Ohio Food Log #1
So, David and I both really love food/wine/etc and decided during the site redesign how much we wanted to utilize this blog-style layout not only for music and label-related updates, but also for records, books, art or films we like, as well as all the rad food and wine experiences we encounter…so, I’m christening EED with the very first food blog!
As some of you may already know, I’m currently up in Columbus, Ohio with my wife Sophia, and since she grew up in and around the state, we have a food itinerary for the trip…all the places we’re either nostalgic for, or stuff she considers a “must try” in this area.
Today, we ate dinner at Cameron Mitchell’s Cap City restaurant, which is in northeast Columbus, after enjoying a few hours at the excellent Columbus Zoo. Cap City is for the most part upscaled diner food, with interesting takes on standards like chili dogs, meatloaf, steaks, po’ boy sandwiches, etc etc. Service was absolutely top-notch, and our server knew every item on the menu like it was tattooed on his brain! The atmosphere was a nice midrange between 50’s style silver-metal diner and more modern city chic, very comfortable and a nice mellow sound level, even though the open kitchen was right behind our table.
We opted out of any starters, simply because we wanted to maximize room in our appetites for some of the awesome looking desserts we saw on the way in, although they had some really good looking chips covered in shallots and alfredo sauce! I ordered a raspberry lemonade and Soph got a water with lemon, and we chewed on some nice buttery rolls while we pored over the menu. I ended up ordering the chili dog with some cheddar-chipotle mashed potatoes, and Sophie went for the meatloaf over mashed potatoes and texas toast. Our plates arrived lightning-fast, and were plated beautifully. My chili dog was cut in half longways and covered in a really sweet chili that contained ground beef, pulled pork, black beans, onions and green peppers, then covered in a slab of melted cheddar cheese and red onions. The waiter also brought me some very hot pickled peppers to go on the dog, which were quite hot but quite flavorful, and I ate them all. Sophie’s meatloaf had a sweet-smoky barbecue sauce on it, and the meat was just so tender and savory. I got a mouthful of the meat with some toast, mashed potatoes and a couple fried onion strings and man it was good!
By this time, my raspberry lemonade was finished and the waiter surprisingly offered me any other soft drink for free, since refills of the raspberry lemonade were extra charge. Soph asked if they had any sweet tea, since we’ve heard it’s becoming more popular in the north and midwest, and amazingly they had some! The waiter brought me a glassful and a filled carafe just for me. I have to admit it was not nearly as sweet as Carolina sweet tea is, but it was probably way too sweet for the Ohioans who are used to their tea sans-sugar. Still quite enjoyable, esp. with a chili dog and mashed potatoes…comfort food for a southern boy in Ohio!
We both cleaned our plates and still had some room for dessert, so we decided to split a “hot chocolate cup”, which was a cuplike bowl filled with a steaming hot chocolate lava cake, and covered in a three-bean vanilla ice cream. The whole thing went quite well with a glass of a 20 year Fonseca port for myself, and by the end of this round we were beaten. The super-kind server ended up comping us entirely on the dessert, just out of generosity, and our bill came to an INSANE $37. We left a generous $15 tip for the great service and food, filled out their little survey card, and remarked to each other how a meal like that at a restaurant like that should’ve had the $50 meal tag attached BEFORE the tip and tax! Unbelievable.
If I lived here, I’d eat at Cap City once a week. To our knowledge they have lunch specials, as well as blue plates that change from day to day. Additionally, Mitchell has numerous other restaurants in the area, and we’ve read that he’s built them all up from a single one in a mere ten years! Next time we’re in Columbus, we will totally be returning, as well as seeking out any other Cameron Mitchell dining experiences we can locate.
SYNOPSIS: Four stars out four! One of the best dining experiences we’ve ever had! In terms of a concise mood, concept, price range and food style, Cap City is a perfectly executed restaurant which would appeal to all ages of seasoned foodies as well as the hard to please folks who aren’t looking for inaccessible fine dining.
