Brown Bag Deli and Bakery Gingham

I made another little trip out to Bakery Gingham recently, and this time I decided to give their neighbor, The Brown Bag Deli a try for lunch. Talk about a dynamic duo… these two places are just delicious!

I had a hard choice in front of me as I stood before their huge wall menu, everything looked good! But I picked “The Village Addiction” because I figured if everyone in German Village is addicted to it, how bad could it be?

“Village Addiction” is a wonderful sandwich of smoked turkey breast and Havarti cheese, with cranberry mayonnaise on grilled sourdough bread.

I’ve always loved a great grilled cheese sandwich, and this one was truly excellent! The turkey and the cranberry were a winning combination, as always. The Havarti cheese was mild, and perfectly melted. This sandwich is a five out five! I’ll order it again and again!

I also want to talk about that fantastic pickle you see in the picture above. Every good deli should have a great pickle… and Brown Bag certainly does! Wow. The perfect sour and dill taste, and a pleasing crunch! I might drive all the way down to German Village for a pickle, so the pickle gets it’s own five out of five stars.

Check ‘em out!

The Brown Bag Delicatessen

898 Mohawk St • Columbus, Ohio 43206

Tel: (614) 443-4214
Open: Monday – Saturday 9am to 8pm (closed Sunday)

http://thebrownbaggv.com

Then for dessert I had a fantastic cupcake from good ol’ Bakery Gingham. My ultimate favorite! I decided to try their “cupcake of the day” which was a yummy lemon cupcake with a raspberry reduction and butter cream icing. Like all the other cupcakes from Bakery Gingham, including the ones I brought home with me, it was wonderful!

So as usual, a 5 out of 5 for cupcakes!

Check ‘em out:

Bakery Gingham
www.bakerygingham.com
900 Mohawk Street
Columbus, Ohio 43206
(next door to Brown Bag Deli)
614-716-9805 (EST)
hello@bakerygingham.com

Store Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday
10am – 7pm (unless they sell out)

Bravo Cucina Italiano

I met my good friend Emily at Bravo last night. Bravo is definitely one of my favorite Italian restaurants! I don’t think that I have ever had a bad experience, or bad food there. Last night was no exception. I took pictures of both of our dinners, so I’ll have to let Emily share her experience below.

I ordered the Chicken Griglia. Which is grilled chicken breast drizzled with lemon caper butter sauce and shaved Parmesan. It is served with Bravo’s Tuscan mashed potatoes and pan roasted green beans for $14.99

All in all this was a very good dish. The lemon caper butter sauce was delicious, I just wish there had been a little more of it, as the chicken was just a little bit too dry. The Parmesan cheese was wonderful with it as well. The Tuscan mashed potatoes were also good, although a touch on the bland side. The green beans were a nice compliment to the whole dish.

I give the chicken a three out of five, because although good, I’ll probably try something else next time.

I’ll post Emily’s picture for now, and then when she sends me her thoughts, I’ll post them also.

Emily ordered the special of the night, which was rosemary shrimp atop a bed of spinach and orzo pasta, with a spicy lemon caper sauce. Yum! I did get to try a bite.

Bravo Cucina Italiano

3000 Hayden Road
Columbus, OH 43235

phone: 614-791-1245

www.bravoitalian.com

Liberty Tavern

Yesterday, my family and I ate lunch at Liberty Tavern in Powell.  Located at 50 S. Liberty St. in Olde Powell, it is aptly named.  Although, if you read the Liberty Tavern Story, you’ll learn the real story behind the name.

“And so it is that the original Liberty Tavern in Boston is referred to by historians as the place “Where America Was Born!” And so it is that we name this humble establishment, “Liberty Tavern” located on Liberty Street (named for the same reasons), after the original Liberty Tavern in honor of our forefathers and their sacrifices for the cause of liberty.”

It seems that a lunch experience at Liberty Tavern, would be a bit different then a dinner experience, at least for me.  Their dinner menu looks amazing!  Though it’s only available after 5 p.m.  It has offerings such as Yankee Pot Roast, Samuel Adam’s Fish and Chips, and Baked Trout.  All of which sound yummy to me, but that’ll have to be another day.

