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| Lithopolis, Ohio and its roughly 1,600 people have a pretty nice Mexican restaurant within city limits in El Pedregal |
Seekh The Unique: Everest Cuisine (Worthington, OH)
The Nostalgia Bin: Columbus and Beyond
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| As this The Book Loft shelf shows, plenty of travel guides exist to places people wish to go, such as Paris and the country of France in this case |
The Beans Are Not Always Greener...
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| The Carquinez Bridge, gateway to Vallejo and Benicia in San Francisco's east bay |
I can remember a time when the chain was conspicuous by its absence. Vallejo and Benicia are neighboring cities along the Bay Area's Carquinez Strait along Interstate 780, but I can remember when the more highly populated (but less economically well off) city of Vallejo was mermaid-less, but the much lesser populated (but more well-heeled) town of Benicia sported a branch.
With all Starbucks being mostly corporate-owned (save for locations inside airports, supermarkets, etc.), I myself wondered at the time what Starbucks didn't see in Vallejo, or perhaps, did see. Vallejo has one of the more diversely populated cities in the Bay Area (since 1980, the percentages among White, Black, Hispanic and Asian populations have steadily equalized) and I pondered if corporate minds thought that wasn't a money-making formula.
Eventually, Vallejo's residents did get their Starbucks and proved that they as much as anyone can boatloads of Frappuccinos and Unicorn Lattes. Nowadays, the Seattle-based chain is more of a constant (with close to 30,000 branches worldwide, with half of them in the United States) versus a buzzy novelty for which many would clamor. Interestingly enough, while Vallejo currently hosts more locations than Benicia, the higher per capita still resides with the latter (roughly one for every 7,000 residents for Benicia vs. 1 for every 20,000 residents in Vallejo.)
Hitting the Grounds on Indianola: Yeah, Me Too
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| Baba's, where coffee is brewed with Thunderkiss Coffee beans and pairs up well with their excellent breakfast sandwiches |
A number of food establishments, from the diner level (Wildflower and George's Beechwold Cafe) to more formal dine-in type places (Baba's, with their coffee brewed with the excellent Thunderkiss Roasters, and The Crest Gastropub, although there coffee isn't highlighted much) also exist. However, for the person simply traveling through, merely grabbing a cup of coffee at these places isn't really an option.
That leaves some interesting three-pack of contenders for that potential cup of joe. Number one is pretty straightforward: Portia's, one of the first area restaurants to concentrate exclusively on Vegan dishes, now offers up a breakfast option with their Next Door Cafe, opened up, well, next door to their original restaurant on Indianola. Here, one can grab a cup of coffee brewed with Crimson Cup beans and, if one chooses, a bevy of breakfast food items.
Number two is might actually be the most interesting of the three, but really isn't a practical option unless cats are forefront on your mind. The main draw for Eat Purr Love Cat Cafe is not the java but the felines themselves: appointment fees to visit the store's cats and cafe sales go toward the nonprofit Columbus Humane, a nonprofit geared toward aiding animals in need.
A Bridge Too Far?
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| The headline in the October 18, 1989 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle went right to the point about the previous day's events |
Of course, the earthquake's effect proved more durable than normal on a larger scale due to the circumstances of that day. Game 3 of Major League Baseball's World Series between the cross-bay rivals San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's was approximately 30 minutes from starting when the quake struck. Once the broadcast signal was restored, a national audience watched stunned as live shots of collapsed freeways, damaged buildings, and fires contrasted with the worried faces of both players and fans alike.
I have my own tale from that day, one that I have only shared with close friends and family until now.
Where The Weather is Wacky and the Forecasts Don't Matter
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| Yes, Comedian/Host Drew Carey knows what's up with Ohio weather |
This year proved to be no different, starting off with a (way) early Spring in early January, which was quickly displaced by brief spell of Polar Vortex, and then followed by an elongated period of the "Big Snow coming - psych!" season, where seeming promising big snow days were turned into groan-inducing "mixed precipitation" slushfests.
Winter hung around like a drunken sailor late March well into May, never allowing Spring to gain a solid foothold and keeping the soils exceedingly soggy - I recall I didn't get a chance to mow the well overgrown back yard until just before Memorial Day.
