O Hi O: What I''ve Done On My Summer Vacation

It's been a while.  I know.  I'm sorry.  But I haven't been lounging around, skipping work, or shunning the internet.  Hell, I haven't even really been on vacation.

What I have been doing a lot of recently is driving.  It took well over 500 miles to get an aging car to the Midwest.  The car promptly threw a fit when we parked it in the driveway, overheating then leaking, until we had to go give it a lot of money to nurse it back to health.  My fiancee and I have been walking a lot since then.  Luckily we live here now.

We're in Columbus, Ohio so she can go to grad school at the Ohio State (for free!!).  I'm taking the security deposit from our Brooklyn apartment and living the good life for a month or so, or until I find some kind of a job.  I'm starting a new column over at Serious Eats called "Dinner Tonight", where I'll be writing a little short blurb about a simple meal recipe each work day.  It should be up soon. It's going to be a great summer.

Anyway, It’s a big move, one that breaks apart the exclusively New York-centric content of this blog, and those weeks about pizzas , hamburgers , and other things the city seems to do so well.  But don't worry. Blake is still hunkered down in his gorgeous new apartment , and will keep the New York end of the site up and kicking.

And it's home for me.  I was born and raised in Indiana, so I'm having a much easier time settling down here then I did when I wandered off to New York.  I also live in the Short North area, a tree-laden stretch of land just north of the downtown loop.  It is gorgeous.

The only thing I’m really worried about is the food. In Brooklyn, I lived a short walk from one of the best grocery stores on the planet (Fairway), some of the best pizza ( Lucali ), and a butcher who made his own sausage everyday (Esposito).  That doesn't even mention the bread shop that still made everything on site (Mazzola’s Bakery).  Besides Panera, the only bread producing place I've found here is the Wonder Bread factory down the street.  I'm not kidding.

But I’m ready to look.  When I was last here I was content to check out the chains, but not any longer.  If you’re sitting pretty in Ohio and have some good ideas, or just want to meet for drinks, please let me know.  I'd love to meet other foodies around the area.  Otherwise, it is off to the kitchen.  I've got a lot of food I need to take pictures of.

Columbus, Ohio, Uncategorized