Alana's and Pattycake Vegan, Columbus OH

As my list of "Must Visit" restaurants in Columbus has dwindled through the past few years one name stood at the top of the list for some time - a glaring omission in the places I'd visited already - that name was Alana's. Hailed by many as the best restaurant in the city and by others of at least being a truly unique and great dining experience I decided to correct this in celebration of the end of a long month of inpatient medicine. Accompanied by two attending physicians and a medical student who is vegetarian Alana's veg-friendly menu with focus on local/seasonal produce and close location to campus made it an ideal setting.

Getting out of work early I made a quick stop to Pattycake prior to Alana's to pick up a couple of sweets - namely a strawberry shortcake, chocolate peanutbutter, and carrot cupcake - all of which were excellent and re-confirmed my belief that Pattycake is not only the best Vegan bakery in the city, but possibly the best overall (at least on par with Pisachia Vera and Piece of Cake.) I then made my way back down to Alana's where I was still the first in my party to arrive. After snapping a few pictures I entered and spoke to the host for a bit before taking my seat and waiting for my group to slowly filter in - after ten minutes all members were accounted for, water was poured, and menus were delivered.

Chatting for a short while before ordering I was impressed by the lack of pressure from the waiters as I've found this a problem at many Columbus fine-dining establishments in the past - at no point did we feel hasseled, rushed, or pressured - a definite plus. With my colleagues opting for wine and beers (an appropriately named Delerium Tremens was particularly notable on the list) we first ordered some appetizers for the table - namely the cheese plate and fried green tomatoes. Beginning with the cheese plate, for $14 we received three anemic portions of relatively common American cheeses, a basket of boring baguette slices, and some raisins - compared to Luce I couldn't have been more disappointed and would certainly not order this again.

The second appetizer, originally intended to be sharred with our vegetarian student, was the tomato dish - unfortunately my attending forgot until 10 minutes after ordering that it contained chorizo and asked if the order could be augmented to which received a flat "no." While I found this strange as it took another 10-15 minutes for the dish to be delivered and I do suspect the server could've been a little more accomidating, I will admit the dish was excellent and I didn't mind having more to myself. Described as fried green tomato with chorizo, chihuahua cheese and corn vinaigrette the tomato was very well prepared with a delicate snap on the outside yet smooth and sweet inside. Adding to the dish was a spicy yet understated chorizo that contrasted well with the mild cheese and sweet yet savory corn studded dressing.

Following the appetizers my colleagues each opted for a main course and another drink while I selected a salad and a water refill. Arriving shortly after we finished appetizers the tomato stack with lump crab, shaved vidalias, greens, chopped amish egg cheddar and cabernet buttermilk dressing was an absolute knockout of a dish - both in presentation and in taste. Incredibly fresh heirloom tomatos that could very well have been picked immediately prior to service were stacked 4 slices high with layers of fresh and delicate crab, crisp and textural greens, and pungent yet well tempered vidalias. Mellowing out the sharper flavors and pulling the whole dish together was the mild and aromatic egg cheddar (a cheese far superior to any on the cheese plate in flavor and texture) and the absolutely divine buttermilk dressing with mild alcoholic base notes.

For our mains one of my attendings opted for the 4oz tournedo of beef topped with roquefort potatoes, broccoli, and bacon vinaigrette while the vegetarian amongst us ordered the rustichella spaghetti with zucchini noodles, shaved golden zucchini and basil pesto and noted that he'd have trouble going back to eating "normal" pasta any time soon - it certainly looked and smelled excellent. For myself and one of my attending's the order of the night was Alana's nightly risotto - this time featuring sun gold tomatos, sweet corn, goat cheese, and lump crab. Enormous in portion and toothsome yet smooth in texture I must admit I found the risotto to be quite excellent and the creamy cheese and mild crab proved an excellent foil to the sweet and 'al dente' corn and tomatos. Accompanying our mains was a basket of white and rye breads plus a fairly generic and boring olive oil - thankfully there was plenty of sauce to be sopped up from the risotto.

