23 minute read
Columbus, Ohio - A culinary journey through Ohio's flavorful capital
By KRIS GRANT
On the way home from my summer in New England, I decided to stop over in a Midwest city that I had heard on good authority was a “culinary city on the rise”— Columbus, Ohio.
Seriously, Columbus, Ohio, a culinary destination? I mean, you’d expect that of New York City, or San Francisco or Las Vegas, but Columbus? I was intrigued, and ready to indulge!
Now, after visiting several restaurants and food halls in the Buckeye State’s capital, I can assure you that I’d make a trip back to Columbus just to eat – and maybe take a cooking class or two. Lucky for me, and you, Southwest Airlines flies there regularly and has just added a couple of nonstops.
First, some stats that I found surprising: With a population nearing one million, Columbus is the second largest city in the Midwest, after Chicago. It’s also the third largest state capital (after Phoenix and it’s closing in fast on Austin).
Years ago I heard that Columbus was voted the most livable city in the country. That stuck in my mind. It still ranks high on livability charts, which might be why it’s now growing faster than any other city in the United States. Columbus is predicted to grow 1.1 percent a year through the year 2050.
It’s a university town, home to Ohio State University, with the third largest student body of any university in the United States (after Texas A&M and University of Central Florida).
More than 16 Fortune 1000 companies and five Fortune 500 companies call Columbus home, offering attractive job opportunities to the city’s 22,000 annual college graduates.
The fashion industry is part of Columbus’s creative side – it’s home to L Brands (Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Pink) with the largest concentration of fashion designers outside of New York City and Los Angeles. Who knew?
On another front, Intel recently chose the Columbus region for its newest chip manufacturing facility, giving rise to a new moniker, the “Silicon Heartland.” Still, no single industry accounts for more than 18 percent of Columbus’s employment.
Spicing things up is Columbus’s rich history and the revitalization of two of its most historic areas: German Village and The Short North, followed by the development of the Scioto River that runs through its downtown.
Add in some wonderful museums, a fabulous conservatory and botanical garden that dates back to 1895, parks and bikeways throughout the city, an affordable housing market, and you’ve got a recipe for a mighty sweet lifestyle.
German Village
A highway bridge is all that separates German Village from Columbus’s downtown. Once in the Village, you know you have discovered a very special place. About half the streets are lined with brick pavers, so are most of the sidewalks. It’s not “kitschy;” it’s authentic.
The area dates back to the founding of the city in 1814, when German immigrants first settled the area, many to farm. Immigration picked up mightily in the mid-1800s due to war and famine in Germany; by 1865 nearly one-third of all Columbus residents were German. Most lived in the South End of town, which retained the German language in its schools, churches and daily newspapers.
Most homes were constructed of sturdy red brick with limestone foundations and slate roofs. Many of the original cottages were one-and-a-half stories; two rooms and a fireplace down below, one large sleeping room above. The homes are built close together, sometimes just inches apart. Instead of driveways, most homes had gardens. Newfound prosperity allowed some residents to build larger homes; Queen Anne and Italianate homes were added to the neighborhood.
Before zoning laws came into being, commercial buildings began dotting the neighborhood, though few blocks had more than one or two commercial buildings, allowing the Village to retain its largely residential character. Many residents “lived above the store.”
The twentieth century brought decline to the South End, especially during World War I when strong anti-German sentiment descended upon the community of a largely American-born population. German books were burned, German street names were changed, German newspapers closed and the German language was not spoken in public. As residents became Americanized, they often moved into other areas of the city and the South End became zoned for manufacturing. It had become neglected, blighted and became, in short, a slum. In the misguided era of “urban renewal,” the city demolished one-third of the neighborhood to make way for a new interstate highway system.But not so fast, said Frank Fetch, a city employee who rose up to fight for the community. In 1959, he and his father-in-law had bought and restored one of the cottages on Wall Street. The following year, he gathered a group of like-minded citizens and created the German Village Society, a nonprofit organization charged with preservation and rehabilitation (and eventual renaming) of the Old South End. The Society worked to have the entire area rezoned from manufacturing and commercial to high density residential.
