Columbus originally had 4 markets: central, east, west and north, and the North Market is the only one remaining. The current location is a great warehouse, and several years of revitalizing the market has produced a nice neighborhood with the market (including a farmers market from April into November), several vendors within the market, and restaurants in the area. The farmers market features a variety of local orchards and farms.

Another nice thing about this area in Columbus is what’s called the Short North, just a couple of blocks away from the North Market. The Short North is made up of art galleries and bars.

Prior to 1876, the North Market was held at Columbus’s North Cemetery. The market actually burned down in 1948, and the city planned on not rebuilding, but the merchants pooled their money and had it rebuilt. During the 1980’s, with the resurgence of interest in local markets, the North Market came back alive, and is currently in the Advanced Thresher warehouse, which was a turn of the century storage facility for farming equipment. it seems kind of fitting, doesn’t it?

Okay, enough boring history. This is just a fun market, with lots of variety in vendors. Some vendors serve meals and sandwiches, while some are meat and seafood markets, coffee shops, florists, and even a kitchen gadget vendor. The food ranges from an authentic New York style deli to Middle Eastern, Thai, Indian… And to top it off, Jeni’s Fresh Ice Creams, artisanal ice creams, yea!

In the current push to eat local foods, farmers markets and smaller merchants can be a great way to find foods that are raised and grown in the area instead of mass produced… If you’re in Columbus, the North Market is as good as it gets.

The North Market

59 Spruce Street

Columbus, Ohio 43215

Just a couple of blocks separate the Wine Gallery and Cafe from the much more active Oregon District, but it’s two blocks of low traffic and old buildings. The kind of area where you just wouldn’t be unless you had a reason to be there. But now the Wine Gallery and Cafe offers a change.

The Wine Gallery and Cafe is basically a big, open area with brick walls and glass around 2 sides. A bar sits back a bit, but doesn’t really shut off the room. The back wall is lined with wines that are available to buy to take home. With low lighting and comfortable seating, the area next to the entry invites guests to enjoy some wine while they talk with friends or wait for a table.

We went late on a Saturday with friends, expecting to have to wait. Reservations are taken up until 7:00 PM, but then it’s open. The food is good, though not great. The high point of our food was either the baked perogies with sour cream/habenero sauce (which was a bit too hot for the setting, but still good) or the au gratin potatoes (these were very good). The rest of the food was fine, but not why I’ll be going back to the cafe. In fact, the next time I’m back, I’ll probably just get appetizers, as that suits the high points of the place better, in my opinion. In fact, I’d love to see the Wine Gallery and Cafe switch to nothing but appetizers and small plates.

The key to what makes this a place I can see myself going to often is the flights offered on the wine menu. I didn’t count them, but I’d guess there are about two dozen different flights. A flight is a series of wines offered with a common theme, whether it’s the same type of wine from different places, different wines from the same vineyard or any theme the owner came up with. Keeping in line with the gallery theme, the flights are all named after something artistic, and the wines within the flights change now and then, though the spirit of the flight remains.

We started off by ordering one flight each, with the women getting the same flight (sweet white wines) and the men getting the same flight (Pinot Noirs from Oregon, Alsace and Italy, called Pinot Portfolio). Along with that, we got some appetizers. By the time we were ready for our meal, we had gotten a second flight, each, this time each of us getting something different. I should have kept track of what everyone had, but I had some big reds, my wife had sweet reds, and our friends had a white flight and another red flight.

The fun was trying each others’ wines. My wife liked that she could get wines that I wouldn’t consider ordering for myself… Trying one of the sweet reds made sure I’ve had my cough medicine for this month! I enjoyed being able to pay the price of a glass of wine and getting to try three wines instead. I’ve seen flights offered at much greater prices, with less thought into the theme.

We talked a bit with Brian, the owner. He also sells wines at a local market on the weekends. He was great at explaining what the Wine Gallery and Cafe is about without getting pretentious, as some wine people can be in the Midwest. One group of women that was there had met for lunch and stayed until 10 pm, just enjoying themselves and talking.

