Restaurant Widow

Things to Do in Columbus::June 20th Edition

It's some people's favorite weekend, and the weekend others stay as far away from downtown as possible.  I say get out there and see a side of life which might be new to you!  Just be patient when trying to find a place to park.  As always, if you have an event you think I missed, or your band is playing at Comfest and you'd like me to promote you, or you're a member of the gay flag core, don't hesitate to drop me a line or leave it in the comments.

• Thursday 5pm - 7pm is Free Tacos + Beer at the Ringside Cafe, which is locate on Pearl Alley between Gay & Broad (south of El Arepazo, who will be providing the tacos WHY am I always working?!).
• Thursday is also Columbus Green Drinks at Surly Girl (Short North, High & 4th).  Speaker will be Tom Logsdon, talking about the Highlands Nature Sanctuary.
• Of course, it's Comfest weekend in the Short North.  Community festival is an outdoor music festival in Goodale Park; there are five stages featuring everything from jazz and rock to that much-loathed drum circle.  Don't even think of trying to park in the heart of Victorian Village.  Park on Summit or 4th Streets, or in a parking garage in the Arena District and WALK.  Comfest is one of my favorite festivals for eating; in addition to the standard street fair food, you can usually also find treats from Dragonfly, Jeni's Ice Cream, etc.  It's probably also one of the few festivals where vegetarians can find numerous options, including the infamous Whole World broccoli burger.  Click for the full schedule more information.  Admission is free, Comfest is centralized in Goodale park, corner of Goodale & Park Streets in the Short North, and begins Friday at noonish, and ends sometime Sunday night.,
• This weekend is also Pride Holiday, which includes one of Columbus' more interesting (PG 13) parades, and a weekend of general fabulousness.  The parade kicks off Saturday at 1pm, beginning at Goodale Park and continuing through downtown to Bicentennial park, where the festival takes place from 2pm - 8pm.
• People have been waiting for months and months, with baited breath, for the arrival of Broadway Across America's Wicked.  Performances take place now through July 8th and are Tuesday - Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm, and Sundays at 1pm & 6:30pm.  Tickets are $27 - $80.
• Thursday (June 21st) is Campus Hop beginning at 5pm, throughout the University District (centered at 15th & High); there will be live music and specials at University-area restaurants.
• This weekend is the Columbus Chapter Ikebana exhibit at Franklin Park (where, of course, Blooms & Butterflies is still going on through Labor Day), 10am - 5pm in the Atrium.  Ikebana is a traditional Japanese form of flower arranging.  There will be an expert on hand to interpret the displays.  It is very interesting.  Although I haven't been to one of these exhibits yet, Chef Kimura from Kihachi practices Ikebana and has shown me photo albums of his work.
• This weekend the Columbus Blue Jackets will be hosting the NHL draft.  I really have no idea what the events are, but I thought it was interesting to point out, considering all of the other fun things going on in Columbus.
• This weekend is Powellfest in Powell Ohio (which, buy the way, is the 22nd most Harry Potterest cities in the US, according to Amazon.com).  Festivities include music, children's activities, and patriotic displays.
• This weekend is the Easton Art Affair.  Artists and craftspeople will be set up throughout the mall selling their works.
• It's the first of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra's summer series on the (brownish, I noticed) lawn of Chemical Abstracts.  First up, Picnic with the Classics.  Looks as though even the weather should be nice, but maybe a little rain.  It's only supposed to be around 75 degrees.  I might have to walk to work!
• This Sunday is the German Village Haus & Garten tour, 9am - 6pm.  Tickets are $20.
• Speaking of garden tours, this Sunday is also the Hidden Gardens tour of the Woodland Park area (East Broad & Woodland ave).  Admission is free; the tour takes place from 1pm - 6pm and features a tour of cool urban gardens.  Click for more information.
• The following events are ongoing, but should be enjoyed when the weather is beautiful: you can hear free music in the park in Gahanna at Friendship park, in Worthington on the Village Green, and at Whetstone Park (all are at 7pm Sundays throughout the summer). 
• The Actor's Theatre Group's production of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) resumes tomorrow (Thursday, June 21st) at Schiller park in German Village.  Performances take place Thursdays - Sundays at 8pm and admission is free (although donations are accepted).  The play runs through July 8th, when it will be replaced with King Lear.

Get out there and do something fun!  Don't forget to tip your servers, bartenders, and cab drivers!  Be safe and have fun!