Visions of Noah and his ark came to many in June, when deluge-type rains threatened to drastically cut into the state's prized corn crop and overwhelmed quite a few basements. Then, a not overly hot but often humid summer season took over, drying things to the point where some parts of the state reside in mild drought status. Despite a few head fakes from the Autumn season, this has remained the status quo into October, so much so that some folks are wishing Summer completely away. If all the forecasts are correct, those cooler vibes will have arrived to this region the same day this blog post was published.
Nostalgia Trip: The First Lady Goes Tailgating in Columbus
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| The season of the weekend college football tailgate has arrived in full force in Columbus, home of The Ohio State Buckeyes |
The modern concept of the football tailgate is said to date back roughly a century to the then dominant Ivy League schools, but historians and researchers have traced the tailgate’s origins to the U.S. Civil War and even to old Roman Empire rituals.
Considering my interest in things sports-, food-, and history-related, it’s really no surprise that “The Official Tailgating Cookbook” would catch my eye during a random thrift store visit. What I found inside made it worth far more than the $1 (an 80% discount over its original cover price) I forked over at the cash register.
In Sync With The Shack?
My first visit to Shake Shack came at an advantageous time - on a weekday, just after the prime lunch rush. Even better: most of the electronic kiosks were open, and seeing a tiny bit of a line at the front counter, I figured this would be as easy-peasy a time of ordering the ballyhooed ShackBurger, a creation hyped to outdo all other burgers in this whole wide world.
I slid my payment card in the slot, and punched in my order: a Double ShackBurger and a side of fries. I wanted a milkshake badly, but seeing I'd be pushing 2,000 calories with that trifecta, I figured I'd give my waistline a break by ordering a Fifty/Fifty, a half lemonade/half iced tea combo that sounded pretty refreshing on what was a fairly warm day. After punching in my personal info, I submitted my order, ready to start my countdown clock for this first time experience
The screen went black, that familiar white swirl holding court in the center. And then, puzzlement, as I tried to decipher the message in front of me.
"Your Order Is Out of Sync"
I duplicated the order again, this time starting without the card in the slot and then inserting it at the end. Again, no dice. I tried again a third time at a different kiosk, and again, the Shack would not abide. Were the burger gods sending me a warning message of some sort?
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| Shake Shack's touch-screen menu ordering kiosk gave me a bit of a rude surprise during my first visit into their Easton Town Center location |
The screen went black, that familiar white swirl holding court in the center. And then, puzzlement, as I tried to decipher the message in front of me.
"Your Order Is Out of Sync"
I duplicated the order again, this time starting without the card in the slot and then inserting it at the end. Again, no dice. I tried again a third time at a different kiosk, and again, the Shack would not abide. Were the burger gods sending me a warning message of some sort?
Brimful of Dishes on the Northwest Side
The regional cuisines of India were, through circumstance, not something I explored a lot while living in the Bay Area. That changed for the better when I moved to Central Ohio, where the dishes of the numerous Indian restaurants here have quickly become favorites for me and my spouse.
Could it be...Seitan?
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| The inside of the tasty Seitan Shawarma from Pittsburgh's B52 Cafe |
Also, while it would be easy to pronounce the term like the name of the oft written about Prince of Darkness Satan, most folks I’ve chatted with state that say-TAN or say-TAWN (emphasis on the second syllable) is the accepted pronunciation.
We probably wouldn’t have paid this bit of trivia any mind even a few months ago or so - we had an occasional dabbling here and there, but it never made an impression on us until this year’s trip into Pennsylvania. Our visit to Lawrenceville’s B52 Cafe opened our eyes wide to seitan’s possibilities, with dishes like their tasty Kofta Tofu Scramble and the even better Seitan Shawarma. On this meal, we didn’t miss the traditional meat or pork proteins one bit.
From Zane's Trace to Outer Space: A Journey into Muskingum County
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| An original and somewhat worse-for-wear National Road mileage marker located outside the National Road and Zane Grey Museum in Norwich, OH |
An off-the-cuff trip recently into Muskingum County proved to be a fairly short jaunt by those standards, but the sites we visited for the most part were all about the longer journey, including one instance which covered approximately 75,000 miles.
