The Angry Baker | Columbus, OH

The Angry Baker (Facebook / @TheAngryBaker)
891 Oak St. (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43205
(614) 947-0976
Open Sun & Mon, 8a-5p; Tues-Sat, 8a-7p
Accepts cash & credit/debit
Vegetarian/vegan/gluten free? Y/Y/N
Kid-friendly? Y

Date of Visit: Friday, April 6, 2012 at 10:30 a.m.

IMPRESSIONS: If you haven’t been to Olde Towne East lately, or if you think it’s nothing but a neighborhood of run-down old houses, you need to re-evaluate. Case in point: The Angry Baker and the booming corner of Oak and 18th Streets. Alongside AB, Yellow Brick Pizza is serving up pizza and beer, and The Tavern recently opened next door to the bakery.

ATMOSPHERE: The bakery itself has a bright, colorful little cafe in one corner, with a polished wooden floor and big brick walls.  There are a handful of tables for enjoying coffee and a pastry, or a breakfast or lunch sandwich. There’s even a long counter with stools, overlooking the kitchen itself.

FOOD: Angry Baker offers both the retail bakery experience, as well as the quaint cafe vibe. Their display cases are chock full of baked goods, and three separate chalkboards communicate the bakery items, breakfast, and lunch offerings. I love chalkboard menus. Denounce them as hipster if you like, but an erasable menu means that you can refresh your menu easily to accommodate seasonal changes and ingredient availability.

As Olde Towne East continues to develop, I’m sure Angry Baker has already become one of those neighborhood stops where residents walk over for coffee and a pastry as they begin their day. Just read through this list of goods and try not to get hungry. There’s everything from kolaches and cookies to bear claws, muffins, and scones.

Or you could spend your time at the bakery cases, staring…

…and staring…

…and staring.

And then finding more things to stare at.

For breakfast that morning, we chose one of the breakfast sandwiches, specifically the French toast sandwich. The breakfast menu focuses mainly on the sandwiches, but they also offer baked eggs, vegan pancakes, and biscuits with a mushroom gravy. Points to AB for expanding the vegan breakfast offerings in Columbus. But back to that sandwich… this isn’t the type of sandwich that you eat with two hands. This is a knife-and-fork one. It’s essentially their version of the monte cristo: local ham and cheese between two slices of French toast made with their brioche, then drowned in real maple syrup. As expected, it cuts easily with the side of a fork, and is a delightful mix of the salty and the sweet. If you’re a French toast fan, you need to sample this one.

SERVICE: With the small, intimate space, it’s hard not to get to know the crew there. You can chat with them about their baked goods, and they’ll answer any questions you have. The prepared foods are made on a small flattop right in front of the counter. This is owner Vicki Hink cooking up my French toast!

OVERALL: Angry Baker is well worth multiple visits, to sample the rotating offerings of baked goods and the seasonal changes to the cafe menu. Like I said, it’s great for a coffee-and-a-snack stop or a quiet sit-down breakfast.

OTHER LINKS:

Photos: hodduk at Ajumama

We’ve made a couple stops at Dinin’ Hall, Columbus’ first mobile food pod, to sample the different trucks and carts parked there. One recent Tuesday, we found ourselves in the neighborhood and swung by to try one of the newer trucks that’s making a splash: Ajumama.

Ajumama is unique to Columbus, in that they’re serving up Korean street food. I’ve heard tell of long lines of eager customers, ready to try something new in Columbus’ culinary makeup.

And frankly, I can see why. By my account, Ajumama is a breakfast truck (I’m always looking for an excuse, aren’t I?). Their signature dish is called pajeon, which are savory pancakes filled everything from grilled chicken, seafood, veggies, and kimchi. They also serve a mushroom rice porridge, and these beauties, pictured above. They’re called hodduk, and are like tiny stuffed pancakes.

They’re loaded with brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts. They get flattened on the grill and browned, then are served piping hot.

When you tear it open, the insides come out like a volcano of sweetness. You need to let it cool a bit, but once it does, it’s delicious.

If the hodduk are anything to go by, I’m going to love the menu at Ajumama. I’m looking forward to reporting on return visits!

If you want to give them a try, here’s their info:
ajumama.com
facebook.com/ajumama
@ajumamacbus

Through the end of May you can find them Tuesdays and Thursdays at Dinin’ Hall on 400 W. Rich St., from 11a-2p.

Barnstormers Grill | Columbus, OH

Barnstormers Grill
2160 W. Case Rd. #13 (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43017
(614) 292-5699
Open Mon-Sat, 7a-3p (bfast served all day!)
Accepts cash and credit/debit
Vegetarian/vegan/gluten free? Y/N/N
Kid-friendly? Y

Date of Visit: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 9:20 a.m.