Following the Society’s petition to the National Park Service, German Village was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 30, 1974. In 1980, its boundaries were expanded to the current 233-acre footprint.
More than 1,600 buildings have been restored since 1960, and German Village is credited as one of the most premiere restoration districts in the world. It is one of, if not the, most desirable places to live in all Columbus.
Today, visitors like me make a beeline to German Village to shop, dine and take photos of the character-filled homes, restaurants and streetscapes.
Start your day with a coffee at Stauf’s, meander through the stacks at the 32room Book Loft, shop for clothes, jewelry and art and then return for dinner to dine at one of the upscale restaurants in the village. You’ll definitely need a reservation for Cento or Chapman’s Eat Market!
The Short North – the Art and Soul of Columbus
The Short North Arts District – a onemile corridor of High Street - is framed with 17 arches that light up the night, paying homage to Old Columbus that was once known as “the arch city.” The Short North is Columbus’s most happening place, home to dozens of restaurants, nightclubs (many with rooftop decks), art galleries and boutiques.
But it wasn’t always so. In the mid20th century, streets here were crimeridden and police dubbed the area “The Short North,” to define the mile that was north of downtown and just short of Ohio State University.
In 1978 the city’s newly built Convention Center at one end of the Short North highlighted how neglected the area had become. The successful renewal of German Village in the 1960s and historic tax credits gave savvy developers ideas for the Short North Arts District, and in the 1980s the grandeur of High Street’s historic buildings and potential for redevelopment began to attract business owners.
Today, the district is filled with public art and art galleries that exist in a symbiotic relationship with the restaurants of the district. High Street is also filled with public art – mosaics, sculpture, and murals are found at every intersection and in unexpected spots.
Best time to visit? The first Saturday of each month from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. for Gallery Hop! In addition to special exhibits and performers inside galleries, restaurants and salons, you’ll find street performers that might include saxophonists, stilt walkers, singers and dance troupes throughout the district.
Next, add in some personalities!
Columbus was once nicknamed “Flavortown” for being the birthplace of Celebrity chef Guy Fieri, host of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Now Fieri is planning on opening an Italian-themed restaurant, yet unnamed, later this year in his native city.
Columbus native Avishar Barua, a Top Chef Season 18 contestant, has opened two Columbus restaurants over the past two years, Joya’s, a Bengali American daytime café in Worthington, and Agni in Columbus’ Brewery District. He also appeared on “Beat Bobby Flay,” where he was victorious over the Iron Chef.
Alexis Nikole Nelson, aka the Black Forager, is also a Columbus resident. She was named a 2022 Game Changer by Food & Wine magazine.
Then there’s Jeni Britton, a James Beard award-winning cookbook author, who launched Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream in Columbus’s 150-year-old public market, North Market, in 2002. Now Jeni’s has six locations throughout Columbus, and has expanded to grocery stores and scoop shops coast-to-coast (including a shop in San Diego’s North Park).
Chapman’s Eat Market in Columbus’s historic German Village was named one of the 50 best restaurants in the country by The New York Times in 2021 shortly after it opened. It’s led by chef BJ Lieberman, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), who previously helped open Husk in Charleston and served as head chef at Rose’s Luxury and Little Pearl in Washington, DC, both of which were awarded Michelin Stars.
Lieberman moved to Columbus, from whence his wife Bronwyn Haines hails, and opened Chapman’s Eat Market, two weeks before the start of the pandemic, pivoting with takeout only at that time. Last year he was nominated as a James Beard award semifinalist for the Great Lakes region. (Yes, Columbus is folded into that region). He has since added Ginger Rabbit Jazz Lounge and Hiraeth, a live-fire restaurant that opened last August in the Short North Arts District. “We have a 10-foot hearth on a brick deck with apparatus all over it,” Lieberman explained in a phone interview. “It’s got grills, yakitories, and smoke boxes. We build two huge fires each day and then move the embers around, so we can slowly cook things or grill over high heat. It’s a learning experience.”