Triple-Hopped: On The Ohio Summer Brewery Prowl
Despite signs of slowing growth, craft breweries are most certainly still a thing. According to an article in USA Today, the craft beer industry surpassed the 7,000 operating breweries by the end of 2018, according to the Brewers Association. Furthermore, the Association expects another thousand or so breweries will join the fray by the end of 2019. And while Ohio may not match the sheer numbers of craft breweries found in other states, they are more than holding their own in volume, ranking fourth in the country according to the Brewers Association.
These sheer numbers have made it more important than ever to tune in to their surrounding community. If you can’t draw the locals in on a regular basis, your chance to achieve that next level of destination brewery pretty much rates as nil.
In many ways, that had changed way of writing about the breweries from here on out. A few select ones are going to be just plain outstanding and likewise a few select ones are going to just plain terrible. Most are going to fall in that big bell curve area in the middle, and as long as they’re keeping the locals happy, they can be quite successful.
The Truth is in the Tasting Vol. 2: A Return to Veritas
We don’t do fancy meals all that often, so anticipation rises high when we do indulge. Four years ago in 2015, we found ourselves in Delaware, Ohio at Veritas, a place which had been earning "Best Of" kudos throughout the region. We found out the recognition was well earned, and their tasting menu and cocktails provided us with easily one of our top three dining experiences ever.
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Flash forward to the future: owner Josh Dalton has jumped at the opportunity to move his restaurant to the proverbial heart of it all, relocating to the historic Citizens Building in Downtown Columbus. Not only that, they have emphasized the tasting menu even more, both with their current seasonal tapas selections as well as their Chef’s Table, which leaves it up to the chef and his kitchen staff to wow you with their creativity.
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The latter option sounded like the perfect way to dive into Veritas the second time around for another special meal.
It's Easy To Trace The Trucks of My Cheers (Summer 2019)
As mentioned in a previous blog post in the Autumn 2018, I have veered toward notable experiences with the area's food trucks instead of comprehensiveness due to the sheer number of food trucks that roam Central Ohio these days. With that said, two of the three trucks featured here are well-established veterans of the scene which my spouse and I have had the chance to visit numerous times, while the other reflects a culinary trend in the local area that I hope is a continuing one.
Fetty's Street Food - my spouse's niece, who had spent some time studying in South Africa near Durban earlier this decade, mentioned one her favorite dishes she ate there was something called Bunny Chow. Originating with the Indian population of the area, this popular dish involved a nicely spicy curry poured into a hollowed out portion of a bread loaf.
Fetty's Street Food - my spouse's niece, who had spent some time studying in South Africa near Durban earlier this decade, mentioned one her favorite dishes she ate there was something called Bunny Chow. Originating with the Indian population of the area, this popular dish involved a nicely spicy curry poured into a hollowed out portion of a bread loaf.
To The Moon and Back
While I was alive at the time, I proved too young to have any real memories of the first moon landing in July, 1969, when Neil Armstrong first planted his foot on Earth's nearest celestial neighbor on NASA's famed Apollo 11 mission. My first space-oriented memories are shunted a little later down the road, with the last moon landings in 1972, follwed by the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Joint Projects. The former created quite a hubbub when it crashed to earth near the end of the decade, while the latter proved to be an example of détente practiced between this country and its former Cold War adversary the former Soviet Union.
I also remember fondly the four astronaut figurines my parents acquired for me and my then three siblings during a long length-of-Florida family trip which included Cape Kennedy, Marineland, and the newly opened Disneyworld, among other destinations. As Marx Toy Company creations, they'd be somewhat valuable nowadays in mint condition, but we treated them as kids would treat them, making pretend moon landings and then, later, into the toy bin blender with teddy bears, Fisher-Price Little People sets, Tonka Trucks, and Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, among other things.
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| These Marx Toy Company astronaut figurines I found on Etsy.com recently were exactly like those my parents bought me during NASA's moon mission heyday |
Taking it To The Street (Taco)
Maybe it’s just me, but my experiences with the old school, traditional Mexican Taco Truck can be summed up thus:
- I’ve never had a bad meal with a long-established traditional taco truck
- Even an average meal at a taco truck rates as a satisfying meal
As time has marched forward since my move to Ohio, I've collected a lot of photos and notes on a fair number of the area's taco trucks. This is by no means definitive or even close to a sampling of every truck that's out there, but I figured it was time to wipe the plate clean, so to speak, and knock out a blog post on what I've found.
