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columbuschefs.com history... |
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Almost everyone has had a favorite haunt in their lifetime. A club, a bar a restaurant, someplace you went on your first date. The place where you met, proposed, were told she was pregnant or first mentioned the divorce. These places carve a notch in your psyche
forever. Hopefully these places bring back wonderful memories. In this segment of the chefs website you will get to visit some of these places again to relive those memories. Your participation is encouraged. If you have stories or photos please send them along, with permission, to post on the pages you find here. Pop in your favorite CD, sit back and take a trip down memory lane. Our first visits will be to the fabled East Main Street Strip from Bexley through Reynoldsburg. Remember Ciro's, The Driftwood or the Rose Hill Tavern, they will all be here. Stay as long as you wish and keep in mind, history started yesterday. Malos Tiempos  The Boat House 
Lazarus 
The Pour House 
COMING SOON The Hickory House 
The Kahiki 
The Cattle Club 
24/7 Columbus has always been able to claim eateries serving around the clock. White Castle leads the memory lane pack. And in days after World War II, we had Toddle Houses with those square-cut home fries that became a destination dish. A sobering-up breakfast at 3 a.m. at a Toddle was a double order of square fries and coffee with that thick, real cream served in a countertop pitcher. Sad, but Toddles drifted away. We still have the Castles so the Toddles may fade to good memories. But the Columbus world once demanded what we today call 24/7. Downtown had a Gray's Drugs at Broad and High. The midnight fare was a grilled cheese sandwich. Gray's in the recessed corner of the Deshler Hotel, or if you prefer, the Deshler-Wallick. Across High street and adjacent to the ugliest sign in town, Roy's Jewelers, was Jack & Benny's, 24 hours-seven days a week. Both are part of my history. In that era of the 24/7s, all praise to one of the finest restaurants ever in Columbus: Emil's Steer Inn. Credit the late Emil Windmiller. His food was scratch. His cakes and pies required two fulltime pastry makers to keep up with the around the clock demand. Remember Emil's signature pie? Close your eyes. Fresh strawberry pie with three inches of real whipped cream. Emil's made a million with the secret of how to get "fresh" strawberries into frigid Columbus in January. His secret: Windmiller was one of the first to get quick-frozen whole strawberries shipped to him from where ever. Those were the days before FedEx. We never knew his secret. And the seldom-smiling Windmiller never volunteered much to anyone other than to utter a mumbled "hello" as he handed out a menu at the door with a body language that urged them to a booth. He knew how to turn tables at midnight. Emil's Steer Inn in the 1950s was the destination from all of Columbus for waiters and waitresses (correct terminology in those days) when the bars closed at 2:30 a.m. |