How many states have you been to? I think Ohio was my twenty fifth…
In the past, whenever I thought about taking a holiday, my mind always wandered to localities beyond our borders…Italy, India, Algeria, Lebanon and beyond…
But recently, due mostly to my job and partly to a roommate eager to share the delights of California, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to spots I normally wouldn’t have considered visiting. When I found out that a meeting that was held in Florida two years ago was to be held in Ohio this year, I thought- oh crap, there go my hopes of enjoying some sun and catching up on my vitamin D deficiency- but Columbus turned out to be surprisingly charming.
The hotel I stayed at lay in the heart of downtown and a short stroll down the hotel-adjacent High Street led to brick-laned streets lined with very intimate pedestrian-scale buildings that housed everything from earth friendly smoothie places and used cd’s to higher-scale restaurants and eccentric art stores. Every block or so, there was also an iron wrought wreath over the street announcing a new section of the block that was intertwined with twinkle lights. Accompanying each of these iron entrance gates were also wall-sized paintings of various streetscapes and colorful motifs. Some colleagues of mine visited ‘German Town’, a historic neighborhood in the south side of downtown Columbus east of S. High Street and I got to stroll down ‘Italian Village’ a couple days later. Italian Village is located just north of downtown and east of the North High St. also known as the ‘Short North’. I’m pretty sure my buddies went to Schmidt’s Sausage Haus and loved it – meanwhile I tried out Lemongrass on High Street with my childhood buddy- the outcome? Yum. I got a shrimp and green bean dish that was actually too large of a portion for me while my friend Sam got the pad thai and inhaled it. However, Lemongrass doesn’t really stand out in my memory compared to some of the other items that I was lucky enough to sample.
My culinary adventure really started with lunch at North Market where they had dozens of choices for food- both green and otherwise. There was an Indian place, a Middle Eastern place, a classic sandwich joint that was very generous with their heapings of meat, a Chinese restaurant, a bakery, a stop to get the perfect shot of espresso and even a green grocer. I had the vegetarian Indian dish two days in a row but the highlight of all my eating in Columbus was Jeni’s Ice Creams. I’ve had heapings of gelato in Barcelona and tried tons of fancy places in London- but Columbus, Ohio’s Jeni’s was truly amazing. Imagine: a cold lump in your mouth that slowly unfolds to first reveal fresh pear and continues to unravel into a bubbly Riesling- while maintaining a pear texture! That flavor was actually called something like Pear Riesling, but I had to pair it with my classic favorite of chocolate. For me, nothing compares to chocolate and they had a couple different types of chocolate- dark cocoa gelato was my favorite amongst the chocolates. Though Thai Chili, Salty Carmel, and Pistachio 
and Ashland (local!) County Honey were amazing as well. Guess what? They deliver too – I know, not very green- so I’ll have to seek out amazingly unique ice creameries around D.C. Please do let me know if you guys know of a unique place.
When I started to feel dull with all the sitting around, I helped myself to a carrot-apple juice at Inta Juice. The location that I visited was right across the street from the Ohio State Barnes and Nobles and right next to the Aveda on High Street. The childhood buddy that I keep mentioning is named Sam and he got a smoothie with a supplement of gingko to help with his legal writing.
For dinner, a group of us headed to Northstar Café in Short North (aren’t I cool using the local lingo). This place had a variety of vegetarian choices – I almost want to say everything was vegetarian- but I can’t seem to recall. They also had a couple of great organic wine options. I ended up ordering the Root Salad both nights because it was quite simply one of the best salads I’ve ever had. The greenery included walnut encrusted goat cheese plus additional candied toasted walnuts that stayed crispy the entire time I munched slowly through the perfect pile of leaves.
What I really want to do is sketch out an architectural looking map of the culinary journey I made in downtown Columbus and scan it to share with you all- but I’m feeling a bit lazy. But I can see it in my head and for now that’s enough to make me content…
Yum, yummy, yum = Columbus, Ohio.
And this was what I discovered in three days; imagine what a whole week could have uncovered…
-greenDCgirl