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| A flight of beer from Mare Island Brewing, which pays homage to the blue-collar workers and servicemen who worked at Vallejo's former Naval Shipyard |
My first foodie-style venture I actually wrote about was indeed a taco truck crawl, roughly a dozen or so years ago. Traveling through Vallejo, a traditionally blue-collar town centered around its Naval submarine shipyard, taco trucks are a perfect fit for the area. Based on my samplings, the trucks here averaged higher than those you might find in other more well known cities in the Bay Area (more on that below.) In fact, continual good experiences with taco trucks throughout the area influenced one of my food choices on my first visit into Columbus in 2007.
A Skillet and a Paper, No More
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| The final print edition of Columbus Alive, which recently announced its online-only status like an increasing number of publications around the country |
Normally, this mere transition would've been an "Oh, okay" moment for me, a mere blip that wouldn't have merited more than a brief mental acknowledgement. However, a chance find at an estate sale a few weeks prior provided a golden opportunity for a blog post that I couldn't turn down.
I Got Six: Pennsylvania Travels Wrap-Up
Our travels through Pennsylvania were covered extensively through the last three posts, but I've always ended our series with some places that didn't conveniently fit the flow of my write ups, but are definitely worth a mention in some manner.
Because of the flow of those posts, I wanted to include more detailed contact information for the places we've visited during our travels, like I have traditionally done for all destinations covered in this blog, as well as links to the previous blog posts.
Pittsburgh
As we discovered, staying close to the center of Pittsburgh can be a spendy proposition. The Renaissance Hotel in the downtown area was a nice splurge that was conveniently located to our Eddie Izzard show at the Byham Theater that night. For the rest of our stay, we targeted the Greentree area and the Comfort Inn on Banksville proved to be located close enough to everything and much more friendly to the pocketbook. I-376 and the Fort Pitt Bridge generally is a sludgy crawl at most times of the day, but thanks to the number of bridges and tunnels in the area, you can easily bypass this route from this hotel to get into all areas of the city.
Because of the flow of those posts, I wanted to include more detailed contact information for the places we've visited during our travels, like I have traditionally done for all destinations covered in this blog, as well as links to the previous blog posts.
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| Known to the locals as "Dippy", this Diplodocus sculpture has stood guard in front of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History since 1999 |
As we discovered, staying close to the center of Pittsburgh can be a spendy proposition. The Renaissance Hotel in the downtown area was a nice splurge that was conveniently located to our Eddie Izzard show at the Byham Theater that night. For the rest of our stay, we targeted the Greentree area and the Comfort Inn on Banksville proved to be located close enough to everything and much more friendly to the pocketbook. I-376 and the Fort Pitt Bridge generally is a sludgy crawl at most times of the day, but thanks to the number of bridges and tunnels in the area, you can easily bypass this route from this hotel to get into all areas of the city.
Give Me Broccoli Rabe, or Give Me Death: 48 Hours in Philly
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| City Center Philadelphia around lunch time, with plenty of bustle and one of the numerous Pakistani-owned Halal food carts in the area |
A mere two days really isn’t enough to absorb a city the size of Philly, but it is enough to lend impressions like these, and enough to make you anticipate when you might be able to squeeze in another trip in the future.
Stuck in the Middle With You: Keystone State Travels
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| Even Abe Lincoln will tell you there's a lot to explore in the state of Pennsylvania between the cities of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania |
On this trip, we ended up spanning the historical timeline, from an unexpected find related to a conflict barely covered in the lower grade levels (the French-Indian War) to an event which has become a modern time "Day of Infamy" in the terrorist attacks of 09/11/2001.
Viewing nature's beauty was also prime on the docket, as we dropped by a state park with plenty of outdoor charms and a world-renowned architectural work whose best quality just might lie in how it blends in with the natural flora and fauna surrounding it.
Everyone needs a little curveball to break up the routine, and for us, that came in the form of a minor league baseball game and craft beer on an evening which scared away many due to the weather.
Three Days in the Land of Three Rivers
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| The Point State Park Fountain, located at the confluence of rivers that gave Pittsburgh's former Three Rivers Stadium its name. Heinz Field, current home of NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, lies across the Allegheny River in the background |
A city traditionally known for its bustling steel industry and a blue-collar reputation, Pittsburgh has used a multi-pronged effort in the fields of education, industry and government to diversify its job mix and economic base, trying to stem the tide of population loss that has turned the once tenth largest city by population in the country in 1940 to 64th in 2019.