IMPRESSIONS: Oh, how I had loved the idea of The Barnstormer. Breakfast in an airport? Are you kidding me? Two of my favorite things! But alas, it wasn’t meant to be: I visited once in late 2009, had an okay experience, and then the restaurant quietly closed a couple years later. It was a missed opportunity. Until two days ago, when a reader sent me a message saying that the restaurant was re-opened under new management and serving good food! On top of that, the reader pointed out that you can you can go up in the old control tower, now converted into a simple observation deck. Needless to say, less than twenty-four hours after finding this out, I was eating breakfast and watching airplanes with my boys.

ATMOSPHERE: The restaurant space isn’t radically changed, although there are a few more dashes of OSU colors, and it’s brighter overall. Still a lot of aviation-themed decorations. It’s a three-and-a-half-year-old’s dream. (Oh, heck, I loved it, too.) There are plenty of tables scattered throughout the space; only one other was filled while we ate.

FOOD: The menu is simple and straightforward: four omelets (including a vegetarian option), four combination meals, and a kid’s menu. There’s plenty of a la carte items, too. Breakfast is like that. My son chose the Little Flyer: eggs, toast, bacon, and a drink. He didn’t have much of his bacon, so I tried some. Crispy, just the way I like it.

I was in a sausage gravy and biscuits mood (the dish is a new addition to the menu). It came with a heaping side of two eggs and hash browns. This is just one of the plates. Good crispy hash browns, and the eggs were wet enough, although they tasted slightly of that generic diner flattop cooking oil.

And this is the plate of biscuits and gravy. Two dense biscuits halved, covered in gravy. It was perhaps the thickest, meatiest sausage gravy I’ve had. Very dark, and pretty well seasoned.

At $5.75, it’s a lot of food, and a fairly heavy meal.

Our breakfast companion, Bill, ordered the pancakes and gave me a taste. Overall, very good. It was browned well on the grill, but spongy throughout. Good example of diner pancakes.

SERVICE: We were treated very nicely by our server and by owner Jodi Perez. It certainly helped that there weren’t many people in the restaurant, but they were very attentive and our food came out quickly. Our server left this card with us at the end of the meal. I don’t think I’ve seen a breakfast punchcard before!

OVERALL: I think the new management and little makeover for Barnstormer (now renamed Barnstormers Grill) is just what it needed. The space is brighter, the menu is more focused (I’m told they have good burgers for lunch), and it’s a little better connected with the airport itself. The improved food makes me want to return, whereas the previous version didn’t. And knowing more about the airport grounds makes me want to visit every morning. The restaurant is just a small room connected to one of the hangars. This is the view through the service door that leads into it.

Of course the boys and I went exploring afterward. Just outside the door to the restaurant is this entrance to the airport terminal. At the top of the picture is the old control tower, now the observation deck. It’s reachable by a series of short flights of stairs.

But the view from the top is pretty awesome. You’re right next to the runway and the plane “parking” area. There’s a table and chairs, so you could order your breakfast to-go and then come up here. Just sayin’…

Breakfast and some plane-watching made for an enjoyable morning, especially given the company.

Photos: Earth Fare Columbus grand opening

The good folks from Earth Fare Columbus invited me to their grand opening day last week Wednesday. I had never heard of Earth Fare before they contacted me, even though they have 26 stores total, 4 of which are in Ohio. The chain of health food markets (similar in style to Whole Foods), is based in North Carolina. This store is their first in Columbus, located up on Gemini Place in the Polaris area, right next to Costco.

As you can imagine, for opening the day the store looked impeccable. Beautiful produce laid out, lots of employees to greet new customers.

Earth Fare wears their food philosophy on their sleeve, and they ask customers to hold them to it. If you find something on their shelves that doesn’t keep to their philosophy, they’ll ask you to show it to someone.

Very colorful shelves of produce.

Naturally, I’m curious to see anything breakfast-related, so when our guide mentioned bulk maple syrup, I was all ears. You can purchase the syrup – Grade B – by the pound, in the same place you can get fresh-made peanut butter.

When we came upon the coffee section, I was impressed to find Chicago-based Intelligentsia represented.

There aren’t too many places around Columbus that serve or sell Intelligentsia beans. Nice to see them in bulk.

But I was even more excited to see Columbus represented! Earth Fare seems to pride itself on selling local goods (and specifically local to each store, not just local to their base stores in North Carolina). So I was happy to see barrels of Backroom Coffee Roasters‘ beans, too. I made a point to buy a couple pounds of it.