We had lunch, and actually, on this trip anyway, we ordered from the appetizer menu only.  Their lunch menu also has several things that I’d love to try, so it definitely looks like I’ll be making another trip out there.  But I digress.  We were in the mood for wings and onion rings… so that is exactly what we got.

The wings were good, really good.  I’m kind of a wing purest, at least in the sense that I order them plain with the sauce on the side.  Because if the sauce is good but the wing isn’t… well… and if the wing is good but the sauce isn’t…  So anyway, I’ll rate them separately.  The wing itself was very good, very crispy, with a lot of good flavor.  It was also very meaty.  We ordered a dozen of them, and shared.  We ordered their Barbeque sauce, on the side.  It was different, but also good.  I guess what was most different was that it was very thick, which isn’t a bad thing, just different.  It did have good flavor, nice and sweet with a kick.  It was of course served with the traditional blue cheese and celery. 

One dozen wings, $8.95

We also ordered onion rings.  Liberty Tavern gets some points here just simply making their own beer batter and making them fresh instead of frozen.  Just like any good tavern or pub would do.  We actually ask before ever ordering onion rings if they are made fresh, and if their not, we often order something else.

 These onion rings did not disappoint.

At first bite, I wasn’t sure.  I only say that because I’m used to eating Hoggy’s onion rings, which I love, and these, though they look similar, they have a very different taste.  Different in that they have a very distinct beer taste.  Which honestly makes sense, seeing as how they are beer battered.  I guess it’s just not something I’ve noticed before… which now seems weird to me after having these.  They are served with a spicy ranch for dipping, although I opted for the traditional ranch.  Which reminds me… their ranch was very good, and I’m guessing it is also made fresh, but I could be wrong.  

Onion Ring Appetizer, $5.00

All in all a very yummy lunch!  Liberty Tavern seems to have filled a need in Powell, good tavern food.

I’m going to give them a three out of five on the wings.  Though they were good, they weren’t as good as some of the other places I’ve had.  I feel like if I got the wing craving, I could go there, but I also could go somewhere else… thus they’re average, but good.

The onion rings are also going to get a three out of five… and almost for the same reason.  In Columbus at least, there are a lot of options when it comes to beer battered onion rings, and although these are very tasty, there is the same problem.  

Basically I wouldn’t go to Liberty Tavern just to have rings and wings, altough if I already was there, I would probably order them again.  So in closing, check ‘em out yourself.

Liberty Tavern
50 S. Liberty Street #104
Powell, OH 43065

614-825-0500

www.libertytavernpowell.com 

Bakery Gingham

Cupcakes.

What better thing in the whole world is there? And nobody does it better than Bakery Gingham. At least not that I’ve tried.

Bakery Gingham was recommended to me by a couple of my wedding clients, Mike and Lindsay. They are using Bakery Gingham for their wedding cake, and they told me that I must stop by and give them a try. However, before I got the chance to stop in, I had already referred another of my wedding cleints to them, and as soon as Holly and Bill got back from their tasting, Holly emailed me this:

“I just wanted to send you a quick note and let you know that Bill and I went to a cake tasting at Bakery Gingham… The cake (and especially the frosting) did not disappoint! We were both floored by how delicious it was! Thank you for the recommendation! We have not decided on the flavor yet… Amanda said that we will meet about 6 weeks before the wedding to decide. Good thing because, I would have chosen each of the 6 types we tested! They were all phenomenal”

Finally on Monday, I got the chance to stop in. Bakery Gingham is located at 900 Mohawk St. in German Village, right next door to The Brown Bag Deli. It’s just a little place, but totally worth the trip.

Bakery Gingham is owned and operated by Amanda Ellis. You can read her full bio on her info page, but here’s a quote from that. “Amanda’s life-long love of baking and arts and crafts finally found a place to blossom when she decided to fulfill her dreams and launch Bakery Gingham.”
Amanda and I had a nice chat, and then I walked out the door with a half dozen cupcakes of all different varieties. I’ll discuss them each in detail below. They are priced at $2.50 each, which, frankly, for the taste… is a steal.

