Beyond Breakfast: Gio’s BBQ

Spring break yielded some culinary adventures for us, as we trekked across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. What about a little bit of road food?

The best road food shows up in the most unexpected places. In this case it was a barbecue joint… inside a gas station… a little ways outside State College, PA at the intersection of routes 970 and 322. If you’re traveling to or from Penn State on the western side, chances are you’ll pass by this gas station. And when you do, you can stop for lunch.

The building itself is half gas station convenience store and half restaurant. Dead center is the counter with hand-written menus on bright orange cardstock. The moral here is not to let the simple exterior fool you: this food goes far beyond the typical gas station Slim Jims and overcooked hotdogs. The wafting smell of smoky barbecue and the small army of cooks in the kitchen tell you that locals and travelers alike keep this place busy, and for a reason.

Case in point: the beef brisket sandwich. Smoky and flavorful, sliced thin and piled on a bun with cole slaw and a Carolina-style sauce.

The pulled pork sandwich smothered in sauteed veggies.

The half rack of ribs with a generous mound of pulled pork hidden below.

The ribs were a tad on the dry side but smoked appropriately. They pulled apart easily and were sauced without being drowned. In other words, the meat was given a chance to shine, rather than having its flaws hidden by slopping on the condiments.

A small beef brisket platter. All of the sides were done well, but the side of sauce with each dish really stood out to me. It was rich, tomatoey (that’s a word, right?), and surprisingly tangy. Made for excellent dipping of said sliced brisket.

We caught the restaurant before a big lunch rush, but even so there were always 2-3 people at the counter, getting BBQ in-house or to-go.

Gio’s sells their sauce, too. A big sign above the display boasts of the awards they’ve won. Side note: maybe I don’t know BBQ well enough, but sometimes awards for BBQ seem like Grammy’s. So many people are awarded so many different prizes that I don’t know if it really counts for something. Not that I’m holding this against Gio’s in particular. Just making an observation.

Overall, a worthy stop if you’re trekking up and around the foothills of central Pennsylvania. Gio’s knows their audience well, with specific signage to address Penn State aficionados.

If you want to visit:
Gio’s BBQ
2829 Woodland Bigler Highway (map it!)
Woodland, PA 16881
(814) 857-714
giosbbq.com

Photos: The Cuisine of Eastern Pennsylvania

Over my recent spring break we headed east to visit Mrs. Bfast w/Nick’s family. Most of her family hails from Pennsylvania, with one whole contingent from the southeast corner of the state in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania Dutch territory. This region, like every region with a good identity, sports some very unique eating. First up: pickled beet eggs. My wife’s grammie has always made them, and I never knew or loved them until I had hers. The beets and eggs (hard-boiled) are pickled together in the beet juice, vinegar, and sugar. They’re a little sweet and they stain your fingers.

At a family dinner we also had a dish called corn pie.

This is a very basic mixture of corn, hard-boiled eggs, milk, and butter in a pie crust, flavored with salt and pepper. It’s simple, easy-to-like comfort food.

Pizza is pizza, but it always tastes better when it’s a little sentimental. This is a slice of the meat lovers from P&J Pizza in Womelsdorf. P&J was my wife’s grandfathers favorite pizza place; the family that owned the place always called him “Charlie,” even though that’s not his name. When Pop passed away a couple years ago, we actually had to make the call to P&J to let them know that Charlie had passed, and they were genuinely disappointed to lose a friend.

We spent a morning in the adorable and vibrant small town of Lititz, including breakfast at a home-cooking buffet (blog post coming soon!). Lititz was just voted Coolest Small Town in America by Budget Travel, and from what I’ve seen that’s a worthy title. Storefronts are not only occupied by small businesses, but they’re busy, too. There’s a healthy mix of history and some modern invention, and the town overall is very well-kept. We visited two food-related places that are steeped in history.

The first stop was the Julius Sturgis pretzel factory, first pretzel bakery in the U.S. The small stone building still houses the old equipment and ovens, although they only make soft pretzels on site. The twice-baked pretzels are made at a larger factory nearby.

On the tour you learn to roll and twist your own pretzel.

