Devonian Devotion: The Orton Geological Museum at The Ohio State University

There are doormen, and there are bouncers acting as doormen. And then there's Jeff.

Jeff is the seven-foot-tall skeleton of Megaloynx Jeffersonii, a giant ground sloth that once roamed North American lands. Despite being believed to be a plant-eater in real life, Jeff's menacing pose will smack you to attention as you enter this somewhat hidden destination spot smack dab in the middle of The Ohio State University campus.

Unlike other recently touted refurbished OSU facilities such as the Billy Irelamd Cartoon Museum (see my post about the Cartoon Museum here) and the OSU Planetarium, the Orton Geological Museum remains firmly ensconced in the old-school. While funds for a bigger and better facility are being raised (admission is free, but a donation box can be found near the entrance,) these displays, despite showing some age, couple with the tiny dimensions (the room barely creaks out over 1,000 sq. feet, if that) to lend this place a certain charm and intimacy. 

Despite these tight quarters, the Museum squeezes a goodly amount of artifacts and information into their exhibits, and even sports a little gift shop with a selection of fossils, minerals and other items that will make the geology-loving person in your life happy.



Some of the exhibits found at the Geological Museum

The building where the museum is located itself also has a fascinating history. Established in 1893, Orton Hall is currently the second oldest building on the OSU Campus and home (naturally) to the School of Earth Sciences. A unique feature of this building,which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, include the Bell Tower (added in 1915): its 25,000 lbs of bells can be heard tolling across campus on a regular basis and gargoyle-like figures (in reality, restorations of fossil animals) that encircle the tower top. Another feature (there are several; their website lists them all) lies in the foyer just outside the museum entrance: along with some very stylish stained-glass and interior design work, numbered columns indicative of the Ohio-based sandstone of which they were constructed can be found.

The Orton Geological Museum is open to the public on weekdays from 9 AM - 5 PM; tours and visits on weekends and evenings are available through prior special arrangement.

Orton Geological Museum
Orton Hall
155 S. Oval Mall
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210
(614) 292-6896
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Breakfast with Dr. Breakfast: The Inaugural Columbus Food Adventures Breakfast Tour (Pt. 2)

(Note: Part 1 of this report can be found at this link)

Our tour group continued the inaugural Columbus Food Breakfast Tour, hosted by "Breakfast with Nick" blogger Nick Dekker, at a place that offered an ethnic twist on the first meal of the day.

Clockwise from Top Left: Cuco's Tacqueria sign; the Mollete Roll; Cuco's chilaquiles;
the newly installed outoor patio; a shelf of hot sauces for sale

Cuco's Taqueria: This Mexican eatery on the Northwest section of town started off over a decade ago as a market with a food takeout counter in the back; in fact, you can still pickup some assorted market items at their Henderson Road location, However, Cuco's has in roughly a decade's worth of existence emerged from those modest beginnings into a full service restaurant that is still evolving; the latest upgrades completed late this summer have added an extra dining area and an outdoor patio to their total dining space, and they have launched a food truck to introduce their eats to even more Columbus diners.

Cuco's offers the restaurant-goer the added bonus of both American and Mexican breakfast standards at fairly inexpensive prices (items range from $5 to $8.) On this day, our tour participants were treated to their rendition of traditional chilaquiles and a mollete roll. The chilaquiles, tortilla strips cooked in salsa verde and topped with eggs and cheese, were a hit with everyone; even owner Juan Martinez admitted it was his favorite dish during his chat with the group. The mollete reminded me a bit of the Stouffer's French Bread pizzas I gobbled as a kid, except freshly-made with typical Mexican cuisine ingredients.

My spouse and I had the pleasure of visiting Cuco's prior to the tour and sampled two of their other breakfast items on that visit. Our host Nick had actually considered my choice that day, the Oaxaqueña, for sampling on this tour, but decided against it. It was a wise decision: these tasty potato enchiladas, topped with a black bean sauce, with lettuce, tomato and sour cream on the side, is a definite tummy-filler and wouldn't have been the best on day already full of food. My spouse opted for the El Tapatio, a platter containing a very nicely spicy chorizo and potato mix served with two barbacoa tacos and refried beans.

