The eggplant parmesan was competently done. My only complaint was that it was a bit over-cheesed. Lucé was probably trying to appeal to the American macaroni and cheese trained tastebuds.

We also tried the Lucé Burgers - a variety of four mini burgers topped with gorgonzola, forest mushroom, crispy pancetta and caramelized onion, served with a side of Lucé sauce. Don’t underestimate the combination of burgoos and wine. Get the right wine, and this can be a real hit. I enjoyed the Lucé burgers.

Does Lucé fill the void created by the departure of La Tavola from Powell. Probably not.

Does Lucé go toe to toe with Giuseppe’s? No. But for good food at nice prices, it holds its own well.

499 Market Street
Powell, Ohio 43065
740-881-4600
www.lucecafe.com
Kitchen Hours: 11 AM to close, Tue-Sat and 5-9 PM on Sun

Breakfast Burrito at Northstar Cafe

Columbus does not have enough good breakfast eateries. If you want proof of that go out and try to find them. Nick has only been able to locate a few and has resorted to reviewing out of town establishments as well. Grand Rapids is a long way to drive for breakfast. I’d have to leave pretty early in the morning to get there.

I tried to get reservations at the Banana Bean Cafe for Mother’s Day but no such luck. Wildflower just wasn’t cutting it anymore and, with their limited seating, it could be a real battle fighting the after church crowd. So I ended up at the old reliable.

When we arrived at the Northstar Cafe, the line snaked around to the front door. People get a little pissy when they have to wait in line. Usually this kind of pissiness is reserved for places like the airport. We found it at the Northstar as some lady with a baby ran over my wife’s foot trying to push through.

We didn’t let that spoil our Mother’s Day. I wish I would’ve taken a picture of the line to the door. Almost every seat was packed in the Northstar which leads me to wonder if there is any other good places to eat in Clintonville. You would think the Northstar was the only game in C-ville. It just goes to show that good food (even if a bit pricey) can pack ‘em in Clintonville.

Pictured above is the breakfast burrito at the Northstar. A fine selection but perhaps a bit heavy on the onions.

Mighty Fine, Cloud Nine Pancakes at Northstar Cafe

I’m not really into pancakes but with a name like Cloud Nine Pancakes, I had to give them a shot. These were really light and definitely a change from the super carb heavy variety. If I’m not mistaken I think they were made with a touch of ricotta cheese.

Egg Sandy at Northstar

The breakfast egg sandwich didn’t foto as well but still mighty tasty. By the way, their coffee is real good as well. You can’t be a good breakfast joint without great coffee.

The Northstar Cafe - I can’t not keep coming back.

Beechwold
4241 North High Street
Columbus, OH 43214
p: 614.784.2233

Giuseppe’s is becoming a real hit with me. I admit that I may have been a little harsh on the first go round but sometimes life, and finerepast.com, offer us second chances. After having visited Giuseppe’s several times, it wasn’t til this last visit that the authentic Italian flavors really hit me in the face. That’s really not Giuseppe’s fault. I can be a little slow sometimes.

So let’s start off with some authentic Italian. How about this fine pizza pie? No, that’s not sausage or pepperoni. This is some mighty fine eggplant on their Cipolle Pizza Pie, made with Caramelized shallots, eggplant, chili flakes, parmigiano reggiano. Damn tasty stuff and I would say authentic Italian. It may not appeal to your average American tastebud, but, hey, they can go to McDonald’s.

VEAL PIZZAIUOLA

I steered clear of the veal special for $29 and went with the VEAL PIZZAIUOLA for $21. Yeah, that’s right, I asked this time. Two words can really save you a lot of money, “How much?” This is veal sautéed with tomatoes, kalamata olives and capers, served with spaghetti. You want authentic Italian flavor - the tomatoes, olives and capers, when prepared together, will produce that magical taste. It’s in there!