I really hope the place does well. There is live music now and then, but I don’t know if I’m going to like that as well as just having it quiet so everyone can talk. I’ll definitely be back; the Wine Gallery and Cafe has already become the place to meet friends for a relaxing night out.

Oh, they also have a great beer selection for any non-wine-drinkers that stop in.

photographs are copyrighted 2008 by Curt McAdams, all rights reserved.

Findlay Market is in the Over-The-Rhine area of Cincinnati, just north of downtown. This is a pretty rough area of town, often in the news for violent crimes and drugs. Efforts to clean up the area have been only partially successful. But through all of that, the Findlay Market has stayed going.

And having been around Cincinnati for the last few years in particular, I have heard all kinds of things about the market, yet I’d never been there. Until last Saturday, when my wife and I decided to drive down to it and see what there was to see.

I was amazed, really. The market itself isn’t just a building, though there is a main building, but it includes the storefronts for a block on both sides of the main building. The market was built in the 1850’s, with the market opening in 1855. It’s the same building, with some renovations and additions since then, but the iron girder structure is original and still there.

The market is open year round, but adds a farmers market on weekends from April through November. Even in January, though, there were booths set up with fresh produce (obviously not local, but well priced).

The first thing we came across was a pedestrian area with shops on each side of a wide walkway. One on side was a meat deli, and on the other was an Italian deli. There’s also an information booth that sells some souvenirs. This area opened up to shops to the left and right, with the market running across in front of us. On the other side of the market were other shopfronts, including a gated courtyard where Mr. Pig was set up. Mr. Pig is a barbecue joint that sells to go orders, with the large smoker is sight in the courtyard, and the purveyor taking and filling orders.Mr. Pig epitomizes that which makes this market so incredible. Gant is the owner/pitboss of Mr. Pig, and the sole person working. Another couple came up to Mr. Pig while we were deciding what to order, and I told them to go ahead. Gant told them we were there first, though, not knowing it was okay with me until I told him so. After filling the other couple’s order, he told us all that he just expects people to show respect and isn’t afraid to make sure it happens at his place. He said he was 82 years old and hopes to live another 82 years, but if he can’t live in a world where people respect one another, he’d just as soon go now. Gant is one of those people that you can only think of as a true gentleman. Each order is handed to the customer with a “God bless you”. Oh, he also makes really good ribs!

Inside the main market, the whole length of the building is open in a corridor lined with counters and cases on both sides. Spice merchants, a coffee shop and several meat markets share inside space all year. One of the meat counters is Kroeger & Sons (not Kroger). They make and sell at least fifteen types of sausage. I had to get several, of course, just to verify quality, etc… I can tell you that what I’ve had so far has been from good to very good. The smoked kielbasa is a bit salty, but the lamb, Chicago (very hot!) and chicken with artichoke hears and olives are excellent. They even have a reuben sausage, which is a spicy sausage stuffed not with pork, but with corned beef, sauerkraut and thousand island dressing… A reuben in a sausage disguise!

Another of several stand outs in the market was the Belgian waffle stand, which was actually between the main market and the street, in an enclosed area where produce stands will be open to the outside when the weather is warmer. The name of the ’store’ is ‘Taste From Belgium’, and the owner went to Belgium to learn how to make Liège waffles. To learn more, check out his website. I’d seen him on the morning news before, and thought it would be cool to try a waffle. I almost wish I hadn’t… They are unbelievable!!!

Also in the main market is Aunt Flora’s Cobbler House and Down Home Diner. Aunt Flora’s specialty is cobbler, and it’s great cobbler. Ron and Katrina Mincy run the place, and they make a wonderful product, which includes their own charm and warmth. We just got take home cobbler, but they were as pleasant as they could be; I’d stop back just to say hello, and I know I’d get a smile and a warm greeting. The cobbler was great, too, and Katrina has been on the Martha Stewart show for her southern cooking; she knows what she’s doing.

There were other delis and food stores, fish markets, etc. spread throughout the Findlay Market. It’s such a great place, I’d make a trip there for a weekend if I didn’t work close enough that I can stop on my way home. I can’t wait to get back when the farmers market is going this spring!