Cuco's Taqueria
2162 W Henderson Rd (Northwest - Google Maps)
Columbus, OH 43220
(614)538-8701
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Clockwise from Top Left: Co-owner Hilda Garcia-Mandriotti and tour host Nick Dekker speak
to the tour group; the Barnstormer Diner sign; the unusual sight of the V-22 Osprey on the runway;
and the mini-version of their famed Gutbuster

Jack and Benny's Barnstormer Diner: This diner, located at the Ohio State University Airport along West Case Road near the Sawmill Drive corridor, had already earned a regular spot on our breakfast rotation with its straightforward yet solid diner-style breakfast fare as well as unique location before our visit this day. The various omelets, wraps and special items (like their chorizo scramble) we've eaten are all well made and reasonably priced.

But even though one might think they know a fair amount about a place on a Columbus Food Adventures tour, the hosts usually come through with more interesting insight. Here, our host Nick added plenty of such, explaining that current owners Geno and Hilda Garcia-Mandriotti, proprietors at the typically jam-packed Columbus breakfast institution Jack and Benny's, jumped at the opportunity to acquire this space when it became available, mainly due to Geno's love of flying (in fact, he earned his pilot's license at the OSU Flight School in the 1990s.) In doing so, this Peruvian couple basically brought the same menu from Jack & Benny's over to the Barnstormers space, and created a typically much more relaxed and less hectic experience for this eatery's diners as compared with its Old North Columbus-located older brother.

A neat surprise on this visit was the use of the observation tower, a feature of the airport we had not known about before, to sample our food. Members of the public can visit the airport to watch planes takeoff and land (a couple families with excited kids were viewing the planes on this sun-laden day); getting to sample the Barnstormer's signature Gutbuster and Buckeye pancake in this space made it an even more fun experience.

Jack and Benny's Barnstormer Diner
2160 West Case Rd (Northwest - Google Maps)
Columbus, OH 43235
(614) 292-5699
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Clockwise from Top Left: Auddino's Storefront; tray of chocolate chip cannoli;
Ray Auddino whips up some cinnamon twists for the tour group; the delectable Doughssant

Auddino's Bakery: This bakery, the last stop on our tour, was a complete surprise to my spouse and I in the fact that we never knew it was there. I personally had driven around that curve on Fishinger Road at the Mill Run Shopping Center many times and had never seen Auddino's storefront until the CFA Tour Van pulled into its parking lot on this day.

Indeed, this bakery, essentially the expansion eatery of the original Auddino's that has been providing wholesale bread products to Columbus retailers at its current location since 1990 (the original bakery itself started in 1968), has been open at this location for more than two years. For my spouse and I, it felt like we had stumbled upon this place by accident on our own.

Inside, the tour group was treated to cases of all manner of delicious looking pastries; gelato, coffee and packaged baked goods are also available to diners. We found out later from Taura, the bakery's co-owner, that lunch items such as sub sandwiches, salads and take-and-bake pizzas are also available.

Tour-goers got to sample their Auddino's breakfast sandwiches on bagel or croissant bread. While these were good (much better than any fast-food version for certain,) the jewel of this visit was their famed Doughssant, a glazed croissant that head baker/owner Rosario "Roy" Auddino has been putting on the shelves since 1991 and way before the so-called "cronut" made its debut (word of warning: do not try to order the "c" word in this bakery.) This sweet treat, explained Roy, is a difficult thing to get right, but it's heaven when you do get a good batch.

This particular batch was good, real good. By this time of the tour, all of us were pretty stuffed from the other samples we had eaten, but most everyone made room for at least one piece of the Doughssant.

Roy topped off the day by giving the group an impromptu treat: a baking demo showing how he turned what were essentially dough scraps into useful (and tasty) cinnamon twists. These flaky toppers, baked up in barely over 10 minutes and fresh from the oven, were packed in a box for the group for our trip back to the start. They had cooled down just enough by our arrival to provide one more tasty reminder of a very successful inaugural Columbus Food Adventures Breakfast Tour.

And oh yeah, we will be back very soon to Auddino's...mmmmm, Doughssant.

Auddino's Bakery and Cafe
3560 Fishinger Blvd
Hilliard, OH 43026
(614) 850-0099
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2019 Update: Auddino's Mill Run location closed at the end of December, 2014. However, the bakery still sells its goods from a small cash-and-carry store located at its main production facility at 1490 Clara Street in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood.

Also, Nick Dekker (aka Dr. Breakfast) has added a Brunch-related excursion to your numerous tour options with Columbus Food Adventures.  For more information regarding those, please visit the Columbus Food Adventures' website.