Housekeeping Notes

Based upon feedback from a few readers, I am temporarily making it so that you will not have to enter a verification to post comments.  A few people have told me they get impatient with it and can't get the site to accept the comment.  The purpose of this is, of course, to keep spam at a minimum.  So, I will give it a trial, and we'll see how it goes.  If you comment on the same post twice in a row, or make more than 3 comments at a time, you might have to enter a verifiction (this is because the spambots usually attack all at once)  If I get spam, I'll have no choice but to put the verification up again.  So, now you have no excuse!  Comment!

Omelet with Shitakes & Goat Cheese

I don't typically go for the cheese and egg combo.  It took a lot of omelets for me to discover this, for some reason.  But the other day, I stirred some of that Lake Erie Creamery chevre into my scrambled eggs and I thought "hm, maybe there's something to this cheese and egg thing."  This omelet is made with entirely local ingredients.  Well, to be true, I used olive oil to brush my pan, but I could have used some of my Amish butter or some rendered bacon fat.  Once again, I know the prevailing school of thought is that eggs should be only slightly cooked, and while I agree with that as far as yolks are concerned, I just like my omelets overcooked.  Call me crazy - you can cook yours however you like.

Omelet with Shitakes & Goat Cheese - serves 1

Olive oil, butter, or bacon fat
3 ounces shitake mushrooms, stems removed and tops slivered
3 medium eggs, or 2 large eggs, whisked lightly
1 ounce Chevre (soft, fresh goat cheese)
Salt & Pepper
Snipped chives

Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add a pinch of olive oil.  Add your mushrooms and saute until they are soft and tasty; season with salt and pepper.  Remove the mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.  Wipe your pan with a paper towel and return to the heat.  Add a pinch more fat and pour your eggs in.  Swirl the pan, tipping it so that uncooked egg parts run to the edges.  Lift the cooked edges to let the uncooked bits run under.  Cook to desired doneness - maybe still jiggle in the center (shiver).  Then add the mushrooms back to the pan, only putting them on half of the eggs.  Crumble the goat cheese over the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and freshly cracked pepper, and fold the omelet in half.  I like to leave it in the pan just moment or two, to let the cheese melt slightly.  Top with the chives and serve.  Maybe with toast or fruit.

Local sources for this recipe: these eggs came from my CSA, but there are loads of good local eggs available at area Farmer's Markets, Weiland's, and Whole Foods.  Shitake Mushrooms from Toby Run Mushrooms at the North Market Farmer's Market, Lake Erie Creamery Chevre is available in Columbus from Curds & Whey in the North Market.  Snipped chives came from my garden!

Book Review::The Nasty Bits

I have discovered something about myself: I only like to write positive book reviews.  A few months or so ago, someone very nice sent me a wine book to review, and all I kept thinking as I read it was how I would have done it so much differently, and how it didn't really apply to me (there was a wine quiz in the back, and I already knew most of the answers, and when I gave the quiz to Husband, he pointed out all of the flaws).  Nonetheless, I felt bad writing a bad review of it, because, well, I'm a writer, and I'm sure that person had the best intentions and really thought their book was good.  It was even featured on Good Food.  It's just that, when you live with someone like Husband, most "beginner" wine books seem like a joke.  So, thanks for the free book, but I just can't bring myself to trash it.

Okay!  Now on with my review of Anthony Bourdain's The Nasty Bits.  You may be asking yourself, why is she writing a review of a book that came out over a year ago?  Because I'm cheap, that's why!  If it isn't discounted in hardcover, I won't buy it until it comes out in paperback.  So there!  When I waited on a woman who was reading this in paperback, I ran to Barnes & Noble and snatched it up.  I wish I could say I ran to my local independent, but I didn't.  I'm sorry, Liberty Books & News.

So, say you do something - cook, write, play the violin, paint, whatever.  Do you ever come across someone who does it so much better than you that you briefly think of never picking up your tongs again?  That's how I felt reading this book.  Like a lot of people in the restaurant business, I devoured Kitchen Confidential when it came out, along with A Cook's Tour.  At first, I thought Bourdain was maybe just a swaggering, testosterone-filled kitchen miscreant with a slightly hyperbolic writing style and an insatiable lust for life.  I was completely right then, and it's okay.  Bourdain's embrace of himself as exactly what he is, and his continued, eyes-wide-open bemusement at his luck in life and his continued success makes me really, really like him. 

