Be a Food Tourist in Columbus...
Admit it. When tripping to New York, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Boston and Baltimore, Seattle and Vancouver, Charleston's Lowcountry, first thoughts upon returning tend to dwell on the restaurants in such food destination cities. Return from Buffalo, chances are you experienced Anchor Bar chicken wings. Cincinnati? Of course, it is the five-way chili dog. You are a food tourist. It is a fun game and many in Columbus keep mental lists relating to foods, be it a single menu item or a complete meal. Columbus is a great restaurant city. Dare we consider food talk, restaurant talk, our all-year sport?
There are bunches of people in Columbus who make it a hobby to experience Michelin-rated establishments in France and London. They are food tourists.
Food tourists in Columbus delight in discussing their most recent dining experience. Examples: Lunch or dinner at Rigsby's Kitchen in the Short North is a conversation piece. So, too, is the daily changing menu reflecting the flavors of Italy, Greece, France, all hinged to the whims of the star-owner chef, Kent Rigsby. Spa food entered our lexicon a decade ago, mostly in California, and the major practioner is Hubert Seifert, chef and owner of Spagio. Enter his colorful establishment and be smacked in the face with food's finest aroma - wood smoke, earthy and appetizing. Pizzas, the true gourmet pies, are show stoppers before perusing a menu touting a fine dining array of pastas, seafood and beef. Touristy German Village offers extremes. The lure of food history takes out-of-towners to Schmidt's Sausage Haus. Later visits to this historic community means dinner at Lindey's, a bistro and wine bar with Old World appeal.
In these times when pizza and pasta rank highly across the country, Columbus has two world class pizza and pasta destinations, both named Figlio, one in Grandview, one in Upper Arlington.
World class dining? In Columbus? Columbus is home plate for Hartmut Handke, the German-born master chef who presides nightly over every dish leaving his kitchen in the Brewery District - Handke's Cuisine. World class? Chef Handke's world fame claims are partially displayed at the entrance. His culinary awards, medals, citations make him the winningest competition chef in the world. Handke is America's Master Chef.
Culinary ethnicity abounds in Columbus. Cajun, popular in New Orleans, is the single house speciality at Creole Kitchen. At the other end of this horn of plenty, Columbus has been billed Fast Food City in tribute to the many national restaurant chains based in the city. Pizza is the city's most popular food item. For satisfaction, Columbus claims to have more pizza joints per capita than any other major destination.
To qualify in the food world as a cradle-to-grave eatery, Columbus is home to Ross Products, a division of Abbott Labs. Infants coming into the world begin life with a Ross formula, Similac. For the geezer trade, Ross serves me and the free world with Ensure Plus. Feel free to be a food tourist in my big town and brag a bit.
Become a restaurant critic - tuition free:
www.grumpygourmetusa.com
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