Biking and Brunching: Hang Over Easy

Hang Over Easy (HOE) is something of an institution in the Columbus metro area. Located in the south campus area across the street from the OSU College of Medicine/Department of Pathology, this eatery caters to its primary surrounding population: college students. The name itself references the oft-experienced ritual of recovering from a night of revelry with a large hearty breakfast the morning after. The decor inside, from the six-pack beer cartons used for condiment storage to the numerous music, to the beer, music and movie paraphernalia scattered on all the walls has a generally youth-oriented appeal. If one desired, you can even start your revelry here with selection of bar-style food and a few brews.

Considering that my college days are well behind me and my appreciation for larger portion sizes has been toned down over the years, a place like Hang Over Easy wouldn't be a typical destination eatery for me these days. With that said, this restaurant has a special place in my heart: this was one of the first date places that Mrs. 614orty-Niner took me to on my trips to Columbus during our long-distance-date phase, and I do truly enjoy HOE for what it is and the food it serves. And on this particular bike and brunch day, this restaurant served a perfect purpose: fueling up to take on the revelry and high energy of an Ohio State University football game.

Game day brought in the Scarlet and Gray faithful in droves

Football game day for any Buckeyes' clash will put the service capabilities of any restaurant in the area to the test. I've always found the service at Hang Over Easy to be great, and this experience was no different this day. Despite the crush of Buckeye fans and the related long waits, the staff handled their customers with a smile and aplomb, customers didn't seem terribly miffed by the waits, and the food came out quickly all things considered.

Having a small bar in the front waiting area within easy access for waiting customers helps keep the mood light. While waiting for our table, my spouse and I jumped on their Vandermosa ($7) a winning mix of Vandermill Cider and orange juice that proved to be a nice twist on the traditional mimosa and a good start to the morning.

Starting from left: Chicken & Chorizo skillet; pumpkin
pancakes; some HOE wall decor, HOE chalkboard menu

The Hang Over Easy menu has a wide swath of options, and I recognized a few familiars from previous visits including the Dirty Sanchez (scrambled eggs, chorizo, HOE fries and queso in a flour tortilla, topped by more queso, cheddar, pico de gallo and sour cream) and the Menage a Trois (four pieces of french toast dusted with powdered sugar served with butter and syrup.)

What I was truly jonesing for was not on the menu this time (the Muffin Top: french toast with bananas, peanut butter and whipped cream served with syrup) so I opted for the Sausage Skillet ($8.99), a pleasing mix of nicely spicy sausage, onions, peppers and mushrooms served with two eggs (I opted for scrambled), queso, HOE fries and two slices of toast. The only quibble was the slightly underdone HOE fries, but this was understandable in the light of the game day crush.

My spouse and I spotted a chalkboard toting the availability of their seasonal pumpkin pancakes, and my spouse was more than happy to oblige. The pancakes, listed as "Struggling to Get Up" on their menu, are available in standard or seasonal versions and are mix-and-matchable. With that said, their pumpkin cakes were nicely flavored, with a firm exterior yet slightly pie-like interior, and were available at the same price as their regular pancakes ($5.25). Customers can fancy-up their pancakes with add-ons like chocolate chips and macerated berries as well, should they desire.

Everyday daily specials are available throughout the week; this week's selection included a Summer Spinach Salad (Monday), BBQ Hot Dogs (Wednesdays) and this weekend's Eggs in a Hole (a grilled cheese sandwich featuring American cheese and bacon with one over easy egg in each slice.) My spouse informed me that these specials do rotate in and out regularly, so one week's Monday special may not necessarily be the next week's Monday special.

While their breakfasts are the big attraction at Hang Over Easy, don't sell their lunch-time menu items short. While I have not personally had any of these items, my spouse (who has had more chances to eat at HOE due to her work location) gives her thumbs up to their Reuben sandwich and hamburgers.

2017 Update: The space which housed Hang Over Easy underwent renovations in the summer of 2016 and re-opened in the fall to serve its usual hangover relief comfort foods to the public.

Hang Over Easy
1646 Neil Ave (South Campus - Google Maps)
Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 586-0070
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If The Shoe Fits: At Home with the Buckeyes in 21 Pictures

In this previous blog post, I detailed my first experience with Buckeye fanaticism in my former stomping grounds, when Mrs. 614orty-Niner and I traveled back to the San Francisco Bay Area back in 2013 to watch Ohio State play the Cal Berkeley Golden Bears. When all was said and done, it felt very much like a home game for the visiting Buckeyes, as scarlet and gray made up more than half of the stadium and some OSU traditions made their presence felt in the Golden Bears' own Memorial Stadium.

