Bexley: The Top Steakhouse

Today was the grand finale of Dine Originals week, and to celebrate, my friends and I decided to celebrate in style at The Top Steakhouse .

The Top is located on the edge of Bexley on Main Street.  It is totally a rat-pack feel; deep, sunken booths, a wrap around bar, and even a piano player belting out the hits while you shove your face.  Tonight, I decided to take the Dine Originals challenge, for $30:

Course 1:

-lobster bisque (i got this) or french onion soup

Course 2:

-Caesar salad (i got this) or the house salad

Course 3:

-2 5 ounce lobster tails (i got this), a pecan salmon, or a prime rib

Course 4:

-cheesecake (i got this), chocolate cake, or creme brule

On this chilly, end of winter, spring forward day, my friends Kellie (as seen before in the Molly Woo's review),  Joy and Bret decided to venture to the East Side to dig in to a Columbus staple.

Kellie and I both started with the Lobster Bisque:

The lobster bisque had a very-tomato base.  Almost too tomato-y.  Like, very reminiscent of Due Amici's tomato bisque, with lobster pieces in it.  My soup was also lukewarm, which was kind of a bummer as I feel that soup should be hot to really enjoy the flavors.  There was a nice cream flavor,but the tomato was really overpowering.  I will stick to Lindey's lobster bisque from now on.

Next, Kellie and I both got the Caesar salad:

 

This was your pretty typical Caesar salad.  Romaine lettuce, shaved Parmesan, croutons, and a Caesar sauce. There was nothing really exciting about it.  I love Caesar salads, but this was nothing to write home about (actually, if I told my mother i was eating out this much, she would not be very happy with me!).

Now, the main deal, big show.

I ordered the two 5 ounce lobster tails:

For the price I paid, this was a great deal.  The lobster was succulent, delicious, and melted in my mouth.  And my baked potato was perfect.  Bret explained to me how they prepare the baked potato: the potato receives a nice bath from extra virgin olive oil, is coated in sea salt, and is baked in the oven for almost an HOUR.  the skin on the potato was crispy and delicious, i was eating it plain instead of focusing on the actual meat of the potato. But wow, what a great main meal for the price.

Kellie had the surf and turf, with a filet and lobster tail:

Kellie also enjoyed her baked potato much,and said that her steak was cooked very well. However, she just told me that she received the wrong leftovers from our waiter (who may or may not have been obsessed with Joy), and that makes me deduct 10 points from the meal.

Bret also had the surf and turf identical to Kellie's except his steak was done medium well instead of medium rare.  And, instead of the baked potato, he had potatoes au gratin.  Bret also ordered a side of sauteed mushrooms, which were fantastic.  The mushrooms were in a brown sugar-soy-Worcester-some unidentifiable brown sauce which complemented them very nicely.

Both Kellie and Bret said that the onion rings on top of their steaks were delicious, too.

However, Joy switched it up from everyone and went for the crab legs.  Joy loves crab legs, and is pretty much the resident expert of my friends on seafood.

Joy ordered the pound of crab legs with mashed potatoes.  She was impressed because the crab legs were already broken for her to easily eat.  I mean, who wants to put in the work when you're trying to enjoy a dinner!  Joy was really impressed by the Frenching work that she made me take a picture of the succulent piece of meat that she normally would have to work hard for, but could easily enjoy:

I really think it is because our waiter may or may not have had a crush on Joy so paid extra attention to her order...as our bill wasn't correctly divided and Kellie received the wrong leftovers.

All in all,everyone was pretty pleased with their entrees. I cleaned plate,as well as Joy and Bret, but unfortunately Kellie got stuck with someone else's prime rib, instead of half of a lobster tail and a filet.

Dessert: my Dine Originals dinner came with a dessert.  I chose a piece of cheesecake from Carnegie's Deli in New York City.

Carnegie's cheesecake is world famous.  The slice i had tonight was phenomenal.  It was firm, not runny, and I could get a great texture in every bite.  The cheesecake also has a nice tang, perhaps from the lemon juice the recipe calls for.

Bret ordered the Creme Brule.  I feel the best part of the a creme brule is breaking the sugary shell.  I can only imagine a pastry chef's excitement in using a blow torch on a surface of sugar, watching the sugar burn and caramalize to create the hard shell.  Bret was generous to let me crack the creme, and it was great. The surface was perfect.  The custard was was cold, and had a smooth, delicious vanilla texture. It was definitely one of the better creme brule's I've had in a while.  Also, the ramekin was a double serving, which is very rare!

