyone got more than enough food.  After all, it would be a shame if the foam take-away trays stored conveniently underneath the serving tables ended up unused.

Nowadays, I don't actively seek out Chinese-American restaurants on a regular basis, but I'll get the occasional random craving for it.  However, my move to Columbus revealed that something that I thought I had conquered in the pursuit of tasty treats still needed some work.

Columbus Pizzapolitan Adventures (May 2018)

It's alive! The Greater Columbus Pizza Map is alive and kicking,
with three updates since its launch in February of this year

When I finished out my Greater Columbus Pizza Map earlier this year (for the story of that quest, check out this blog post and this one for the cheesy details), a discussion with my fellow blogger CMH Gourmand shortly afterward stuck with me. As he noted, one cannot dine on exclusively off the best gourmet pizzas of the metro unless one is ridiculously well off, and you if you look hard enough, you can find some measure of pizza satisfaction across all of the pie spectrums.

Indeed, feeding a field trip sized bus full of hungry elementary children with 20 large pizzas from a place like Natalie's Coal Fired or Harvest Pizzeria ain't economically feasible for most.  With that said, you would prefer not to feed your kids the dreck of the pizza world either.

In summary, I'm taking a little different tack (and inspiration) from the map and the subsequent discussion. Obviously, a pie from Harvest is almost certainly going to be significantly better than a pie from Little Caesars, but in some ways that's an unfair comparison as they sport different price points, different styles of pizza, and in many ways, striving for different audiences.

So which pizza pies are just plain good, which ones don't cut the mustard, and which ones punch above their weight? I figure delving into a couple of pizza places per month would be a good way to entertain this quest.

Mother Approved: Amul India

Recently, we had the chance to meet up with a long-time Indian-American friend of ours, who had dropped by town with his wife and two very young children to visit family. With the limited time we had to meet up, we determined it would be easiest to meet up at his parents place to watch some football, eat, and just hang out and enjoy each others company.

As the night went on, the conversation somehow turned to the Indian restaurants around the Columbus metro. Our friend's mother asked us what our favorite places in the area were. When we mentioned Amul India, she nodded and smiled, saying that was one of her favorite places.

It's always good to get confirmation from someone who should know their stuff.

Two Brews High and Rising: Four String Brewing/Sideswipe Brewing

A more and more pertinent question for fans and member brewers of the ever growing craft beer scene in Columbus and Ohio in a general is a simple one: is the market getting too saturated with new arrivals? Based on recent visits to two of Columbus' member breweries, we believe there's still plenty of room to grow.

Four String Brewing: I have written about Four String Brewing not too long ago on this blog post, and Jim Ellison, owner of the CMH Gourmand blog and head guru of Columbus Brew Adventures, wrote an excellent summation around the occasion of the Four String's fourth anniversary of owner's Dan Cochran's unique efforts to lift his business to the heights as one of Columbus' bigger brewers.

Further proof of their success was lent to us during the first of a series of "Beer and Donuts" events, put on by the Columbus Craft Beer Alliance (CCBA) last Saturday. A good crowd came out to this inaugural event, which is meant to give attendees a behind-the-scenes look at the member breweries as well as commiserate with fellow local craft beer lovers and the brewers themselves. Four String's brand new facility on the west side of Columbus proved to be a perfect launch point, laying out what we imagine will be the general itinerary of providing event-goers a chance to sample the brewery's offerings as well as discs of delicious fried dough goodness from a local eatery.

In the latter's case, the donuts were provided by Lyric Donuts. Michael Murtha, who works as a barista at Impero Coffee, launched his line of donuts late summer at this Short North coffee shop along with pop-ups at the Old North-located Ace of Cups bar and music venue. Throughout the event, his inventory of musically-themed, mainly cake-donut-based treats were devoured by event-goers, ranging from the basic (the plain cake donut "The Boss", referencing Bruce Springsteen) to the Ozzy's Bat Head (a dark chocolate donut hole with espresso glaze named for a rather notorious incident in this rocker's long career.) Our personal favorite (and a favorite for many we chatted with, we figured out) proved to be the Lime in the Coconut (a nod to Harry Nilsson), made with toasted coconut flakes and coated by a delicious lime glaze.)

CCBA representative Jamie Gentry gave an overview of the "Beer and Donuts" events as well as the local craft beer scene as a whole before turning things over to Four String Brewmaster Larry Horwitz. Due to the number of event-goers, two tours of the facility were given by Horwitz, and we decided to hang back for the second tour. When the first tour returned, everybody was treated to the highlighted pairing - the perfectly matched Velvet Underground (a light and airy creation with a daintily delectable banana custard filling) and Four String's Vanilla Porter, A bonus treat was that we along with other members of the second group got to take this rather neatly matched duo along with us as we walked through the facility with our brewmaster.

The whole tour itself was quite informative, and Horwitz was quite welcoming and appreciative of the folks who showed up on this day. Perhaps the most revealing part of the tour for us was the sheer size of the space (the former home of a defense and space materials production company) - as he pointed out early, the brewery's existing taproom in Grandview Heights could fit several times over in various sections of the new facility.