And then there’s the obligatory sampling of the fresh soft pretzels.

Around the corner from Julius Sturgis is Wilbur Chocolate Company, still making chocolate in their original production space. The lower level is a shop and museum, but on the floors above you can hear the equipment thumping away.

Part of the gift shop serves as a small museum, with displays of old packaging, equipment, and photos.

Out of sheer curiosity, I picked up a bag of Wilbur’s coffee. The package noted that the beans are dusted with cocoa, and they seriously weren’t kidding.

If you’re eating in eastern Pennsylvania, you’ve got to have some scrapple! Scrapple is made from the butcher’s meat scraps, mixed with cornmeal and seasonings, then sliced and fried. When it’s done well, it’s good. When it’s not done well… it’s hard to forget what goes into it. This was the version served at our buffet breakfast in Lititz, and it was quite good. Crispy and well-seasoned.

We finished the weekend with breakfast at a local diner called Risser’s Family Restaurant. You have to love small town diners and their placemats with local advertising.

At Risser’s I tried their eggs benedict with a couple hash brown patties. All very good – the hollandaise was a little on the thick side – but all in all it was a fitting end to a weekend of comfort food.

Photos: North Market Coffee Roast 2013

Saturday was the second North Market Coffee Roast. Last year’s event was an overwhelming success, and with a few additions and re-organizations, this year saw sold-out crowds lining up to taste the fares of Columbus’ amazing coffee culture.

It’s always hard to fault an event for being popular – especially those events at North Market like the Microbrew and the Ohio Wine Festivals. North Market is a central location, and their continued role as an incubator of small businesses makes them ideal for showcasing a cross-section of Columbus specialties. I arrived about fifteen minutes after the event started and found pretty long lines already. But I think the key to going with the flow is to have good company with you. That way you can chat and enjoy each other while waiting to sample everyone’s roasts.

I started in the southwest corner and sampled a decent amount of the coffees available.

I got to start with one of my favorites: One Line Coffee. I first discovered them at last year’s festival, and I look for any excuse to stop by their Short North shop.

You can almost think of One Line as coffee scientists, with their bubbling, steaming glassware and Kyoto-style cold drip towers. Soon enough they’ll begin selling the cold brew in bottles. They had it at the event, too – I enjoyed a small mug of it over ice. The Kyoto-style is a 12-hour process that results in rich and concentrated cold coffee, usually served on the rocks almost like a coffee cocktail.

Next to One Line was Upper Cup Coffee with a smaller (but no less impactful) setup. I still have not been to their shop, but my chat with owner Michael and his sister reminded me that I’ve been missing out.

The Impero table was swamped with eager coffee drinkers.

Most of the roasters had whole beans available, too.

Jason from Thunderkiss was busy, as you might expect. One of the best parts of the event was experiencing the passion of all of these roasters and brewers. They wanted you to like their coffee, of course, but even more importantly they wanted you to like coffee.

I got sample LTown Coffee out of London, Ohio. They were keeping the pour-overs rolling.

Another of my favorite roasters, Hemisphere, had a table, too. It was hard to get a picture of Hans and Joelle, as they never stopped moving!

One of the busier corners included Backroom Coffee Roasters and Silver Bridge.

The main event space of the Market was split in two. One end was dedicated to different talks, presentations, and demos about coffee. Here’s Jeff Davis of Cafe Brioso and Mark Swanson from Stauf’s/Cup O’ Joe discussing coffee sourcing.

The other end of the room featured two carts pulling shots of espresso and making lattes and cappuccinos. This showcased the work of Columbus’ great baristas. It seemed like a collaborative effort, although I saw coffee evangelist J.J. (seriously, that’s what his business card says) from Brioso overseeing things. They also had a table with self-serve coffee from Boston Stoker. This was a smart addition: if someone just wanted a cup of coffee without having to wait in line, they could help themselves.

Overall, another great event. It demonstrated again how awesomely well Columbus does coffee. I’ll be there next year. I think what’s most telling is that when I went home I was craving even more coffee (despite having more than enough at the Market), so I brewed up a French press of Hemisphere beans. That’s the point of the Coffee Roast: you’ve discovered these new places, now go visit them for a cup of coffee or a bag of beans.