However, as impressive as that was, I decided that my experience wouldn't be complete until I attended a Buckeye home game to get the true local flavor. Luckily for me, my spouse was able to score two tickets to the Buckeyes' game against Kent State University earlier this September as a work-related thank you gesture.

Being an Ohio State alum, my spouse helped give me a primer on what to expect in terms of traditions and other football-game related minutiae, and I went into this day excited about this first full fledged initiation. However, as I immersed myself in the game day experience, I realized that that this is something that has been experienced by millions of people prior to me, and has been written about tens-of-thousands of times before this particular blog post. In other words, writing about this experience wasn't going to bring out anything particularly revealing or surprising.

So why not keep the comments minimal and let the pictures do most of the talking? Sounds like a good game plan, almost as good as Ohio State's this particular day (poor Kent State never knew what hit them, as the Buckeyes went on to trounce the Golden Flashes 66-0.)

Doesn't matter who the opponent is, That Team Up North will always get drilled...

...or screwed, depending on your point of view (this flag never
did unfurl fully and cooperate for a solid picture)

The Kent State University band made it up for the festivities

Per tradition, these ROTC members did push-ups to match any change in the
Buckeyes' score. They were noodle-armed by game's end as they knocked out over 350.

The crowd starts to file into the stadium amid the tailgate parties

Brutus Buckeye did his best to rally the crowd as the Skull Session
at St. John's Arena came to a close and the march to the stadium begun.

Members of TBDBITL march toward the stadium

TBDBITL bass drummers pound out the marching rhythm

Quad tom players from the Alumni Band revved up the gathered even more

Alumni Band members stand at ease waiting to enter the stadium

Hard to tell in this photo, but TBDBITL members were getting energized
for their traditional ramp entrance. For awhile, it reminded me of a mosh pit

Stained glass Block O from inside the main stadium rotunda

The gathered 104,000-plus people rise to cheer the entrance of the band

Flag-bearers lead the football team onto the field

Buckeyes QB J.T. Barrett launches a pass toward a wideout streaking
wide open over the middle of the field

Seminal moment early in the game: embattled former band leader Jon Waters
takes the podium to lead the Alumni Band. Most people gathered at this end
end of the field gave Mr. Waters a long-lasting standing ovation.

One of many "H" formations performed by the audience. The mechanics of
and when to do the O-H-I-O movements are not natural for me
as a recent area newcomer, but I got better as the game went on.

TBDBITL performed a halftime show dedicated to the Armed Forces branches.
While these lower level end zone seats were great in general, the seats higher up
are the best for watching the band perform its formation wizardry.

Quadruple Script Ohio formations with Alumni Band members joining in.
Again, I wish I had a higher view for the band's show.

By the 4th quarter, most had left the game. The spouse and I were determined
to stick it out until the last note of "Carmen Ohio" had played.

While the blowout of Kent State was expected, the fact that the Buckeyes performed up to those expectations was actually promising. This week the Buckeyes face a tough test in their cross-state rivals: The Bearcats of the University of Cincinnati and their top-ten passing attack in terms of yardage. A solid win in this game would cement the promise I found in the Buckeyes at my first and rather memorable first home game ever at the Shoe.

Cincinnati Bearcats (unranked; 2-0)

 -at-

Ohio State Buckeyes (#22; 2-1)

Saturday, September 27, 2014

6:00 PM  (BTN and BTN2)

Ohio Stadium

Columbus, Ohio

These Jolly Days of Priceless Worth

As a result of my marriage to Mrs. 614orty-Niner, an alumna of The Ohio State University, I've more or less been absorbed into the Buckeye family.

In fact, one of my most interesting mental exercises as I grew accustomed to this area was seeing how much of the Columbus metro area is tied to and revolves around the goings-on of the university. This phenomenon is amplified to even greater heights when college football season rolls around (I have kinda' noticed that this area is a tiny (ahem) bit crazy for the university's football team.) Even the Mrs. has told me that I am more likely to be the proverbial "football widower" during the season than vice versa.

Getting with the program

For example, I've noticed supermarket shopping is a much more hectic affair the hours before the kickoff. On the opposite side, there was nary a soul in sight at a music show I attended that had been unfortunately scheduled at the same time as a big nighttime Buckeyes game. And no local sports bar worth their salt wouldn't have a plethora of Buckeye-related paraphernalia and a TV screen turned to their games for the next few months.

Having lived three-plus decades in Northern California, I had a generally good idea that fanaticism for any of the Bay Area's major college football teams (namely, Stanford and University of California Berkeley) couldn't hold a match to that of schools like Ohio State.