The fourth annual Menu For Hope is currently underway. This was started by Chez Pim, of www.chezpim.com, and helps to raise money for hunger relief via the United Nations’ World Food Programme. Last year, more than $60,000 was raised. On Chez Pim’s website, the prizes are listed, with information on how to get raffle tickets.

So how does this fit in with Well Fed On The Town? Lots of the prizes are local to where they’re offered. Some are meals cooked by chefs in the winner’s home, tours of areas, restaurant meals, dinner as a companion of a reviewer, as well as cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, etc. It’s a very worthy cause, and a way to get some incredible foodie prizes while giving at the holidays.

Please take a moment to go over to Chez Pim and get your raffle tickets!

]]> http://wellfedonthetown.net/2007/12/13/menu-for-hope-iv/feed/ http://wellfedonthetown.net/2007/11/29/turkeys-giving-away-turkeys/ http://wellfedonthetown.net/2007/11/29/turkeys-giving-away-turkeys/#comments Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:50:24 +0000 Curt McAdams Editorial Event Recaps http://wellfedonthetown.net/2007/11/29/turkeys-giving-away-turkeys/ I realize that it’s past Thanksgiving, but I was thinking of what Thanksgiving-related topic fits the ‘Well Fed On The Town’ theme. Most cities of any size will typically have some sort of Thanksgiving dinner for a lot of people, and Dayton, Ohio, is no different. Elder Beerman, a company that owns department stores in the area, has put on a really big dinner of that sort for years. My church, the Dayton Vineyard, does something a bit different that I always get a lot out of doing.

We call it ‘Turkeys Giving Away Turkeys’, and it’s evolved over the last 15 or more years. A dozen years ago, we would take in thawed turkeys to the church on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, and pile into cars to deliver turkeys all over town. It was a madhouse, and it was a lot of fun. Over the years, this continued, and started to include a couple of the pastors doing turkey bowling with a frozen turkey.

This year, we did things a little differently. The church got about 300 boxes and put a list in each box of items to make up a Thanksgiving dinner. People voluntarily took the boxes home, filled them, and brought them in the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Instead of delivering turkeys to predetermined addresses as we’d done before, over 350 people split into three groups and went to three different apartment complexes in less privileged areas.

Once we got to our apartment complex, the groups started randomly choosing apartments and delivering whole meals to the people there.Now some people reading this may be thinking that it sounds typical to have church people bring something like a meal, but then try to save whoever is there to get the meal … Nothing’s free, right? Wrong. One thing I really love about my church is that there truly are no strings attached when we do something like this. I was with a group of about six of us, and we delivered three dinners to three random apartments. Yes, we offered to pray for the people, but we asked first, and had they not wanted us to pray for them, we would have offered a ‘Happy Thanksgiving’, smiled and left to go to the next apartment we chose.

The first apartment was the apartment of a single mother that was pregnant with her second child. Her reaction got us started in good spirits. Instead of resenting that we had a turkey dinner for her, she just got a bit of a smile on her face and welcomed us in. She was really pleasant and thanked us.

We knocked on the next door but got no answer, so we went on to another apartment. The woman there had just gotten home from the hospital, and when she saw that we had a Thanksgiving meal, she started crying, telling us that she didn’t think her family was going to have Thanksgiving this year.

When we left her apartment, someone was looking for us. A friend of the person that lived in the apartment where we got no answer told us the woman there was diabetic and couldn’t get to the door, so we went back and left our last dinner with her, with her friend promising to cook the dinner for her on Thursday.What was the point of all this? Well, it wasn’t an opportunity to feel like we’d done a good deed. It was a chance to just give some people a holiday dinner that they may have otherwise skipped. The people helping deliver the turkeys did it because they wanted to help, not because it was a chance to thump people over the head with bibles.

I’m not writing this to push my faith on any readers. I’m sure some of the other Well Fed writers don’t agree with my beliefs, and I’m not making this a forum for anything like that. I’m just saying it was a great day, and it was great seeing people not be cynical about giving or receiving something that day. Since it was a random deliver, no one was expecting a dinner, feeling entitled to get what they’d been promised.