CONCLUSION:  The Top is a Columbus staple, and packed every night for a reason: they know what they are doing, and they know how to serve a good meal.  Minus Kellie's leftover snafu, this was an excellent meal, and if you have $50 to blow, I would recommend taking the drive out to Bexley and having a great time.  Try to sit by the piano player so you can be obnoxious like Joy and I and sing along.

Short North: Press Grill

This week, many Columbus restaurants are participating in Dine Originals Week,  in which restaurants will feature a special fixed price menu for either $10.10, $20.10 or $30.10.  It is definitely a great way to try restaurants that you've never been to, or perhaps visit an old favorite that you haven't visited in a while.

So that's what I did tonight.  I enlisted the help of my friend Andy, aka Mick, aka Fergie, to venture to The Press Grill in the Short North.  Andy is one of my good friends from college, we worked on our first job together, and have shared many meals together.  One of my favorite memories from college and the 2006 campaign cycle would be having breakfast at the Olde Mohawk on Sundays with Andy, splitting the Sunday New York Times and devouring breakfast quesidillas.  Unfortunately, The Mohawk doesn't serve breakfast or brunch anymore; it was a real treat.

Anyway, tonight also happened to be the first real spring-like weather evening that Columbus has had (a much needed reprieve from the dismal winter), so it was a lovely evening to be in the Short North.  Press Grill is a local favorite; a very long bar with a few tables, a great view of High Street, and an open kitchen where you can watch your food being cooked.   Press offers many specials: 99 cent taco night, 40 cent wings on Tuesdays, Thanksgiving Dinner Night, and a steak meal on Sundays.  Tonight, however, we ventured for the Dine Originals Special.

Press's deal, for $10.10, gave a plethora of food to chose from:

1. choice of mixed green salad or wedge salad (Andy and I both went for the wedge).

2. choice of the Press Burger (Andy ordered the cow), the Chicken + Pesto Sandwich (that's what I ordered), or the mixed vegetables sandwich

3.  choice of mac n cheese (we  both ordered this), fries, or baked potato.

We ordered 5 wings each to start and this probably ruined the food consumption for the rest of the evening.  Press has some of the largest chicken wings out there and import the wing sauce directly from Buffalo--so when they say "Anchor Bar Wings," it's the real deal.  We were later informed that the sauce is pretty much butter and Frank's Red Hot, but fortunately we were being gluttonous that evening so it really didn't matter.

The wedge is pretty standard. A quarter sized wedge from a head of iceberg lettuce, house made bleu cheese (which is fantastic), bacon, egg, and some tomato and red onion.  I wish my lettuce wedge would have been a little more fresh--I think the salads were prepped earlier in the day, so they must have been sitting in the back, and mine was a little hard-tasted like raw cabbage-like.

Next, the big shabang.  Andy ordered the Press Burger.   It came with two patties, cheese,  lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and a fried egg on top.  He said it was similar to 185's Charles Burger, except it was on a bun and had more veggies.  I told Andy he should have ordered it plain with cheese, which is the style of our former boss (we'll just call it burger a la gray ghost for the sake of anonymity), since he removed all vegetable items (and fruit, if you call tomato a fruit) from the burger.

Anyway,  Andy worked his way through his burger and thought it lacked a certain crispiness that he enjoyed with Club 185's Charles Burger.   We got to talking for a long time and he let it sit for a while, so he enjoyed it more at room temperature.  Needless to say, Andy had a clean plate, so it was pretty tasty.   Beef lovers, what's not to love about two all beef patties with cheese? Haha!

I ordered the Chicken Pesto sandwich.  The sandwich comes on ciabata bread, with a slice of grilled chicken, bacon, cheese, grilled veggies, and homemade pesto.  The pesto was a little on the salty side.  I really do enjoy pesto, but the saltiness overpowered the natural salt from the bacon and from the grilled mushrooms.  The sandwich was pretty large, so I had half of it. Over all, it was pretty tasty.  Minus the salt on the pesto.

And now: the big deal of the main meal: the mac n cheese!!

Mac n cheese, i think, is a pretty much universal staple in American cuisine.  Rotini, elbow macaroni, shells, bowties, any shape, size, form, grain of pasta can be made into a creamy goodness of cheese, perhaps some vegetables and meat, and seasoning.