What makes Anthony Bourdain a particularly good writer - aside from his wit, humor, bitterness, love/loathing of humanity and celebrity chefs - is his effortless prose; the way his voice comes through his writing and off the page.  It's almost as though you are listening to a recording.

There are a lot of food and travel writers who don't deserve to be paid for what they do, quite frankly.  Nothing is more irritating than reading a holier-and more well-heeled-than-thou writer who writes from a lofty, all-knowing vantage point, here to grace you with their knowledge.  When reading AB, however, you feel the same excitement as each adventure unfolds.  He never hesitates to write about his embarrassing moments - groaning in ecstasy whilst dining at Masa, finding Bobby Flay's restaurant in Vegas strangely okay, being constantly drunk and full of distressed bowels.  AB is willing to be ambivelant about certain subjects - so-called "molecular gastronomy," dining in Vegas as a whole, celebrity chefs, but takes a firm stand on things close to the hearts of those in the restaurant industry - he really wants the world to know that it isn't the celbrity chef who is cooking your food, it's most likely a man from Mexico or Central America with questionable immigration status.  I love how he outright declares hatred the raw food movement and decries Woody Harrelson for spending time in Thailand and refusing to eat anything but raw fruit. 

Sometimes, reading Anthony Bourdain, I wonder if people who aren't in the restaurant business really "get" what he's writing about.  Can you really understand essays like "System D" if you've never had to rectify a nasty situation on the fly, with only your wits?  I suppose this doesn't only happen in the restaurant business, but I think it helps to have a few years in a restaurant under your belt.  I think everyone should have a few years in the restaurant business under their belts, they'd certainly be a better person for it, but I digress.

This is a collection of works that spans a few years, and at the end, there are a few new words on each essay, offering a little insight into the thought process behind each piece.  The writer is really, really funny, totally perverse and irrevrant at times, and occassionally completely awestruck at what the world has to offer.  It's great fun to be taken along on a ride with an ex-junkie, completely cynical New Yorker (from the old, crack-and-hooker-laden Times Square New York, mind you), and sit next to him as he enjoys an island meal, toes stuck in sand, and remarks that food does, indeed, taste better when one is barefoot.

Some people might find Bourdain's writing offensive - there's no shortage of foul language and R rated imagery, but for anyone who's been toughened by years of listening to fierce servers and line cooks string together a line of cleverly worded, profanity laden insults a mile long, it's a joy.

Weekend Cat Blogging

A matching set:

CSA & Market Report for June 16th

Today started out cool and sunny; we're rapidly progressing to hot and stuffy, but the morning was beautiful.  I even think I got a little bit of sun on my pasty self.  I made it out to the market so early, everyone was still setting up.  No matter.  I had to get home early to get my nap in before work.

My CSA box this week contained two nice big zucchinis - I love zucchini.  New readers will be really bored with zucchini between now and autumn squash season, and I'd like to apologize in advance.  The truth is, that's part of the challenge of eating seasonally and locally - finding new ways to use the same ingredients.  How else do you think zucchini bread was invented?  Watermelon rind pickles?  Anyway, the box also contained my 1/2 dozen eggs, lettuce mix, garlic scapes (the immature shoot of a garlic plant, the pretty, loopy plant pictured on top of everything else above), some baby broccoli, some big fat spring onions, and snow peas.  I also bought 2 quarts of the best strawberries I've ever eaten, which I plan to eat at work this evening.  I have to have something to look forward to. 

Of course, there were Toby Run shitake mushrooms, and some more broccoli, cabbage and sugar snap peas from Wishwell Farms. 

Then it was on to Worthington, where I breezed through, stopping only for some ground chicken breast from Oink Moo Cluck, and a nice big bunch of beets from a new farm this year - the Golden Beet Farm.  The beets also contained this tiny little bug:

I then cooked up this pasta, yet another variation on the "I Love Shitake Mushrooms and Sugar Snap Pea" theme.  Ziti tossed with a tiny bit of bacon, ground chicken, shitakes and sugar snaps, a little red pepper flake and just the smallest dash of cream.  Yum!

Sugar Snap Peas, Shitakes, and Greens in Creamy Pasta

Yes, this is a variation on a theme.  It's quite possible that I will reinterpret this recipe, yet again next week, only in risotto.  You never know.  If it seems as though Husband and I eat a lot of pasta, well, it's true.  Pasta is such a great blank slate.  For this reason, I could never even think of doing any sort of low-carb nonsense; it's a silly thought.  Many of my pasta recipes can be adopted to use beans as a base instead of pasta, or a combination of both; this will at least give you some fiber.

