Worthington real estate

We eat at the Polaris, Smokey Bones a lot.   Officially the name of the Polaris area restaurant is Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill.

Smokey Bones has great coupons... In the Columbus Dispatch... Sunday Dispatch I assume.  What does a Sunday Dispatch cost?  Isn't a "Buy One Entree, Get One Free" coupon worth the cost of a Sunday Columbus Dispatch?

I did not really know where the Smokey Bones coupons come from... but we always seem to have one.   The Columbus Dispatch, The Bag, the mailbox, direct from some barbecue heaven ???   Dino the manager of the Polaris Smokey Bones  said the Smokey Bones coupons are in the Columbus Dispatch.   I'll believe him.

I don't know when we started going to the Smokey Bones at Polaris.  It is a chain* and it is not the only barbecue place in the Polaris area.  Smokey Bones might not even officially be my favorite barbecue restaurant in the Polaris area but it is the barbecue restaurant we go to the most often because  those coupons keep on coming. 
 
Smokey Bones at Polaris was our first choice last Saturday night.  Their parking lot was jammed so we went to our second choice, Claddagh.  Bad decision.  We should have just waited for a table at Smokey Bones.  I wrote a post about dinner Saturday night at Claddagh.  Our waitress Jessie was great, the rest of the experience... not so great.

Recently I won a free happy hour at Smokey Bones for my office.  We went Thursday... It was a real small group from Real Living HER Worthington.  I won the Free happy hour by putting a business card in a box in their lobby.  A FREE happy hour is free appetizers.  We bought our drinks!

Stimulating the local economy...

1.  Buy a Columbus Dispatch

2.  Pray for a Smokey Bones coupon

3.  Visit Smokey Bones at Polaris (Polaris Town Center - south side of Polaris Parkway... it looks like it is built of Lincoln Logs)

4.  Remember to put your business card in, in the box in the lobby for a drawing...

5.  Tell 'em Maureen sent you

* Not being a food blogger I have the freedom to eat at chain restaurants and blog about it.  Yes we use coupons... week one and week two are gone in the photo.  They were buy one entree, get one free.  Mm mm good!    We missed using the buy one entree get one free coupon that expired on 1-17-2010.  Now that I've tasted their appetizers it could be harder to ignore those appetizer coupons.

Thanks to Dino, Rob (or Robb?), Erin and Smokey Bones at Polaris. 

I don't like the  Smokey Bones website but here's a link.  Odd noises, slow  loading flash, the Smokey Bones website tried to tell me Easton was the closest Smokey Bones to the 43085 ZIP code.... WRONG!

This or something very similar was first published on ColumbusBestBlog.com , another blog I write.

Who has the best hamburgers in Central Ohio?

Columbus is of course the home of White Castle and Max and Erma's and the birthplace of Wendy's ....

Clara Peller asked "Where's the beef?" about burgers other than Wendy's back in 1984.

I must have blogged about burgers back on the original Discover Columbus, my RealTown blog...or maybe when it was still named Columbus Best Blog.

A road trip searching for the best burgers?   What a life.

He says a road trip to the south.  Or south of NY? 

Columbus Ohio is in Central Ohio approximately 3 hours and 47 minutes  south of the Canadian border (Google tells me so.)  Columbus is  straight west from NYC.  ....Columbus is a great place to approach the south.. Cinci or maybe even Dayton is where the south starts unofficially... Officially the south is right across the river from Cincinnati Ohio... rapid immersion.

Back to Central Ohio..I've heard Thurman Cafe has the best burgers.....in Columbus.  I've had one.  I don't remember it though.

The Columbus food bloggers must know local burgers.... well except any Columbus food bloggers who are vegetarians...

• Lisa of Restaurant Widow
• Columbus Foodie
• Rosie of Bitchin in the Kitchen with Rosie

all seem like true carnivores.

Mexican food in Worthington?

Yes!

Olde Worthington?

Nope

Taco al Pastor is not in "Olde Worthington" but it is in the City of Worthington...at 455 E. Wilson Bridge Road  That's the corner of Wilson Bridge Road and Worthington Galena Road... sort of a complex intersection.  Where East Wilson Bridge Road ends and Huntley Road begins.