Press uses elbow macaroni tossed in a sauce made from several cheeses, then a delicious slice of American cheese melted on top.  The mac n cheese comes in sliced squares, so it is easy to dig into with your fork.  This block of cheesy goodness is tossed with pepper, and some other seasoning.  

I had to do a close up to have the full effect of the melted sliced cheese on top.  The bad thing about the mac n cheese is that it does not reheat well.  It is best to eat it at the bar, which, unfortunately was impossible because i inserted a vast quantity of food into my gullet.

CONCLUSION:  Press Grill is a great place to go with friends, on a date, or even by yourself for a bite to eat and a cool city vibe to check out.  I am definitely going to start taking advantage of the Tuesday night deal, for the "butter and red hot" sauce.

This is why Tai's Asian Bisto has the best Pad Thai

Seriously.

Tai's Asian Bistro is amazing.

All of this for under $7

 

Look how much Pad Thai that is!!!

Look how deep that container is!

 

I'm telling you, if you're craving pad thai, head over to Tai's.  It's well worth the trip over to West Lane Avenue.

Polaris: Molly Woo's

One of the best part about my friends is that they are all willing to eat. New places, old places, different genres, I can always count on someone to share a good meal with. Although, this may be a bad thing when trying to watch my diet...

However, my friend Kellie and I make it a habit to get together on nights when we don't feel like going out, and have a good meal. One place we like to frequent is Molly Woo's Asian Bistro (Molly Woo's) at Polaris. I don't make it to Polaris a whole lot since I live close to Downtown, so I often forget how nicely planned it is, and the good shopping and restaurant choices there are.

Recently, I had read a review in the Columbus Dispatch about Molly Woo's, so I had been wanting to try this "Pan-Asian menu" that is "on the track to perfection." We sat at the bar, which provided a nice ambiance and a good people watching view (which is a hobby that Kellie and I are exceptionally good at).

We ordered two appetizers, an order of pot stickers and an order of crab rangoon. I forgot to take pictures because it was 8 pm and I was ravished with hunger. The pot stickers are filled with chicken and vegetables, and are in a flavorful ginger soy sauce, with a plum drizzle. On top of the pot stickers is a nice shaved carrot ensemble that is easy to pick up with a fork. I thought the pot stickers were kind of cold when they came out. But nevertheless tasty.

The crab rangoons are really small. I guess since Molly Woo's is a Cameron Mitchell's restaurant, the appetizers that are generally normal people sized at regular restaurants have to be fancy and smaller and more expensive. But the sweet and tangy sauce that comes to dip the rangoons in is AWESOME. And the rangoons are pretty good even though they are bite sized.

Kellie ordered the Sesame Beef with Brown Rice:

And I ordered the special Chinese New Year fried rice, with Lump Crab and Shrimp:

The selling point for this was the mango. However, the tomatoes really were unnecessary. I really don't understand why you would mix raw tomatoes, with raw mangoes, on top of shrimp and lump crab and a savory fried rice?

I wish this fried rice had more to it. For example, Haiku's fried rice has a lot of vegetables, sprouts, snow pod peas, beans,carrots, and pieces of meat or tofu. This fried rice just had chopped celery, onion, peas out of the pod, and some carrots. I don't even think there was egg in the fried rice? Anyway, I guess I paid $17.95 for like 15 pieces of not really big shrimp that I could probably get in a frozen bag from Trader Joe's, and a pile of lump crap meat that was cold and most likely from a can.

Kellie said her sesame beef was good though.

Ok, this is where things get crazy and gluttonous. It's 9 pm, and I look out in the hallway, and like ONE HUNDRED 16-year-olds are exiting the mall. SERIOUSLY. All of these kids. Who lets their kids go to the mall on a Friday night, and most importantly, how do these kids have money to go to Forever 21 and Gap and Victoria's Secret and buy things? Maybe it's a city thing that I didn't deal with growing up in Celina, but come on, really? A MASS EXODUS of children? Don't they have better things to do than hang out in the mall?!

Anyway, the dessert special on the Chinese New Year deal was a warm pear tart with coconut ice cream:

OMG. This was seriously the best dessert I've had in a long time. The pastry was warm, the pear filling was sweet and tart, and the coconut ice cream added a nice texture. We seriously demolished it in 5 minutes.