Bacon! Nice thick cut available, although we found they do not smoke it in-house.

Sausage! Made in-house.

They have a charcuterie station as well. You can try a slice of anything they have there. They’ll cut on their old-fashioned slicer, which works purely on mechanical power, not electrical.

Pretty significant beer and wine section, too, although I’d like to see their beer selection include more local brands. At present they have the standard selection available in any grocery. Ohio is represented somewhat: Hoppin’ Frog, Great Lakes, etc. But they need more Columbus local represented: Columbus Brewing Company, Elevator, any of the new breweries starting this year. Points, though, for having Rockmill Brewery bottles available.

Many gluten-free items, too. They use wooden shelving (see the bottom right of this picture) to indicate GF items throughout the store.

Lots of cereals, too!

Overall, it’s a beautiful store, nice and clean and new. It’s smaller and easier to get your head around than, say, a large Whole Foods store, so it’s a little less intimidating, especially if you’re easily overwhelmed by organic or gluten free options. So far they have a good selection of local goods (they define local as within 100 miles of the store), and I hope they will expand as they settle into the market. I’d love to see more Columbus coffee roasters, Ohio beers and wines, Snowville Creamery milk, and more Ohio cheeses.

If you want to visit:
Earth Fare Columbus
1440 Gemini Place
On Facebook
@EarthFareCBUS

(Disclosure: Earth Fare Columbus invited me to visit their store, to shop there, and write about it. Opinions remain my own.)

Photos: Dinin’ Hall preview

Last Friday I took the boys to visit the preview opening of Dinin’ Hall, a new food pod (and Columbus’ first!) that officially opened today next to the 400 W Rich arts space in Franklinton.

The Dinin’ Hall space is the old loading dock of the 400 W Rich warehouse. (The arts space itself is worth exploration, too. My 3.5-year-old dubbed it “very cool.”)

The overall concept is simple: they offer a regular and reliable place to eat with a rotating line-up of food carts and trucks. You place your order at the trucks and they give you a receipt and a number, which you take inside.

The indoor area includes tables for seating.

You pay for your food at counter, where they offer additional drinks, chips, and cookies. Eventually they’ll have shelves with other goods and gifts (including a certain breakfast guidebook!).

There’s seating for about 60 people. Big, bright windows on one wall. Through the doorway in the upper left is a hallway to restrooms. I’m told they might open the garage doors in the spring/summer.

The consolidated payment center allows you to easily buy multiple things from different trucks.

They’ve already filled up the May calendar. You could eat lunch here five days a week and get a different line-up every day.

On our visit, we tried a club sandwich from the Spinelli’s Deli cart…

…plus some sweet potato fries from Nicolasa’s.

I didn’t fully appreciate the food pod’s location until we drove away. You can find it just over the Main Street Bridge from downtown, a fairly easy walk and even easier drive. I’m hoping that more people discover the spot this way.

Dinin’ Hall is located at 400 West Rich St (map it!), and is open Monday through Friday,11a-2p.

To follow their schedules and special events, visit:
dininhall.com
facebook.com/dininhall
@dininhall

On Eggs and Toast

At times it’s easy to make things too complicated. This goes for life in general and food in particular. We seek the newest, the most innovative, the most complex. Which isn’t bad, necessarily, but we often get caught up in seeking what we don’t have or don’t know, when instead we could focus on something simpler, or something we already have.

One of the things I really like about breakfast is its simplicity. Which makes writing about it an uphill battle, at times: it’s not as sexy as cocktails or mobile food or the newest lunch spot downtown. But the simplicity of breakfast often forces you to focus on other things, like the company you’re with, or the skill of cooking a simple dish very, very well. Over the years, I’ve been most impressed when a cook can make the perfect scrambled eggs (a little wet and undercooked) or can grill up potatoes just right (crispy edges, soft middle, lots of salt and pepper). And I’ve most appreciated those times when I get to spend time over a meal with people that matter most to me.

For Lent this year, we gave up sweets in our household. We’ve stuck to it mostly (darn you, Girl Scout Cookies!), but for me it’s really translated into fore-going multiple visits to Buckeye Donuts per week. Still, it’s an opportunity to celebrate and enjoy some of the simple meals we can make together. One of our favorites, for both breakfast and dinner, is scrambled eggs on toast. It’s a simple as can be: toast some bread and butter it. Scramble some eggs. Add salt and pepper, cheese if you like. Enjoy. It’s always one of my go-to meals: I love soft eggs on a crispy toast. Buttery and salty all together. It nearly brought tears to my eyes the day my oldest son first piled scrambled eggs on toast just like his father.

