I’m a little behind the times on reporting this one but Handke’s closed on June 18. I only made it there once but had a good experience. Losing Handke’s is definitely a blow to fine dining in Columbus, Ohio.

From their website:

“It is with profound sadness that we announce Handke’s Cuisine and encore closed at the end of service on Thursday, June 18, 2009.

We are grateful to our loyal patrons and to the community for their support during this difficult time. It is never easy to make a decision that affects the lives of so many. Thank you to the Dine Originals Columbus family and Chef Richard Rosendale for opening their arms in support of our staff.”

I’ve been asked to compile a list of late night eateries here in Columbus, Ohio. Obviously, that would include The Blue Danube whose kitchen is open until 1 a.m. Monday thru Thursday, 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and midnight on Sundays.

Ideally, restaurants making the list would have their kitchen open until at least midnight but we’ll settle for 11 p.m.

Villa Nova - 11 p.m. every night.

Pita Hut-n-Grille - as long as Bob’s Bar is open usually The Hut is open.

The Burgundy Room - 11 p.m. and until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Mad Mex - midnight every night.

Well there’s a start. I’ll keep adding to the list. Let me know if you are aware of other late night eateries in Columbus, Ohio.

I just wanted to give you the head’s up that a new Five Guys is opening today in Grove City at 1790 Stringtown Rd. to cater to the burger fans in the South area of the city. This is the third Five Guys to open in Columbus this year and a fourth is planned for the Easton Town Center sometime later this month. Bob Dorfman, CEO of the franchise group that owns the locations plans 20 total for the Columbus area over the next several years. I just wondered if you might consider checking it out for lunch or dinner and sharing your experience on your blog?

As you may know, Five Guys has an almost cult-like following among burger lovers around the country, and has been recognized as one of the fastest growing food franchises. It’s also been included in the Zagat Guide for several years and was recently splashed across headlines when President Obama stopped in for an impromptu lunch with Brian Williams and an NBC film crew. (Incidentally, Five Guys corporate, nor the restaurant had any forewarning that the President was coming.)

The Columbus locations are owned by TCH Restaurant Group. TCH owns the rights to open 86 total locations in Tampa, Columbus and Houston over the next several years.

Thank you,
Stefanie

—–
Stefanie Phillips
Vice President, Social Media Director
RFB Communications Group, Inc.
813.259.0345

It’s been over three years since I’ve visited The Refectory here in Columbus, Ohio. I guess I have memories of leaving there hungry and broke (neither occurred on my most recent visit, I can happily report). These are not good memories. But my man, Uncle Jerry, kept telling me what a great deal their Bistro menu was. As a food reviewer, I felt that it was my duty to make another visit to that Bethel Road mainstay.

Dare I say that it was “reasonably priced?” Well, I’ll hold back on such a bold statement for fear of getting thoroughly ripped by those who may comment upon this blog. Thank God, I didn’t order my steak medium well. But at $23.95 per person, I have to admit that it was a very nice price for Refectory-style dining. Of course, we have to factor in the great restaurant bargain spoiler, alcohol. But we’ll leave that to the individual diner’s discretion.

Of course your options are somewhat restricted on the Bistro menu but your budget must be as well if you are considering it. But let me say they were damn fine options. And behind curtain no. 1 is . . .
…click here to read more →

A concert there by local bar-based cover band The Mac (themacmusic.com) afforded my visiting sister and afforded me an opportunity to rate yet another Columbus staple, the Grandview Cafe (henceforth referred to as “GC”) at West Third and Grandview Avenues. A neighborhood pub, the restaurant combines an Old Bag of Nails feel with the requisite “look-at-me-I-can-pay-too-much-for-tiny-housing” attitude of Grandview. Housed in a perfectly decent two-level, the restaurant and principal bar sit on the ground floor, while a secondary bar, with live entertainment, occupies the second floor.

I had already made my fare-related decisions well in advance, having looked up the online menu (http://grandviewcafe.com/menu.pdf). I was primed to order either the GC’s (Almost) Famous London Broil, presumably a Beef Wellington-style course, or the Flat Iron Steak. Also, the Buckeye Mousse did not escape my attention. However, before either of these, I was struck by the audacious claims by GC that their hummus and grilled pita was the “best hummus in Columbus. Try the rest and get back to us. We’ll be ready with ‘Told ya so’.”

My stubbornly-ingrained cynicism immediately kicked in and advised me that, of all the places to find the superlative example of a Middle Eastern dish, the least likely candidate would be a yuppie pub full of drunk (albeit HOT) college girls, irksome corporate Gen Xers and past-their-prime-but-still-self-absorbed Baby Boomers. Having recently reacquainted myself with the hummus of Cafe Shish Kebab (aka “The Sheesh”) and the Pita Hut, I was ready for the Columbus Hummus Championship Smack-Down to begin!

Well, first we actually had to order. After requesting the hummus and pita, my companion ordered the Flat Iron Steak , so I figured I’d go with the London Broil. Alas, despite GC’s ability to write out several specials on its chalkboards outside, nobody thought to post the fact that the GC’s (Almost) Famous London Broil wasn’t quite popular enough (even “after years of R&D” during which they’d “perfected marinating/grilling technique”) to earn its keep. “We’re getting new menus”, our server assured us. Guess it was too much to even update the website. Oh, well: I ordered a medium-well Flat Iron Steak, with a side salad and baked potato, and it was onto the Columbus Hummus Championship Smack-Down!

But first, I had to get my salad.

Then we got our main courses.
…click here to read more →

Poached Green Field Farm Eggs

Cowboy Breakfast

northstar menu

Breakfast with Nick visits the Cornerstone Deli .

