All Signs Point to High (Pt. 2) - Keep Calm, Eat Donuts, and Have Pun

Part 2 of our trip up High Street (Part 1 can be accessed at this link) gets us to the campus area, where the march of progress has transformed this once character-laden section of street with generic suburban-styled functionality. However, one of the few holdouts is thankfully both an institution with both students and locals alike in Buckeye Donuts, which turns 50 years old this year. Jimmy Barouxis' shop of sweet and savory treats, open 24/7 for your dining pleasure, looks to be around (cross fingers) for at least fifty more years.

The Fifty and The Familiar

Theoretically, buzzy and busy places with communal seating like the area's
Fox in the Snow locations will fall off the radar for me soon

My quest to expand my food horizons came relatively late in my life.  I can't do much nowadays about several dozen too many pursuits of Mickey D's Big Mac combo meals and other items I chose for frugality and convenience (but not necessarily taste) in my younger days, but I'm still firmly in "making up for lost time" mode.

However, like someone who's just pulled his fifth beer from the lone six-pack in the fridge, I've realized my time in this mode might be limited. As much as I'd like to be like a Simon Majumdar (who just celebrated his 55th birthday and is still going strong exploring the world and its cuisines), my body has sent signs it's ready to slow down a bit. Big portions, while nice, haven't been mandatory for my culinary pleasure for awhile.  Eventually, the doc will tell me that caffeine from my 1-2 cups of caffeinated coffee must go the way of the dodo bird, and my insides will eventually convince me that capsaicin and all its blazing, sweat-inducing glory isn't a good idea.

Interestingly, a recent opinion piece in the New York Times by Frank Bruni encapsulated this feeling quite well, saying that reaching the age of fifty has changed his perspective on dining.

Hedging on the Veggies

Vegetables, exotic and more familiar, at Columbus's Saraga International Market

Kids hate their vegetables, right? At least, the conventional wisdom leans that way, but when you look deeper into the matter, there’s not much defining data. One article in the Mirror UK shows people have a natural aversion to green and other “weird” colors, yet an article in The Daily Meal notes Broccoli as one of the most well liked kids' veggies.  Meanwhile, a report found in HuffPost’s Australia posits a double-whammy: a natural human instinct to avoid off-putting bitter or sour flavors plus a lack of instinct to like veggies in the first place.

However, there are plenty of articles to be had about the strategies and hacks a parent can use to get their youngsters to actually eat these generally nutrition-laden foods.

Would any of those have worked in my case? Who knows, but I could tell you that a vegetable's texture played a bigger role than than the taste, and still does to a certain extent. Mushy vegetables (peas for some reason were a notable exception), especially those used in the traditional soup-based dishes my parents would make, were enjoyed as much as my parents' Andy Williams or Perry Como albums - tolerated, but nothing more. On the other hand, green beans and carrots, like my mom's Tom Jones' albums, offered more snap, so I favored them more. And corn and potatoes, from fries to baked to mashed, proved much like Santana's "Abraxas" (on 8-Track cassette to boot) album - they could be repeated ad infinitum as far as I was concerned.

You Can't Spell Nostalgia without L-A-G

Just one of the numerous albums put out by Jandek, perhaps the most
cultiest of cult artists in the music world today

Does owning one album from a cult artist count as nostalgia?

Back in college, my favorite place on campus was not the outdoors and most definitely not the classroom, but rather either of the two listening rooms deep inside the bowels of the college radio station. I couldn't imagine much better than cozying up by my lonesome a couple hours with a few dozen vinyl albums, both new and the previously unexplored, prepping for the week's show.

One day, a colleague of mine asked me if I had heard of Jandek.  The Jam, John Lydon and Jesse Johnson, sure. The Jesus and Mary Chain? Joy Division? Yep. But Jandek? I shook my head no.

My colleague's eyes rounded like large saucers. He touted his love of Jandek (almost certainly one Sterling R. Smith), his reclusive nature, and his rambling, weirdly bluesy compositions. In fact, Jandek, who sports Texas roots, might be the cultiest of all cult artists; through his Corwood Industries label, over 100 albums have been produced since the first LP was released in 1978.

