The Summer Schedule

The coming summer promises to be a busy one in downtown Columbus–and autumn, too.

I’ve been seeing the flier shown above around town, and it indicates that this year the downtown event planners have come up with some new events and reintroduced some classics. The Pearl Market has long been a staple of the downtown area, with its fresh fruit and vegetable stands and homemade items. They’ve evidently decided to bring back the “Rally in the Alley,” which was a popular party and music event back in the ’90s. “Wellness Wednesdays,” with mindfulness classes and yoga, is a new option, as are movies at the Topiary Park and the intriguing Cirque du Pearl, which conjures images of trapeze artists, firebreathers, and jugglers entertaining in and above the alley. I think the Downtown Holiday Trolley Hop is new as well.

Add in some of the other staples of a downtown summer–Columbus Crew matches at Lower.com Field, the CAPA Summer Movie series at the Ohio Theater, Columbus Clippers games at Huntington Park, and the array of offerings from CAPA, among others–and you’ve given a lot of options to the people who live in or near downtown. That’s a good thing, too, because if you want to encourage people to live downtown, as the city of Columbus does, then you need to give them things to do on the weekends and during the week.

Which do you think will be more popular–Wellness Wednesdays, or the chance to guzzle a few brewskis and listen to music at the revived Rally in the Alley?

The Random Restaurant Tour—LXIII

There’s been a lot of buzz about Hank’s, the new restaurant opening at the corner of Gay and High Streets in downtown Columbus. Last night we checked out Hank’s on its official opening night, and I can comfortably say that the buzz is warranted.

Hank’s is a seafood and low country cuisine venue that comes to Columbus from Charleston, South Carolina, where it is one of the finest culinary establishments in that food-loving town. Its arrival is welcome, because our downtown area is noticeably lacking in seafood options. Steakhouses we’ve got, but seafood? Not so much. Hank’s aims to change that.

The restaurant has a casual elegant vibe, with a wraparound bar and oyster bar, leather seats, and white-jacketed waiters. And the food fits in well with the casual elegant atmosphere. At the recommendation of the friendly bartender, we got the scallops crudo appetizer, pictured above. It featured thinly sliced, succulent scallops that you spooned onto crisps. It was, in a word, delicious. Kish got the she crab soup, which also was terrific. It came in a huge bowl, too—big enough for two, which made me happy since I wrestled it away from her so I could enjoy a few spoonfuls of rich she crab goodness.

The bartender also recommended the ahi tuna entree, shown below—and she therefore went 2 for 2. it featured slices of rare, blackened sushi grade tuna served over cheesy grits, with two fried oysters as a complement. After I scraped off the diced vegetables on top (sorry, Hank’s!) I enjoyed the combination of low country flavors and textures in every bite. I second the barkeep in highly recommending this dish.

My doctor is always encouraging me to eat more fish. Thanks to Hank’s, that challenge just got a lot easier. I’m looking forward to the day, coming soon, when Hank’s opens for lunch.

In The Path Of The Eclipse

Something pretty unusual will happen today in Columbus. We’re on the edge of the path of a total solar eclipse, where the moon will pass by the face of the sun. The downtown area will experience 99.6 percent totality for a few minutes starting at 3:07 p.m. this afternoon. If you want 100 percent totality, you’ll need to head north. Akron and Cleveland, among other Ohio cities, are on the totality track, which you can check out here.

Here’s an interesting statistic about just how rare it is to have a total solar eclipse visible in Ohio: the last one happened in 1806, only three years after Ohio became a state, The Ohio Department of Natural Resources notes that only 21 total solar eclipses have crossed the lower 48 states during the entire existence of the United States. The next one to hit Ohio won’t arrive until 2099.

Given the unusual nature of the eclipse experience, people in Columbus don’t quite know what to expect. There have been some weird warnings about making sure your car is gassed up, because there could be an influx of eclipse watchers coming to town and guzzling up our gas supplies, and traffic is expected to be bad because of potential visitors. Don’t be surprised if people have responded to the warnings by going to the store and stocking up on toilet paper, just as they would if a big storm were in the weather forecast.

I’ll head outside to check out the eclipse when near-totality occurs, but there may be a big catch: it is April in Ohio, which is a cloudy time. We don’t know if the sun will even be visible through the standard cloud cover. Right now, the weather app is predicting cloudy conditions between 3 and 4 p.m. Keep your fingers crossed that there will be a break in the clouds so we all can get a glimpse of a pretty amazing celestial spectacle.

Net’s Up

This morning the work crews had blocked off the intersection of Gay and High Streets and were busy putting up Current, the sculpture that hangs over that intersection during the warmer months of the year. The sculpture isn’t designed to withstand the weight of accumulated snow, ice, and freezing rain, so they take it down over the winter months. It’s actually a bit aggressive to put it up in early April, because Columbus has been known to get April snowstorms from time to time. None are in the short-term forecast–but April weather is notoriously fickle and can turn on a dime. We’ll just have to hope it stays above freezing.

