I have been spending a fair amount of time at my family house in Central Ohio. Totally unlike my early years here modern Columbus is exploding with the addition of new ethnic communities with their restaurants and food stores, so we have been enjoying the exploration and it seemed like a topic devoted to this geography was worthwhile. In many ways it is easier to find great food sources, both for dining and shoping here than in NYC.
There are several excellent indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Hispanic foodstores within just a few minutes drive of my home, not to mention Saraga, a huge international food store stocking produce fish meat and packaged goods for The African, Asian, hispanic and other communities. https://www.facebook.com/saraga3ohio/
I love Columbus. My son spent 3 semesters at a Uni near there and I had many happy eating experiences. Standouts, both in German Village: Pistacia Vera, rye croissants that are absolutely best of breed. And Chapman’s Eat Market - charming little bistro with interesting and delicious fare in a cool space.
Oh man, thank you for this @JenKalb. B is a Buckeye/rabid college football fan and after nearly 20 years of being together, he still hasn’t taken me or our 8-year old Spring Onion to Columbus for a game. We’ve been picketing for a change.
Note, the first place, Speck, has moved from suburban Delaware to downtown Columbus since this was published. It only takes 15-20 minutes to get anywhere from anywhere, seemingly.
I’m in Columbus now, flew back with my mother from Providence yesterday. Here for 2 weeks. I do love the variety of restaurants here compared to Cape Cod where everyone goes to eat fish and shellfish. Still haven’t recovered my taste from having Covid last month, though.
Thanks for this. Id like to say that in addition to my selfish interest in good food my daughter is living in Worthington house much of the time and she will also appreciate food ideas.
Re baked goods, you should consider the sourdough breads from Dan the Baker in Grandview but also sold at stores around town such as Weilands. Pricey but delicious and very interesting. I really like the ancient grains and sesame breads. Sweet items can be bought at the Toast Bar.
Mass shore seems very conservative and monotonous even if the seafood is good. My nephew cheffed there for a while but got bored…
Here is something that is super non-boring but if your taste is off it might be difficult.Xi Xia
This fish with picked vegetables (house made) was fantastic
The food at this place is Northern or Western chinese - hard to categorize. They have really good hand-pulled noodles in various presentations -a short list of delicious and unusual items with lots of different flavors. Friendly servers make it easy to decide. We loved everything except the lamb in their pilaf (!) seemed overcooked. Here are some of the dishes:
Dapanji stirred noodles - looks ordinary but its not! We had a round thick noodle with this dish, great flavors I couldnt put my finger on
The cold chicken appetizer was fantastic - we were scarfing up the oily, spicy scallion sauce after all the chicken was gone. Maybe it would have more of the numbing sichuan wildpepper inaserious szechuan place-for me this was spiced just right.
Here is a pic of the pilaf (which has walnuts and raisins in addition to lamb and a great dish of bok choy in garlic sauce - we were finishing off leftovers tonight.
Interesting that you should mention Dan the Baker. We are going to a memorial service for a friend of my mother’s who died while she was visiting me on the Cape. It’s mid afternoon on Saturday at her church in Grandview, and Dan the Baker is catering it for the family.
Recently returned from [Columbus] where we enjoyed a Sunday meal at North East Chinese Restaurant serving Dongbei cuisine near the university. https://www.nechinese.com/
A great family run businesss with mostly takeout business but it was restful sitting there with an older woman doing food prep (preparing beans) at an adjoining table while we enjoyed our massive dish of beef and beans with “pancake” for 2 and a cold spicy mixed veg salad. The main dish was served in a large caldero with a stew - tender beef, cubes, large flat green beans cut in pieces, potato, bean noodles in a savory broth (star anise noted),over which a flat layer of dumpling had been steamed. Cut into 8 large pieces, it was a dish for a whole family, not 2!!! Very good satisfying eating We finished only half, saving the second half for a later meal . I want to eat their food again and again! Lots of interesting dishes to try.
Thanks for this report and for the thread in general. B went to The Ohio State and the 3 of us may finally be going to a game this season. Nice to hear that it’s not just pub food around town.
I just went through the Eater article again and marked some of the interesting places on my map - so many places I havent even thought about going yet including african. Tho I grew up in the Columbus area I have NEVER been to a game. Its the biggest thing that happens in that town for sure. All the many ethnic communities that have developed over the years have added a remarkable vibrance to the food scene with many options. Tho as my daughter has pointed out many of the upscale restos are part of larger organizations or mini-chains which leads to a certain sameness among them.