ANTIPASTO VARIO

Ok, I blew some pictures here. It may seem easy but taking pictures of food ain’t! This is the somewhat out of focus (Photoshop can only work minor miracles) Antipasto Vario - comprised of bruschetta, caprese, olives, salami and a mix of roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, artichokes, roma tomatoes, and kalamata olives. By the way bruschetta is pronounced as if it had a “k” in place of the “ch”. Save yourself some embarrassment and impress random onlookers with your American Italian. Speaking of brusketta, I never really understood the appeal of this stuff. I ended up scraping off the tomatoes and using the bread to dunk in olive oil. The fresh mozzarella was the highlight of this dish.

Can’t wait til I revisit Giuseppe’s - rockin’ it in Bexley!

Giuseppe’s Ritrovo • 2268 East Main Street, Columbus, OH 43209 • 614.235.4300

I wrote about Pita Hut-n-Grille a while back. I need to add one thing to that review. Pita Hut-n-Grille has the finest hummus in Colummus! My cell phone picture don’t do it justice but this is damn good stuff. My wife says they should make a coffee of the same flavor. I personally think this stuff is Middle Eastern ice cream. I’m going to have to give Pita Hut-n-Grille’s hummus a finerepast five star rating.

Scrumdillyicious!

[where: 4965 North High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43214]
614-433-0996

Marcella’s is located in what used to be Martini’s Grill. It’s kind of got that Spaghetti Warehouse feel to it - kind of dark, loud, and a bunch of Chatchkis all over the walls. I spelled that right the first time - I’m on my game this morning!

We got there about 15 minutes before our reservation at 8 pm and headed over to the bar. We waded through some human quicksand to find an unoccupied spot. Apparently, there was a leak in the roof that was spraying our friends so we mucked through a bunch more human quicksand to find another spot near the bar. After 45-60 minutes at the bar and a little gentle complaining, we were finally seated at 8:45 p.m.

Soon after we sat down, it was Romper Room Family Time at Marcella’s as a couple with a couple rambunctious kids sat at the table next to us. Paper airplanes and food began flying through the air. I guess Marcella’s prices are cheap enough to warrant bringing the kids along.

Melted Pecorini Cheese dish

We started off with a cheese plate and a Melted Pecorini Cheese dish with Crostini, Apple, and Truffle Honey. The appetizers were fairly tasty.

Risotto alla Milanese

I had the Risotto pictured above. It was fine but nothing extraordinary. My friends described the meal as mediocre at best.

Gnocchi con Burro y Salvia

I’m sure you want to know what they had after firing off the “mediocre at best” comment. See the Gnocchi above and the Lasagna below. At least my friend made a nice effort to try and match the plates.

Lasagna alla Bolognese - slow cooked veal Ragu, Pecorini

Alright, I’m going to have to look up Ragu. I thought it was just a spaghetti sauce. Wikipedia to the rescue - “Ragù is an Italian term for a meat-based sauce, which is traditionally served with pasta. Etymologically the word derives from the French ragoût, a noun derived from ragoûter (to revive the taste).”

So Carmine Ragusa was “The Big Meat Based Spaghetti Sauce” - it kind of works. I guess.

Well, not sure what all the hype was over Marcella’s. Perhaps the Short North location has more in store.

Marcella’s Ristorante | 1319 Polaris Parkway | Columbus, Ohio 43240 | (614) 844-6500

Atmosphere - For being located in a mall, I thought the setting and ambience were terrific except it was a Sunday night. Sunday night must be family night - even at the Ocean Club. We found ourselves sitting next to a table of six but it seemed like a table of 10. We were able to block that out and were greeted by a friendly and knowledgable waiter. Servers these days seem to want to give you way too much information. Restaurants must feel that information sells and that customers are illiterate. Or maybe, customers are more likely to order what’s recommended in order to get the idiot to shut up and serve the meal. Our waiter was knowledgable but not excessive in his need to impart information.