I love this time of year, when the sugar snap peas are just coming up - I like to cut them lengthwise and give them a quick steam.  They hardly need any gussying up, just a little salt and maybe a pinch of butter, if you're so inclined.  Here they're paired with a little bacon (could easily be left out for a vegetarian option) and those shitakes I love so much.  A little cream and a good dose of herbs round out the flavors.  I received this blend of braising greens in this week's CSA box - tiny chard, young mustard and kale, lamb's quarters - and adding them gives you a little nutritional boost, so you don't feel so bad about all that cream... My farmer picks her greens young and tender, so if you have larger, tougher greens, you might cut them into thin strips and leave them in the steamer for a few minutes.  Don't forget that cream loves black pepper, so don't leave it out.  Also, the Tabasco in this recipe isn't for heat per se, it's just for a nice acidic balance to all of the cream and cheese.

Sugar Snap Peas, Shitakes, Bacon & Greens with Creamy Pasta & Herbs - serves 2

1/2 pound angel hair or linguine, cooked in salted water to just al dente
4 slices bacon, cut into thin strips
3 green garlic stalks, slivered or 3 scallions or shallots - whatever's available
8 ounces mushrooms, shitake or other good mushroom, slivered
8 ounces (2 good handfuls) sugar snap peas, strings removed, rinsed, and cut lengthwise
large handful greens - kale, mustard, lamb's quarters, spinach, chard, or a blend
4 ounces vegetable or chicken stock
4 ounces heavy cream
5 sticks thyme
12-15 sage leaves, cut into chiffonade
salt & black pepper
6 dashes Tabasco
2 ounces hard cheese, such as Parmesan (although I used Oakvale aged Gouda), freshly grated, plus extra for garnish

Steam the peas for 2 minutes and shock in cold water.  Set aside.  Steam the greens for 30 seconds and set aside.  Cook the bacon in a large sauce pan over medium to medium-high heat until bacon is crisp, then remove the bacon to paper towels.  Drain off bacon fat until there is about 1 tbsp left; add the green garlic or onions and saute for about 2 minutes, until it's begun to soften, then add the mushrooms; season with salt & pepper and cook just a few minutes, then deglaze the pan with the vegetable stock (there will probably be some brown bits from the bacon).  When the stock has cooked down, add the heavy cream and thyme; season heavily with pepper.  Turn the heat up to high and add the greens, peas, Tabasco and the sage. Cook until the cream is reduced by about half, add the bacon and cheese and stir, then add the pasta.  Toss everything to coat.  Place in bowls, garnished with a little more black pepper and grated cheese.

Local sources for this recipe: I bought nearly everything for this pasta at this week's market - mushrooms from Toby Run, peas from Wishwell Farms, green garlic from Pop & Judy's farm, bacon from Blues Creek in the North Market, and Oakvale from their stand at the North Market Farm Market.  North Market Poultry & Game sells great chicken stock, as well.  The greens came from this week's CSA.  You can even buy fresh linguine at Pastaria in the North Market!

Things to Do in Columbus, with Various Crumbs - June 13th Edition

Although I won't be posting this until Wednesday, as I sit here to begin writing it I have decided: I am not spending enough time outside.  It's 10pm on a Tuesday, the weather is flawless (71 degrees with 60% humidity) and I'm sitting on the patio at MoJoe, mooching free wireless and listening to some tunes, just watching the world go by.  One of my favorite things to do in the world is sit and listen to headphones while I watch the world go by.  I think it's one of the weird reasons I like riding the bus.  If sitting here doesn't beat the sofa, I don't know what does.  Once again, I have to thank Husband for making me portable! 

First of all, dear readers, fear not (yay internal rhyme!): there are more burger hunts soon to come.  With the flood of produce we've been enjoying, and our farewell Sopranos dinner, and Husband's birthday Monday, we haven't had a chance to visit burger joints.  However, we have a few planned in the near future.