Lieberman said the pandemic had an unusual upside for Columbus: “It created more retail outlets for individual operators to do their dream projects. And then suddenly everything has come into view as a mosaic.”
He finds the local restaurant community both competitive and collaborative. “Competition is good because it drives us all to be better,” he said. “But we’re also collaborative. I’m friends with most restaurant operators and chefs. We share information and war stories.”
At the top of his list of compatriots is Cameron Mitchell, owner of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, whom Lieberman interviewed when he was a student at the Culinary Institute of America and Mitchell was a board of trustees member.
“I was dating my wife at the time and she told me that Cameron Mitchell was the best thing that ever happened to Columbus,” he said. “Later, one of my best friends at CIA was the son of David Miller, Cameron’s CEO.
“They’ve been so good to us; they’ve shared their vendors and their processes. Cameron once told me, ‘You’re not our competition, you’re in league with us.’ I love that super collaborative attitude.”
Cameron Mitchell Restaurants (CMR) owns 22, soon to be 25, restaurants in Columbus and dozens more nationwide, including the Ocean Prime restaurants brand (the nearest to Coronado are in Beverly Hills and Las Vegas). He has also spearheaded fundraising to further culinary training at Columbus State Community College, a school that helped change the trajectory of his life some forty years ago.
I visited three CMR establishments in the Columbus area, as well as the Beverly Hills Ocean Prime, and was delighted with the culinary offerings, and even more, by the professional and friendly service at each venue.
But what most struck me was Mitchell’s personal story – a rough-and-tumble road to riches, which he shared in his 2018 memoir, Yes is the Answer. What is the Question? Subhead: How Faith In People and a Culture of Hospitality Built A Modern American Restaurant Company.
Mitchell grew up in Columbus and at age nine his parents divorced and his father left. His two older brothers also left home about the same time, going away to college, both eventually becoming medical doctors. Mitchell was left mostly to fend for himself, living with a mother whom he and his brothers suspect suffered from bipolar disease or depression.
By seventh grade, young Cameron had fallen in with the wrong crowd, and began smoking and drinking. By eighth grade, he added marijuana, by ninth, he was popping pills and dealing drugs. During his sophomore year, his mother told him she had made an appointment for him to meet with a representative of child protective services. Fearing he’d be placed in a group home, Cameron promptly ran away. Although he had moved in with a group of other ne’er-do-wells less than two miles away, he took a bus to Cincinnati and from there mailed a postcard to his mother to say he was okay and to throw her off his track. For the next several months, Cameron dined on Kraft macaroni “made with water, I had no money for milk and butter,” he shared. He occasionally found an odd job but also joined his roommates in petty theft. “I knew it was all contrary to my inherent good nature,” he admitted, adding that by June on his 16th birthday he was ready to end it with a bottle of Quaaludes. Fortunately, a friend intervened. The day before his junior year was to begin, Cameron felt a force pull him toward a telephone to call his mother to ask if he could return home. The answer was a swift, relieved and heartfelt yes. With no possessions except the torn t-shirt and jeans he wore, Cameron returned home and reconciled with his mother. Yet he realized that he was largely on his own and so began working part-time as a dishwasher at Cork ‘n Cleaver restaurant earning $2.65 an hour.
Mitchell’s future entrepreurism came into focus when he decided to run for senior class president. In a well-received speech to the student body, he promised, if elected, to arrange a spring break trip to Florida for the class. He won handily and came through with the trip, renting two RVs, and enlisting two co-workers to be chaperones, (i.e., they were 21 and could buy the group beer). Fifteen kids each piled into the RVs and the budding entrepreneur charged each student enough to make a handy profit on the jaunt. To this day, Mitchell cannot believe that parents of 30 students approved this trip.