Tourism is also a vital part of boosting the city's fortunes. There was a day where I wouldn't have even considered traveling for pleasure to a place like Pittsburgh, but that just shows how times change and how the spirit to explore is indeed a good one. And thus, our most recent road trip adventures took us into the Keystone State of Pennsylvania, with our first days spent in the Steel City.
The Untimeliest of Sunsets
A sunset can be beautiful, even spectacular. Unless this big blue marble we reside on gets flipped off its orbit by some large celestial object, this planet's inhabitants can expect this phenomenon to occur at dusk for the foreseeable future.
Human beings might wish that sunsets on our life on this earth were equally as timely and regular. But mix in luck and circumstance with the complex organisms that we are, and we find some will live into the triple digits, and while others will find that their sun has set far too early.
There's almost always a bit of unfairness in the latter instance. It hurts even more when the person sports a larger-than-life personality and charisma that naturally draws others to them, who are genuinely nice and makes others feel better about themselves. Patrick and Joe, who left this world and my life roughly a decade apart, were two such people.
There's almost always a bit of unfairness in the latter instance. It hurts even more when the person sports a larger-than-life personality and charisma that naturally draws others to them, who are genuinely nice and makes others feel better about themselves. Patrick and Joe, who left this world and my life roughly a decade apart, were two such people.
Five Years in the Books
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| Filipino Halo Halo is but one of the culinary treats you can get at Columbus's Asian Festival, held annually during Memorial Day weekend |
The second is it marks off another notch on the years I’ve been doing this blog. With this upcoming weekend, that will have been five in the book, the furthest I’ve ever taken a blog.
Columbus Iconic: Whither The Lettuce Wrap?
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| Iconic eats? P.F. Chang's has made it three years in a row topping the (614) ColumBest Reader Poll for "Best Asian Restaurant" |
But some results just sort of make you shake your head, and perhaps none does it more for me than the now three-year run of P.F. Chang's winning the "Best Asian Restaurant" category in the in the (614) ColumBest poll, claiming the top spot in 2017 when previous winner Haiku closed its doors in late 2016.
Conventional wisdom would make you think a national chain like P.F. Chang's (which has its origins in California in San Francisco and, later Beverly Hills) shouldn't be coming close to placing in these types of polls. Columbus's culinary scene has made wonderful strides over these past three years, with burgeoning coffee, craft beer and now distillery scenes (the latter sporting some great food components); the increasing emergence of upscale and creative eateries; and an increasing palette of international cuisines in general. This evolution has garnered its fair share of national notice - prominent media outlets like Food & Wine, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and Forbes have featured the city in the past six months alone.
Life Is A Big Steaming Bowl...Of Home
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| Fancy and oats, such as this McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, weren't a thing for me until much later in my life |
A lone familiar aluminum pot on the stove accompanied with a set of bowls on the counter top beside it became the familiar sign that oatmeal was available. Sometimes, I would venture into the breakfast cereals, or I knocked out a grilled cheese when I felt ambitious. However, despite not being a fan of mushy textures (like many others), I grabbed a bowl of steamy oatmeal more often than not.
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.
All Signs Point to High (Pt. 1) - Diners, Drive-Ins and Drives
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| This photo of the neon Dairy Queen sign on the north end of the metro's High Street inspired me to take a little road trip |
When I posted a picture of the sign, I asked folks if they could remember other memorable signs along this main thoroughfare of Columbus. A few folks chimed in, and I was a bit flummoxed that I couldn't think of many more than I did during my post. I really haven't stopped thinking about it since, so on a recent slow, nothing-better-to-do day, I drove the roughly 16-mile-stretch of north-south aligned High Street from one end of the I-270 Beltway to the other to see what I could find.
A Sampler: Last Bites for The Nearly Departed
I do not have a long history in Central Ohio, but I have come to appreciate many aspects of the area's history. As a food blogger, this appreciation naturally extends to the area's restaurants, and it came to the forefront during a recent visit to the indoor version of the Worthington Farmers Market. Here, I spied a table selling sauces and other products related to the Florentine Restaurant, an eatery whose 70+ year run as an area institution ended somewhat unexpectedly in December 2016.
