Silly Notions Negated Splendidly: Service Bar

The basic Hamburger Combo from In-N-Out was a go to in my later fast food days

Back in a seemingly more distant younger day, I justified my fast food leanings with a reason that sounded good at the time, if you were trying to pack on 5-10 pounds of weight per year (which, sadly, proved to be prophetic.)  I surmised that those fancy, visually stunning, incredible tasting, generally more reasonably portioned dishes from restaurants my family could never ever afford were a ripoff. I mean, when you could get a truly filling value meal of sandwich, side and soda pop for around $5, why would I want to spend dozens of dollars more on something that would require a trip to the local fast food place later to sate my hunger?

Ahh, you silly, misguided younger person. To paraphrase a quote from Red, the convict played by Morgan Freeman in one of my favorite movies ever in The Shawshank Redemption, "I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are." But thankfully in my case, I didn't need a meeting before a parole board to learn my lesson that there is a happy medium; I just needed a couple meals at Service Bar.

In Praise of the Swag Bag: Brunch with the Columbus Food Bloggers

The swag bags you'd get at pre- and post-race athletic event expos
were the ultimate cat's meow at one time of my life

Back in the day when my body was adapting better to the condition known as "adult onset athlete", I learned about the joys of the swag bag, especially in relation to running or triathlon races. Back in those days, an energy gel that wouldn't make you barf and a running shirt made of wicking material (bonus points for a good fit) were really nice gets. Every now and again, your event fee would get you a really good quality product - one swag bag turned out to be the best swag itself, a snazzily constructed duffel bag that we have taken on numerous trips now for almost a decade now. On occasion, the mystery of what you might get in the bag actually outweighed what you found there.

As the focus of my spare time in recent years has turned toward both blogging and exploring my new city of residence, the swag bag still holds that special intrigue for me, whether it was related to a community event (such as Franklinton's fun holiday Festivus event swag bag, which was available for a small donation) or attendance at a group event. The little coupons and items within have led us to explore some businesses and sampled some products we may have never figured out existed during our normal travels.

Our haul from our most recent swag bag (a natty model produced by Inked and Screened) came at the fun gathering that was the Columbus Food Bloggers potluck brunch. The contents, plus some special guests in attendance, proved to be for my spouse and I both a discovery and rediscovery of a wide swath of locally produced products.

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.

Going for the Whole Grains: Return to Yellow Springs (Pt. 2)

A few of the memorial cobblestones you can find at The Women's Park
located in the southern reaches of the village of Yellow Springs

After ingesting our daily allotment of fiber with a little bit of a sweet treat (courtesy of the 22nd Annual Wool Gathering at Young's Jersey Dairy, the subject of my last blogpost) we ventured further down US 68 into the downtown area to grab our whole grain allotment for the day, in the form of some finely distilled spirits and brewed beers at two Yellow Springs institutions, conveniently located at the same light industrial complex just north of downtown.

Forging Through Franklinton: Strongwater Food and Spirits

Strongwater invites you in from the "storm" with adult beverages and
a menu that caters to vegans and carnivores alike

The thriving 400 West Rich facility, seen as an anchor to the revitalization of the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, has continued its growth with the recently opened business incubation/co-working space in January and the planned conversion of a neighboring building into additional artist studios.

The facility has also provided a base for Columbus' culinary community. In addition to its bi-weekly Farmers Market and the food truck pod Dinin' Hall, the north end of the building holds Strongwater Food and Spirits, which has provided a dual drinking and dining destination for folks in the area since November of 2013.

Strongwater's menu and nattily designed interior space

Strongwater's dimly-lit interior, which has kept the historic birch wood and flooring of the space mostly in tact, provides some intimacy in this fairly vast space. Chatter from diners sitting in dimly lit dining spaces off to the side, as well as a large mural of the restaurant's more-or-less official symbol (a determined rower guiding their vessel through rough, stormy seas) that dominates one wall gave me the feeling that I was in a speakeasy of sorts. Another unique feature of Strongwater is its location right next to active railroad tracks; a rumbling train, seen easily through the large windows facing Town Street, provided a nice surprise during the middle of our dinner here.

Featuring the skills of head chef Anne Johnson (who will be featured in locally-based Crave Magazine), Strongwater's menu features a selection of unique vegan twists on bar food standards along with other more traditional meat-based dishes. On this visit, we intended to stay mainly on this side of the menu and started with The Dips Trio ($10). This appetizer, which provided a trio of dippable items (naan bread, crostini and vegetables) along with a trio of dips (jackfruit and spinach, hummus, and bacon and shallot dip), provided tasty finger food as we waited for our mains.