Boston Stoker Coffee | Columbus, OH

Boston Stoker (Facebook / @BostonStokerOSU)
1660 Neil Ave. (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43210
(937) 890-6401
Open Mon-Fri, 6:30a-7p; Sat & Sun, 8a-2p
Accepts cash & credit/debit

Date of Visit: Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 12:30pm

Coffee on Ohio State’s campus – or any college campus, for that matter – can be a dubious affair. Students in need of caffeination are surrounded by shops hawking extra large lattes and towering cappuccinos. And let’s face it, as a student you’re usually focused more bang-for-your-buck caffeine stimulation rather than the true coffee experience. And that demand is met by places like Brenen’s Cafe, Starbucks, Panera, or any of the OSU food service run coffee shops.

So if you’re someone like me, and you want coffee, but something beyond a sugary iced chai or a grande cup of acidic dark roast, you’re usually out of luck. Until about a year ago, when a Dayton-based chain called Boston Stoker opened a store on Neil Avenue near the center of campus. Like the Brenen’s Cafe that previously occupied the space, Boston Stoker fills the front half of the building, while the back half is dedicated to a bank branch. So in some ways the coffee shop feels like a glorified bank lobby, but it’s got enough personality to be a real coffee shop: couches for chatting, outlets for laptops, plenty of tables for studiers.

The Boston Stoker company roasts their beans in Dayton, where they have nine other stores. In Columbus, menus are printed daily with the coffees available for espresso, French press, or pour overs.

They also serve tea, plus munchables like bagels and muffins.

The real feature of their coffee service is the brew bar, where cups of coffee are prepared individually using the pour over method.

Pour overs provide a little song-and-dance routine for the customer, as it’s slightly more involved than just shooting coffee out of a press pot. This process includes pouring hot water over the coffee grounds in a funneled filter.

This maximizes the appropriate contact time between water and grounds, and it allows you to do it one cup at a time.

The result allows you to best feature the roast’s flavor profile. Seriously, you don’t need cream or sugar with it.

I tried a cup of the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe on the recommendation of the barista, and I loved it. Clean, rich, a little fruity.

This is why I’m so happy to have Boston Stoker on campus: no one else nearby is making coffee like this! Sure, maybe not all college students are looking for the ideal coffee experience, but there’s got to be a crowd for this. Especially given that the closest places preparing coffee well are further south in Short North or up in Clintonville. I know I’m going to create some slight detours to Boston Stoker on the walk between my office and my classrooms.

Photos: The Hills Market Downtown opens today!

The day has finally arrived! It’s the official full opening of the Hills Market Downtown. After months of preparation and renovation, downtown Columbus has a grocery store. It’s especially exciting that the Hills building adjoins the Grass Skirt Tiki Room.

The space is smaller than the original Worthington store – as befitting a downtown grocery – but it’s still packed with all you need.

Beautiful displays of fresh fruit and veggies.

And, oh look – a section of Ohio goods. Including someone’s breakfast book! Hmm…

The store also includes a lot of prepared foods, so it will work for grab-and-go customers downtown as well.

Fully stocked beer and wine section.

Let’s hear it for the continued development of downtown Columbus! I can’t imagine a better addition. Knowing that this is the Hills Market, too, so expect a lot of great events and collaborations.

Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant | Columbus, OH

Ethiopian cuisine has long been one of our favorites. You may have noticed this in my thinly-veiled idolatry of my hometown Ethiopian joint Little Africa. Once you have a favorite restaurant of a certain type, you constantly find yourself trying to recreate it anywhere else you live or travel. Sometimes that restaurant can live up to the original experience; sometimes it’s different enough that it’s equally good on it’s own footing. That’s how we’ve arrived at Lalibela being our favorite Ethiopian restaurant in Columbus.

Lalibela is a simple and quiet restaurant in Whitehall on South Hamilton Road. The small parking lot out front is often crammed, but you can find parking next to the grocery one door down. The entryway lands you next to the bar, ringed with bright neon blue lights. You’ll typically find a few regulars – all Ethiopian – sitting around the bar. As a caucasian, I find this to be re-assuring when I’m seeking out ethnic food. When I’m in the minority in a particular, I’ve found the right place.