Also revealing was the main production area, which provided a contrast between the brewery's beginnings (the line of "Frankenbrewing" tanks from their original Grandview location that actually still do play a role in the brewing process) amidst much larger and more sophisticated brewing equipment (capable of up to 8,000 barrels per year, nearly tripling the brewery's existing capacity.) This new equipment is vital in the efforts to get Four String's products distributed throughout the state of Ohio, but despite the brewery's growth, current plans will keep the brewery's unique beginnings alive. Their original Grandview location will remain open and feature the company's "Solo Series" line of oddball and one-off brews.

 

With more similar events planned for the future (a December beer/donuts pairing at downtown's Wolf's Ridge Brewing is already sold out, while an event at Lancaster's Rockmill Brewery is possibly in the works), CCBA's "Beer & Donut" series provides a unique look at the local craft beer scene, and provides event-goers fried doughy goodness as a bonus. That's a pretty hard pairing to beat.

Columbus Craft Beer Alliance
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Four String Brewing
660 N. Hague Avenue (Production Facility - Valleyview)
Columbus, OH 43204
- and -
985 W. 6th Avenue (Taproom - Grandview Heights)
Columbus, OH 43212
(614) 725-1282
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Lyric Donuts
(found within Impero Coffee Shop)
849 N High St. (Short North)
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 294-2489
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Sideswipe Brewing: Although on the completely opposite end of the production scale (the term "nano-brewery" definitely fits ex-martial artist Craig O'Herron's operation), Sideswipe Brewing, located in a somewhat hidden industrial corner of West Columbus on the other side of I-670 from Grandview Heights, also provides proof that Columbus' craft beer scene has plenty of room to grow.

When we traveled up to the Denver area to a slew of Fort Collins' area breweries (for more details, check out these two posts on our visits to  Big Beaver and Odell and Funkwerks and Equinox) my wife's brother, a home brewer and Columbus ex-pat, informed us that any brewery who wants any kind of longevity in that area must have expansion in their initial business plan after a year or so or be left behind in the area's substantial craft beer wake. The fact that Sideswipe, which hasn't grown substantially since their opening in November of 2013, is still holding their own in their little industrial park space and will grow, given the opportunity, speaks just as loudly to Columbus's still untapped (no pun intended) craft beer potential.

For now, Sideswipe's growth can be measured mainly in taproom improvements. In this case, a year between visits for us was quite insightful, as the somewhat limited, slapped-together seating has now been replaced with more organization and more seating. The move of the tap system from across the space to against the wall, along with the construction of an actual bar setup, has really increased the feel-at-home factor. Keeping in the trend with other beer-oriented places, a small selection of both adult- and kid-oriented games area available for patrons' usage; snacks have also improved with the addition of items like OH! Chips. While our previous visit was sparsely attended, this Friday night was nicely buzzing with chatting, happy customers, and the taproom itself is open on more days than previous. These may be small steps forward, but they are highly welcome steps indeed.

The upper left two pictures show Sideswipe's old setup; the rest of
the photos show the current, more friendly to customer setup

For the most part, the flagship beers that we tasted on the previous visit were here on this visit, with the exception of a new OH-Kolsch (our previous visit had an experimental Mosaic/Palisade Hop Experiment available as well as the last dregs of the summer-oriented Pixelated Sun Wheat beer.) This time around, we had pints of beers we tried in flight form on the previous visit: the Fisticuffs IPA again satisfied my spouse's hophead tendencies, while my Elegant Hoodlum has the right kind and quantity of smoky characteristic which mesh well with enough hops to balance things out.

But in reality, the favorite for both of us from this nanobrewer is a beer style we're generally not fond of in general. The best pumpkin beers for us are more restrained affairs rather than the highly spiced affairs that tend to dominate; Sideswipe's Squashing Pumpkins, with its just enough clove and cinnamon flavor profiles blended with the flavors from the carmelized squash used in the brewing process, gives us that just right taste and mouth feel combo that makes this a must get if we see it on the shelves.

Sideswipe Brewing
2419 Scioto Harper Dr. (Valleyview)
Columbus, OH 43204
E-Mail: sideswipebrewing@gmail.com
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A Gambrinus Gathering: Columbus Brew Adventures' Brewery District Walking Tour

A Brewery District welcome sign and a stone relief depiction of the old
Hoster Brewery found in Brewers' Alley

In September of 2012, my spouse and I had our first experience with Columbus Food Adventures (CFA), a food tour company offering numerous ways for both locals and visitors alike to explore the culinary gems of this area. The first tour, which was a walking tour through Columbus' picturesque German Village, not only touched on the culinary treats within this area, but also gave participants a nice introduction to the rich history of the area.

Flash forward to the summer of 2015. Now reaching its fifth anniversary, this tour company has grown, increasing its offerings both in terms of neighborhoods (Grandview Heights has become another neighborhood-related tour offering, for example) and themes (Nick Dekker, author of the well-known "Breakfast With Nick" blog, now leads area breakfast- and brunch-oriented area excursions.)