Due to the after shock of witnessing the degeneration of America's children, we ordered another dessert. The bar tender recommended this banana-peanut butter-chocolate-wonton-ice cream topped delight:

These were pretty good too. However, I think that it would have been better with Nutella instead of chocolate and peanut butter. And it was a cold dessert, not warm and delightful like the pear tart.

I had to do Body Pump and Cardio today to remove the guilt of having two desserts, but that pear tart was worth it.

CONCLUSION: I don't think I will get another rice dish from Molly Woo's. I'll probably just stick to the chicken dishes, or just get soup and dessert. And I will try and not go on a weekend around 9pm so I won't be terrified by the kiddos.

Downtown: Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace

When I was growing up, my dad was a huge fan of serving me hot dogs. Even though my mom was anti the idea, my dad used to like to cook hot dogs for me on the weekends, slice them in half, melt a slice of American cheese neatly in the middle, and place the dog on piece of toast. He would make a ketchup-Tabasco combo (I think we have 3 types of hot sauce in our fridge at home), and place some onions on top. It was a very fancy presentation and was even more delicious.

However, after a summer in India, my grandfather got me off of the hot dog kick and I never really ate them again (thankfully, my father got off the hot dog kick and progressed to cold cuts and McDonald's $1 double cheeseburgers).

The Betty's family of restaurants has three of the most popular restaurants that my friends and I frequent: The Tip Top (best variety of fries), The Surly Girl (the spicy peanut butter sandwich is delicious), and Betty's (fried plantains!). So when Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace (Dirty Frank's) opened in Downtown Columbus, it was destined to be a hit.

Dirty Frank's is in the location of the old Queen Bee, which I used to frequent during the 2006 campaign as it was across the street from the Strickland campaign headquarters, and around the corner from my office. It was amazing how quickly the place was turned around into a modern, hip restaurant.

I went to Dirty Frank's when it first opened. The great things about Dirty Frank's is that there are a variety of hot dogs: all beef dogs, brats, and both dogs and brats in veggie. Which is great for non beef eaters like me.

Today I had off work and ventured down to Dirty Frank's with my buddy Eric, aka the White Ninja (see the Unhappy Hour post). Eric is one of my go-to eating buddies and we hadn't been to Dirty Franks together, and I hadn't been there since the new menu rolled out, so we went for it. It was also the perfect day for comfort food, as it is snowing,windy, and all around miserable outside.

Eric and I ordered an order of the soft pretzels, and tator tots, in addition to our dogs. Eric went for the beef brats, and ordered the Lara's Pittsburgh Princess, which is topped with cole slaw, yellow mustard, and french fries, and a Chicago dog, with mustard, sport peppers, and pickles. I ordered two veggie dogs, one Beano, which has refried beans, tomatoes, onions, and sharp cheddar cheese, and I ordered a Lara's Pittsburgh Princess too.

The last time I had the pretzels, they were a little on the hard side, and perhaps had too much flour. I am a sucker for soft pretzels. Every time my mom and I go to the mall, we stop at Auntie Anne's and share a pretzel. The pretzels today were hot, soft, and had a great flavor. The

pretzels come with a cheese sauce, and a Sriracha mustard, which is delicious.

Here are Eric's dogs.

I love potatoes. I love tater tots. There are a lot of great tot locations in Columbus. Latkes, aloo parathas, french fries, mashed baked, twice baked, give me some taters! Dirty Frank's are not greasy, crispy, and we ordered them doused in cheese sauce and bacon. Amazing.

And here are mine.

I love the Beano. The refried beans have a nice kick, and the raw tomato/onion combo are great. However, I wish the cheese would be melted. I understand the appeal of unmelted shredded cheese on items (tacos, etc), but Maybe a little more warmth on this dog could do it some good.

Lara's P squared: I really don't know how i feel about this dog. All of the components on their own are delicious, but I don't think that this combo needs to do it. There needs to be something more spicy. I don't think balsamic vinegar would do the touch. Or Sriracha. Something. I wasn't a fan. It was pretty bland.

Luckily, the White Ninja agreed.

CONCLUSION: I really like Dirty Franks, a lot, and I will definitely be back. I really need to work my way through the menu, and branch out from always getting the Beano. I wish they would have veggie coney dog sauce, however, because I think a veggie coney dog would be delicious.

Short North: Haiku

Five. Seven. Five.