An inquiry from an interested party might be reciprocated with a bundle of copies of his latest work, and generally his work can be obtained at relatively low prices. Before I knew it, a copy of his latest album, "You Walk Alone" (the album pictured above) was in my hands.  He looked a bit like Beck, though I would not reach this conclusion until several years later when Beck released his 1994 debut "Mellow Gold." Best of all, the album was free: for a broke-ass college student like me, anything free was indeed gold.  And now for nearly three decades, I've owned a piece of Jandek.

Going Off The Rails on the Wholesome Train: Acre

Looking back at that Columbus Underground "Best New Restaurants of 2014 List" that I had mentioned on a post last year on Bareburger, I noticed just how many of these restaurants have become or were regulars in our rotation.  Of course, there's local phenomenon Hot Chicken Takeover, but in addition I found the now (sadly) departed Double Comfort, the Brewery District hot spot Arepazo Latin Grill (I have blogged about their first two locations in Downtown and Gahanna), and Clintonville's Harvest Bar & Kitchen, an offshoot of the original Harvest Pizzeria in German Village.

Also on this list was an eatery that for some reason had for some reason slipped through the cracks in terms of a blog post in the locally-focused, fast-casual eatery known as Acre.

Petal-er of Tasty Treats: Flowers and Bread

An insurance commercial I remember from a couple years ago (all my attempts to verify the actual company behind it have gone for nought) focused on some rather dubious-sounding business combinations ("Kevin's Plumbing and Hot Dogs, may I help you?"), with the ultimate lesson being that you should trust the focused specialist.

Clintonville's Flowers & Bread, created by Sarah Lagrotteria and Tricia Wheeler roughly one year ago, seems to go against that train of thought, offering up the charms of both flours and, well, flowers underneath the same roof.  It sounded like an intriguing combo (not that I would be interested in the floral aspect all that much) but I did wonder on another level whether this would come off as gimmicky in any way.

Thankfully, my spouse and I have found this not to be the case at all.

Black Friday Libations Tour: Columbus Edition (Pt. 2)

An older bottle of Scarlet Solstice from Brothers Drake Meadery, which
has been plying its trade in Columbus for nearly a decade.

One of the more unique aspects of our family tours lies in the fact that one of our party members who sports a severe gluten allergy (in fact, we tried to make a quick trip over to Merion Village's Bake Me Happy, but alas they were closed for the entire Thanksgiving Day weekend.)  That very fact makes our touring that much more interesting, as that puts destinations focusing on ciders, meads and spirits on our radar for possible visits. This was definitely the case when it came to Central Ohio's original meadery in the Short North's Brothers Drake.

The Chocolate Cherry Connection: Pattycake Bakery

It's easy to go over old ground with places that predate my existence here in Columbus such as Pattycake Bakery.  Still, a brief history for those who aren't familiar or have forgotten how this quaint Clintonville bakery came into being might be helpful.

Established in 2003, this vegan bakery undertook the unique transformation to worker-owned co-op a decade later, adopting conscientious credos such as utilizing recyclable and biodegradable packaging, sourcing locally whenever possible, and using human power to deliver many of their goods via their bicycle-powered cart. While not an exact match, the bakery does remind me of one of my favorite places back in California in The Cheese Board Collective, another workers co-op which has spent more than 40 years selling cheese and, later, coffee, baked goods, and the pizza of the day (all veggie, with just enough made to sell out before the day's over) to hungry patrons in Berkeley.

I could say Pattycake has great pastries (and they do; more on that later), but it holds a little special place in my heart in that it helped ease the transition here to the Buckeye State. Ironically enough, it was another California transplant in Peet's Coffee (which had a brief and somewhat strange run here in Ohio, as I detailed in this blogpost) that set this up long before I had a notion that I would ever move to Ohio, much less heard of Pattycake itself.  

Dough Yay Me! Clintonville's Dough Mama Cafe and Bakery

Granted, as one of the Columbus' main thoroughfares, High Street has plenty of room for all manner of businesses. But for the baked goods and pastry-styled treats fan, this roadway has become the home of more than its share of drool-worthy options in recent years. Starting up in Worthington and ending in the Brewery District, one could theoretically embark on a non-big-chain, brick-and-mortar crawl from north to south that could include:

• Donuts (Peace, Love and Little Donuts and Tupelo Donuts)
• Cakes (at least four cake-focused establishments from Worthington's Mrs. Goodman's down to the Short North's Piece of Cake)
• European-Styled/Influenced Pastries (Clintonville's Mozart's and the Brewery District's Kolache Republic)
• Vegan Treats (Pattycake Bakery)
• Gluten-free Goods (Food for Good Thought), and even
• Flowers(!) with your Flour (Flowers and Bread).

If one wanted to be even more of a glutton, places like Laughlin's Bakery and the treasure trove in the North Market (Destination Donuts, Brezel Pretzel, Omega Artisan, and Pistacia Vera) all lie within stone's throw of High. Combined together, these places could easily carbo-load the runners for the Columbus Marathon this coming October and have plenty left over for the race volunteers.

Of course, it would be a cardinal sin if you forget the pie. If you're seeking out the pie and only the pie, the long-standing Just Pies near Graceland Mall fits the bill perfectly. If you want just a little more variety, two very similar places are right up your alley: Worthington's Sassafras Bakery, a favorite destination of ours since I've moved over here, and Clintonville's Dough Mama, which holds down the subject matter of this latest blogpost.

A Case Study: Bareburger Clintonville

Bareburger, a modest-sized chain of now 40+ locations in 9 states and a smattering of international countries, arrived on the Columbus scene in spring of 2014 in what seemed to be a mini-wave of gourmet burger places such as Easton's Flip Side and Gahanna's B Spot.  Bareburger differentiated itself by promising a more esoteric take on the standard burger via the use of organic ingredients, vegan options, as well as grass-fed beef and other exotic meats such as elk and ostrich. This combination, plus their creative take on the old downtown Yankee Trader space, was good enough to earn it a Best New Restaurant of 2014 nod by the readers of Columbus Underground.

When the eatery decided to open up a second Clintonville location, their general food philosophies seemed initially to me at least to be a perfect fit for the area. Interestingly enough, as time has gone on, this branch has become for me one of the more interesting eateries operating at this time within the Columbus metro, mainly for how the food scene has developed around this location.

Raising The Cap Level: Hot Chicken Takeover - Clintonville

With the recent arrival of National Fried Chicken Day on July 6, I figured it was more than appropriate to touch on the subject with a return to an old favorite. I have blogged about Hot Chicken Takeover (HCT) in the past (with this blogpost), a definite sign I've been at this blogging thing a lot longer than many.

But now as in any future return posts, I think the mission behind this now mini-chain of restaurants will always be the prime story when it comes to this Columbus-based eatery. Founder Joe DeLoss's commitment to hiring employees with significant social challenges has been a core staple and strength of its business since it started as a weekly pop-up restaurant in the Olde Towne East neighborhood in 2014. It is a model that, as noted in this recent Columbus CEO article, "has the potential to revolutionize the way restaurants and other entry-level employers approach hiring and retention."

Doubling Down on Graceland: Pat & Gracie's

Pat Murnan: gambling guru of Columbus and one of the most colorful
characters in the city's history (photo from the Columbus Dispatch)

As you may have noticed in my blog posts, the history behind an eatery is something I always try to include to some degree or another.  In some ways, that has been spurred on with my increasing interest in my current hometown's history, which has increasingly become an unofficial pursuit of mine since I've moved here.

One of the more interesting stories for me relates to a retail center I have found myself passing early and during my city travels. The Graceland Shopping Center, located close to where Columbus and the southern border of Worthington meet, has its origins in one of the most colorful and famous people from the Prohibition days in Pat Murnan.

As the story goes, Murnan, a railroad worker with a flamboyant personality, ended up winning ownership of a local casino club after one exceedingly lucky night. From there, he parlayed that fling with Lady Luck to emerge as Columbus' unofficial guru of gambling during the Prohibition era.

A satellite view of the Graceland area, as shown on Google Maps

Murnan created a stir when he started a romance with one Grace Backenstoe, who earned her keep near Murnan's main operation as the madam of a downtown brothel.  The two clicked so quite well, they moved up to settle in at Murnan's 700-acre horse farm in the Clintonville area. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Murnan dubbed their homestead Graceland in honor of his gal shortly thereafter.

As it turned out, both Pat and Grace Murnan would not see the year 1940, with Pat passing away in 1937 and Grace two years later. In 1952, local developer Don Casto announced that a retail center would be built on the land that the Murnans had called home.

Columbus Coffee Chronicles: Armando Reconsidered

The exterior of Crimson Cup's Uppter Arlington location, one of
two active company-owned coffee shops in the area

When I started my coffee explorations of the Columbus area, I had one "obstacle" when it came to one of the local purveyors in Crimson Cup: my spouse didn't care for them too much.

Mainly, this was due to her particular circumstances: working at Ohio State University, her coffee choices were pretty much limited to the company's Armando's Blend (named for Armando Escobar, who helped with the founding of the company; he has since moved onto North Carolina's Synchronicity Coffee), a fairly middle-of-the-road blend of various Central American, African and Indonesian coffee beans that just simply wasn't her favorite. It happens, right?

Admittedly, for a bit, her lack of enthusiasm for that blend kept me away from this company's wares as well. Soon enough, however, one particular punch-you-in-the-mouth concoction put them in our regular rotation along with the other excellent local roasters and coffee shops here in the metro.

Columbus Coffee Chronicles: Going Gaga over the Baba (Budan)

Local knowledge is valuable, whether picked up in brief and fleeting tips from a helpful native or acquired over actual residential time in an area.

But you could have a good chunk of both in hand and still not know quite the full story behind the similarities...or is that differences?...between Cup O' Joe and Stauf's.

The front of Stauf's flagship Grandview Heights location

As I begun the long distance dating process with my spouse-to-be, I received piecemeal information about both places. I knew Stauf's roasted some pretty mean coffee beans - one of my favorite long-distance dating phase gifts from my spouse was a pound of Kaldi blend beans, which worked quite well with my then newly purchased Bialetti Moka Express. And I knew that their Grandview store in the historic Bank Block served up breakfast and lunch goodies (including one of the more delicious black bean burgers we've had) as well as had all the coffee equipment one could ever want.

Comfy in Clintonville: The Crest Gastropub

We admit freely that we were not terribly impressed with our initial breakfast-time visit to The Crest a couple months after its initial opening in 2013. There were a number of factors in play at this time, including the copious hype that came with its initial opening, those who wished the no-frills watering hole this eatery replaced (The Crest Tavern) was still around, the ironing out the kinks in regard to timely service (granted, that wasn't easy considering the initial crush of interested diners) and visibly harried servers, and food that didn't quite seem to live up to the price we paid. We made the decision then to come back after a few months to see if they had found their legs.

As it turned out, our intent of just a few months for our next visit ended up being more like a couple years. That was definitely not the goal, but eventually enough sightings of a less-than-packed front parking lot, the implementation of brunch service (our favorite meal to enjoy together,) as well as the opening of The Crest's well-received second location on Parsons Avenue close to the Nationwide Children's Hospital campus got it through our heads that it was time to give the eatery a second chance.

Brews Cruising (Pt. 4): Back Home to the Locals

Winter was pretty much a no-show this year in Ohio...or so we thought

Like the dog referenced in the Devo song "Freedom of Choice," the Ohio weather can't make up its mind. On an otherwise uneventful return from the Music City to end our vacation, the cold hand slap of a winter that was many days late and several dollars short was more than evident (an actual dusting of snow would arrive the next day.)

Despite the chill and the long hours in the car, we were intent on dropping by two more breweries to close out our trip, each being a unique example of how the Columbus craft beer has grown over the past year.

Falafel of the Cultured: Pita Hut -N- Grille

The term "Drunk Food" is title given to certain munchies that bring a certain hallowed yet love/hate relationship with those who consume them. With cravings more often brought on by the consumption of certain intoxicating substances (which may or may not be legal depending on your age and jurisdiction), these food items, which generally are nowhere near haute cuisine, sound like great ideas at the time, or perhaps are traditions that are built up over many years. These items almost always taste wonderful at the time of consumption. And one prays before they go to sleep for the night that your digestive system won't hate you the morning afterward for having consumed said items.

The Mediterranean-styled street food offerings of Pita Hut -N- Grille seem to fall into that category by default: this quaint takeout-oriented shop is conveniently located to Clintonville institution Bob's Bar, which nattily calls itself the "Cultural Hub of the Midwest." For the casual passer-by, it would be easy to assume that the offerings here fall into that digestive-system-beware category as well.