Whatever your beliefs, I encourage you to gravitate toward uncomplicated things right now. Starting with your morning meal. What are the simple breakfasts you enjoy?

Alfalfa | Lexington, KY

Alfalfa (Facebook / @AlfalfaDining)
141 E. Main St. (map it!)
Lexington, KY 40507
(859) 253-0014
Open Mon-Fri, 11a-2p, Sat & Sun 9a-2p; also Wed-Sat, 5:30-9p (bfast specials served w/lunch; brunch served Sat & Sun)
Accepts cash & credit/debit
Vegetarian/vegan/gluten free? Y/Y/N
Kid-friendly? Y

Date of Visit: Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 9:30 a.m.

IMPRESSIONS: Having been to Alfalfa once before for dinner, we’ve been excited to return for breakfast on a recent trip to Lexington, KY. Alfalfa is my kind of place: urban setting, colorful decor mixed with old building elements like exposed brick, eclectic menu catering to a variety of tastes. And it’s right in the heart of beautiful downtown Lexington.

ATMOSPHERE: We met with some friends on a fairly busy Sunday morning, but they had no trouble fitting in our group of nine. The space is in a rough U-shape, curved around a thin wall that clearly houses a stairway going up to the next floor. The entryway is thin, but there are a few tables grouped toward the front. The center of the space has a long bar and serving area, and then the bulk of the seating curves around down the right side. Near the host stand, a set of doors opens into the lobby of the Downtown Arts Center, with a theatre and galleries. How handy to have the two connected!

There’s lots of bright, natural light from the front windows. Plenty of seating. Artwork on the brick walls. Very comfortable.

FOOD: The food is a big hit, too. Again, something for everyone. First, the breakfast burrito with a side of cheesy grits (you’re in Kentucky – get the grits, of course!)

The specialty of the house is the buttermilk blueberry buckwheat pancakes. Served with real maple syrup. Above is a smaller portion that comes as a “side” with a larger meal.

This is the typical plate-sized portion of the blueberry buckwheat pancake. It’s one of the better pancakes I’ve had in recent memory. The buckwheat keeps it from being too sweet, which offsets the tart blueberries and the maple syrup.

And the eggs benedict arnold: an eggs benedict on wheat toast with city ham (as opposed to country ham, I’m guessing?) and avocado slices. Topped with tomatoes. Overall, a very tasty benedict. Not the best I’ve had, but it makes you realize that avocados deserve to be in nearly every dish, especially benedicts.

SERVICE: Our one dedicated server did a fine job. Even on a busy morning, with a fairly big group, he handled all the details of drinks and orders very well, and all with a smile. I’ve been to some places similar to Alfalfa where customers can get the impression that the servers are a little “snooty” or “hipster-ish,” but that was certainly not the case here.

OVERALL: Alfalfa is a very worthy stop on a Lexington breakfast tour. In fact, I’d make it one of my top one or two stops, along with Doodle’s. The atmosphere and restaurant is colorful and well-connected to the surrounding neighborhood. The menu offers a wide enough variety to please everyone, including some creative vegan options. And it’s easy to get behind their focus on using local eggs and produce. (Columbus readers: if you’re in Lexington and nostalgic for Northstar Cafe, hit up Alfalfa.)

OTHER LINKS:

Photos: North Market Coffee Roast

In case you weren’t one of the 1500 people who descended on the North Market this past weekend, I snapped some pictures of their first (hopefully of many) Coffee Roast. The Coffee Roast was designed to feature over a dozen Columbus roasters (plus two Ohio dairies). Many people have been championing the excellence of Columbus coffee culture, and this event went a long ways towards exposing our incredible roasters, brewers, and baristas to new audiences.

The excitement of the roasters and brewers was palpable. Every single table was run by people passionate about what they’re doing. They spoke with customers. They described flavor profiles. They demonstrated brewing techniques. They advocated. I ran into J.J. from Cafe Brioso, and when I asked him how he was doing, he said he was right in the middle of what he always wanted to do.

The event took place on the upper floor of the Market. In the main event area, a series of speakers discussed and demonstrated coffee brewing techniques, origins, and roasting. A handful of roasters were situated there, too, along with the home roasting competition. Pictured here is head roaster Jeff Davis from Brioso speaking.

The rest of the roasters were spread out around the upper floor. There were some long lines, but that’s to be expected with an event like this. Especially the first time around.

Each roaster had a table. All of them sampled their coffee, mostly hot, some iced. Some were selling whole beans as well. Here’s Backroom Coffee Roasters tucked into a corner.

The joy, of course, was getting to sample so many different brews. This is the brew bar from Stauf’s.