Okay, can you indulge me for a second?  Can we please talk about the Sopranos?  If you don't want to, you can skip right to the events.  Every once in awhile I toy with the idea of having a sidebar blog, where I talk about books and movies and TV and the like (I do, after all, have a degree in literary critical theory, not that I remember any of it), but until I make that happen, you'll have to suffice as my audience.  Along with everyone at our Sopranos farewell party, I thought the DVR stopped recording at the end of the show, which afterward I thought was a funny joke.  I thought the last episode of the Sopranos (I get choked up, just saying that) was flawless.  It was funny, violent, and full of tension, just as the best parts of the series were.  So there was no pretty wrap up of the story arc - why do we always feel we need one?  I love that idea, because I wasn't going to be satisfied with any of the posited endings - going into witness protection, getting whacked, whatever.  I loved simply shutting the window into their lives.  Of course, I'm one of those weirdos who LOVED all of the dream sequences over the years.  I love speculating about the motives of the writer, but not being sure.  I love the scene where Tony is in the fish market and a fish starts talking to him and it's Big Pussy's voice.  I loved the episodes of last season, when comatose Tony is living in his parallel life - my favorite scene, I think, of the entire series is when Tony is standing outside of the hotel, contemplating making a move on another conference attendee, and a helicopter with a search light is overhead; he looks up, and for the briefest moment, the helicopter turns into the doctor shining a light into his eyes.  I loved being corrupted by the Sopranos for the past 7 years, and I'm really going to miss it.  I'll be depressed every Sunday night at 9 for a long time, and I won't really know why . . .

Just wait till I read the last Harry Potter.

Okay, so now that we've established how lovely the weather is right now in Columbus - and I have decided that I am now firmly in the "Summer" camp; I'm a sunshine convert - and that there is nothing good on TV (okay, Top Chef starts today) here are a few things you can do, either outside or not. 

• This weekend is Festival Latino!  Friday and Saturday 11am - 10am, downtown on the Riverfront.  Celebrate all things Latino, including great food and music.  This is where the El Arepazo folks got their start, if that gives you an indication of how the food will be.
• Saturday is the Grillmaster fest at the North Market from 8am - 5pm.  The festival will celebrate summertime and summer foods.  Numerous bands will perform, there will be a petting zoo, and I'm sure lots of good things to eat.
• This weekend is the Creekside Jazz & Blues festival in Gahanna.  In addition to music, there will be a frog-jumping contest, canoeing, and food!  The event takes place at Creekside Park, 123 Mill Street, Friday 5pm - 11pm, Sat 11am - 11pm, and Sun11am - 6pm.
• Fans of improv and science fiction might be interested in seeing MadLab presents FFN in Spaaaaaaaaaaace.  I love anything that makes Pigs in Space references.  Performances take place at 105 N. Grant Street, this Thursday - Saturday at 8pm.  Admission is only $10.  Click above for ticket information.
• If you're a blues fan and you have never been to the Southern Theatre, you should definitely check out Columbus Jazz Orchestra's Basie, Boogie and the Blues (scroll to the bottom).  First of all, the Southern is a great place to see a show; built as a triumphant display of electricity, it's like walking into the past.  Performances take place Wed - Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 2 (maybe I'll even make it!) and tickets are $38 - $45.
• This weekend is Juneteenth Celebration, which celebrates African American emancipation.  The event features exhibits of African American inventions along with crafts and, of course, food!  An entire pavilion devoted to soul food! Franklin Park, 1777 E. Broad Street; Friday - Sunday noon - 10pm. 
• This Saturday is Columbus Landmarks City Hop tour of homes, 10am - 6pm.  The tours are self-guided and feature numerous downtown condo projects including the Buggyworks building, Jeffrey Place, and the Hartman, just to name a few.  Tickets are $15 in advance or $18 day of.  Click here for tickets.
• This Saturday 10am - 6pm & Sunday 11am - 5pm is the Worthington Arts Festival, which will take place on the village green at the intersection of High St & 161. 
• Saturday is Zoofari at the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, 10am - midnight.  Always tons of restaurants will supply food, and there is music all day.  Tickets are $100, which isn't bad if you would normally be going to dinner for that amount, not to mention you're at the zoo!  Which is exciting!
• Sunday is the Short North Gala, which takes place at the Green Orthodox cathedral and celebrates 25 years of the Short North "From Blight to Brilliance!"  6pm - midnight.  Tickets are $100 each.

Get out there and do something fun!

My Columbus Favorites

Once again, Sam has inspired a post (the previous was the inside of my fridge, before and after).  This time, she put the topic of your favorite things in your city - if you were to throw a party featuring your favorite local products, what would they be?  All of my first thoughts were sweet, but there are a few pork products in here, as well...

