Local Foodie Moment: The Pearl

Geez I was supposed to post this LFM ages ago!  So sorry!  But now it goes along with our New Restaurant Checklist so it works out!

A couple weeks ago I had a charity campaign event at Franklin Park Conservatory so I made plans with Chris to have dinner downtown, giving me the night off!  Turns out he got Clippers game tickets so we made a fun little evening out of it!  (Remember when it was warm enough to go to baseball games?  With the recent snow I'm struggling to remember such a time!)  Since I knew we would be down there in advance we decided to make reservations at The Pearl, the highly lauded new Cameron Mitchell restaurant.

Chris and I are big fans of ol' CM, his gagle of restaurants have always provided great atmospheres, great service and quality food for our enjoyment over the years.  So we were excited to try this new gem that EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE in Columbus is talking about (and it opened back in February).  Be warned given this city's infatuation with the place you best plan ahead and call three weeks in advance.

I made reservations three weeks in advance, then week of I wanted to add two to our party to accommodate friends we were going to the Clippers game with.  They said, nope sorry we could move your reservation up by 15 minutes if you want to do that or move it back by TWO hours if you want to accommodate 4.  Seriously?  So I had a sneaking suspicion we'd be jammed in like sardines at a two person table.  Interestingly enough, I was correct.  We were wedged between two tables of couples who seemed to be enjoying their dinners.  The reason I knew that is because I could hear every part of their conversation as we weren't even arms length from each other.

I will say the upside to being right next to complete strangers is that Columbus folk are pretty friendly so those who had eaten first were happy to give their suggestions and feedback on your pending menu choices.  So it makes it feel a little more communal and interesting but when I've waited three weeks to try this place I'd like to be able to have a conversation with my fiance without the emotional rumblings from the table next to us.

Anyways on to the drinks.  I tried the Moscow Mule, vodka, lime juice, ginger and ginger beer (what can I say? I could't help being part of the Mule Movement that seemed to have taken over the capital city this summer).  Chris ordered a beer.  The MM was light, refreshing and well made.  Water and cocktails are served in mason jars giving it a rustic feel.

Moscow Mule

Chris had been to The Pearl once for a work happy hour and said the Tavern Fries were pretty phenom.    I clearly couldn't resist seeing what the hype was about so we ordered them as an appetizer.  He was right, they were pretty phenom.  Nice and crispy shoe string style fries with just the right seasoning!

Tavern Fries

They do have a variety of oysters for diners to choose from but I'm not an oyster fan and Chris didn't want to eat a whole order by himself.

Ok, main dish time.  Chris ordered the salmon special which was served over a cluster of roasted veggies.  He said it was amazing, I took his word for it as salmon in any form other than a Philadelphia Roll just doesn't work out for me.

Salmon Special

Since I knew we'd indulge in a beer at the Clippers game I wanted to keep things light so I ordered the Spinach Salad and the Chicken Wing Confit.  The salad had goat cheese, candied almonds and a bacon balsamic vinaigrette that was mostly to die for.  The wings were deliciously crispy and the Maytag blue cheese dip they served with was super yummy.  Since it was confit style it was rather rich but the spinach salad cut that richness to make for a pretty great dinner combo!

Chicken Wing Confit and Spinach Salad

Then came dessert (I thought we were keeping things light? haha) we were advised by the table next to us that we HAD to get the apple pie.  I am by no circumstances a fan of pie but apple pie is Chris' achilles heel so we caved and got it.  Our waiter told us it had creme brulee custard mixed in with the apples so it was very good.  I was just waiting to prove him wrong.  Unfortunately I couldn't do so because it was one of the better tasting pies I've ever shoved in my piehole (Hah? Piehole while eating pie, where do I come up with this stuff?!)!  It literally changed my life.  Chris of course loved it and wasn't so pleased when I kept stealing more bites!

