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RE$TAURANT$ blog items appear each Tuesday. Doral Chenoweth writes about the business of restaurants and the food industry in the Columbus, Ohio, Metro area. Reader comments are welcome by telephone, 614-538-1822. Email the Grump: thegrumpygourmet@wowway.com Send food stuff here: iPLATE@grumpygourmetusa.com Send weird stuff here: alferd_e_packer@wowway.com E-mail messages must include name and telephone for a reply. |
 Chef Hartmut Handke |
29NOV2005
‘Tis the Season… To Check Food Charities On the chance you missed it, Sunday’s Dispatch outlined in detail where your seasonal charity dollars are going. One of the 31 listed, reporter Oskar Weiker discovered, collected $269,603 in 2003, the most recent year reported to IRS. The outfit spent $250,094 on fundraising, or 93 percent of the take. Worst of all, that organization was the only one listed with zero programs of a charitable nature. Zero. Two of the 31 listed, Children’s Hunger Alliance and Mid-Ohio FoodBank, both very much food related and with connections to the restaurant industry in Columbus, rated best when it comes to set standards for giving issued by the Better Business Bureau. Both copped a 20 out of 20. Perfect. (*) Children’s Alliance spends two percent of fundraising – 98 percent on programs. Mid-Ohio FoodBank spends one percent on fundraising – 97 percent on programs to feed the needy in Columbus. (*) Children’s Alliance works with many restaurants and local food chains to raise dollars. The FoodBank is a major outlet for restaurants giving rather than dumping excess food stocks to feed the needy. Clarmont turkey count The Clarmont, always the city’s Turkey Day destination, served 380 orders of bird on Thanksgiving Day from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The day’s cover count was 551 with a check average of $23. For years The Clarmont has served big numbers on the two major food holidays. Again, the Christmas Day menu will highlight goose dinners. Reservations are a must. Call 614-443-1125. Thom’s On Grandview update Thom Coffman expects to open his Thom’s on Grandview, 1470 Grandview Ave., and the old location of Braddock’s, on or around Dec. 15. Chef Rob DeTillio will be running the kitchen. Amy Gatton, a familiar face in front of the house at The Clarmont, is to be general manager. The essence of Handke’s Cuisine The public missed out on this exotic bill of fare. For a very private party, Master Chef Hartmut Handke, prepared this menu:
While this Handke spread is not on the menu at Handke’s Cuisine, it can be reprised for a private serving by calling 614-621-2500. How Can That Be? After 84 years there is a culinary-trained chef in the corporate kitchen at White Castle’s headquarters on Goodale. If you thought the 400 employees were required to have Slyders for breakfast and lunch – hey, not the case. Courtney Branch, a 1993 graduate of the culinary program at Johnson & Wales, the Virginia campus, came aboard four months ago. Chef Branch, with the title of kitchen manager, has a casual dining background. Last week his lunch menu included a prep of tilapia, a farm raised white fish now familiar in the finer restaurants. No, it will not appear on the 84-year-old restaurant menu. Slyder communications person, Kim Bartley, said “he’s also leaned how to do White Castles.” Branch’s corporate kitchen doesn’t do dinner hours. His varied offerings are breakfast and lunch items, Monday through Friday. by Doral Chenoweth 614-538-1822 |