Either a server or the owner will lead you further back to the dining room. Usually there is music playing, and often the TV in the corner is showing Ethiopian programming. We’ve seen the restaurant busy, but never crowded. The servers are soft-spoken and incredibly friendly. During every meal the owner comes by to check in on you with a big smile and a welcoming handshake.

We usually visit Lalibela with a group of four to six people, so we order a shared platter of mostly vegetarian dishes. These include things with grape leaves, tomatoes, onions, root vegetables, various lentils, occasionally with a meat dish of stewed beef. We often add a side of shiro, which is yellow peas simmered in veggies and spices.

Ethiopian food is eaten by hand. You tear pieces of injera, a spongy and slightly sour bread made from teff flour, and scoop up individual bites of the food. The entire platter is served on a layer of injera, with extra rolls of the bread served on the side as well. The joy of this type of food is eating together. Rather than sitting hunched over our individual meals, we’re turned toward each other, reaching in and around our arms to scoop up bites from the same plate. This is something I think we can learn to do better in the U.S. We often forget that food is community.

Lalibela has a full bar as well, and we’ve often ordered one of the Ethiopian beers available. The St. George Beer is a light lager with a honey finish. It’s a perfect complement to the rich and often spicy food.

Like I said, Lalibela is our go-to for Ethiopian food in Columbus. It’s a little bit of a drive, out to Whitehall, but we’ve found that the food and welcome is more than worth it.

If you want to visit:
Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant
1111 S. Hamilton Rd. (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43227
(614) 235-5355
lalibelarestaurant.net
Also on Facebook
Open daily 9a-2:30a

Trillium Haven | Grand Rapids, MI

Trillium Haven (Facebook / @TrilliumHaven)
1429 Lake Dr. (map it!)
Grand Rapids, MI 49506
(616) 301-0998
Open Mon-Fri, 11a-3p & 5-11p; brunch served Sat & Sun, 10a-3p
Accepts cash & credit/debit
Vegetarian/vegan/gluten free? Y/N/N
Kid-friendly? Y

Date of Visit: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.

Although we have a favorite breakfast in Grand Rapids – Real Food Cafe – we’re always trying to explore the new options around town. Grand Rapids has a growing food scene, with new cafes and breweries and coffee shops popping up in every neighborhood. One other development is an increase in farm-to-table dining, which means restaurants responsibly sourcing their ingredients from local farms, roasters, wineries, butchers, bakers, and maybe even candlestick makers, too. Enter Trillium Haven.

Trillium Have is set up at a three-way juncture in Eastown, one of Grand Rapids’ hipper neighborhoods. The name derives from Trillium Haven Farm, about 15 minutes outside of Grand Rapids. A trillium, by the by, is a three-petaled perennial; it’s illegal to pick them from public land in Michigan. Hence, the farm name Trillium Haven.

The very tall and bright space echoes the natural character of their menu: lots of smooth wood accents, warm lighting, creams and reds, greenery. Just the restaurant space itself is worth a visit.

The restaurant is split in half with an open bar; on the right you’ll find a large seating area plus an open kitchen. On the left is more seating, with curtains indicating even more space for larger parties.

This type of menu is designed to make a breakfast- or brunch-lover drool. Try reading some of it aloud: hash with coffee-smoked pork belly and root vegetables. Kale eggs benedict with Canadian bacon and brown butter hollandaise. Frittata with black beans, ancho chilis, and squash.

Coffee is locally sourced from Rowster New American Coffee, about a mile away. Inspired by Trilium’s menu, we visited Rowster after brunch. Trillium offered a nice coffee setup, with pottery mugs and dishes, and a carafe left on the table.

This is the pork belly hash, complete with slices of the belly (smoked with Rowster coffee), root vegetables, brussel sprouts, a white cheese, and a couple eggs to order. It’s all drizzled with a little maple syrup. It’s a really interesting contrast of flavors: smokey and salty in the pork belly, earthy notes from the veggies, a little tart from the cheese, and then a sweetness from the maple syrup. This certainly isn’t a traditional hash, but there’s a lot to like about it, although oddly enough the syrup sometimes overpowers the other elements.