As I watched the workers and cranes hoist Current into place, I was briefly tempted to go up to one of the guys in a hard hat and say, with a serious expression on my face: “Aren’t you hanging it upside down?” They probably wouldn’t have thought that was very funny, however.

Madison Renewal

In 1986, when I was a brand-new associate at the law firm, I realized when I got to work one day that I had forgotten to wear a belt. Embarrassed, I searched for a place near the office where I could buy one. I went to a department store called Madison’s in the building shown above, happily found a belt, bought it, and went back to work. At the time, Madison’s was a local department store that had several locations around town.

My purchase of a belt didn’t keep that department store in business, however. It closed very shortly thereafter, and the building fell into disuse. It sat empty for decades, right at the intersection of Gay and High Streets in the heart of downtown Columbus. That empty building, and others right next to it, gave the area a kind of forlorn look.

But now the buildings have been rehabbed, and the former department store has become an upscale apartment building, aptly called The Madison, that hopes to take advantage of the hot downtown Columbus housing market. You can see information about the 1- and 2-bedroom apartments here. They look like nice places for anyone who is interested in living in the vibrant Gay Street District.

Urban renewal is an ongoing thing in America, but I think it works best when the salvageable old buildings are reused and repurposed. The work on the Madison maintains a vintage building that fits right in with the prevailing Gay Street vibe and turns what was an eyesore into a nice residential facility. It’s another good addition to the downtown scene.

The Random Restaurant Tour–LXI

Some restaurant spots seem destined to change hands repeatedly, housing one restaurant after another without much of an opportunity to get to know any of them. That’s been true of the restaurant location at 201 S. High St., under the old-fashioned “Restaurant” sign. It was once de Novo, then it was a taco place, then it was Lola’s, then it was a place called the Downtown Tavern–and I’m probably forgetting a few of the places that existed in between.

Yesterday our lunch bunch went to the newest venture to occupy the spot. Called Hydeout Kitchen & Bar, it offers a nice lunch menu. The layout of the place looks pretty much the same as it always has, with a long bar and booths against the opposing wall. We sat at a booth, perused the menu, and were immediately tantalized by the fact that it offered potato pancakes as a side dish.

Potato pancakes, for the uninitiated, are a high-risk option. When poorly made, you are presented with what tastes like lukewarm leftover instant mashed potatoes covered in sawdust. When well made, the coating is crispy and crackling, the potatoes inside are hot and have some texture, and you add dollops or sour cream and applesauce for a true taste treat. Alas, we learned that the potato pancakes weren’t available yesterday, so we’ll have to go back to learn where the Hydeout version places on the potato pancake spectrum.

That was okay, however, because I was able to apply the cheeseburger test–which I’m happy to report was passed with flying colors. Hydeout’s burger, shown above, is very tasty indeed, and combined the essential qualities of good meat, fine patty formation, proper cooking, tangy cheese, and onions, and they add a dab of mustard to give it a special zing. The fries were excellent, too–crunchy on the outside, hot on the inside, and presented in a reasonable, and not excessive, portion size. They make their own hot sauce, too, which was an excellent complement to the fries and the burger.

So we’ll be going back to Hydeout–assuming it sticks around for a while–and I’ll gladly try another of their sandwiches in hopes of sampling an elusive potato pancake. Now that I’ve been tempted, I’ll have to see it through to completion.

Reimagining Gay Street

The City of Columbus is reimagining Gay Street . . . again.

Gay Street has been through multiple transformations on its journey to becoming what it is now—the coolest street in downtown Columbus. The most recent change came when the City decided to convert the street from a one-way street to two-way traffic, with a center median at the Fourth Street intersection. This week, the City unveiled plans that appear to be far more ambitious. You can see a Columbus Underground article that discusses the plans and shows some of the different artists’ renderings, like the one above, here.

The nub of the plan is that the Gay Street District would be home to part of what would be called the Capital Line, a two-mile cyclist and pedestrian trail that would run along Gay Street, Fourth Street, and Rich Street and connect the core downtown area to the Scioto Peninsula area across the Scioto River. The idea is to provide a safer, friendlier path for bikes and walkers, who currently must navigate lots of busy intersections and often-confusing bike lanes.

The plan envisions the Capital Line running down the south side of Gay Street, in the area where on-street parking is available now, and the addition of some structures and public art spaces. To add the bicycle and pedestrian trail, the two parking lanes on Gay Street would be eliminated, the street would skinny down to two lanes for vehicles, and even those lanes could be closed to traffic for special occasions, like the holiday celebration envisioned above.