Sadly, we never did stop by the Florentine before its demise, but the sighting of the table (we did pick up a bottle of salad dressing we're eager to try) did remind me that it was time to clean up my photo holdings to send some eateries I've visited over the years but never blogged about to the "Nearly Departed" category. As I performed the archiving, I thought it might be fun to take a peek at some of these places.
Bonchon - this Korean-based chain had a bit of a weird history here in Columbus, arriving with some manner of anticipation with their vaunted Korean Fried Chicken in 2015. However, food safety issues plagued the Sawmill area location, and their second Clintonville location (pictured above) never seemed overly packed whenever we visited.
Sadly, we never did stop by the Florentine before its demise, but the sighting of the table (we did pick up a bottle of salad dressing we're eager to try) did remind me that it was time to clean up my photo holdings to send some eateries I've visited over the years but never blogged about to the "Nearly Departed" category. As I performed the archiving, I thought it might be fun to take a peek at some of these places.
Bonchon - this Korean-based chain had a bit of a weird history here in Columbus, arriving with some manner of anticipation with their vaunted Korean Fried Chicken in 2015. However, food safety issues plagued the Sawmill area location, and their second Clintonville location (pictured above) never seemed overly packed whenever we visited.
The Fifty and The Familiar
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| 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 |
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.
It's Easy To Trace The Trucks of My Cheers
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| The meat smoker located next to the usual location of Ray Ray's Hog Pit, named "Best Food Truck" in Columbus Alive's 2019 "Best Of" poll |
The two outsider chains (Five Guys and Cooper's Hawk) which earned top spots last year held serve in "Best Fries" and "Best Wine List", respectively. However, local representation actually went up via a few simple and welcome tweaks, namely to the "Ethnic Eats" categories. The best tweak in my opinion banished the outdated "Best Asian" category: separate categories for Korean, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese and Ramen join Sushi to offer a more comprehensive view at this aspect of the area's culinary scene.
Bundles vs. A La Carte: Cutting the Cord and the Pies
After numerous years of just being lazy about dumping our cable TV, one more cable bill increase last month provided the necessary momentum. Not only did it lessen our bills, the change has also added a ton of things we've never even had the chance to watch. It has also added the dilemma of the so-called "Paradox of Choice", where the number of options makes it difficult to choose just one.
One show we've delved into initially is Netflix's "Ugly Delicious", featuring Chef David Chang of Momofuku fame. Built around a general food theme (pizza, fried chicken, etc.), the show proves unafraid to branch off on numerous tangents during any particular episode. One notion Chang attempts to relay is that authenticity in food should not be the ultimate be-all end-all goal.
Chang states authenticity is fine, but not at the cost of creativity nor if it restricts future generations from adding their own authenticity to create something entirely novel. Here, the Cajun-influenced Vietnamese dishes of Houston provide the ultimate example of this, and Chang bemoans the fact that the authenticity factor has prevented it from moving to places like New Orleans.
They Say The Donut Flights Are Bright on Broadway
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| The Broadway play "Rent", playing in Columbus this weekend, is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year. |
Anyway, the tangent train started with an article e-mailed to me by one of my fellow bloggers regarding cities and fast food (a potential future topic) that sent me on the research path. During the search, I discovered that Dunkin' Donuts (a franchise that has actually struggled in Central Ohio) was listed in the Top 10 on most lists.
With a pizza post also in the works, that got me thinking about a rhetorical and somewhat unanswerable question: can you have more variations on donuts or pizza? It is here when the play "Rent" and its the signature song "Seasons of Love" popped into my head, with slightly altered lyrics:
"Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred donuts
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred rings so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred donuts
How do you measure, measure a year?"
So that got me thinking: how many different donuts could you eat in Columbus if you really tried?
Hedging on the Veggies
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| Vegetables, exotic and more familiar, at Columbus's Saraga International Market |
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.
Do Fries Go With That Take: The Funk Master and The Galley Boy
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| The cover of George Clinton's 1986 album "R&B Skeletons in the Closet" |
George Clinton’s 1986 album “R&B Skeletons in the Closet” was the fourth and last full-length studio effort for Capitol Records before his dalliance with the late Prince and his Paisley Park record label at the turn of the decade. Perhaps the second best of his solo efforts for Capitol, Clinton balanced old and new instruments well in songs like “Cool Joe”, the title track, and my favorite song from the album in “Do Fries Go With That Shake.”