CMHGourmand checks out an old favorite of mine - Chile Verde.

The Beer Wench celebrates Guiness’ 250th bday.

Columbus Foodie goes to local farmers’ markets.

Weber_Cam tells us about some Kitchen Quickies.

And that’s your Columbus, Ohio Dining Blog Roundup for the week of May 17, 2009. Yeehaw! And btw, notice my linking to other sites technique. If you want to link to a site then just put up a link. It’s really that easy!

I never realized food could go so Web 2.0. Check at Alvin’s post at the270.com about tastecasting at The Suisse Shop. He also has a nice flicker slideshow going as well.

Btw, hope I didn’t steal any of your content, Al.

When you google “M” your first result is a German movie directed by Fritz Lang in 1931. “M” the movie is about a child murderer who lures little girls into his homicidal trap by whistling Edvard Grieg’s ‘In The Hall of the Mountain King’, from the ‘Peer Gynt’ Suite I Op. 46. I’ll have to put that one in my netflix queue. “M” the restaurant in Columbus is nowhere to be found in the first 1000 google search results for “M”. Add “Columbus” to your search and voilà - there you have it.

MINI KOBE BEEF BURGERS, CARAMELIZED ONIONS, AGED CHEDDAR, SPICED FRIES

If Google were to add the Mini Kobe Beef Burgers to its search algorithms, “M” the restaurant in Columbus may come up first in its search results. In fact, one of our party (an experienced M diner) could not be swayed from her intent to have the Mini Kobe Beef Burgers as her entrée because they were that good. And Hey!, how about them fries. I’m sure they would go well with a hot dog and a shake if M was out of the burgoos. After all, that is what you’re hungry for. Man, I couldn’t have placed those fries (for the pic) any better if I’d tried. Beautiful!

M’s Steak in a Bowl - Rossini Style Filet, bleu cheesy potatoes, black truffle reduction

I guess you know you’re in Columbus when “M” isn’t in the top 1000 search results and you have such dishes as “Steak in a Bowl.” Hey M, do you need a search engine optimization consultant? C’mon down! Anyhow, Steak in a Bowl apparently has a reputation as my wife was as dead set on getting that as Jenny was on getting the mini burgoos. My wife even eschewed the Chilean Sea Bass for Steak in a Bowl. Although she did give weighty consideration to the Dover Sole after our experience at the General Warren Inne which had damn fine Dover Sole. Oh wow!

What’s next anyways? Steak on a stick? Never fear, the fair fare is just around the corner. My wife enjoyed the Steak in a Bowl but it may have not lived up to all the hype. I had a taste and found it pleasant but preferred my . . .

Chilean Sea Bass with shrimp dumplings and water chestnuts in a thai broth

Chilean Sea Bass which was light and had a remarkable Asian kick. On top of that, it was reasonably priced at $32. M is really reasonable priced until the alcohol starts flowing freely. Two people should be able to get in and out for under a hundred dollars. The atmosphere is wonderful and it was not very crowded at all for a weekend night. I guess no one really goes downtown on the weekends. Or maybe no one likes to valet.

Ahi Tuna with udon noodles, snow peas, baby bok choy and ginger mustard sauce

Here’s a shot of the Ahi Tuna which looked fantastic. I’ll have to query of my dining companion as to how he enjoyed it.

Overall, M surprised me. It was reasonably priced, had a great atmosphere, and was not very crowded. It definitely makes heading downtown an attractive option on weekends.

M
2 Miranova Place, Suite 100
Columbus, Ohio 43215

614 629-0000

Hummingbird Bed 'n' Breakfast in Goshen, Virginia

It appears that finerepast.com has taken more of a regional focus these days and now we find ourselves in Goshen, Virginia. Hopefully our next review will be on a Columbus facility and I think it will be. But we here at finerepast.com realize that people do have cars and do travel outside the limited confines of Columbus, Ohio from time to time. We also realize that other aspects of dining can be explored including Bed and Breakfast Inns. So we found ourselves at The Hummingbird Inn in Goshen, Virginia which is just outside of Lexington, Virginia. If you are looking for a place to get away from it all, this just may be it.

Side view of the Hummingbird Inn

What’s cool about visiting Virginia is you actually step back in time more so than you would in Ohio. The Inn started life as a single room building circa 1780 and then expanded in 1853 to close to its current size. It’s a five bedroom bed and breakfast inn and exceedingly comfortable. I wish that we could have spent more time there instead of hurrying hither and thither with our busy schedule.

Whiling away the afternoon next to the creek

And we should have been doing more of this - hanging out, out back. Back to history - the Inn is built next to a railway line (don’t worry, it averages about a couple trains a day). The railway used to serve the 114 room Allegheny Hotel which was built up on the hill just above the Inn. The Allegheny Hotel, according to the Hummingbird Inn’s website, used to be THE premier resort hotel in the area and surpassed even The Homestead in fame.

Looking back at the Inn

Here’s a view of the rear of the Inn. It was named after the Hummingbird train line that served it but the Inn’s owners also keep a number of hummingbird feeders around to attract the little critters.

We definitely enjoyed our stay. If you are looking for a great weekend getaway in the mountains of Virginia that is only about a 5 hour drive from Columbus, check out the Hummingbird Inn and relax when you get there.

Oh yeah!

The Hummingbird Inn
30 Wood Lane
Goshen, VA 24439

Mailing Address
The Hummingbird Inn
P.O. Box 147
Goshen, VA 24439

Telephone
1-800-397-3214 (Toll Free)
1-540-997-9065 (Local and Emergency Number)

Email - stay@hummingbirdinn.com

Innkeepers - Patty and Dan Harrison