Of course, there would have to be Jeni's Ice Cream.  Although once questioned about jumping on the Jeni's bandwagon, I sincerely believe Jeni's is one of the best things Columbus has going for it, and I'm not just saying that to schmooze.  It's good stuff.  Jeni works hard to come up with her fantastic flavors, and more days than not she's actually still making the ice cream (until recently, she was making all of those great macarons for the ice cream sandwiches herself). 

A baguette from Eleni Christina.  I don't always love every baked good I've had from EC, but their baguettes never disappoint.  I'm kind of sad that I don't live in their building anymore, because it means I have less of their great bread in my diet (although my tummy is a little flatter, thanks to that).  Eleni Christina's baguettes have this really great savory flavor, probably owing to a nice slow proof.  I also love the rosemary "foccaccia" which is only sold on Saturdays, and rarely available when I try to buy it, but has this incredible, olive oil slathered and salt-sprinkled top that I love.  Whenever we go out to eat at a restaurant which serves this bread, Husband is nice enough to let me eat all the foccaccia, or at least the salty crust.

Pierogies from Krystyna's Deli (review).  I can only eat about 4 at a time, a fact which saddens me every time I fry these little pillows up.  They are best served when prepared simply: onions, bacon, and a good dose of butter.  (Ida ave at Grandview 614.488.2860)

A plate of cookies from Pistachio, along with a few Canelé.  Husband could probably eat a dozen of these not quite sweet little cakes a day.  Available on Fridays and Saturdays only, he has recently adopted this habit of picking up a few while out and about.  It's really nice, but I have to eat one every time he offers one up, good for the soul, not good for the old buddha belly.  The macarons at Pistachio are a revelation.  I am going to be very, very sad when Pistachio moves to their new location (but again, tummy will thank me) and I can't walk.  (680 N. Pearl in the Short North)

Reuben from Danny's Deli (review).  This was the find of the year.  You've never had corned beef (as a Columbuser) until you've had corned beef from Danny's.  It makes that $15 reuben you got from that K deli look like cat food.  HAHAHAHA.  Oh, I slay me.  (37 W. Broad St - Front St entrance)

A Banh Mi from Mi Mi Cafe (review).  This was the find of last year.  Husband and I talk frequently about how we dream about the Banh Mi at Mi Mi.  It's a good thing the reuben from Danny's and the Banh Mi are completely different, so I don't feel hard pressed to say one sandwich is better than another.  The pate, the pickled veggies, the mayo, if you haven't been yet, GO.  GO NOW.  The rest of this post can wait. 

Info:  Mi Mi Café 5858 Columbus Square, in the Columbus Square Shopping Center (yes, where the Bowling Palace is located) at the corner of Cleveland Ave and E. Dublin-Granville Rd.  614.899.9202.

A Curried Egg Bun from Crescent bakery.  A favorite treat of mine which I rarely allow myself to eat (I don't even want to think about the calorie content), this little pastry is basically a yeast donut covered in coconut and filled with Japanese curry and a hard cooked egg.  If you haven't tried it, it's really hard to explain the complex sweet, spicy, and rich deliciousness of this little bun.  (Kenny Centre, Kenny at Olde Henderson)

As a sidenote, I haven't eaten anything to speak of yet today, and I'm getting very hungry.  Okay, that's not entirely true.  I have had a few bites of store-bought macaroni salad.  It's a very strange guilty pleasure I have, this affinity for macaroni salad. 

While we're on the subject of Japanese bakeries, let's do two things from Ichiban bakery.  Everyone who knows me knows that my preferred birthday cake is a strawberry cake from Ichiban - pictured center, betwixt green tea cake and mocha cake (or Golden Delights, for that matter).  I know there are trans fats in the "Bettercream" frosting they used, but I don't care.  The strawberry cake is a thing of beauty.  In addition to the strawberry cake, the steamed pork buns (alas, not very photogenic) at Ichiban are also something I love to indulge in from time to time.  Fat as both hands put together, they are puffy, sweet, and incredible.  (also in the Kenny Center, Kenny at Olde Henderson) 

Tuna rolls from Kihachi (review).  Forget everything you think you know about sushi.  Although Kihachi is not a sushi bar, when blue fin tuna is in season, and you can get the loin/otoro combo, you'll fall in love with sushi all over again.  Info:  Kihachi  2667 Federated Blvd  Dublin, OH (20 minute drive from downtown)  614.764.9040

Hot Italian Sausage & Giardinara Pizza from the Rossi.  This is easily my favorite pizza in Columbus.  While we're at it, how about some of those incredible Yukon Gold fries.  Neither of these options travel very well, so I don't know if I could bring them home for a party, but if I had visitors in town, I would take them here.  (895 N. High in the Short North)

I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton of my favorites.  Maybe this can be an ongoing list.  What are some of your favorites?