At The Diner On The Corner: Wildflower Cafe

The entrance to the Indianola Avenue-located Wildflower Cafe

Sometimes inexpensive home-style diner food is what you want, and Columbus has more than its fair share of options in that category.  During our move this year to a new house, we found our new travels to work and back took us by McCarthy's Wildflower Cafe on a regular basis, and we figured it was time to drop by for some regular visits during breakfast.

Started by members of the McCarthy family in the early 2000s, Wildflower Cafe's space is set back from the main street a bit, giving what looks to be a somewhat odd-looking parking lot a bit of unfortunate prominence in determining whether you want to drop by or not. However, this parking lot is often full of cars early in the day and especially on weekends, giving you the opposite dilemma of whether or not you think you can find a parking space.

However, once inside, the space is smallish, cozy and bustling; on our visits, customers seem to stream in on a steady basis with only an occasional line-out-the-door effect like you often get at places like Northstar Cafe or Starliner Diner in Hilliard. The word "homey" and diner almost seem to go hand-in-hand; in Wildflower's case, its homey-quality is brought out by a combination of interior decor (a renovation to the building toned down the country kitchen touches but kept the down-home appeal, including subtle touches like stenciled floral designs from the owner's daughter), the friendly staff (service can be a bit slow at the back end when you're wanting to leave, but I've noticed groups here generally don't mind lingering a bit) and the clientele who dine there.

Wildflower Cafe features a smallish but otherwise homey interior space

As for the latter aspect, I've noticed plenty of family and friend groupings at Wildflower, often with a kid or two in tow, not surprising with the diner's nicely inexpensive kid-oriented menu. The random streams of conversation that I've caught (Wildflower can get loud at times, but really no louder than other places in town) have a hint of anticipation to them: a get together with the grandparents, a trip out to the Buckeye football game, a visit to a local festival or out of town to somewhere afar, and so on.  Not that Wildflower doesn't have a space for its solo diners - having done quite a bit of solo dining myself, I'm sure I'd feel right at home near the front at one their small number of counter seats.

The breakfast items we've had there are well-made, perhaps a half-notch higher than the Denny's or Scrambler Marie's of this world on an overall basis.  Considering the level, my spouse found their lox quite good (their bagel was of the Lender's variety, however) as well as their Sausage Gravy and Biscuits, and their Challah French Toast was a palate-pleaser to me. Their omelets and scrambles are also solid, if not particularly spectacular gut-fillers. Service can be a touch slow at times (more so on the back end when you're finished up) but Wildflower Cafe seems to be a place where diners like to linger a little longer than most.

From left to right clockwise: Wildflower Cafe's menu, Challah
French Toast with Ohio maple syrup, Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

Wildflower does have lunch and dinner options that tread the general home-style meal spectrum, with a few twists like the Indonesian Pasta Salad and Creole Shrimp and Grits. In addition, a daily special is available (including a Athens County Chicken and Egg Noodles on Tuesday and a Southern Fried Chicken, featuring chicken from Gerber Farms, special on Saturday) as well as a few vegetarian options.

Like many diners, their coffee tends to be on the weak side; we have found ourselves opting for other beverages here and grabbing a java later on in the day.  Beverages include all the usual diner juice and pop drinks as well as a select adult beverages (wine, cocktails and a small collection of domestic and locally-brewed craft beers (including Jackie O's and Columbus Brewing.) And of course, you can't possibly be a diner if you don't offer pie - an assortment of pies (including butterscotch and bourbon pecan), cheesecake and cakes are available by the slice or ordering to take home.

Wildflower Cafe
3420 Indianola Avenue (Clintonville)
Columbus, OH 43214
(614) 262-2233
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Cinema Paradiso: Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse

Studio 35's current appearance, along with a photograph found in the
lobby under a previous incarnation (Marzetti's Studio 35)

One of the first items I noted in my mental notebook as I was learning about the Columbus area was a theater in along an avenue named Indianola (at that time, I was still quite unfamiliar with street names and where they ran in the metro area, and this fairly unique street name caught my eye.) I noticed that the theater offered what seemed to be a pretty good selection of craft beer along with a movie. I knew that a few of the modern multiplex theaters in the Bay Area had started to venture into that realm, so I asked my spouse about it. She confirmed that the beer selection was indeed quite nice, but added that despite driving by the theater many times, she had never seen a movie there.

We made it a point to drop by one night to check it out, and found there was a lot more to Studio 35 than just a mere beer and a flick. So much more, in fact, that it has become one of our most favorite local destinations.

Don't let this guy sell you a movie ticket...

The first thing you notice about this Clintonville neighborhood landmark, at 77-years-old the oldest independent movie theater in the area, is the red marquee towering over the simple but tasteful white exterior of this single-screen theater. Venture closer to the entrance and you'll notice the ticket window. We found out on this and later visits that this booth is almost exclusively occupied not by an actual human but rather a Hollywood themed figure. Vampire? Zombie? Minion? They've probably stood watch in this booth at one time or another. Of course, we had not realized this fact during our first visit, but we eventually got the hint from other arrivals that we just needed to walk inside the double doors.

The bar in the lobby acts as the center of activity at Studio 24

As you come inside, guests will notice the pièce de résistance, if you will, right away. Studio 35's bar area, which acts as the theater's lobby by default, is the center hub for numerous activities including buying tickets (or checking in if you pre-purchased them) and grabbing some adult beverages (more on this later) This area, along with much the theater's interior, was renovated to its current spiffy appearance back in 2012. TV screens ring the area as well as the bar seating; additional tables and seats for larger groups of people lie off to either side of the space.

Menu items available for order at the bar, courtesy of Pizza Primo

Food is also available as well. Along with staples like popcorn, pretzels and candy (a note suggests that the M&M's are the perfect thing to dump into and enjoy with those fluffy kernels), a menu of selections from just-down-the-block Pizza Primo can also be ordered. This pairing works quite well: pay for your order at the bar, get an estimated time of arrival on your order, and come back at the appointed time to find your freshly cooked-up grub. Pizza Primo probably won't win any "best of" awards with their assortment of pizza, calzones and related items, but their food provides more than adequate grub to nosh on along with your beer and movie.

Also within the lobby area, one can get a gander of some of the most clever and creative movie-themed posters. Save maybe for the outside poster displays, Studio 35 does not rely on the Hollywood studio produced promo posters generally speaking, and this is to the credit of theater co-owners/husband and wife pairing Eric Brembeck and wife Rita Volpi. These media pieces, which I heard were the fruits of some fairly extensive searching on the Internet, caught my eye on our first trip in and remain a must see for me on return visits.

Studio 35 sports some of the most clever movie posters within its
lobby/bar area (in this case, "The Big Lebowski" and "Weird Science.")

Those who order food to go with their movie have a nice option within the main seating area of this single-screen theater (a smaller second-screen in the upstairs portion of the building is currently in the works) - several of the rear rows sport tables, perfect vehicles to place your pizza boxes, popcorn containers or pint glasses, among other items. Similar to the lobby area, the main seating area was redone to cut the number of seats in half in return for a more comfortable viewing experience.

The rear area of the theater features tables for movie-goers

Aside from the first-run movies, Studio 35 is the home for numerous other crowd pleasing big screen viewings, some of which are completely free admission. From broadcasts of sporting events to the recent political debates, Bad Movie Nite to midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, the Summer Kids Movie series and special beer tasting and movie pairings, it's hard not to find something you would enjoy watching on the big screen here.

The special beer tasting and movie pairings especially provide a unique way for the craft beer aficionado to sample a plethora of beer styles or brewery offerings in one setting. As previously referenced, Studio 35 offers adult beverages with your movie experience, including one of the better brew selections in the metro area at their bar. Certain pairings of movies and beer have become popular annual events, including the "Dude-A-Thon" pairing featuring cult classic "The Big Lebowski" with a selection of beer (the popularity of this event has led to three events next January, which at the time of typing of this blog post all officially sold out.)

Just a hint of some of the movie and beer pairing events held
annually at Clintonville's Studio 35.

Additionally, beers that are hard-to-get or not readily available to the general public are occasionally available during these events. For example, the annual pairing of the movie "Major League" and Great Lakes Brewing out of Cleveland, gives Columbus-area beer drinkers a chance to have a taste of the typically Cleveland-only distributed Rally Drum Red Ale, produced only for the start of baseball season. Another movie pairing will treat you to variations on Columbus Brewing Company's popular Bodhi Double IPA. To cite a recent example, the just-held "A Christmas Story"/Christmas-themed beer pairing featured a cask version of Bell's much beloved Two Hearted Ale. Mix in brief humor-based clips on the big screen between pourings as well as plenty of swag giveaways, and you're pretty much guaranteed to be in a good mood once the actual movie starts up.