After a meal prepared with such skill dessert was a no brainer - and true to the form of (seemingly) every other restaurant in Columbus the accompaniments to each dessert was a no brainer as well - Jeni's Ice Cream. While my companions decided on the Vanilla Lavender Creme Brulee and Chocolate Zucchini Pound Cakes accompanied with Wildberry Lavender and Kona Stout, respectively I decided to go with the Peach Plum Frangipaine Tart with Honey Vanilla Bean. Served in large portion I found the almond based tart to be quite tasty and well paired with the ice cream selection, but I rather wished the peaches and plus had been a bit sweeter given the fact that we are in the midst of stonefruit season.

All in all I must admit I was quite pleased with the food at Alana's in terms of quality, quantity, and skill of preparation. Service was adequate if not overly friendly - something that clearly is table dependant as we saw our waiter as well as the chef herself visit a table of older "regulars" frequently - and the setting is quite attractive, secluded, and intimate. As a fan of natural/organic/locavore approaches to food I'd certainly not hesitate to recommend Alana's amongst the ten best dining options in Columbus - and certainly moreso than I'd recommend the famed Chez Panisse in Berkeley in terms of price, attitude, and quality of the produce. While not every dish was a smash success, the dishes that shined did so brightly and those that didn't certainly didn't fall flat - more attention to details such as the bread basket and cheese plate plus a tad more accomidating service (the tomato dish) could definitely make Alana's a 5-star Cbus experience.

Pattycake Vegan Bakery, Taste of Belgium, Jeni's Ice Cream, Columbus OH

After a long month in the ICU and 7.5lbs of dropped weight secondary to q4day overnight call my first weekend off was 4^th of July weekend – with the annual Red White and Boom downtown plus a gallery hop in the same weekend. Having seen neither family nor friends outside of my roommate in over a month I decided to indulge my foodie sensibilities with those closest to me in and around Columbus. While not nearly as walkable as the metropolises of New York and San Francisco, a car and a trip down High Street coupled with a big appetite led to a pretty delicious morning and afternoon before a big dinner at Luce in Powell in the evening.

After a morning trip to the gym the first stop on my food-day was at Pattycake Vegan Bakery – a spot I’d been meaning to check out for some time but hadn’t yet made the trek to. Certainly not a vegan but most definitely a fan of naturalistic/trans-fat-free/whole wheat bakeries such as Chicago’s Bleeding Heart and New York’s Babycakes I went in with big expectations. A quaint shop tucked in a little shopping center on High I’d have most certainly driven by if I hadn’t been looking – and if it hadn’t been for the cute signage of Adam Brouillette (a great local artist who I’m proud to own a couple pieces from.)

Walking in the door I was immediately struck by strong scents of Banana, Cinnamon, and Vanilla and surprised by the entirely-too-small shop that already contained 6 other shoppers. Cookies, cakes, bars, muffins and more greeted my eyes and while the pricetags certainly didn’t scream “cheap” they also didn’t seem out of line for the size and quality of the goods. Watching others make selections and snapping a few pictures I decided I’d get one muffin and one cupcake and make my way to the street to eat – asking the wonderfully friendly clerk what she suggested I was told I couldn’t miss the blueberry muffin so I opted for that and a chocolate cupcake.

Beginning with the muffin, entitled “Marry Me Blueberry,” I was first impressed by the sheer density of the item – if I had to guess, more than 8 ounces. My next impression was the smell – heavy on cinnamon and vanilla but clearly buttery in tone. Finally, the taste – simply amazing and quite possibly the best blueberry muffin I’ve ever had, vegan or not. Rich and juicy blueberries, buttery and salty crumb topping, great texture and well balanced throughout.

Moving next to the cupcake I must admit I was a little disappointed that Pattycake didn’t do a Red Velvet – I’ve been looking for a beet-sweetened Red Velvet for quite some time – no big deal though, chocolate will always suffice. As hefty as the muffin and strongly scented with cocoa and perhaps a bit of vinegar there wasn’t a whole lot of nuance to the cupcake, just a whole heckuva lot of flavor. Deep, dark, moist, potent, and delicious – without a shadow of a doubt the best cupcake I’ve experienced in Columbus and on par with Kara’s in San Francisco for best “pure-chocolate” cupcake to grace my palate.