It's Simple.

I am sitting at the counter at Kihachi, watching Chef Kimura shred bright red blue fin tuna (not what is pictured above, that comes later) with a spoon.  I've been watching him, brain tuned to "hum," for a few minutes before it occurs to me that he is shredding raw tuna with a spoon.  I look up at him; "It's like a spare rib," he says, pointing to his own lower rib cage, "so tender, you just use a spoon."  Chef is making chirashi.  Bowls of simple sushi rice covered with torn pieces of nori, all topped with this raw blue fin tuna.  That's the dish: three ingredients.  It's hard to describe the beauty of the tuna - it's so red and glowing, it looks as though it's lit from within.  It's truly jewel like.  I realize that I'm on the verge of an epiphany.

The reason I have this extra time to spend with Chef is that, even though Husband and I left the house for the sole purpose of dining at Kihachi, we have somehow neglected to bring with us any form of payment.  That's the danger in having a handbag fetish; too many handbag changes in a week and next thing you know, you've left your wallet in the pink one, sitting at home on the dining room table.  This is a first for me.  Just wanted to give you a chance to laugh at me.  While Husband drives the 12 miles home at breakneck speed, I watch Chef Kimura cook and probe him to tell me his life story.  I'll save that for another day, for the time being, I'm keeping it to myself.  We're here today to talk about simplicity.

Frequently, I meet diners who are impressed only by the beauty on a plate, by the use of foams and emulsions, bizarre flavor combinations, and plates stacked lincoln log style 14 inches high.  All of those things, I suppose, have a place, but the truth is, a good chef doesn't have to do any of this.  First and foremost, the chef must have flawless taste, followed by exacting standards.  He doesn't need to lay awake at night trying to think of a good way to get chocolate and anchovies to marry well.  He needs really good sources, and a few sharp knives.

As a server, I grow weary of guests who drop names, telling me all the hottest new restaurants they've eaten in (in other cities, of course), I've had guests who have told me they are insulted that we have combined chocolate and raspberry in a dessert, because it's such a cliché.  Some wise people might refer to it instead as a "classic."  These classics have a place.  Otherwise, there wouldn't be a restaurant in France which has been serving pressed ducks for 300 years.

A classic is something like marinara sauce - who knows who invented marinara sauce.  It doesn't matter, and it never goes away because it makes sense.  It's almost like a mathematical equation.  Tomatoes and basil, lamb and rosemary, black eye peas and pork, sweet corn with butter and salt, hot dogs and mustard: they're classics because they make sense.

I could be totally wrong.  I'm no chef.  I'm not even a line cook.  But I think it's time we take a break from trying to get to the next big thing.  I just feel like it's time - especially as we enter the season of plenty - to take a look at the ingredient.  I only just Saturday ate the best strawberry I have ever had in my life.  It was so good, in fact, that I am keeping its source a secret out of pure selfishness.  Do you hate me for that?

Chef Kimura pulls out a chunk of meat; a literal carcass.  It's pink.  Pork pink.  At first, I'm not sure what it is.  "I have a special treat for you," he says.  "Oh!  Otoro!" I say (fatty blue fin tuna belly).  "The fish market, they sent this to me for free," Chef says, almost giddy.  There's probably a reason he received this expensive and tasty gift, it might have something to do with his life in Japan, or the orders he has placed; whatever the reason, I am happy to be chosen to be the recipient of the karma.  He cuts a few slices off, he admires it, and rolls it into some nori with a little rice, scallions and wasabi.  He hands it to me, and it's one of the best things I've ever eaten.  It's completely fatty, meltingly tender, indugent.  It's perfection, dessert.  It's the simple things, one highlighted ingredient, nothing new, nothing shocking, nothing that hasn't been done before, and yet, tasting it is like tasting otoro for the first time.  It's that one simple, flawless ingredient.  No foam, no wires, no stacking.  Directly from Chef's hand to mine.  Perfection: