We're Going To Give It 101%

The Meat Cut chart at Columbus's The Pearl Restaurant that
started the whole 101% Cow Conundrum

In the big-wide world of sports cliches, the phrase "He/she gave 110 percent" is both overused and rather nonsensical from a mathematical standpoint. I imagine most would feel the same if the cliche used 101% instead.

However, would you look more quizzically at me if I said that it was a cow that was giving you that 101%?

Our encounter with the 101% cow conundrum came, at all places, The Pearl Restaurant. One of several Cameron Mitchell concepts which occupy the southern section of the city’s Short North neighborhood, The Pearl is touted as a seafood-oriented gastropub supplemented with fancy cocktails and a international beer list.

During our meal, my spouse was drawn to a chalkboard drawing of a cow which outlined the traditional primal butcher cuts (round, chuck, sirloin, etc.) and the corresponding percentages. After a long glance, she motioned over my shoulder. “Look behind you...does that all add up to 101%?”

I turned, spotted the cow diagram, and mentally added the numbers. “Yep, that’s 101%. Those are some pretty productive cows,” I chuckled.  Of course, I knew the diagram was wrong, but that brought me to thinking: was there such a thing as a definitive meat cut by percentage chart out there?

Well, I decided to look into that topic and came up with a few surprises.

The Mitchell Report: Marcella's Ristorante

I found it a little surprising that after nearly ten months of posts, I haven't had the chance to write on a restaurant owned by ubiquitous local restaurant maven Cameron Mitchell.

It's not like I haven't been to any of their locations yet, nor have there been any that I'm not eager or willing to try. I think it's really the sheer number of restaurants under the Cameron Mitchell fold that makes it tough to get a true feel about a place through multiple visits. Suffice it to say, similar Bay Area restaurant mavens like Thomas Keller, Cindy Pawlcyn and Dennis Leary have nothing on Mitchell in regard to raw numbers of restaurants. At last count, there were fourteen locally-based locations under twelve different concepts. And there are more on the way, with the second location of Hudson 29 due to open in New Albany this spring.

Interestingly, my last visit to a Mitchell-owned restaurant told my spouse and I what we needed to know in one single visit. Marcella's Ristorante, which opened up in both Polaris and the Short North areas of the metro in 2007, is geared toward casual Italian eats and small plates. And based on our experience, the latter is a perfect way to experience this eatery, and preferably with a lot of friends in tow.

Marcella's menu (which has more than just the "Small Plates" if you want
to go that route) as well as photos of its interior and bar area.

The place was slammed on our visit, not surprising with its location in the destination neighborhood of the Short North and relative proximity to the Columbus Convention Center. Moving around the space during this time was a bit of a swerve and dive with both patrons and service personnel; it seemed a lot more people can squeeze within Marcella's smartly appointed interior than one would think could fit. With the large number of people and background music, it was fairly loud but not quite to the level of deafening.

From top left: Beef Carpaccio; Parma Prosciutto Bruschetta; Melted
Pecorino with Crostini, Apples and Truffle Honey; the Cheese Plate
and Pepperoni Pizza joined the Arancini (not pictured) for our meal

Our horde grabbed a selection of appetizers and a pepperoni pizza and this proved to be perfect for both filling up our bellies and allowing casual chatting. While wine is the main beverage focus, cocktails and some select craft beer, including Ohio-based Great Lakes and Four String, are available. Everything we had was quite good, with perhaps the group favorites being the Melted Pecorino appetizer with apples and truffle honey and the Arancini.

The staff of Marcella's appeared to be veterans at handling the crowds: food came out in fairly quick order, and beverages and empty plates were tended to as one would expect on a normal day.

Perhaps on a slower day my spouse and I might actually come in for a more relaxed experience to enjoy some of their entree offerings. Or perhaps we will go back and enjoy the small plates/appetizer side of the menu again; after all, we figured out that Marcella's does this quite well.

Marcella's Ristorante

615 N High St (Short North)
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 223-2100
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