Despite being class president, Cameron wasn’t able to walk with his class, but was able to make up the English class that held him back that summer.
And so, fall came and his fellow classmates were off to college and careers but Mitchell remained at home, now working as a fry cook at Max & Erma’s where he earned $4.50 an hour. By December he was on probation, and when he came in late yet again, he fully expected to be fired. But the restaurant was busy and his boss overlooked the transgression, telling him to “Get out there!”
That night, Mitchell worked a double shift. “The dining room was filling up, the bar was vibrating and there was a frenetic energy,” he wrote. “Suddenly, I froze for 30 seconds and with clarity I could see my path. I absolutely loved this business,” he recalled, and he knew it was what he wanted for his life’s career.
Back home that night, he feverishly wrote out goals: Go to the Culinary Institute of America; become an executive chef by age 23; a general manager by 24; a regional manager by 26 and president of a restaurant group by 35.
The next day, instead of being the laziest guy at Max & Erma’s, he became the hardest working guy in the kitchen. “For the first time I had goals in my life,” he said.
Back home that night, he feverishly wrote out goals: Go to the Culinary Institute of America; become an executive chef by age 23; a general manager by 24; a regional manager by 26 and president of a restaurant group by 35.
The next day, instead of being the laziest guy at Max & Erma’s, he became the hardest working guy in the kitchen. “For the first time I had goals in my life,” he said.
He applied to the CIA, but was turned down initially because of his 1.05 high school GPA, but he was advised that if he took a math and English class at a community college and did well, he could reapply. So Mitchell signed up for the classes at Columbus State Community College and came away with A’s in both. Two years later, he graduated from the CIA and returned to Columbus to begin his restaurant career, beginning as a sous chef at 55 Restaurant Group, where he rose to general manager, beating his own goal. Six years later, he left to open his own restaurant business.
His growth was exponential, and he attributes it to his company’s six pillars and eight core values. One pillar answers the question of “Why are we in business?” with “To continue to thrive, driven by our cultural and fiscal responsibilities. Our decisions will be based 51 percent on culture and 49 percent on profit. We will never put profit on higher ground than our culture.” At the top of his company core values is placing associates (employees) first.
At their initial training session, each new hire is given a little red book containing the company’s pillars and values. They are also handed a chocolate milkshake that harkens back to the time when Mitchell once unsuccessfully tried to order a milkshake for his young son at a restaurant. The server’s firm “no” answer eventually led to his “Yes is the Answer” book title.
In his memoir, Mitchell shares the ups and downs of building his restaurant empire, beginning with the 1993 opening of Cameron’s American Bistro. There were notable highs, including a $92 million sale in 2008 of three Cameron Mitchell Steakhouses and 19 Mitchell’s Fish Market restaurants to Ruth’s Chris Steak House. But a subsequent overexpansion consumed all that profit and almost sunk his entire fleet. Mitchell pulls no punches, faulting his own hubris at the core of that near debacle.
Mitchell is now focused on giving back to his industry, providing strategic direction for his company, and enjoying life and travel with his wife Molly, their three children and assorted grandchildren.
He completed a two-year term as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the CIA, the first alumnus to do so, and actively recruits and mentors current and prospective students. He is one of the school’s largest alumni donors, having established a $500,000 scholarship fund.
Turning his attention back to Columbus where his company is still headquartered and remembering the two courses he took at Columbus State Community College that paved his way to the CIA, Mitchell chaired the capital campaign, led by his own $3.5 million donation, towards the school’s newly opened $40 million, state-of-the-art Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts School. Named in his honor, Mitchell Hall features 11 teaching kitchens and labs, a full-service restaurant for students to practice their culinary skills, a bakery and culinary theater. Mitchell Hall doubled the school’s enrollment capacity to 1,500 culinary students, allowing even more budding chefs and restaurateurs to pursue their dreams.