Even with Studio 35's recent renovation and current popularity, the fact remains that the single-screen theater will always be swimming upstream finance-wise versus the omnipresent big box multi-screen competitors. The just approved second screen will help maintain the theater's main money pipeline in the form of first-run movies; in addition, a similar business model is being developed at the old Grandview Theater in Grandview Heights (opening date is tentatively scheduled there for spring of 2016.)  We can only hope that these developments ensure that this staple Clintonville institution won't be running the end credits on its operations anytime in the foreseeable future.

Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse
3055 Indianola Avenue
Columbus, OH 43202
(614) 261-1581
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Just Plain Fun: Wholly Craft!

Clintonville's Wholly Craft is perhaps the most fun of Columbus'
selection of locally-oriented arts and craft gift stores

Growing up, arts and crafts stores and gift stores were two different entities. Most of what I knew as gift stores were mall-based: Spencer's Gifts and those more formal gift stores where you could get engraved pen sets and other fancier tchotchkes served their purposes, but rarely got my business. Arts and crafts stores were where I could grab supplies for my various creative endeavors, but it wasn't generally a place I thought about for grabbing a gift, unless the gift itself was art supplies.

Maybe it was because I wasn't specifically looking for the combination of arts and crafts and gift stores during my time in California, but coming to Columbus has really opened up my eyes to this mashup. Perhaps its because I find many people who find pride in this state as well in addition to their city or neighborhood, and aren't afraid to show it. This mashup is evident in all forms here and has lots of purveyors, which you can find from local farmers markets, numerous local festival and event vendors, and even brick-and-mortar operations. But regardless of the venue, it almost seems like a mandatory-stop-and-take-a-look when the spouse and I have a few spare minutes to see what the folks of Wholly Craft! are currently offering.

From local festivals and events to their Clintonville brick-and-mortar
shop, Wholly Craft always seems to draw a crowd

Started in 2005 by Olivera Bratich, the success of this craft-oriented store mirrors the general upswing in the homemade crafts marketplace (the online king of homemade crafts, Etsy, was also established during the same year.) From its modest beginnings, this Clintonville-based business has now become a community staple, featuring the works of over 300 plus craftspeople, of which almost a third are locally-based as noted in this recent article in The Metropreneur.

For me and the spouse, visiting the brick-and-mortar shop or their booths at local events like Comfest, Moonlight Market and Oktoberfest is a visual and mental treat. The combination of solid craftsmanship, creative flair, and a good mix of local Columbus and Ohio references in the store's product selection personally makes me wish I had more time to dabble on my inventive side, or possessed a little more cash to actually buy more of the artistic and often playful items available in the store.

For knitters like my spouse, Wholly Craft! also features a space dubbed The Supply Closet, which offers (and accepts) recycled craft supplies and hosts workshops and private events. In addition, Bratich launched Homemade Ohio, a catalog company that will target Ohio-oriented goods that are actually produced within the Buckeye State. As Bratich herself noted in this Columbus Alive article,
“Nothing drives me crazier than seeing something with an ‘Ohio’ on it, and then the tag says ‘Made in China,’”

Featuring the works of over 300 artisans, Wholly Craft! offers a wide
swath of creative items with a highly evident local flair

I suspect that Bratich herself and the folks at Wholly Craft! would never have suspected that they would be in this for a decade, nor reach their cornerstone status in the Clintonville community as they have (and deservedly so.) Perhaps that's why their planned 10th Anniversary Party, scheduled for roughly one week from the writing of this post, feels just a little more special than that of most other businesses, even in the eye of this relative newcomer to the area. I suspect the celebration will be much like any visit my spouse and I have made to Wholly Craft! in the past: visually appealing, full of creativity, and just plain fun.

The Tenth Anniversary party for Wholly Craft! is scheduled for Saturday, October 17th, from 7 PM - 10 PM. Further details on the celebration can be found on the event page of their Facebook account.

Wholly Craft!

3515 N. High St. (Clintonville)

Columbus, OH 43214

(614) 447-3445

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