Have you picked up a copy of the new Columbus Crave yet? The second issue not only looks great but includes the must read Dispatch group’s list of the top ten restaurants in Columbus. We’re very proud that two of our partners, Rigsby’s Kitchen (Short North Tour) and G. Michael’s (German Village Tour), are in first and second place in the top 10. Congratulations to Kent Rigsby, and G. Michael’s owners Chef Tetzloff and Jeff Benson! In this issue of Crave you will also find a lovely article about one of our Alt Eats tour partners, Mi Li Cafe, and I continue my street eats contributions to Crave with a visit to Fresh Street in the Short North. In my article I wrote “Kenny and Misako change the specials daily based on whim, but you can always count on something creative and delicious”. Well I’m excited to announce that, as of this week, their popular Japanese crepes are now back on the menu. If you didn’t have a chance to try the Foodie Cart crepes last summer, make your way to 1038 N High St without delay.
There are lots of other street food related events coming up. Check out our post on Street Eats Columbus for a complete listing of August and September events. The biggest is going to be the Food Truck and Food Cart festival at Columbus Commons on Friday August 26th from 4-10pm, with over 25 food carts and trucks and we expect some new trucks to debut at that event.
As always, there are lots of other food events coming up around town. This weekend is the Festival Latino, and also the North Market farmers festival with cooking demonstrations and an ugly tomato competition. August 20th is Hills Market’s Kids Food is Fun Day with activities and workshops as well as a farmers market. This was a popular family event last year and I’m glad to see they are repeating it. Check out their website for more events including lobster days and beer, wine and cheese tastings. August 20th also marks the start of Franklin Park Conservatory’s new exhibition HUNGRY PLANET: Local Food, Global View, a chance to explore global food cultures through large scale photographs from the book “What the World Eats.” The exhibition also looks at local food trends, American eating habits, and attitudes towards food through art installations, interactive and horticultural displays. There are also a lot of food related programs and events planned during the exhibition which runs until November 6th.
Our gluten free dessert tour was a sell-out success earlier this spring and we promised to run it again for those who missed out on tickets the first time. The new date is Saturday September 24th and we will be visiting the same wonderful stops, including Cherbourg Bakery, Food for Good Thought, Jeni’s and Pistacia Vera. Click here to purchase tickets.
The Refectory is celebrating its 35th anniversary this month with a tribute to 1976 and some fun retro menu items. Stop by next week for veal picatta and champagne at retail minimum pricing. If the weather stays like this, it’ll be beautiful out on their patio.
Barcelona have extended their happy hour and the bar is now open from 4pm daily. Happy hour includes specialty cocktails available for $4 and a new $5 Tapas Menu available Tuesday-Friday 5-7pm. They also have some great events coming up – including sangria and single malt tastings.
Congratulations to Jeni Britton Bauer on her successful book tour and all of the great press Jeni’s has received recently. Jeni has a couple of Columbus book signings coming up: August 27th at Sur La Table in Easton and September 10th at Anthropologie (also at Easton). More details of those signings and more are on their blog.
If you haven’t checked out our new radio show Foodcast on WCBE tune in to 90.5fm tomorrow at 2pm, right before the Splendid Table, to hear our latest show about desserts in Columbus. We have a great team of Columbus foodies including blogger CMH Gourmand and Fox 28’s Johnny diLoretto.