I always get a tad annoyed when people act like “organic” or “whole wheat” means something isn’t as good as the white-bread version – especially since I pride myself on often baking all-organic or natural muffins and cupcakes. With that said, I must admit that on the whole I’ve frequently found vegan baked goods to be rather boring and bland – something that Pattycake most certainly is not. All told, while I certainly don’t see myself becoming vegan anytime soon, I certainly do see myself coming back to Pattycake again – like Dragonfly, this place proves that with the right skills, a lot of dedication, and great ingredients one can make wonderful food without buying into America’s infatuation with all that is processed and rendered.

Following Pattycake I traveled south to the North Market to meet some friends and their toddler for breakfast. Having never been to the North Market on a weekday I was surprised to find every business open and a line 10 deep for our destination – Taste of Belgium. Opening recently (boy, Tommy Biscotti’s piss-poor customer service didn’t last) and featuring authentic Liège waffles – essentially an adapted brioche recipe fried crisp and topped with sugar, my friend who has spent significant time overseas was particularly thrilled.

Walking up to the stand I must admit I was impressed by the setup, the crepe stones, and the menu. The servers, two college-age girls who clearly lacked much restaurant experience, were mostly friendly and modestly efficient (they only dropped one crepe and one waffle during our 16 minute wait) in dealing with the crowd – taking frozen chunks of dough from a freezer and placing it on the irons for the waffles and spreading crepe batter thin on the stones for the crepes. Service was relatively uneven in that I got my waffle (packed in plastic) almost 5 minutes before my crepe was done and my friend got her crepe approximately 8 minutes before her husband got his.

Making our way to the outdoors to eat (after grabbing a great cup of Highlander Grog from Expressly for only $1.50) I must say we couldn’t have had better weather to sit and chat. Digging into my options, first up was the Traditional crepe with Gruyere, Egg, and Ham. Featuring a well cooked and toothsome whole-wheat crepe and ample succulent Gruyere, I must admit the crepe was a little underwhelming with regard to the bland and watery ham – for $7 I would expect either twice as much ham or at least ham from a sourcer like Neiman Ranch. With regard to the egg – filler, quite frankly, and largely undetectable.

Following up the average crepe my next choice was the $5 Waffle with fruit and cream – specifically some wonderfully ripe organic strawberries from California and Snowville creamery whipped cream. Crispy, warm, and sugar-laden I will fully admit that this was one fine waffle and the berries and cream were a wonderful treat – unfortunately I received it so far ahead of my crepe that the dish was already somewhat cool and soggy by the time I got to it. Tasty, but for the $12+$1 tip I could have bought four more items from Pattycake or a couple cinnamon rolls, a cupcake, and an omega egg from Omega. Decent, especially in a city lacking much in the way of breakfast, but not great – perhaps once they work out the kinks and develop better sourcing things will improve – for now I’d suggest just getting the waffle sans topping. Additionally, having tasted a bite of my friend’s lavender sugar crepe – skip it…the taste is quite reminiscent of soap.

Not quite full after the Taste of Belgium I made my way back into the market for a little more Highlander Grog…and some Jeni’s. In traditional fashion I was greeted by the wonderfully friendly staff and sample after sample ranging from a downright delectable Riesling Poached Pear to a relatively overpowered Apricot Yogurt. Tasting the Berries and Burgundy for the first time I was torn, but once again returned to my roots – a small with one half goat cheese and roasted red cherries and one half sweet corn and black raspberry. While I much prefer the autumnal Goat cheese with fig, the cherry was an excellent changeup and the smoothness of the goat cheese icecream contrasted well with the gritty texture of the sweet corn option – my favorite of all Jeni’s creations. Great staff, great icecream, and a business model to be envied – to quote Forrest Gump – “I love you Jeni,” Columbus is lucky to have you.