Columbus Pizza-Politan Adventures: Ohio Pizza Cage Match! (Pt. 1)

Donatos Pizza has been a familiar name to Columbus residents since 1963

First off, I wanted to announce that the Central Ohio Pizza Map has been recently updated!  With all the spots covered, the changes are subtle, but I did want to specifically point to the following:

• Closures -  (Pies and Pints in the Short North)
• Openings (the new Harvest Pizzeria locations in Grandview and Bexley), 
• Relocations (city favorite Adriatico's new location) 
• Re-openings (Plank's Bier Garten).  

Obviously, if you see something that needs updating with the map, I'd love to hear from you - just use the comments section below.

As far as most recent pizza explorations, what folks know as area anchors are still relatively new eateries for me, so these posts may cover some familiar territory.  My last exploration was two national chains in Domino's and Ohio-transplant Sbarro, so this time I thought it was time to focus on some of the familiar names with true Ohio roots.

Ice Cream Chronicles (Year 5): Rising Up to the Challenge of Your Rival

Asheville's iconic Flat Iron sculpture, which was modeled by local artist
Reed Todd after the irons used at the historic Asheville Laundry.

"Love is a burning thing 
And it makes a fiery ring 
Bound by wild desire 
I fell into a ring of fire.

I fell into a burning ring of fire,

I went down, down, down and the flames went higher

And it burns, burns, burns,

The ring of fire, the ring of fire."

Johnny Cash - "Ring of Fire"

We freely acknowledge as a couple that our appetite for hot, spicy food skews our perceptions a bit.  With that said not even the most veteran, heat-tolerant spice seeker (we don't count ourselves in this select category) can't avoid being sent into facial contortions given enough capsaicin in their consumables. 

Add in a little lack of consistent, practical experience of late with the hot and spicy, and perhaps our recent experience with one of Asheville's hottest food purveyors was to be expected.  Thankfully, the outing, with an eatery appropriately starting with the name of Rocky only put us partially down for the count, and a little after dinner ice cream treat soothed our somewhat seared pride.

One Hot Prince and the Man in Black

Grimey's, located in Nashville's Edgehill neighborhood, provided us
the chance to look at new and used music alike

"Fifty-two!"

Prior to that beckon, my spouse and I had engaged in a combo of toodling on our mobile phones and conversing  over past and future vacation plans. At this point, the latter was diminishing rapidly, but we wanted to make our final hours of freedom in Nashville worthwhile.

My senses, already aroused by the scent of fried foods for the last 40 minutes or so, jumped to attention. The sales ticket indeed matched the number, and I hungrily rambled from our seat to the front counter.

"You ordered the extra hot?" I could feel owner André Prince Jeffries' eyes peering into me.

I nodded, "Yep, one extra hot and an extra extra hot."

"Good. I wanna' keep my eye on you," she replied, "to see if your head explodes."