Budd Dairy Food Hall
Another example of Cameron Mitchell Restaurant’s commitment to fostering budding culinary talent came in 2018 when the company began an adaptive reuse of an aptly named former dairy building, the Budd Dairy Building.
The Budd Dairy Food Hall, located in Columbus’s Italian district, is a chefdriven incubator that provides opportunities for culinary adventurers to refine their concept, grow their business and build a loyal following, all while sharing space with other like-minded entrepreneurs. Fodor’s praised Budd Dairy Food Hall as being one of the best new food halls in the country in 2021, its opening year.
The food hall features 10 kitchens, including its “Hatch” kitchen that serves as a rotating incubator site for popup meals, three bars including a large central bar on the main floor, indoor dining, outdoor patios and a rooftop deck. Current chefs won their spots at the food hall by auditioning with CMR, and offer innovative fare ranging from Filipino street food, Hawaiian-inspired poke, scratch-made Southern specialties, Oaxacan-style tacos and Cluck Norris’ Ass-Kickin’ Chicken.
The building once housed Columbus’s largest operating dairy. It all started in 1894 when Simon T. Budd started a delivery milk service from his family farm in Miffinville (an area now in Northeast Columbus).
On Dec. 7, 1916, Simon’s son, William, opened the Budd Dairy Building and Plant, advertised as “America’s finest milk bottling plant” at the time. The second floor was named “Budd’s Assembly Hall for clubs, luncheons and private parties.” The plant also sponsored some of the first radio dance events in Columbus with local radio station KDKA.
In 1923, Budd Dairy advertised a new product in the KKK-owned newspaper, The Fiery Cross. The dairy was boycotted by the African American community and quickly joined by the Catholic and Jewish communities. The boycott caused a huge drop in orders, and the following year the Hamilton Milk Company bought the financially weakened company. The boycott is thought to be one of the earliest successful racially based economic boycotts in the United States. With new ownership in place and with Columbus growing, Budd Dairy
was now serving 11,000 customers a day with 421 horse-drawn wagons, electric wagons and gas trucks. In 1934 Borden Dairy Company bought the dairy and operated it for another 33 years. The last milk shipment was in 1967 and the building remained dormant for decades. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
IF YOU GO… The Food Scene
Cameron Mitchell Restaurants
CMR now operates 20 restaurant concepts in 15 states and Washington DC. If you aren’t planning a trip back east just yet, you can do what I did -- dash up to Beverly Hills to experience dinner at Ocean Prime. There’s also a new Ocean Prime in Las Vegas. Currently, there are 22 CMR restaurants in the Columbus/ Dublin area with three more opening in 2024. You can find a compete list of all the Columbus locations (and others) on the CMR website locator map. www.cameronmitchell.com
Here are three Cameron Mitchell establishments that I visited in the Columbus area:
Valentina’s Restaurant/Bar/Pizzeria4594 Bridge Park Avenue, Dublin www.valentinasitalian.com
CentoCameron Mitchell’s 100th restaurant, which opened during my stay last October, is a “celebration of Italy in the heart of German Village.”595 South Third Streetwww.centogermanvillage.com
Budd Dairy Food Hall1086 North 4th Street, Italian Village www.buddairyfoodhall.comAdditional recommended Columbus restaurants:
Ginger Rabbit Jazz Club17 Buttles Avenue, Short North www.gingerrabbitjazz.com
Hiraeth36 East Lincoln Street, Short Northwww.hiraeth614.com
Jeni’s Splendid Ice CreamSeven Columbus locationswww.jenis.comJoya’sThai meets tacos, Bengali-style 657 High Street, Worthington www.eatjoyas.comSchmidt’s Restaurant und Sausage HausReal German food since 1886240 E. Kossuth Street, German Village www.Schmidthaus.com