El Acapulco at Crosswoods is in the City of Columbus as were La Fogata, La Costa both were on Worthington Woods east of Worthington Galena north of 270, same spot... both closed. 

Disclaimer: I am NOT a food blogger

Taco al Pastor in Worthington is  having their GRAND OPENING now.

Service was a little slow and confused to pick up a quick to go order of tacos and beans and getting out to of their parking lot  going in the right direction was a trick...  sort of a complex intersection and tough to get out of to go north on Worthington Galena Rd. at lunchtime. 

I got two "Tacos Asada" (steak) and a side of "Pinto Beans in Broth."

The tacos were very good, beans weren't.... the tacos are served with cilantro and onions and sauce with a piece of lime, a slice of cucumber and  radish slices on the side.  I chose the verde sauce and it was hotter than I expected, the cool cucumber slice came in handy.  The beans were more bland than I expected. 

Taco al Pastor is open at 6:00 AM for breakfast... I will go back to try that... should be able to get out of the parking lot... I will probably go back for the tacos too.  I don't know of another Mexican place close by where the tacos are not lettuced and tomatoed up...

If you've been by the corner you can not help but notice all the signs... 

They do have tables... it is bigger than it looks from the outside. The location used to be carry out that served gyros and it still does????  Taco al Pastor's menu says "GREEK- MEXICAN  GYROS"  You can get traditional lamb, chicken (pollo), beef (asada) or pork (al pastor) all served with Tzatziki sauce.....

Maureen NOT a FOOD Blogger McCabe Real Living HER - Worthington

Catchy?  The "business establishment where meals or refreshments may be purchased" is Merriam-Websters Dictionaries definition of restaurant.    It is a bit wordy.  What about Columbus Restaurant "period of seven successive days"  That kinda sorta comes from Dictionary.com  

A dispute over the rights to call next week  "Restaurant Week" or "Columbus Restaurant Week" seems darn silly.... in the face of what's going on in the economy.  A local magazine registered the right to the term "Columbus Restaurant Week. "  The Other Paper has the story, written by Kitty McConnell, Wrangling over Restaurant Week  says:

“Restaurants are really struggling with the economy. The first thing people give up is eating out. What’s great about our industry is we do come together when times are tough,” said Lessner. “Restaurant Week’s an effort by the restaurant association to let people know we’re in it with them, so we’re offering deals.”

Lessner is Elizabeth Lessner president of the local restaurant industry trade group Central Ohio Restaurant Association and owner of local "business establishments where meals or refreshments may be purchased" including Surly Girl, Tip Top Kitchen and Betty's.

The event next week is sponsored by Dine Originals Columbus

A Columbus food blogger, Columbus Foodie (Becke Boyer)  brought the story in the Other Paper to my attention via Twitter.

Dine Originals,  Columbus "business establishment where meals or refreshments may be purchased" Week starts Monday March 9, 2009 and runs through Sunday March 15, 2009. According to the Dine Originals website, the deals are:

"Each restaurant will prepare a special fixed-priced menu- some restaurants at $15 and some at $30 (excluding gratuity and tax)."

Menus for the  Dine Originals Columbus Restaurant "period of seven successive days" (that may not be true of each restaurant, some are NOT open seven days so lets just call it a Week  are on the Dine Originals Columbus website.

Over 40 local, original restaurants are participating in next weeks event including The Worthington Inn, The Refectory, Maca Cafe in Powell.

I guess it is OK to call it Dine Originals Columbus Restaurant Week...

The photo is of course The Worthington Inn.

Compliments of  Maureen McCabe  -  Real Living HER Worthington   - 614-388-8249

Coming soon

Or coming back?

Chutnys, an Indian restautant in the Crosswoods area of Columbus opened and closed very quickly. I think.   I swear I read in one of the papers that Chutnys opened.  As I recall it said the restaurant was able to come right in because the previous Indian Restaurant in that location, the equipment was still there.   I can not find the article though.  Searching I just find a lot of recipes for different chutnys.

The Crosswoods area in Columbus is north of the city of Worthington and south of Polaris.   It's just north of 270... Crosswoods is all hotels and restaurants and a movie theater..  and a lot of  empty space... kind of a tough area to compete, it seems.