I, being a fan of shrimp cocktails and having had some extraordinary ones at The Granville Inn and at The Walker Station Steak House, decided to sample The Ocean Club’s offering which was entitled, the Colossal Shrimp Cocktail. I was a little hesitant at first given its hefty $14.00 price tag but what the heck - it wasn’t like anything was a bargain on the menu except maybe the tap water. It arrives a bit later. Presentation was excellent as it came in a container with dry ice at the bottom. So it was served up in its own billowy cloud. Given such an entrance, my expectations grew immensely. Imagine my disappointment when the three (that’s right just three although jumbo) shrimp were marginally fresh. In fact, they were somewhat stale. The cocktail sauce was just that, plain old cocktail sauce. $14 bucks pissed away. I was very disappointed. I wonder if there “featured starter - Colossal Shrimp Saute” was as colossal?

For the main course, I ordered the Salt n Pepper Tuna, with Forest Mushrooms & Green Peppercorn Sauce on the waiter’s recommendation at $24 a pop. Again, nice presentation but no punch. The tuna was decent but a little on the less than room temperature side. I didn’t get much of a salt and pepper flavor and the mushrooms/sauce combo was a bit overpowering for the tuna.

At this point, I didn’t think dessert would save the meal. So I ordered a glass of port at $12. Maybe I should have just cut my losses and left. Oh well, for a restaurant with such a fine reputation, I was left with a mediocre experience. Maybe I just hit it on the wrong night.

I’m not sure why the place was packed. Maybe Americans just love their salt. Not me. So if your blood pressure is low, go to Buca di Beppo. You guys at Buca can have that little ditty for free.

In addition to the calamari, we also started with the bruschetta (I’ve never understood the Italians’ passion for this stuff - at least not from Buca - cold diced tomatoes on bread - big deal?), the artichoke spinach dip and the fresh mozzarella caprese. I enjoyed the mozzarella caprese, at least as much as anyone could enjoy such a dish with your typical blanched, tasteless, autumn tomatoes (they must pick them while they’re still green). If anything, writing this review will improve my spelling. Hey, who knew that mozzarella had 2 z’s and 2 l’s. Or heck, who could spell bruschetta. Make up your mind, is it a ch or an sh or both, sch?!

Of the entrees, we sampled the Chicken Marsala with mushrooms, spaghetti with meatballs, fettucine supremo (with chicken, broccoli and red peppers, tortelloni, and a couple of others. It all kind of ran together at that point. The highlight was the chicken marsala - very tender, not too salty, and very tasty. The spaghetti with meatballs had the same cold tomato garbage on it as did the bruschetta (that’s sch).

Was there anything to wash this salty smorgasbord down? Guess what, Buca had that fine Australian slop called Yellow Tail on the menu at $24 a bottle. Can’t you get this stuff for $7 a bottle at the grocery store. And who drinks this crap anyway? At that point, their wine list credibility had gone to hell with me. Yellow Tail?! Heck, give me some of that crappy jesus juice you call chianti instead.

The danger with these places is to over order - especially when you are in a big group. And, as usual, we did. At least, we got our annual sodium intake requirement out of it.

Hey, can somebody get me a trough of water?

Buca di Beppo Worthington
60 East Wilson Bridge Road
Worthington, OH 43085
614.848.8466

Buca di Beppo Columbus
343 North Front Street
Columbus, OH 43215
614.621.3287

My main course was the shrimp and crab risotto which I didn’t enjoy as much as the roasted beets dish. The risotto was served al dente. Our waitress confirmed that that was as intended but I would have preferred the risotto a bit softer. Nevertheless, I’ll be back again soon to try some of their other dishes.

A fine, hearty meal at a reasonable price.

I recently visited the Clintonville/North Campus Aladdin’s. Enjoyed an appetizer of their tabouli and their hummus and falafel pita roll. I asked for some hot sauce and much to my surprise they brought out their own home-brew which was fantastic. I’ve eaten at Aladdin’s for years and never known that they made their own hot sauce. Definitely, a must have.

Aladdin’s is one of my favorite restaurants. Healthy and Tasty.