The composition of a haiku.

When you are seated in the dining area of Haiku, in the heart of the Short North, there are haikus posted by restaurant patrons everywhere. Some funny, some serious. Mine tend to be goofy and nonsensical, but clearly that is just me.

Haiku has been known as one of Columbus's finest sushi restaurants. A great outdoor dining area that is packed any given night in the spring and summer, and two dining areas inside with different vibes; tables with bench seats, one side with larger tables for bigger parties than the other.

Apart from Sushi, Haiku has many other palate pleasers, including noodle and rice dishes, chickens sauteed in a variety of sauces, and a slew of appetizers. However, the best kept secret of Haiku is its lunchbox.

It's kind of a tradition started by my friend Todd and I that whenever we go for lunch, we'll usually go to Happy Greek for salads, or if we are craving a plentiful meal, we will head to Haiku for the lunchbox. Todd is actually the first person to introduce me to the Haiku lunchbox.

For $14.95, the Haiku Lunchbox comes with enough food for two people: 3 pieces of an Alaskan roll, 3 pieces of of a California roll; a variety of tempura; seaweed salad; 2 pieces of sashimi; choice of chicken, beef, or fish; and three pieces of gyoza. In addition to all of this, you also get a bowl of miso soup and a salad with a light ginger-peanut dressing.

I personally think that the gyoza at Haiku is pretty gross. I always ask if I can trade out the gyoza for an extra side of seaweed salad. Sometimes the waitress is unwilling to budge; however, today, I was in luck.

Don't expect the chicken to be warm. It is slightly chilled, in a sweet teriyaki sauce. The chicken is grilled however, and has a nice char to it.

The tempura usually consist of: 1 onion, 1 sweet potato, 1 potato, 1 squash, and a broccoli. Really, a piece of broccoli? Who wants to shove a gigantic piece of broccoli that's battered in often times overly thick and greasy tempura batter into their gullet at lunch time?

Anyway...the tempura today were warm and crispy, but slightly overcoated. The seaweed salad was typical seaweed salad. Not heavy on the vinegar, which is nice. And I had a double order since i swapped out the gross gyoza...hopefully that added some nutritional value that the tempura depleted.

The sushi rolls were pretty typical. Nothing to report there. However, on the Sashimi, I must point out that the knife skills on the piece of tuna were really great. I wish I had my real camera, so I could have captured the detail.

As in typical fashion after a delightful Asian meal, fresh fruit was served (although in winter, Japanese Oriental Restaurant will serve dum-dum suckers instead). Here we had a nice half an orange, with once again beautiful knife skills on the fruit. The orange was sliced so that we could pick it up in individual diamond shaped sizes.

CONCLUSION: This is the best deal in town for any sushi lover at lunch time.

Downtown: Due Amici (aka, the un-happy hour)

I really do love Due Amici.

Due Amici is in the perfect spot downtown. The deep woods, dim lights, white table cloth, and long, bar make Due Amici a cool vibe, along with the upbeat music played in the background. I love the owners, as they always gave me great deals when I used to host Blue Cocktail Progressive Mixers there in 2007.

Located on Gay Street, it is so conveniently located from Cap Square, and is a great place to go for a business lunch, a fundraising dinner, or a quick drink with a friend after work.

Which is exactly what I did yesterday. I met my friend Eric (aka, the White Ninja to some of you) for a quick drink after work. Eric works downtown, and I do too, so we like to meet there for a good glass of red wine and maybe some snacks.

Which leads me to the point of this post. I saw on twitter and facebook how Due Amici has a new happy hour special. Here are the links:

Twitter

Facebook

So, it clearly says, 2 for 1 bar apps/bar menu items from 4-7 Mondays-Fridays. So needless to say, I was pretty excited.

I meet Eric at the bar. Now, I noticed that when Barrio, Due Amici's sister restaurant opened, that a lot of the good wait staff went along with the new, exciting restaurant (I'm sure I'll get to Barrio at some point). Now, at the bar on weeknights, is a bartender whose personality resembles Styrofoam, and who is not very friendly.

Eric had been waiting for me for about 10 minutes, and had just gotten his glass of wine when I sat down. It took me about 5 minutes to get a wine menu, and then another 5 minutes to place my order for my measly glass of red wine.

We order an appetizer; calamari. Due Amici's calamari is fried, with various vegetables, and a marinara sauce at the bottom. Seriously, it's nothing like Lindey's, or Hyde Park's. Anyway, it hit the spot and was pretty good-- I forgot to take a picture.

NOW....time to my reason for referencing the power of social media. I ask the bartender, aka Lurch, to order another appetizer because I saw on Twitter, that appetizers are two for one.

He told me that was only for the day of Snowmageddon.

REALLY? Because when you look at the Twitter and Facebook page, it says NOTHING about being valid for Snowmageddon day only.

So, I pull out my Blackberry (well, I pick it up off of t he bar) and while probably embarrassing the White Ninja, I reference Lurch to facebook and twitter, where he proceeds to tell me I'm wrong again.

Fine. But it clearly says different!

Five minutes go passed, and Lurch comes back. He says that he'll give us another appetizer because of my "Twitter mistake." White Ninja asked Lurch if he was responsible for the Twitter, and Lurch informed him it was "some girl" that was "wrong" because the special was for the "snow day only."

Lurch hooked us up with a spinach artichoke dip:

It was pretty garlicky. The toast points were crisp, and there was definitely more cheese/cream than spinach/artichoke.

CONCLUSION: IT was a pretty unhappy hour. Maybe I love the actual Due Amici over Due Amici's food. But Lurch really has got to step up his attitude.

Short North: The Burgundy Room

One of my favorite things about Columbus is Gallery Hop. The first Saturday of every month, the Short North comes alive, where hundreds, if not thousands of people, eat, drink, visit the galleries, and roam up and down high street.

The best part about my new apartment (besides not paying any utilities) is that I live two blocks from High Street, and can easily walk to the Short North and partake in Gallery Hop.

Saturday night, my friend Sarah and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, The Burgundy Room. Snowmageddon did not stop us from having an enjoyable Saturday night. The view from the Riffe Center on Friday:

The Burgundy Room is located almost in the heart of the short north. Deep, wood floors, a long bar, and multiple rooms make up the restaurant. There are a large variety of wines, in addition to various beers and cocktails. There is valet parking, for you non-Short North residents.

The Burgundy Room is known for its great tapas menu. Mussels, truffle fries, beet dip with toast points. However, The Burgundy Room recently changed its tapas menu, and Sarah and I just had to try it.

Sarah ordered the wine for us, a great bottle of pinot noir, "The Innocent Bystander."

We ordered a couple of tapas to start. I was addicted to the former truffle fries with basil aioli, so I tried the House Cut Parmesan- Rosemary Fries with Garlic Aioli:

Sarah sprung for the Beef Carpaccio with Horseradish Aioli, Cornichons, Pecorino Romano and Lavash Crackers (See, I told you I'd recruit a beef eater!!):

The fries were amazing. Fresh, hot, thick sliced. I thought the Parmesan rub may be overly greasy, but it was delicious. However, I wished the aioli could have had more spunk. Perhaps maybe the basil aioli could make a return to the fries. I clearly wasn't complaining:

Sarah loved the carpaccio. However, she could have done without the peppers.

We had to try the next two menu items. Roasted Asparagus with Poached Egg, Pancetta, Garlic Chips & Porcini Hollandaise and Duck Corn Dog with Fennel Slaw and Blood Orange Marmalade.

Corn dogs, really?!

When the server brought out the asparagus, he told us that the asparagus would change our lives.

Omg, he wasn't kidding!

The asparagus was perfectly cooked. Tender, yet firm. The porcini hollandaise, i could drink it! and the egg was perfectly poached, it tasted like butter. So, so good. Our waitress told us that the garlic chips take the chef forever to make, and I can imagine why; seriously, not even a quarter of an inch thick, perfectly crispy. I could eat this asparagus every day:

Uhh--corn dogs. I love corn dogs. However, most corn dogs are made from beef hot dogs, something I obvs don't do. These were made from duck:

The actual duck was pretty mild to the taste; I think it was only lightly seasoned with pepper, it wasn't very spicy. The corn bread surrounding the duck

was delicious, crisp, and not soggy. The corn dogs came with a nice slaw that was different from most; it was nice not to be sogged down with mayo.

Since we were already being gluttons, we sprung for dessert.

Sarah went for the Carrot Cupcake with Ginger Crème Anglaise, Saigon Cinnamon Ice Cream & Candied Walnut:

And I went for the Dark Chocolate Mousse with Fresh Berries and Whipped Cream:

I will probably get the carrot cake cupcake if I get dessert next time I'm there. The mousse was so-so, but I wanted to try something different than Sarah, and the creme bruele was rum flavored, so that didn't really scream "delicious" after the rich meal we had.

CONCLUSION: The Burgundy Room is great for girls night, a quick bite alone, a meeting spot with a group of friends, and would definitely be a great date spot. Next time, I will not eat before I go and have 2 orders of the asparagus.

Random Website

I just saw this website and it really raged me. A restaurant in San Francisco charges at least $10 for a dosa.

http://www.dosasf.com/index.html

REALLY??!?!?! TEN DOLLARS! I mean, I think it costs $10 to make a huge batch of dosas with chutney and sambar!!

Wow.

Clintonville: Beechwold Diner

I love breakfast.

Growing up, my parents did an amazing job of accommodating both American and Indian style breakfasts.

My mom would make egg-less pancakes, which were very tasty. My mom doesn't really eat egg, unless it's baked into cakes and cookies and she has no control over it, so she wouldn't cook with it. My dad, on the other hand, is the master of the omelet. I have tried over the years to replicate his style. My dad first takes a small frying pan (not even a type casted omelet pan). He heats the pan with some ghee, or clarified butter, staple of Indian cooking. He neatly cracks two eggs in a small bowl, in this series of Tupperware bowls my mother must have bought 30 years ago, takes a fork, neatly whisks the eggs. He adds salt, pepper and garlic. My dad always knows when the heat of the pan is exactly right, adds the egg. He then flips it, adds a piece of American cheese, and bam. The perfect omelet, that can be easily transformed into a bread sandwich. However, on days when my dad didn't feel like cooking, he'd take my sister and I to McDonald's and we'd all split a big breakfast. Those were the days!

However, South Indian breakfast is a big deal. Totally savory. Delicious dosas with coconut chutney. Upma, which in made from a semolina-like substance called rava, with fresh vegetables, served with spicy mango pickle. The only really sweet dish I can think of are these coconut dosas my aunt makes, with molasses chutney. Melts in your mouth!

Anyway, I am a big fan of American style breakfast. I love sitting in coffee shops and home style diners and having buttery, delicious stacks of pancakes, omelets that are overflowing with goodness, and having a great cup of coffee.

Last night, Columbus had a pretty big snow storm. Although it wasn't the snowpacolypse that the east coast apparently received, it was pretty bad. I had made plans with some of my friends to visit the Beechwold Diner this morning for breakfast. Luckily, the snow stopped over night, so we were able to venture this morning.

The Beechwold Diner is located on Indianola Avenue, between Cooke and Morse roads. It is only open for breakfast and lunch. It is in a building that is occupied by several other businesses as well, so parking is plenty. When we walked in, it reminded me of the German Village Coffee Haus, with four seaters booths and one big booth, and plenty of bar stools overlooking the grill top. The bar tops looked like they were made of granite. Very clean, very nice.

We were allowed to self seat, so we chose a roomy booth for the four of us. Upon glancing at the menu, the prices were very reasonable. The most expensive omelet was the garbage omelet, which was $7.50.

I like looking at what other people order when they go to restaurants. Most people around us had omelets. I normally get pancakes when I go out for breakfast, but today I sprung for the omelet. Although I must say,the cinnamon rolls looked AMAZING.

After a round of coffees, which tasted like a very fresh brew, we all ordered our omelets.

Mine, a sausage and cheese omelet with wheat toast:

A bacon and cheese omelet with an English muffin:

A garbage omelet with wheat toast:

And a good ol, plain cheese omelet:

The omelets were paper thin. I was amazed at how neatly the eggs were folded, like a piece of paper. Due to this thin-ness, I was surprised at the contents that could fit in the omelet. The cheese warm, delicious, and gooey, was on my fork after the first cut. It was really great.

With the omelets, a delicious side of potatoes and toast came. The potatoes were scalloped, crispy, and not greasy. Very good. The toast was buttered, which was fine because the meal was fat fatty anyway.

I wish I didn't gorge on the breakfast. The dessert special was pie. DINER PIE. I saw someone get a slice of blueberry, and it looked amazing. The special was french silk pie.

I also wish I would have saved room for a cinnamon roll.

CONCLUSION: I will be back. For pancakes. And cinnamon rolls.