Speaking of jackfruit, I was quite intrigued by the idea of their Jackfruit Taco ($3,50 a la carte.) Growing up, I was used to jackfruit as an ingredient in some sweet desserts, and was not quite sure how that would work in a soft taco format. I was quite pleased to find it worked quite well, and I liked it a slight touch better than the shredded pork taco that I ordered in tandem. My spouse's Falafel Burger ($9) was also quite tasty, opting for the substitution of a side salad ($3) in place of the standard chips (a cup of soup can also be substituted for the same price.)

Clockwise from left: Falafel Burger and Side Salad, Jackfruit and
Shredded Pork Tacos, a flight of mostly Ohio-based beer, and
a slice of Cherry Pie provided by Honeykiss Bakery

As befitting its name, Strongwater offers a variety of cocktails and offers a regular happy hour Tuesday thru Friday from 4 PM to 7 PM. We used their rotating beer taps to our advantage with a swig bag token we had scored from the 400 West Rich Festivus Celebration in December, and scored a nice collection of beer from Ohio-based breweries such as North High, Fathead, Jackie O's and Catawba. Also, we couldn't help ourselves when we saw Honeykiss Bakery's pies were available on the dessert menu, so we treated ourselves to a slice of cherry pie ($6) to end the night.

Strongwater has a separate space that provides a venue for a variety of music, comedy and private events, and has recently announced the arrival of lunchtime hours as well as new menu items, including steam buns (yes, there is a jackfruit version,) a bacon cheeseburger, as well as OH! Chips.

We rather enjoyed our first visit to this uniquely charming eatery, and it definitely will not be our last.

Strongwater Food and Spirits
401 W Town St. (Franklinton)
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 928-3170
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Cantina Chronicles: Local Cantina (Clintonville)

Open now for not quite two months, Local Cantina's new location in Clintonville is the third of this local mini-chain of casual bars serving Mexican-styled eats that strives, per its motto, to "Eat Craft - Drink Craft - Live Local."

My spouse and I had dropped by their first location in Grandview for a beer earlier this summer and got a taste of George Tanchevski's version of a neighborhood hangout (Tanchevski also is involved with other local establishments such as Aladdin's and Local Bar.) However, the new Clintonville location is the first where we were able to sample the edibles, during a visit with a large group of associates.

This location is somewhat smaller space-wise than its Grandview cousin; we found it can be a challenge during busy times to refill your bowls of free chips and salsa from their dispenser located in the far southeast corner of the room, or just navigate through the area in general. This space tends to be loud both audibly (a combination of normal conversation and the pumped-in music) and visually (the same quirky decor follows here from original Grandview location, with a mishmash of items crammed onto a smaller display area that does try to emphasize the restaurant's "Live Local" part of their motto to a certain degree.) 

Local Cantina has brought its Mexican-styled eats and a visually busy
decor to its new and quaintly-sized Clintonville location

Their "Eat Craft" portion is represented by a selection of Mexican-styled eats. Their basic taco options ($3 - $3.50 each) shouldn't be mistaken for their taco truck brethren, but they are decent fare to munch on while sipping your beverages. Out of the four varieties we sampled, the roasted carnitas with pineapple mango salsa was our favorite.

Local Cantina's Unibrow habanero poppers and tacos (top). Free chips and salsa
(bottom) are available to all; dips like the queso fundido (also pictured) are also available

Even better was their "Unibrow Poppers" appetizer ($4), which was something of a challenge/dare by our colleagues. These habanero poppers with jalapeno jelly were prepared well and packed a good dose of heat, but my spouse handled these fairly easily and was nowhere near asking for the complimentary glass of milk offered by the restaurant as heat relief.  Other than a this and other select appetizers and craft sides, other dining options include "Can-tizzas" (their take on a Mexican-style pizza), quesadillas, nachos and salads. Prices are generally pocketbook friendly, as no food item chimes in the double-digit range price-wise.

Local Cantina does do the "Drink Craft" portion of their motto pretty well: craft spirits are integrated into their cocktails and margaritas, and they offer a nice selection of craft beers (including Ohio-based breweries) both in bottle and on tap. On this visit, draft beer options from Columbus breweries like North High, Seventh Son and CBC were available, along with selections from Ohio-based Fathead's, Great Lakes, Brew Kettle and Jackie O's.

Local Cantina
3126 N High St (Clintonville)
Columbus, OH 43202
(614) 754-8554
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