I am writing this because we’re entering a time when there are a lot of opportunities to get involved in little ways. Helping by donating gifts, adopting a family for Christmas, giving coats to people that won’t have them for the winter otherwise … The holiday season, whether approached in a religious or secular manner, is an chance to personally help someone. I hope we all take advantage of it. The world’s a big place, but little bits of kindness help make it smaller.

While I didn’t attend this year, I wanted to highlight this. The store really goes all out for to put the Holiday Food and Wine Show on. The event includes a food spread that any gathering would be proud to have, dozens of wines to taste, and attendees even get to keep the Riedel glassware! People from the whole region attend this annually.
Having a local market allows this sort of thing; corporate grocery stores are much less likely to put on large events, as every store would have to think about doing one, and the logistics could get out of hand. But with a local market of one or just a few stores, the market management can gear up for a big to-do and pull if off very well.

(image from Dorothy Lane Market, used with permission)

When I was a kid, getting into a Chevy Kingswood Estate station wagon with my mom, stepfather, sister and two stepsisters, for what was then a 5-6 hour ride, I never would have thought I’d ever say I loved that city. I know I’ve talked about Pittsburgh in the past, either here or on my own blog, but I can’t help it after visiting again.

I’m not a Steelers fan. I don’t hate them, but I’m not a fan. They too often beat my Dallas Cowboys for me ever to be a fan.

What I do love, though, is food. And Pittsburgh is as much about food at any city I know. It doesn’t have restaurants as highly rated as Manhattan or LA, but it’s got real food and ways to get great food. There’s also some pretty great scenery and views, a nice downtown, and a gorgeous surrounding area.

I’ll warn you that I’m including a lot of photos this time!

The Strip District is probably my single favorite place in town, though others aren’t far behind. It’s not really trendy, though some trendy type places have popped up here and there. It’s not overly pretty, as most of the buildings have been there far longer than the 32 years I’ve been going there.

It is, however, the best place to get some of the foods I love that I know. From locally made meats including proscuitto, salami, Italian sausages and kielbasa to imported foods from Europe to my favorite cheese counter anywhere, the Strip is just great.

From Wholey’s, with signs up with their specials and notes to try a sample, to Pennsylvania Macaroni to street vendors and restaurants offering made-to-order sandwiches along the sidewalk, this is the place to be in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning. Deluca’s is perennially voted one of the best breakfasts in town, and though I would put money that half the workers are ex-cons, they always treat customers well and give them a great breakfast (my favorite is eggs and kielbasa!). There are coffee shops and an uppity (but great) chocolate shop.

The only thing I don’t get is why my wife and I only spend a couple of hours there, other than there are other places to see, too. Maybe next time, we’ll just get there early and stay into the afternoon, enjoying lunch at one of the non-chain restaurants.

Cider is like liquid autumn to me. The taste reflects the colors of the season. Stolz’s Fruit Farm, outside of New Carlisle, prides itself on the cider they press every year. This year, however, they’re pressing no cider at all.

Why is that, you ask? In April, there was a freeze in Ohio that experts say has reduced the crop by 46% across the state. At Stolz’s, however, it affected 100% of their crop. The only apples they have on hand are brought in from orchards from Indiana and Michigan, both good apple states, but it’s just not the same as getting them from the same orchard on which the apples grew.

To top this off, southwestern Ohio is in a severe drought this year, which means fall color will be pretty much brown. I live in a heavily wooded area, and my own 5 acres has trees that are just dropping leaves before they have a chance to get any color, as though the trees are just glad to not have to provide the leaves with any sap! I’m still hoping for some reds, oranges and yellows, but I’m not holding my breath.

Even with the disappointments in the season, it will still be a great festival season; I’ll report on the largest festival in Ohio next time, the Sauerkraut festival, which turns a town of 2500 into a madhouse of 342,000!

Let’s all hope for better fall weather, and how about some rain to help with the color?

