Dedicated to "Magic Bread"

Five words, punctuated with purpose: Magic. Bread. Oh.My.Yum. For those of you who either know me or my food blogging rather well know that the sound of hearing (let alone seeing) the illustrious Magic Bread prepared by Chef Justin Boehme and DaCroux of one of my most blogged about restaurants, Da Levee, makes my mouth water. Hands down, it is the reason (alongside the amazing atmosphere, friendly staff, and of course deliciously well-priced and consistently tasty Cajun food outside of Louisana) I continue to return to this small Short North restaurant packed with flavour, which has more recently been subtitled by "Roux Stews Brews." My self-professed (and perhaps overtly evident) love for Magic Bread (pfft, or all bread for that matter) is the impetus for this post, a post which I have been planning to write for the past many months. Indeed, my initial draft of what should have been this post--my dedication to Magic Bread in so many words--was based on my visit to Da Levee on National Food Day and the 68th birthday of the United Nations. A slightly edited (tense, word choice, general flow, etc.) form of those notes is embedded in this post. Complementing that experience are my general reflections and comments on Da Levee's offerings I've enjoyed (be prepared for a longer post) since that chilly autumn day, including Super Bowl fixings and today's trek for my favourite thing on the menu (next to Magic Bread): cheesy craw étouffée.

Onto Year Three: Continuing to Cook Up dat Cajun/Creole Cuisine in Columbus

Midway into my final semester at Albion College during the spring of 2010, a restaurant completely off my radar at the time had first opened its doors in the Short North District of Columbus. In looking back at my previous blog posts, it surprises me that it's been just over a year since I first began reviewing this restaurant with every dish that I tried. Well, I've definitely returned quite a few times within the last year or so to that local dive, Da Levee, and have witnessed a few reconfigurations and additions to both the space and its menu. Alongside its aesthetic updates, the Da Levee team steered by Midwestern Chef/Owner Justin Boehme has remained strong and I think has only gotten better with time, serving up some of the most satisfying and consistent food in Columbus. But apparently, change was still on the horizon. After checking out Da Levee's Facebook page this past Mardi Gras, I found out that Da Levee's doors were closed for a substantial renovation project (a bar installation); and as this post notes, even more exciting changes are in Da Levee's future. In the meantime, and with yesterday being its three-year anniversary and official grand reopening, and especially after reading this review, I was excited to check out the changes and to introduce my friends and Central Ohio foodies Susan, Marlaine and David to what is easily one of my favourite Columbus restaurants. In addition, Marlaine and David's friends Amy and David (who have much closer ties to Louisiana than I do-- originally from Arkansas, some of Amy's family is Cajun, and David's originally from New Orleans) joined in our Columbus food adventure, as well.

A Tour of Columbus via High Street

A few weeks ago, I received a Facebook message from one of my aunts in the Philippines notifying me that one of my cousins, Earl, would be arriving in Columbus at some point this week. Soon after, I learned he'd be flying in on a business trip from Singapore with one of his colleagues, Kevin, and would be staying in Dublin, OH. As if I needed another reason to head over to the Columbus area, the timing worked out perfectly with my schedule as well as Columbus's Restaurant Week (RW). Yesterday, after meeting Earl (for the first time, as far I can recall) and Kevin, we headed over to Oscar's Wine Bar & Bistro (located on 84 N High St in Dublin) [$25 RW menu]. With an hour and a half wait ahead of us, we went further down N High St to Tucci's California Bistro (35 N High St) [$25 RW menu] only to find out it would take about an hour before a table opened up. [Of course, I'm sure RW had something to do with not only the case in point as to why reservations are important, but why it was so difficult to find any parking on a Thursday night]. With this being their first time to Ohio, we quit Dublin and switched over to downtown Columbus, to a different High Street where eating options were much more plentiful and at least more familiar to me. If nothing else, the drive around and throughout Dublin and Columbus gave us ample opportunity to get to know each other. From differences in living in different parts of the U.S. and the rest of the world, to talking about their respective wives and families back home, to language, work, travel and (of course) food, there was plenty to talk about as I eventually introduced them to three of my favourite Columbus restaurants which awaited us with open seats.

Just Another Saturday in Columbus

Ever since my first movie going experience in France four years ago, I was convinced American theatres weren't as serious about the experience as their European counterparts. Well, earlier today, the Gateway Film Center, located on High Street within the University District, proved me wrong. The theatre room, in which I saw the limited release of Chris Colfer's screenwriting debut Struck by Lightning,contained a modest 22 chairs (all sold out by the way) arranged in three rows and a large movie screen. The anonymity one could have in solo movie watching was close to impossible--not that I was intentionally aiming to be incognito today--as the door into the theatre faced the audience, as if to be a welcoming experience into the cinematic cluster that will be spending the next hour and a half or so with a host of characters on the screen. In some manner of speaking, such was this familial movie going experience that in retrospect it would seem that many gatherings include some form of group dynamic and a shared activity of some kind. Of course, here I will always tout food as that shared activity, an activity to which I leave an empty chair for the next dinner guest to walk through the doorway. For this post, though, I'm the self-invited diner as it was. And the familiar spaces I walked into after the film were both located further down on High Street in one of my favourite areas of Columbus, the Short North.

Food, Film and (American) Football: A Chilly Columbus Area Kind of Day

Le Chocoholique was certainly quite creative in dressing up the store for Halloween.

Seven weeks ago, my involvement with food in central Ohio made a distinct shift in terms of my relationship and appreciation for the Ohio food movement in its many varied forms, most notably through meeting members and friends of Slow Food Columbus. One such group I met what seems like ages ago was the Caskey family (Angie, Kevin and Patrick), owners and chefs at Skillet, Rustic Urban Food; after weeks of practically salivating over each of their status updates on Facebook, I was finally able to continue to build on this connection and visit the restaurant in German Village. And thus began yet another foodie day in central Ohio!