Creme Brulee Apple Pie with a scoop of Jenni's Vanilla Ice Cream

Overall the food was good, the service was great and the cocktails were just right but I'd venture to say the price is a bit much.  Maybe I'm being overly picky and my initial impressions of the atmosphere are clouding my judgement but I think the jury is still out for me on this one.  Chris has labeled himself a fan but I'm still not there yet.  I'd like to go back and give it another try, then make my official fan or not decision.  I have heard they have a fabulous brunch so maybe we'll go back for that.

This post is on urbanspoon!

Recent news says that CM will be opening another restaurant concept called Hudson 29 in early 2014.  Should be interesting to see what they come up with next!    

Cheers!
Steph

Local Foodie Moment: New Restaurants of 2013

It is far too chilly outside and it SNOWED last night.   I'm distracting myself with a fun new idea Chris and I will be tackling this holiday season (I mean as if we weren't busy enough haha!).  Columbus Crave recently published this list of new restaurants that made their debut this year.  I thought "hmmm, instead of just putting these on my urbanspoon wishlist, why don't we actually GO to these before the end of the year"!  Chris does a similar list completion around Academy Awards time with movies.

Of course I emailed Chris right away with abounding enthusiasm with my idea.  He of course questioned its feasibility (Mr. Practical).  Then I did my research and figured out we only hadn't been to six out of the list of ten.  Of course I drafted up a little chart that tells us the restaurant, the type of cuisine, whether we'd been there or not and if I'd blogged about it (Ms. OCD).  We figured out that it would indeed be feasible as well as fun to support local restaurants plus we'd have some date nights in our future!  Win, win, win all around!

The list is as follows (ones with links are places we've visited and I've blogged about):
101 Beer Kitchen
Pint House Beer Garden
Local Cantina
The Pearl (blog post coming soon!)
Plate
Frezno Bar and Grill
Philco Bar + Diner
South of Lane
El Camino Inn
The Crest

Soooo stay tuned for some fun LFM's before the end of the year!

Cheers!
Steph

Tailgate Time: Chili Cookoff!

Woohooo it's Friday!  I thought with the weekend upon us and being in the middle of football season I'd share with you one of our recent tailgate ideas!  You know how I love themes, so it should be no surprise to you that I like to theme our tailgates.  This year we've really stepped up our tailgating game within our group of friends so of course we want to keep it fresh and fun so our friends keep coming back regardless of weather!

Pictures from tailgates this season!  So much fun!

Our last tailgate of the season, we did a chili cookoff.  What was great was that we didn't have a lot of food prep on site since everyone brought a chili to share.  My tailgating planning partner and I provided the condiments and utensils and that was that!  Here are my tips and tricks to hosting a chili cookoff:

Plan accordingly
Make sure you have enough space for multiple crockpots or pots of chili.  Also its pretty imperative that you hash out your electricity situation.  For our tailgates we haven't nailed down the electricity thing yet so we had to get a little creative.  Since it was an all day tailgate we had everyone bring their chili hot and ready to serve then had the judging period then reheated any that got cold on a small grill in aluminum roasting pans.  Obviously if you have access to electricity then you just want to make sure you have plenty of outlets and power strips available.

One of two tables we had with cookoff items

Utensils
Unless you have an abundance of serving spoons on hand, ask each contestant to bring a spoon or ladle for serving.  For eating utensils (bowls and spoons) you can assign this to someone or provide it yourself.  We also had small foam cups for sampling in case people didn't want to use a bowl.  If you want to make your party a little more green you could ask guests to bring their own bowl and spoon for tasting that they can wash afterwards.  Since we didn't want a heap of dirty dishes in the car we opted for disposable options: plastic spoons, styrofoam bowls and cups.

Condiments
The options are really endless with chili condiments, we had:
- shredded cheese
- oyster crackers
- sour cream
- jalapenos
- tortilla chips
- garlic bread
- corn bread
- rice
- avocados

You could also have pasta, hot sauce, chili peppers, the options really are infinite!  Be clear on what condiments you need or will be providing because apparently that's a grey area our group didn't understand and we ended up with like 10 bags of shredded cheese.