One thing that local kitchen stores often offer is the ability to learn bits from chefs that are in the area. Instead of long-term classes at a culinary school, customers can take a 3 hour class at a very reasonable price.

The variety is part of what makes this fun. One of the local stores in SW Ohio is Cooks’ Wares, and they offer a pretty extensive list of classes at two different stores. The classes range from theme recipes to how to use particular ingredients to skills classes.

These classes are great for a variety of reasons:

• You learn new stuff, either recipes, techniques or tools
• You usually get food with it, made by chefs
• You get a discount in the store while you’re there

All those things are good!I recently taught a barbecue class with my competition barbecue teammate. Here’s the blurb from the Cooks’ Wares website:

Competition Grade BBQ
Curt McAdams and Mark Peebles
“Bucky McOinkum’s Barbecue”

Mon. Sep 10 Settlers’ Walk 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Curt McAdams & Mark Peebles compete in Kansas City Barbecue Society competitions as Bucky McOinkum’s Barbecue. Their love of cooking using traditional methods of low temperature barbecue for long periods of time has resulted in several awards. They not only compete on the professional level, they also enjoy cooking for others in their own backyards—and they are not afraid to grill anything. Curt & Mark use wood to create authentic barbecue. Learn how to fix ribs, brisket, pork and chicken the way the pros do it! You will receive information on different methods of barbecue to achieve great results at home. Curt and Mark will talk about techniques, tools, and traditions, and share what teams and judges do at competition. Join the team for their outdoor cooking demonstration.

• Smoked Beer Can Chicken
• St. Louis Ribs
• Pulled Pork
• Brisket
• Tomato Pie & Cole Slaw
• Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding with Maker’s Mark sauce

The classes are fun; some are hands on, others aren’t. I know Mark and I make sure that the class attendees get plenty of food to sample, too!

And it supports not only your local kitchen store but also local cooks and chefs.

I’m a nut for kitchen stores. I don’t know when this happened, but it’s true. I can’t pass up a Williams-Sonoma for the life of me, even though they all have the same stuff. I still have to look!

With my tendency to like local shopping, though, I find myself preferring local kitchen supply stores as well. What I’ve found is that the prices are pretty much the same as online or chain stores, with some added benefits like having cooking classes available.

My local favorite has quickly become Cooks’ Wares, in Mason and Springboro, Ohio. A local family owns and runs the stores. Paul can often be found at the Mason store at Harper’s Point, while daughter Sharon is usually at the Springboro location. Mary, Paul’s wife, does the number crunching and other behind-the-scenes work.

What I’ve noticed about this store, as compared to other local kitchen shopping, is the variety of what they offer. The stores are well organized, and the staff is great at helping find whatever I think I need at the time.

So, like the market I looked at before, I’m going to try to look at different sections of Cooks’ Wares and what I like or don’t like about each section. Today’s department’ is one of my favorites - Knives!

The Springboro store is actually where I got my first Shun knife, after a knife skills class that my wife and I took. I tried several of the brands they carried (Global, Wusthof, Henckels), and found I liked the feel of the Shun knives the best. And since it was in conjunction with a class, I got a good discount on the knives, above the discount already offered (to be fair, it seems that just about everyone offers roughly the same price on things like knives, though).

I love just looking at knives. I’ve gotten comfortable enough with knives that I no longer feel nervous about handling them in a store.

I’m also enough of a kitchen geek, and have gotten used to talking about equipment and food, that I’m likely to tell other customers how great the knives are… Which ultimately gives my wife fuel to make fun of me!

Cooks’ Wares sells online, too. I’m all for people going to them online, but, for the true hands on experience, foodies need to find a local store like this one to get their mitts on equipment to try it out. And don’t forget to check out the classes your local shop offers.

Cooks’ Wares

The Marketplace at Settlers Walk
756 North Main Street St. Rte. 741
Springboro, OH 45066
Phone 937-748-4540

The Shops at Harper’s Point
11344 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, OH 45249
Phone 513-489-6400
Fax 513-489-1211

(Cooks’ Wares logo used with permission)