A sign in the window says Chutnys is coming soon and will have new management. 

The signs at the entrance to the Crosswoods area still say Tandoori Palace, which was in the location that Chutnys was and will be in again soon... according to the sign in the window.    

I am a big fan of Indian food but my love affair with Indian food is a relatively recent relationship.  It started at Tandoori Palace ... at this very spot, about four or five years ago.

Chutnys will be at 195 E. Campusview Blvd.  Columbus Ohio Sometimes soon, I hope.

Crosswoods

What to wear at the Columbus Fish Market 

Indian Food

Bayleaf India Bistro is for lovers

Polaris Restaurants, Siriusly It's a Dog Eat Dog World

Compliments of  Maureen McCabe  -  Real Living HER Worthington   - 614-388- 8249

"what to wear at the columbus fish market" was a search that ended up on my ColumbusBestBlog recently but I am going to answer it here.

Columbus is casual... 

We could NOT get into Columbus Fish Market (Music alert!!!) on Valentines Day this year... either location.

We could NOT get into Mortons Columbus on Valentines Day this year... ( I tried to win a Valentines Day dinner...)

Not because we were not dressed right.  We just waited too late to get reservations at lots of great restaurants in Central Ohio. We do most years, we ate at Hoggy's at Polaris a couple of years ago. No tie required.  

We eat at the Columbus Fish Market quite a bit really.  Usually the one at Crosswoods but for more special occasions the one on Olentangy River Road.  I am not sure why driving about 12 minutes more and dressing up a bit more makes it more special than the closer Columbus Fish Market, for me.

We ate at a nice Indian Restaurant, Bayleaf India Bistro in the Polaris area this year for Valentines Day.  We went to a movie first but went home and changed before going out to dinner.  Looking around I would not have been out of place wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.  There were people as dressed up as us, and less dressed up. Valentines Day is a day to get pretty though.

One time long ago we went to the  Columbus Fish Market at Crosswoods on a Friday evening kinda grubby.  Sorry it is so long ago I have no idea what we wore.  I just remember they tried to seat us in the bar.  This was before the smoking ban... so we would not eat in the bar.  They found us a table very quickly in the restaurant. They were not that busy.  I got in a snit so it is seared in my memory and I pay a lot of attention to what people are wearing when we go there. 

"Columbus casual" is true.  We would have dressed up more I am sure to go to a downtown restaurant... I probably wore a dress and heels the one time I ate at Morton's Columbus. I dress up for Hyde Park Grill, Mitchell's Steakhouse...   Usually you don't have to dress up to go out to eat in Columbus.  Come as you are.  You can. If you go out "Columbus Casual" and they try to shove you in the bar, just say no... unless of course you wanna eat in the bar.

Photo Credit.  Ties from the past  is from The County Clerk's Photostream.  The photo is licensed with a Creative Commons License and it is OK to use commercially according to Flikr.

Cafe Anatolia is on the far north side of Columbus, in the Worthington area (north-east of Worthington, north of 270.) The restaurant's address is 

1097 Worthington Galena Road, Worthington Ohio 43085 

The local Turkish restaurant, Cafe Anatolia has a website. An outdated website that does not do them justice but how important is a restaurant website.  Just don't believe the menu prices.... the dinner menu online is probably two generations old. The excellent Shepherd Salad is now $9.99 for the large.  It should be labeled a huge.  We split one and I had the leftover salad for breakfast.

According to the sign in the window the lunch buffet is a dollar less expensive now than it was on the menu on the Cafe Anatolia menu on their website today, at $6.99.

This is probably the 4th or 5th time I have visited Cafe Anatolia for dinner.  This is the first time I've tried the Shepherds Salad (Coban Salatasi) but I could have had the same entree each time for all I know...  I do kind of get in a rut.  This is Doner Kebab... gyro meat.  should have a ~ over the n in Doner....

We went just before 8:00 Saturday night (OSU - Penn State game) and the place was deserted.  It is a tiny restaurant.  There were two other couples there.  The restaurant is usually packed.

Cafe Anatolia is never a fast place but the service is very good.  I believe Cafe Anatolia is just set at a different pace.