Voting/Judging
Decide whether to do a voting system or if you pick a panel of judges.  We did a voting system.  Each chili contestant received an entry sheet and a number with a corresponding can to collect votes.  The entry sheet just asked what the chili was called (turkey chili, vegetarian chili, etc.), the level of spiciness and the contestant number.

Entry sheets taped to each crockpot

I cleaned some aluminum cans I had in the recycling, topped them with press and seal wrap then cut a slit in the top for tickets to slip in.  Then I had some extra Ohio State fabric laying around so I wrapped each can in that then numbered them with a wide tipped permanent marker.
  

Voting cans

All contestant identities were supposed to be kept secret.  If you want to take it that extra step you could disguise all the pots so people don't know who's is who's.  Each guest received two tickets which would be counted as their votes.  At the end of the voting period (which was about an hour and a half to two hours) we tallied up the votes and announced the winner.

Inversely if you decided to do judging, you'd assemble a panel of chili tasters.  Give them numbered samplings of each chili then let them decide the winner(s).

Prize(s)
As our prize we had a case of Elevator Brewing's Bleeding Buckeye Red Ale, a 1st place ribbon and a sign to put on the winner's crockpot.  Since our cookoff was a little more small scale we just had one grand prize winner. But you could do 1st, 2nd and 3rd places or grand prize, spiciest, most creative, etc.

The winners, Rob and Emily with Grams Depression Chili Recipe!

It seemed like everyone really enjoyed this tailgate despite the untimely cold and wind!  But I guess that's the risk you take with partying outside.  It was fun to be able to try everyone's different recipes.  Some went with recipes passed down within their families, some tried a new recipe they hadn't made before, it was a great mix and a fun conversation starter!

Have a great weekend!  A new Sunday Soup is coming up next!

Cheers!
Steph

Soup's On: Kale, White Beans and Tomato Soup

It's that time of year friends, time for Sunday Soup on WWSV!  This week I'm a little behind so it's not titled Sunday Soup but it was a hectic weekend!  During the fall and winter months Chris and I are big fans of soup for lunches so I typically prepare a big batch on Sundays.  Then I share my recipes with you!

This weekend we went to Miami, I had a meeting as well as our first annual 18 of the last 9 awards reception!

The inaugural class of 18 of the last 9!  Very inspirational and successful Miamians!

This event is something the Young Alumni Council has been working to get off the ground for a year.  Ok, sorry back to the soup, I just can't help but brag about my awesome council members, they seriously rock!

Sights from campus and our YAC meeting!

After my cleanse I had some ingredients leftover and one that I had in abundance was kale.  With my new MAJOR fruit and veggie cravings I figured lets put this stuff to use!  I feel like kale is under represented, it gets such a bad rap!  I can see why some aren't big fans because it is a little tough and its raw texture is a little strange BUT once you get comfortable with it it can be downright delicious.  I found this recipe as a side on Pinterest but I decided to add broth and make it a soup.  It's very yummy and fills you right up!

Kale, White Beans and Tomato Soup 

(this makes about three to four servings)

Ingredients:

- About a cup or so of kale, leaves removed from the stems and roughly chopped

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 Tbsp. olive oil

- 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes

- 1 can (14 oz) white beans, drained and rinsed (I used cannelli beans)

- 1 c. chicken broth (for vegetarians you can use vegetable broth)

- pinch red pepper flakes

- salt and pepper to taste

- sprinkles of parmesan cheese (for serving)

Instructions:

- Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and let cook until just barely golden around the edges.

- Add kale (be careful, if it is still wet it will spit a little when it hits the oil) saute and occasionally cover to steam until kale is wilted.

- Add tomatoes, beans and broth then simmer a few minutes.  The amount of broth you add is up to you, I like lots of broth to my soups so I tend for a heavier hand with it.  

- Add red pepper flakes (a lot if you like it spicy or only a little pinch if you don't).  Season with salt and pepper.

- Serve and sprinkle with parmesan.  If you are making ahead (like I do for lunches) leave parmesan off until time to serve.  (If you have a dairy allergy you can leave the cheese off altogether, it still tastes good.)

So there we have our first soup recipe of the season, hope you enjoy!

Cheers!

Steph