It's Not Valentine's - Let's Grab A Burger
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| This glass mosaic creation via a class at Franklinton's Glass Axis has been one of the more fun St. Valentine's Day excursions in Columbus |
There was one small benefit in that I avoided the crass commercialism that this day has gained over the years, but even then that would occasionally rear its unpleasant head. Perhaps the nadir of my feelings for the day arose when, not too far after a tough breakup, I caught wind of a billboard in San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood. A jewelry store ad featuring a woman’s hand and a big shiny sparkly on the ring finger, the company's slogan taunted, "Have your friends live vicariously through you.”
(That might be the only time in my life I seriously considered arson as an option, but I digress...)
My feelings toward the day have mellowed some; with my spouse not being the biggest fan of the day through the years either, we've come to recognize the day in a somewhat sideways manner. We'll do things for and with each other (dine out, send flowers, participate in special couples events, etc.) but not generally on Valentine's Day itself. And in a nod to this tradition, I purposely kept this post separated from this year's festivities by a couple of weeks.
We're Going To Give It 101%
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| The Meat Cut chart at Columbus's The Pearl Restaurant that started the whole 101% Cow Conundrum |
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.
You Can't Spell Nostalgia without L-A-G
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| Just one of the numerous albums put out by Jandek, perhaps the most cultiest of cult artists in the music world today |
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.
Noc Noc Noc-ing at Powell's Door: Nocterra Brewing
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| Funkwerks, circa our 2015 trip to Colorado. Like Fort Collins, Columbus' beer scene is one where new breweries have increasingly to prove their wares are worthy to the public early on or risk being left behind |
For a day, her brother graciously chauffeured us to some of Fort Collins' finest breweries. During our journey, he mentioned that breweries there just simply couldn't open up and expect to be successful; they had to have at least a couple years planned out to even have a chance to make it in what was and still is a competitive beer scene.
Back then, that was nowhere near the case with Columbus, a beer scene that was still growing and evolving. Not so much anymore, though - in my mind, Central Ohio's scene has reached a point where a new brewery's chance to establish their footing has shrunk considerably. Indeed, many of the newer arrivals, including but not exclusive to Combustion, Somewhere in Particular, and Pretentious, have been received favorably fairly quickly by the locals. This notion was tucked in the back of my mind when my spouse and I dropped by to one of the area's newest in Powell's Nocterra Brewing for a sneak preview.
One Latte, One Lunch, One Beer - 2018 California Travel Wrap-Up
Well, the recap of a wonderful tour of California comes to an end with this blogpost. As usual, there were places that didn't quite conveniently fit in with any of our previous posts, but are definitely worthy of your consideration if you're in the neighborhood. And now, without further adieu...
Spearhead Coffee: Opened up a couple years after our first visit to Paso Robles, Spearhead Coffee has provided locals an elevated cup of coffee for their day's duties since 2015. Similar to many spaces with that modern industrial look, the interior of Spearhead used plenty of reclaimed materials from around the area as well as from space itself in its initial construction.
Spearhead Coffee: Opened up a couple years after our first visit to Paso Robles, Spearhead Coffee has provided locals an elevated cup of coffee for their day's duties since 2015. Similar to many spaces with that modern industrial look, the interior of Spearhead used plenty of reclaimed materials from around the area as well as from space itself in its initial construction.
Two Do Right: Firestone Walker and Russian River Brewing
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| The welcoming fronts of Russian River Brewing's Santa Rosa, CA brewpub and Firestone Walker's Barrelworks facility in Buellton, CA |
Those who have read my blog before know that we are huge fans of two well-known California breweries in Firestone Walker and Russian River Brewing. With the former, we had visited their two co-joined facilities in Buellton (their taproom and then their sour-focused Barrelworks facility - this blogpost details how we ended up visiting each separately), and for the latter, their iconic Santa Rosa brewpub seems is something of a mandatory stop when we're in the area, even if it is just to buy a couple of bottles of Pliny The Elder or one of their lovely sours to bring back to Ohio.