The Columbus Underground article reports that the plans are still in the concept stage and could change, but work on Gay Street–which the CU accurately describes as “one of downtown’s most dense and vibrant streets–is expected to start in 2025.

Prematurely Aged

They’re making good progress on the new restaurant that will be opening soon at the northwest corner of Gay and High Streets in downtown Columbus. The plywood barricades have been taken down, and they’ve started to add a few of the finishing touches, like nifty tilework at the Gay Street entrance and some of the signage.

As the tilework indicates, the restaurant is called Hank’s–specifically, Hank’s Lowcountry Seafood and Raw Bar. According to the Hank’s Columbus website, it’s the sister to a restaurant by the same name in Charleston, South Carolina, and it is aiming to open its doors this spring.

I’ve not been to Hank’s in Charleston, but I’m guessing the Hank’s Columbus will have a decidedly old school vibe. The tiled entrance has that feel, and the signage does, too–including some apparently conscious fading and running of the ink. Hank’s seems to be going for a prematurely aged look, as if the restaurant has been there for decades, rather than being the newest place in town. That’s an intriguing concept that makes me interested in trying Hank’s out once it opens up for customers.

The Random Restaurant Tour–LIX

The Spaghetti Warehouse was a Columbus institution in its original location in an actual old warehouse on West Broad Street in Franklinton, just across the river from downtown. That location closed after a roof collapse, but the restaurant has now reopened at the former de Novo spot on High Street, overlooking the Columbus Commons. When our lunch group was looking for a place to go on Friday, we decided we obviously needed to check it out.

The SW is a classic red sauce Italian joint, with lunch-time staples like a 15-layer lasagna, spaghetti with meatballs, and chicken parmesan. I can’t resist spaghetti and meatballs, so my choice was easy. And at the Warehouse, there’s a lot of bang for your noon hour buck. For about $20 I got the spaghetti and meatballs, a big bowl of Italian wedding soup, and some bread fresh from the oven. (I didn’t have any of the bread, frankly, because I figured my carb load was being tested already with the pasta intake, but it looked pretty good.)

The Italian wedding soup was a perfectly good starter, and I especially liked the spaghetti and meatballs. It came with three huge, rugged meatballs, which when chopped up provided plenty of meaty nuggets that allowed me to get a protein intake with every twirled forkful of sauce-covered pasta. I heaped on a lot of parmesan cheese (just shy of the guy in the current TV commercial), and relished a very filling meal. Our group unanimously agreed that the SW was well worth a return visit in the future.

The Spaghetti Warehouse isn’t going to win any haute cuisine awards for its Italian fare, but there’s obviously a market for it–when we visited, the place was packed and the restaurant was able to turn tables during the lunch hour, which is no mean feat. For many of us, red sauce Italian is comfort food, and it’s nice to enjoy it from time to time. I predict the SW is going to have staying power in its new home.

For The Crew

The Columbus Crew play tonight in the MLS championship game. As a show of support for our hometown club, our firm projected Crew photos on the side of our building at 68 East Gay Street. The result was pretty cool.

Go Crew!

Current Removal

“Current,” the large, fishnet-like sculpture that has been hanging over the intersection of Gay and High Streets in downtown Columbus for the past six months, came down yesterday. The piece is simply not designed to endure a Midwestern winter, when it would be required to bear the accumulated weight of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and other seasonal weather delights. The sculpture will be put on a rotation in which it will be installed in the spring, removed on the cusp of winter, and then spend the frigid months in artistic hibernation.

The removal of the sculpture was a significant operation. The intersection was blocked off, a big tarp was spread over the asphalt, and multiple cranes unlatched the sculpture from its support moorings and slowly lowered the piece to the ground. A number of hard-hatted people supervised the work, and they must have done their job well, because the effort seemed to come off without a hitch.

I got used to seeing “Current” overhead, and the intersection seems a bit boring and barren without it. We’ll just have to look forward to seeing it again next spring, when the reemergence of “Current,” like the return of the swallows to San Juan Capistrano, tells us that warm weather lies ahead.

A Sidewalk Story

After years of work, it looks like the ongoing project to rehab the former commercial buildings at the corner of Gay and High Streets in downtown Columbus and convert them to residential units is finally drawing to a finish. Last week, we saw an indicator of impending completion–one that you might call it a sidewalk story.

They started pouring the cement for brand new sidewalks in front of the buildings, as you can see in the photo above. I read that as indicating that the heavy exterior work, at least, is concluded. Construction work proceeds in an organized sequence, with installation of new sidewalks presumably coming at the end of the line because you wouldn’t want to bring big trucks, backhoes, and machinery onto fresh concrete and pulverize it. And from the looks of the buildings themselves, much of the interior work seems to be done as well.

