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.

Columbus Food Adventures' Coffee Tour

The Columbus Food Adventures Coffee Tour is definitely
worth keeping an eye out for when it is scheduled.

I have been a big fan of Columbus Food Adventures (CFA) and the myriad of culinary-oriented tours they provide of the area's metro scene. In fact, my spouse and I have been on enough of them to fill out one of the culinary passports they give tour-goers at the end of excursion entitling you to a free tour, and we are most definitely looking forward to scheduling that in the near future.

While organizing my computer files recently, I just realized that the latest tour we took with CFA, the Coffee Tour, was one I had not written about. Although it has been a couple months since this early December tour, I did want to write up a little something on it because, similar to previous tours with them, we along a friend of ours from out of town very much enjoyed this excursion.

I will start by saying this is one of CFA's more unique tours in that it covers one very specific item: coffee. This one item, however, has gained Columbus' renown for over the past few years. The coffee-oriented website Sprudge listed Columbus in its 2014 "5 Underrated Coffee Cities" and local roaster Crimson Cup was designated "2016 Macro Roaster of the Year" by industry magazine Roast. The coffee scene has also become a tourist attraction as well, with the folks at Experience Columbus creating the Columbus Coffee Trail that provides out-of-town java enthusiasts a fun way to seek out the area's best caffeinated concoctions.

The Columbus High Gravity Hullabaloo 2016

The perfectly-sized souvenir tasting glass given to this year's Hullabaloo goers

My spouse and I had the pleasure of attending our first ever High Gravity Hullabaloo, an event hosted by the Columbus Craft Beer Alliance (CCBA) this last Saturday, February 6th.

The CCBA, which touts itself as a non-profit organization "with the mission to promote and support Columbus area breweries" on its website, has hosted numerous events to support this cause, including the inaugural "Beer and Donuts" event at the newly opened Four String facility on the west side of Columbus.

The Hullabaloo is currently CCBA's longest running event. Touted as a celebration of "Strong Beers and Smoked Meats', this now three-year-old gathering has paralleled the growth rate of craft beer in both Columbus and the state of Ohio overall. Starting with the inaugural 2014 Hullabaloo with twelve total breweries (with ten from the metro area), 2016's version sported just over 30 breweries, with representation from all corners of the state from such breweries like Rhinegeist and Madtree (Cincinnati), Warped Wing (Dayton), The Brew Kettle (Strongsville) and Catawba Island (Port Clinton.)  In another sign of growth, the venue changed from its original Grandview location to the former location of the Byers Chevrolet dealership in Franklinton.

We have not been to a bigger beer-oriented event since last year's Columbus Winter Beerfest, but we took our lessons learned there to heart. With most of the beers in the double-digit ABV-range, pacing would be important, and the souvenir glass provided to all Hullabaloo goers proved to be the perfect size for sampling. Also, we made a commitment to change up the taste palate as much as possible, which proved to be a perfect strategy, as it would have been easy for me to go with my tendencies toward stouts and porters. Finally, we both had goals of trying breweries that either aren't as readily available here or new/new-to-us. Sometimes, though, old favorites are hard to resist.

Mo's Bagels, Mo' Munching: Izzy & Mo's Luncheonette

The offerings at Izzy and Mo's Luncheonette harks back to
owner Magdiale Wolmark's Jewish upbringing in Philadelphia. 

I'll admit to being very late to the bagel game; in fact, I didn't have any concept as to what a bagel even was I was well into my college years. And like many who were long-time residents of the Bay Area, my first regular go-to place for such an item lay in Noah's Bagels, essentially the west coast branch of the Einstein Bros. Bagels chain. Their bready constructs were perfectly fine slathered with cream cheese or as a quick breakfast sandwich, but I learned eventually that these were nothing like the traditional and fabled versions available in cities like Montreal and New York.

I have not had a bagel from either of those metro areas, but I've found that Columbus has a pretty solid core of local bagel purveyors. We've utilized the awesome home delivery service of Sammy's New York Bagels (my spouse, who has had the real deal in New York, says they do about as close a rendition as you can get here in Columbus.) quite a bit, and we have also enjoyed the varieties offered from the East Columbus based Block's. The unique gourmet variations from the farmers market oriented Companion Baking have also proven to be a worthy culinary pursuit. And recently, the choices have grown more diverse with the recent arrival of Izzy and Mo's Luncheonette, the latest venture from Till Restaurant owners/husband & wife team Magdiale Wolmark and Cristin Austin.

Finding Its Level: Russian River Brewing Company (Santa Rosa, CA)

Maybe, maybe one day, the brews of Russian River Brewing, based in Santa Rosa, California, will match the distribution of other well known craft beer purveyors like Chico, California-based Sierra Nevada, or even Bend, Oregon's Deschutes Brewing (who made their Ohio debut early in 2014.) Maybe, maybe one day, co-owners/husband and wife team Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo would make beer drinkers like my spouse and I extremely happy (or is that hoppy?) by having bottles of their Pliny the Elder Double IPA next to Columbus' Brewing Bodhi (the latter a soon to be reality, from the rumors I hear) and whatever other favorite IPA you can think of in the cooler next to each other, at the ready for a impromptu beer taste comparison.

But for a brewery that is already operating at full capacity with limited distribution and no immediate expansion plans, with an added dose of cult status (related mainly to the hype generated by their Pliny the Younger Triple IPA) mixed in, Russian River Brewing, like the waters of its namesake river (which for the most part remains unchecked by flood control measures) has found its own unique and highly sought level in the craft beer world.

No one, not even the Cilurzos themselves, would have predicted this back in 2002, when Vinnie was laid off from the original Russian River Brewery, a venture by a champagne maker (Korbel) to forge into the craft beer world. Rather than take a financial severance, Cilurzo asked only for (and received) the rights to the brewery name, logo, and the name rights to its line of production beers.

After money was raised for all the necessary brewing equipment, the brewery was reborn in downtown Santa Rosa in 2004 with a commitment to doing things in their own unassuming way. Things progressed steadily from there, until proclamations by beer review sites like BeerAdvocate and Ratebeer put the brewery's Pliny the Younger as one of, if not the best, beers in the whole wide world. Achieving cult status certainly was not the Cilurzos' intent when Younger was first brewed in 2005 as a winter seasonal beer (they are still reportedly uncomfortable with the whole notion) but this brew now has it in spades, promoting much discussion among aficionados about whether this brew could possibly live up to the hype it has generated and pushing the brewery itself to unforeseen heights.