One would think that we're traversing over well-trod ground by writing about these two breweries again, but two recent developments for each brewery offered an opportunity to explore some new ground for us, and we were only more than happy to venture in again.
The House That Sarah Built: The Winchester Mystery House (San Jose, CA)
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| The front of the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California |
The other association was The Winchester Mystery House, which I always perceived as something of a cheesy attraction, based on both the promo ads I heard and read as well as the story (essentially, superstitious rich widow, in this case, Sarah Winchester, takes fortune teller’s crazy story to heart and builds a likewise crazy house to match in the quest for immortality.)
However, as we were happy to find out on our first visit ever, the tale behind The Winchester House is far more nuanced than that, with aspects about Winchester herself as well as the house she ended up building wouldn’t realize upon first glance.
Princely Waves and Pumpkin Weighs - A Half Day in Half Moon Bay
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| Pigeon Point Lighthouse, one of two lighthouses that bracket the cozy town of Half Moon Bay (Photo courtesy of visithalfmoonbay.org/Jonathan Warren) |
Once Mexican settlers moved in 1840, the settlement became known as Spanishtown due to the large numbers of Spanish speakers before adopting its current moniker in 1874. The area became infamous during the era of Prohibition as the home for local moonshiners and rum runners, mainly due to its isolated location and constantly foggy conditions.
Surly and Spectacular - Big Sur Revisited
"And if you listen carefully
The winds that ride
On the high tide
Whistle a melody
So the people started to sing
And that's how the
Surf gave birth untold to
California soul"
"California Soul" - Marlena Shaw
I cannot say with certainty that the Big Sur on California's Central Coast is the most spectacular stretch of coast in the world. But I will say that this stretch of coastline, which ranges from San Simeon in the south to Carmel Highlands in the north, is most certainly one of the most spectacular places I have had the privilege to travel through, and this area is a must visit for any visitor with some extended time in the Golden State.
From the south, Hearst Castle in San Simeon is a natural jumping off point for your journey, but if touring millionaire mansions isn't your thing, the publicly accessible elephant seal rookery a few miles to the north is most definitely worth your time. As one might imagine, the seals are an incredibly popular attraction, and on this day, the line of cars trying to turn into the parking lot of the main viewing point reminded us of the queue that crawls on the Golden Gate Bridge to try to enter the Vista Point areas.
The House That Julie Built: Hearst Castle (San Simeon, CA)
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| Hearst Castle's Roman Pool, which is inlaid with fused gold tiles and currently acts as the fanciest bus depot you'll find just about anywhere |
With many of the rough edges taken away (their campsite was prepared months ahead of time), George’s children, including future media magnate/politician/art collector/eventual inheritor William Randolph Hearst, were allowed to roam the land relatively freely. This fostered a love of the area in William that eventually led to the stately grandeur that embodies Hearst Castle, which we both got to visit for the first time.
Central California Adventures (Pt. 2) - International Bright Flung Things
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| Statue of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, famed pianist, former Prime Minister of Poland, and one of the most famed residents of Paso Robles |
Obviously, California has more than held their own in the wine making world the past few decades, and much of that has come with grape varietals such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Blanc that originated on French soil (on a side note, Zinfandel, one of California's big players in the wine-making world, actually traces its origins to Croatia.)
However, less familiar stateside are wine styles from France's Rhône Valley. Grenache and Syrah will probably ring bells for even the casual wine drinker, but seeing other grape varietals such as Marsanne, Mourvèdre, Picpoul Blanc and Counoise are still somewhat uncommon. As it turns out, many of the wineries around Paso Robles feature the perfect climate and soil to grow these grapes, and we heard word that the wines coming from the grapes grown at Tablas Creek Vineyard, a pioneer in the state for these Rhône varietals, are among the best.
Central California Adventures (Pt. 1) - Don't Paso Me By
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| Built from 1907-1908, the Carnegie Library in Paso Robles' Downtown City Park operated as such until 1995; it now is home to the town's historical society |
Our last visit several years ago was more of a strategic one: Paso Robles allowed us a central and relatively inexpensive jumping off point to go exploring parts farther south such as San Luis Obispo, Solvang and Buellton. This time around, we figured we'd give Paso and its surroundings a sampling this time, and it turned out to be a still too short but highly enjoyable two days in and around this town of roughly 32,000 people.