In addition, CFA has expanded into another growing part of the area's food scene with Columbus Brew Adventures. Started in September 2013 by CFA co-founder Bethia Woolf and writer Jim Ellison (himself involved in numerous area culinary ventures including the Alt Eats Columbus and Taco Trucks Columbus websites and his own blog (The CMH Gourmand)), these tours offer novel ways to to explore the area's flourishing craft beer scene along with other aspects of Columbus' culinary scene (for example, their "Pitchers and Pizza" tour offers an exploration of iconic area pizzerias along with tasty local brews.)

As a pair who likes to seek out beer-oriented destinations in their travels, I think it was surprising to both of us that we hadn't actually taken a tour with Columbus Brew Adventures when we received an invite by Mr. Ellison himself to join us as guests on their Brewery District Tour, held on a what turned out to be an against recent trends sun-soaked Saturday.

The tour started off at the Columbus Brewing Company Restaurant,
which provided tour-goers a nice Santa Fe pizza for snacks and
a taster of the Columbus Brewery's Pale Ale and IPA.

The Brewery District tour offers participants a walking perspective around this historic area, a journey that we found touched on many aspects of the past and current district occupants. For us personally, it also helped us visualize some of the places we knew were in the area that we had heard quite a bit about. Also neat was how this tour turned out to be the perfect pairing with the previously mentioned German Village Tour we took nearly three years ago. These two areas are inextricably linked together by the German immigrants who settled on these once less-than-desirable areas across a ravine (now occupied by Interstate 70) on the south side of Columbus and set up those very same breweries on lands just to the west.

Our tour starting point at the Columbus Brewing Company Restaurant,
along with our tour guide Jenna and one half of a double-sided
hand-drawn map of the Brewery District given to participants 

We soon found out we weren't the only ones on our first Columbus Brew Adventures excursion: we discovered our tour guide Jenna was leading her first tour ever for the company, She made an excellent debut, providing a smiling and enthusiastic presence throughout the tour and relating most of the details about the landmarks and places we were visiting off the top of her head. We also had the pleasure of meeting Jim himself, who accompanied our group for roughly the second quarter of our tour and provided some extra illumination on an area and food scene overall that he knows extremely well.

In many ways, we discovered that this particular tour is, to use a university euphemism, the equivalent of "Columbus Brewing 101." Not only do you get introduced to Columbus' brewing history prior to Prohibition, which was all centered in the Brewery District, but also you get an idea of what currently exists in the area as well as an introduction to what is available in the local craft brew scene. While this tour is suited for all levels of craft beer aficionados, there is enough history and other tangential aspects given to make those either not as enthusiastic about beer (one of our party fell in that category) or are neophytes to beer (Jenna encouraged us to bring our inner "beer snob" and put our samples through the gamut of sensory tests before tasting, as well as brought up conversation starters such as what differentiated ales from lagers) and/or the local beer scene feel comfortable.

The influence of the original Hoster Brewery, once the largest in Columbus,
was seen throughout the walking tour, with numerous current businesses like
World of Beer and Via Vecchia Winery now occupying its facilities.

While the focus on the tour leans often on structures related to the Hoster (not surprising with it being the largest brewery at the time in Columbus) and Schlegel (later Schlee) breweries, numerous landmarks and points of interest are covered on the tour. This includes some of the area's eateries (Brick American Kitchen and the third location of Latin-influenced El Arepazo), beer-oriented enterprises (World of Beer and the Columbus Brewing Company Restaurant) as well as the home of Shadowbox Live, a unique performance troupe that has now been operating for over two decades. At each of these locations, participants get a taster of a local purveyor of craft brews (on this tour, local breweries such as Columbus, Elevator, and Homestead, as well as renowned crafters of mead Brothers Drake, were represented.) The eateries also serve a useful purpose in providing more than enough small bites to keep both alcohol effects and hunger pangs at bay.

Brewery District eateries like Brick American Kitchen and El Arepazo
provide tour-goers a chance to sit down, sample their culinary wares
and have a taste of some of locally crafted brews

With all the history and details related to the places and landmarks we visited, we found there was still plenty of time to chat with your fellow tour-goer. Beer is by its nature a social beverage, and that seemed to hold true at all our stops with plenty of back-and-forth between fellow tour-goers and our guide herself about beer, common experiences and just topics in general helped made the tour length of three-plus hours go by like a breeze.

For us personally, the Brewery District tour turned out to be a wonderful way to learn about what made this area important in Columbus' long history, as well as introduce us to some of the landmarks and businesses in the area that we had only heard about but never had a chance to visit. Add in the tastes of delicious local beers and eats and some good company alongside, and we had a day King Gambrinus (the patron saint of brewers) himself could celebrate.

The King Gambrinus statue (actually modeled after Columbus brewery
owner August Wagner) offered a colorful end to a great tour

Columbus Brew Adventures
Tour and ticket information can be found on their website at
www.columbusbrewadventures.com
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