There are numerous reasons for this of course, but the main one lies in one simple word: success. Ohio State has built a tradition and expectation for success over the life of their football program, and has been the beneficiary of much media exposure. In contrast, both Stanford and Cal have had generally only sporadic, short runs of good to excellent play. Another important factor is that sports fanaticism in the Bay Area for sports generally lies with the professional teams; Ohio State does not have to battle Columbus' pro franchises for the community's attention to any great degree.

Now, reaching these conclusions on a mental level is fine, but having the chance to test them out in real-life is much more desirable. I was excited to experience my first up-close taste of this fanaticism when my spouse and I traveled into enemy territory to watch the Buckeyes take on the Golden Bears early in the 2013 season.

For what it's worth, I had no particular loyalty to Cal when I lived in the Bay Area other than they were a local team and I wanted them to do well against other big name schools. Even more so, I wanted to beat teams from Southern California; in fact, this unofficial Northern California vs. Southern California geographical and lifestyle rivalry may actually be the state's most far-reaching, spilling over into things like both amateur and professional sports.

The scarlet and gray's prominence could not be missed

I knew, based on years of prior commuting experience, that the best way to get to Cal's home field (Memorial Stadium) on game day was to take the BART train, the Bay Area's version of the New York City's subway, or Washington DC's metro system. This is where I first noticed how well Buckeye fans travel: for those who were obviously sporting their college colors at the platform, most of them were sporting the scarlet and gray of OSU.

Further evidence came as we both left the station and walked through downtown Berkeley to the stadium, where scarlet and gray clothing dominated the view. Despite trying as hard as I could, I spotted only occasional splotches of Cal's blue and gold (side note: all University of California schools have some variation of blue and gold as their school colors.) This proved the same on the way back, where it seemed every big tour bus parked on the street was Buckeye-chartered.

A Cal alum's worst nightmare?

If I was a old-time and/or hardcore Cal alum, I would've been distressed by the breakdown of those attending the game. Ostensibly, we sat just outside of the area designated for fans of visiting teams, but in reality we probably could've sat most anywhere (save for the Cal student section) and been surrounded by hordes of Buckeyes. In fact, Buckeye fan distribution there was such that the "O-H-I-O" chant that normally swirls around The Shoe between stadium sections regularly crescendoed around Memorial Stadium during the game.

Talking with other Buckeye fans in the stadium made me and my spouse realize we weren't alone in making the journey here from far away places. For some, attending this game had been planned pretty much since the home and home series between Cal and Ohio State was announced in the late 2000's. Another family we ran into said this was the last stop of a West Coast excursion, and that they would be starting the drive back to Columbus after the game.

The Buck-I-Guy grabs some grub

At this game, I also received my first Buckeye "baptism" of sorts in that I ran into and shook the hand of Ohio State's most prominent fan, the Buck-I-Guy. I'm not sure what it is about Berkeley or Berkeley-esque settings, but I actually crossed his path again this year's Comfest event. Who knows: with this trend, my next random meetup with him might be a Yellow Springs Street Fair, or perhaps cruising the Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.

For what its worth, there were Cal fans near and around our section, but they must have felt a little bit outnumbered. A few gave as good as they got, but by the end the avalanche of Ohio State support and the inevitable result finally caused most of them to leave as the clock was winding down its final minutes.

As the sun set, the scoreboard told the final tale

In any case, Buckeye fans went home both satisfied and unsatisfied on this day. On the positive side, the day couldn't have been more perfect weather-wise, and the Buckeyes put up 52 points in their win over Cal. On the negative side, the Buckeye defense allowed 34 points to a team that would end up winless in conference play, and kept things relatively close until late. This foreshadowed a precarious tightrope that this edition of the Buckeyes would end up walking more often than not right until the very end. For the spouse and I, we couldn't have imagined a much better day together enjoying some football.

Who knows what this season may bring for OSU's football team and their fans, especially after the season-ending injury to talented starting quarterback Braxton Miller. The prospect of a freshman QB leading an already rebuilt offense (including four new starters on the offensive line and the loss of their top running back Carlos Hyde to the pros) has rightfully put a lot of their fans on edge. Interestingly, a decently tough starting schedule (including Virginia Tech and University of Cincinnati) may tell the tale of how well this team will fare against the big boys of college football more than their Big 10 conference games.

No matter what happens, I believe two words apply: Go Bucks!

Ohio State Buckeyes Football 2014
First Opponent: Navy Midshipmen (at Baltimore, MD)
Saturday, August 30, 2014
12 noon EDT
Official School Website
Official Schedule