Mrs. Bfast w/Nick’s favorite breakfast is pretty much anything with good smoked or salted salmon, so she ordered the smoked salmon scramble. It’s an open-face scramble served over toast and featuring the expected salmon accoutrement: capers, red onions, cream cheese. Overall, a really solid breakfast.

Pork belly hash in progress.

What’s brunch without a good Bloody Mary? Trillium’s was rich and heavily spiced.

And you can’t pass up a good breakfast pizza. This one featured potatoes, bacon, greens, hollandaise, and a fried egg for dipping. A very good representation of breakfast in pizza form.

The meal ended with a nice little touch: recipe cards given with your bill. This helps you continue your dining experience by recreating some of the dishes you’ve tried at the restaurant.

Our overall experience at Trillium Haven was a good one and I certainly recommend it as a brunch spot, although at times the farm-to-table descriptions can be overwhelming. I appreciate the attention to detail, but sometimes being given the low-down on everything from even the dab of butter to the glob of jam next to your toast can amount to so many details you can’t keep them straight. If you’re a person who prefers the simple eggs-and-bacon breakfast, Trillium may prove to be sensory overload. All the same, they offer a solid brunch with some really creative plates, attentive service, and a really beautiful space.

Rowster New American Coffee | Grand Rapids, MI

Rowster New American Coffee (Facebook / @RowsterCoffee)
632 Wealthy St. SE (map it!)
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
(616) 780-7777
Open Mon-Fri, 7a-7p; Sat, 8a-8p; Sun 9a-5p
Accepts cash & credit/debit

Date of Visit: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 11:00 a.m.

My hometown of Grand Rapids just keeps getting cooler and cooler. Why does this always happen after you leave somewhere? Following a breakfast at nearby Trillium Haven in Grand Rapids, we were in the mood for a little more coffee. We had noticed on Trillium’s menu that they served Rowster coffee, and when we asked our server about it she told us the roaster was just down the road. Very fitting for Trillium’s locally-driven menu.

We found Rowster’s corner storefront down Wealthy Street, a budding, brick-lined district that’s quickly filling in with new shops, bakeries, a theatre, and restaurants. Rowster has taken up a solid place in the neighborhood; their decor is a mix of old building wood floors and plus angular metallic accents.

The whole space has a very casual, open feel to it. There’s nothing of the tightly organized coffee shop tables with plugs for every laptop. Instead, there’s a high counter in the window, a short one overlooking the actual roaster (a clear centerpiece of the space), then a long bench against the right wall with polished wood stumps for tables. There’s no menu scrolled in chalk on the wall – you simply amble up to the counter and a barista asks what you’d like. If you’re not well versed in coffee shop menus, you might be at a loss for words. Or you just have to be bold enough to ask, “What do you serve?” The answer is that they serve the coffee roaster basics: shots of espresso, cappuccino, machiato, pour-over brews, and the like.

While you wait, you can browse the extensive shelves of bagged coffee, the brewing equipment that’s for sale, the small line-up of baked goods, or the charming collection of glasses holds spoons, sugar, stir sticks.

Coffee beans are available by the pound as well.

Their branding is pretty solid. I’m told this is called a propaganda-style: bold, square lettering, stars, patriotic coloring. It’s everywhere: the mugs, the coffee bags, the wall, the outdoor signage.

Except for their to-go cups, it would seem.

My wife and I ordered just a couple drinks. She had a cappuccino and dubbed it very good, while I tried a pour-over of their daily roast. They use a Chemex pour-over, which is one of the best methods for highlighting a coffee’s flavor profile. I forget the exact origin of the beans they brewed for me, but the result was – like every pour-over I’ve had – a rich array of flavors, foremost of which was a dark cherry or blueberry. I love the reminder that my cup of coffee originated as a berry.

Although Rowster is a younger company, they’ve established a solid brand and identity, and the busy space shows that the customers are finding them. Coffee and coffee education is at the forefront of their game, as you can see from the equipment and the highlight of their roaster in the dead center of the space. I’ve only experienced Rowster at one restaurant and at their store, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in more places around the city, and the region, soon.