Katzinger’s Delicatessen475 South Third Street, German Village; also Dublin www.katzingers.com
Chapman’s Eat Market739 south Third Street, German Village www.eatchapmans.com
Lox Bagel Shop772 N. High St., Short Northwww.theloxbagelshop.com
Brewhouses
Antiques on High714 S High Streetwww.antiquesonhigh.com
Getaway Brewing108 North High Street, Dublinwww.getawaybrewing.com
Wolf’s Ridge Brewing215 N 4th Streetwww.wolfsridgebrewing.com
Seventh Son Brewing 1101 N. 4th Street, Italian Village www.seventhsonbrewing.com
Cooking classes
The Seasoned Farmhouse40 classes offered each season 3674 North High Street www.theseasonedfarmhouse.com
The KitchenThe Kitchen’s signature “Participatory Dining Experiences” are guided, experiential and collaborative meal preparation and dining events.231 East Livingston Avenue, German Villagewww.thekitchencolumbus.com
Quinci EmporiumFocusing on Italian cooking, but a wide range of classes.11 Buttles Avenue, Short Northwww.quinciemporium.com
The MixAll classes are taught by professional chefs in a welcoming, approachable environment. www.mix.cscc.edu
Mitchell HallColumbus State Community College250 Cleveland AvenueCoffee Shops
Fox in the Snow CaféKnown for its made-from-scratch pastries.Locations: German Village, Historic Dublin, New Albany, Italian Village www.foxinthesnow.com
Parabel (Coffee & Bar)No gratuities, thank you, and pay what you want.149 South High Street, Downtownwww.parabelcoffeeco.com
Stauf’s Coffee Roasters627 South Third, German Village and four more Columbus locationswww.staufs.com
The Roosevelt CoffeehouseProfits from its roaster supports initiatives that fight hunger, unclean water, and human trafficking.300 East Long Street, Downtown 462 West Broad Street, Franklinton www.rooseveltcoffee.org
Experience Columbus
You’ll find listings of restaurants, of course, and also several food trails, (under Things to do – Tours, Trails and Attractions). You might want to include stops on the self-guided Columbus-style pizza trail (that’s square-cut, thin crust), the Columbus Distillery Trail (seven stops) and the Columbus Coffee Trail (earn a Live-to-Caffeinate t-shirt after just four stops). You can also sign up for paid food tours on the site conducted by Columbus Food Adventures. www.experiencecolumbus.com
Short North Arts DistrictA guide to arts and galleries, dining, salons, shopping, hotels and parking throughout the Short North.www.Shortnorth.org
Hotels
AC Hotel Downtown by Marriott European styling/rooftop deck517 Park Streetwww.marriott.comGraduate Columbus750 North High Street, Short North www.graduatehotels.com/columbus
Hotel LeVeque, Autograph Collection
Since 1927, the historic LeVeque Tower has been a shining star lighting the skyline of downtown Columbus.50 West Broad Street, Downtown www.hotellequecolumbus.com
Attractions
Columbus Museum of ArtOpen Tuesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (Thursday til 9 p.m.) Closed Monday. Adults, 18 – 59, $18; Seniors, 60+, Students, Children, $9; Thursdays, 5 – 9 p.m., $5 for everybody www.columbusmuseum.org
COSI (Center of Science and Industry)Voted the “#1 Science Museum in the Country” by USA Today’s 10Best, COSI features more than 300 hands-on exhibits, Ohio’s largest planetarium, live shows, and a permanent Dinosaur Gallery, including a full-sized cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex.Open daily, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.Admission: Adults, 13 – 59, $35; Children, 2 – 12, $30; Seniors, 60+, $33.COSI.orgFranklin Park Conservatory and Botanical GardensOpen daily 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.Admission: Ages 13 - 59, $23.50; Seniors, 60+, $19.50; Children, 3 – 12, $16.00COSI.org
Ohio State CapitolFree guided tours of the Ohio Statehouse leave hourly on the hour every day except state holidays from the Map Room from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. (weekends, 1, 2 and 3 p.m.)1 Capitol Squarewww.ohiostatehouse.org