Most of them were serving pour-over coffee. This generally meant smaller batches of coffee (and slower lines), but it also meant that guests got to taste coffee properly. This sample above is from the Bexley Coffee Shop.

Here’s the crew from Brioso sampling both a Columbian and an Ethiopian blend.

They kept the coffee a-flowing.

Of course, milk goes well with coffee. And if we’re talking milk in Ohio, of course you’d expect Snowville Creamery’s Warren Taylor to be there. He was preaching the Snowville gospel.

Jason Valentine from Thunderkiss Coffee was there, too, serving up the good stuff and selling small batches of his coffee. His story is a great example of the strength of our coffee scene. In addition to our established coffee shops, small roasters are working hard, many of them without storefronts to sell their beans, and yet they are succeeding admirably.

And if you’ve tasted their coffee, you know why.

Overall, this event amounted to more than a hill of beans (sorry, had to). The crowds were big, but that just showed that Columbus loves its coffee and is willing to get to know it better. I hope that the festival was successful for all of the roasters and brewers, and that they see a rise (not just a spike) in sales from it. And I know for sure I’m looking forward to next year’s event, too!

Photos: 161 Diner’s new brunch menu

The good folks from Whole Food Market’s 161 Diner invited me back last weekend to sample some items from their new brunch menu. They revamped old favorites and introduced a couple new goodies to the menu. I had an enjoyable (and very filling) time on my last visit, so I gladly accepted their invitation to return.

In case you’re not familiar with the 161 Diner, it’s a diner counter in the prepared foods section of the Dublin Whole Foods Market. They serve all the diner fare during the week, including milkshakes, beer, fries, and burgers; on weekends they serve brunch to a fairly constant crowd.

The new menu dropped a couple old items, including the sweet potato biscuits (“They had their run,” said prepared foods manager Nathan Drake.) New additions include a range of sandwiches, a green omelet made with kale, the return of corned beef hash, a revamped biscuits and gravy, and a new benedict. Nathan and sous chef Vanessa also improved the plating of their dishes.

The drinks were good as always. I enjoyed some coffee. My son insisted I take a picture of his chocolate milk.

My son chose the oatmeal with fresh fruit off the kid’s menu. It’s nothing fancy, as far as oatmeal goes, but he loved it. Generous topping of cinnamon.

A woman seated next to us ordered the French toast with cinnamon cream cheese and pecans. When the cook carried over this golden tower of toasted goodness, dripping with syrup and cream cheese, I couldn’t resist asking to take a picture. She told me that the dish was, well, awesome.

If you’re read my blog even a little bit, you know I’m a sucker for a good eggs benedict. So I immediately gravitated toward the gravlax benedict. Gravlax is a cured salmon. Nathan explained that it’s a Scandinavian process that involves curing the salmon in salt, sugar, and dill for about 3-4 days. He does it in-house at Whole Foods, then slices the salmon thin and layers it in the benedict with beautifully poached eggs, arugula, and fresh hollandaise. The resulting fish is salty and a little bit sweet, with a definite essence of dill to it. The taste is clean and fresh, and a great choice for a benedict, although it’s a delicate flavor, so it was slightly overpowered by the hollandaise. But there’s a lot to like about this new menu. If you’ve never been to the diner, take the opportunity this weekend!

You can find 161 Diner to the east side of the store, in prepared foods. The Whole Foods Market is located at 3670 W. Dublin-Granville Road. Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday, 10am-2pm.

Photos: stuffed pancakes

It’s spring break! So let’s make some breakfast. In rural western Pennsylvania with my wife’s family, we decided to make some stuffed pancakes. It’s as easy as, well, making pancakes. Heck, you could accidentally make stuffed pancakes if you dropped bacon or sausage into the pancake batter.

We started with some thick-cut bacon from a nearby smokehouse, Willie’s Smokehouse.

We just added bacon today, but we’ve frequently done it with sausage, too. You need to cook your meat before adding it to the pancakes. The batter cooks too quickly to thoroughly and safely cook the meat as well.

This time around, we cheated and used a boxed pancake mix, but we made up for it by using eggs from a local farm. They can’t be beat.

Another benefit to being in Amish country: inexpensive (and delicious!) maple syrup.

Like I said: making stuffed pancakes is easy. You can crumble the bacon and sausage into the batter, or you can lay the bacon strips on top before flipping.

Laying the bacon strips whole in the batter creates little caves in which the syrup can pool. Stuffed pancakes give you the great mix of savory and sweet. The texture combines fluffy pancakes and crispy meat, too. If you’re bored with the usual pancakes, give these a try!