Chef-O-Nette | Columbus, OH

Chef-O-Nette
2090 Tremont Center (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43221
(614) 488-8444
Open Mon-Sat, 7:30a-8p (bfast served all day)
Accepts cash & debit/credit
Vegetarian/vegan/gluten free? Y/N/N
Kid-friendly? Y

Date of Visit: Monday, January 21, 2013 at 10:30 a.m.

Nearly every comment, blog post, or review about Chef-O-Nette will tell you that it’s a diner that’s lost in time. And that’s absolutely true: when you put your foot in the door it’s like someone hit pause on a big universal remote. The entire experience feels a little like stepping out of time. Things inside Chef-O-Nette move at their own pace. The atmosphere is quiet and subdued, while the layout and decor don’t seem to have changed much since the restaurant opened in 1955.

Just looking around will reveal the charmingly dated layout and decor: floor partially carpeted and partially covered with formica, long green runner carpets, old school red leather upholstery, latticework walls, neon signs.

My favorite detail of the space are the two U-shaped counters. They stick out into the space at an angle and are surrounded by short-backed red swivel seats. The counter itself is low and wide; a long-legged person like me feels a little crammed sitting in those seats. I love that the open end of each counter leads back into the kitchen, so servers who appear in front of you to take your order or bring your food are standing in a little island.

Chef-O-Nette’s breakfast menu is fairly small. It mainly features the egg/meat/toast combinations, with pancakes and French toast, plus an omelet thrown in for good measure. The waffles aren’t listed on the menu, but there’s a paper sign near the door suggesting them.

I started with a cup of diner coffee. It’s just as you would expect: hot and bitter. I like, though, that they serve it in small cups. Smaller cups are easy to hold in your hand and they cool off faster. Part of me hopes to spend my retirement sitting in an old diner with a cup of coffee like this.

My 4.5-year-old ordered two eggs with sausage patties and toast. All very simple and straightforward. I don’t think the sausage is made in-house, but it was well seasoned. The toast is generously buttered, and the eggs are cooked evenly. At restaurants you frequently see scrambled eggs cooked flat and then folded over itself. So while they’re scrambled, it’s not the typical pile of eggs. This lets them cook the eggs faster, because they’re spread out across the flattop.

I also did the two eggs combination, but of course added bacon and hash browns to it. All good, but nothing blow-your-mind remarkable. Buttered toast, some crisp to the potatoes and the bacon, good eggs. Nothing fancy, but you don’t go to Chef-O-Nette for fancy. You go for simple and filling.

Speaking of filling, I also felt the need to order one of their waffles. Again, simple, and again, likeable.

Even though it isn’t strictly breakfast, I  have to show off Mrs. Bfast w/Nick’s chicken-fried steak, too. I just love how beige this meal is. This is basic comfort food: crispy chicken with white gravy and a scoop of mashed potatoes, plus sides of canned green beans and rolls with butter.

I’ve said many times before that every neighborhood and every small town needs its diner. Well, Upper Arlington, this is yours. Chef-O-Nette has been serving breakfast on the slow-and-steady for nearly six decades now, and there’s no reason to change a thing about it. Families have gathered there over multiple generations, and here’s hoping they’ll continue for many more.

Fun historical note: Chef-O-Nette claims to have the oldest drive-through in America. Owner Harlan Howard has said that he can’t find record of any restaurant serving out a drive-through window (note, not a drive-in) earlier than Chef-O-Nette. Harlan has owned the restaurant for a long time, having inherited it from his father, who bought it in the 60′s. Harlan also says that no one knows the origin of the name Chef-O-Nette; that secret passed away with the first owner.

Chinese New Year giveaway!

Happy Chinese New Year! The celebration of the Year of the Snake starts today and runs for fifteen days. The folks at Molly Woo’s Asian Bistro are kicking things off with a traditional Chinese Lion Dance at 4 p.m. today, and to include others in the overall celebrations, they’re providing a $25 giftcard to give away to my readers!

To enter, first take a look at the Molly Woo’s menu, and simply comment on this post (by 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 12) by saying what you would order if you were going to celebrate the Chinese New Year there!