It will be good to see this bit of downtown construction come to an end, so that the orange barriers are taken down and the sidewalk is again open for pedestrian traffic. The patrons of the Gay Street District also are excited because a French bistro-type restaurant is supposed to open in newly refurbished space at the corner, and a new seafood place is going into the building directly across High Street. We’ll always welcome new dining options to our cool downtown neighborhood.

And it will be especially interesting to see what, if anything, goes into the other street-level retail space in these buildings. As I’ve noted before, there is a large appetite for residential space downtown, but retail space has been more of a challenge to lease. We’ll know we’ve reached a critical mass of downtown residents when those storefronts are leased and occupied by businesses providing basic services for people living in the neighborhood.

“Portland Loos” Come To Columbus

Downtown residential housing isn’t the only construction that is underway in Columbus. The city also is building three public restrooms in the downtown area. This week I walked past one of them, shown above, which is located at the corner of Broad and Third Streets, catty-corner from the Statehouse grounds.

Called “Portland loos”–a name the city of Portland probably doesn’t much care for–the bathrooms are standalone, single-user, gender-neutral, stainless steel units. Earlier this year WOSU reported that the three restrooms are projected to cost more than $2 million, all of which will be paid for by federal funds. The money is coming from COVID relief packages passed by Congress, with some funding coming from the CARES Act and other funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. (How public restrooms relate to COVID relief is anybody’s guess, but I digress.) The Portland loo project has been beset by substantial cost overruns, with the three bathrooms expected to ultimately cost twice as much as was originally forecast to build five of the restrooms.

Public opinion on the three new downtown bathrooms seems to be divided. Some argue that Columbus needs easily identifiable public facilities that can be used by visitors and homeless people; others note that the stainless steel facilities are an improvement over the plastic porta-johns found at different locations in the core city. A Capital Crossroads spokesperson quoted by WOSU in the story linked above argues that, once the “Portland loos” are operational, people will see their value and there will be demand for other public bathrooms elsewhere in Columbus.

But neighboring property owners are skeptical. They are concerned that the facilities will become magnets for homeless people and criminal activity, like drug use and prostitution, as well as the targets of vandalism–all of which apparently has happened in some other cities that have installed such facilities. Opponents of the bathrooms also fear that the toilets won’t be regularly cleaned, and that the bathrooms could become a smelly, unsightly mess.

In any case, the bathrooms are here, and it won’t be long until we know what they bring to downtown Columbus. And if they don’t quite work out as planned, who knows–we may spend a few million more to remove them.

About Darned Time

In walking down Gay Street today I noticed that the City of Columbus has created a designated scooter parking area on the sidewalk. I applaud this initiative, which is a long overdue effort to stop the chaotic deposit of discarded scooters anywhere and everywhere on downtown Columbus sidewalks. The big question now is: will the scooter-riding scofflaws, who routinely ignore signs instructing them not to ride the scooters on our sidewalks, actually use the designated parking areas? I’m not holding my breath.

The Random Restaurant Tour–LVII

On a recent walk, we noticed another new eatery in the Arena District. Yesterday, on a very fine, sunny September day, we decided to check it out. Goodwood Restaurant and Brewery occupies the large space formerly occupied by the Gordon Biersch brewpub, just a short stroll from Nationwide Arena, the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Goodwood’s menu offers your standard array of lunchtime options of starters, salads, sandwiches, wraps, and entrees–with one welcome addition. Rather than fries (or , , , shudder. . . broccoli) you can get seasoned tater tots as a side. After we sat down at our outdoor table, on Goodwood’s fenced-in patio, I put the kitchen to the test by ordering the classic burger and, at the recommendation of our server, the tots–which ended up being a veritable avalanche of golden brown, spud-filled nuggets.

The burger, which had two patties, was very good–fresh beef cooked to juicy perfection, with a nice sauce, cheese, and a well-toasted bun. The tots were quite good as well, crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. The first bite of the tots inevitably brought back memories of school lunches back in the day, when I was first introduced to the concept of tots. The only difference was that the school cafeteria version tended to be overcooked and dry. Goodwood offers tots in their highest and best form. The only problem was the amount of tots, which as the photo above indicates was overwhelming. I could only eat about a third of them, which left me guilt-ridden from a Clean Plate Club standpoint. If anyone from Goodwood reads this, I make a heartfelt plea: dial back a bit on tot volume.

But an overabundance of tater tots isn’t a disabling problem, obviously. I give Goodwood a thumb’s up. We didn’t try any of the brewed offerings, but the food options suggest that the beers and ales would be well worth sampling as well. When the Blue Jackets’ season starts, Goodwood would be worth a pre-game and post-victory visit.