My ULTIMATE favorite: Coconut
“A delicate coconut cupcake finished with vanilla buttercream icing. We then dust it with coconut flakes.”

I want you all to know that in my lifetime, I have eaten a great many cupcakes…and this cupcake is by far the best I have ever had. The cake itself was so perfectly perfect, and the frosting… words cannot describe. All I can say is that you must go there immediatly and try it.

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate
A chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream, chocolate sprinkles, and a chocolate piece on top.

Jeff, my husband, had two of these, and I only got to sneak a taste or the frosting, but he says it was delicious. Although he scores major points by still claiming that he would take one of my yellow cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting over this any day. Thanks honey!

Oreo Sandwiched
“It’s your and our favorite dunkable delight crumbled into a vanilla cupcake. To make a good thing even better, we’ve iced it with Oreo buttercream icing! Yum… O-R-E-O!”

This happened to be the special cupcake of the day on the day that I stopped by, and Amanda recommended that I try it… yum!

Grandpa’s Coffee
“Doesn’t get much better than this; it’s like taking a sip of your grandfather’s Joe. It’s our espresso cupcake with Kahlua buttercream icing! Looks like a cake – tastes like Grandpa’s coffee.”

This was another one of my favorites. The kahlua icing was to die for!

Purple Little Girly Cupcake
Allie, my 3 year old daughter’s favorite was the one below. I’m not sure if it has a specific name, but it sure is cute. She was willing to share a bite with me, and I’m pretty sure it was a vanilla cupcake with purple tinted vanilla icing, and pastel sprinkles. I asked Allie what her favorite thing about this cupcake was, and she said, “The flower on top, and the purple frosting. It was yum! We should get some more soon.”
She then licked her lips dramatically and danced away.

I’m going to score the cupcakes themselves a five out of five star score. They were perfectly delicious and moist, and all that a cupcake should be.

The icing also gets a five out of five star score.

To me icing is such a big deal that it simply must get it’s own score. Bakery Gingham has the absolute best buttercream that I have had. It is perfectly sweet, without going overboard. It is perfectly flavored, real vanilla and real butter, high quality ingredients make a huge difference. I also think that there is the perfect amount on each cupcake, although I will say that Jeff, my husband, thought there was a little bit too much, but he’s crazy ’cause it was perfect in my eyes… but I LOVE icing.

Needless to say, I was a happy girl after eating these wonderful cupcakes. I highly recommend you get down there and try them yourselves as soon as possible.

Check ‘em out:

Bakery Gingham
www.bakerygingham.com
900 Mohawk Street
Columbus, Ohio 43206
(next door to Brown Bag Deli)
614-716-9805 (EST)
hello@bakerygingham.com

Store Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday
10am – 7pm (unless they sell out)

Barcelona Restaurant and Bar

German Village is one of my favorite places in Columbus, Ohio. I love it when I get a chance to go down there and drive around on the brick paved streets, I always know that there is an adventure in store.

Well on Monday I had some free time, and some stops I had to make in German Village. So as I was driving down Whittier on my way to Bakery Gingham (see Bakery Gingham post), I noticed Barcelona Restaurant. I knew I was about to go and have some seriously awesome cupcakes, but I thought I had better eat some lunch first so that I wouldn’t go into a sweets-coma.

Barcelona is open from 11:30am to 2:30pm for lunch and then they reopen at 5:30 for the dinner crowd. I was in luck, as it was only 2:00pm, so the hostess handed me a menu and I seated myself at the bar. The menu is amazing! I feel quite sure that I could have closed my eyes and pointed randomly and been completely happy no matter what I ordered. With everything from Seafood Paella to Black Angus Burgers and Fried Pickle Chips… I have to go back and try it all! It was a tough choice, but I finally made a decision.

Grilled Rainbow Trout, served on a bed of baby greens, with green beans, and a tomato vinagrette.
I am a fish lover, I could eat it everyday, and sometimes I do. And one of my very favorites, is trout. So even with all the choices, I knew I wanted try their Grilled Rainbow Trout, and I’m so glad I did.

As I mentioned, I love trout, so, obviously, I order it a lot. But I have to say, this was the best by far that I have ever had. The fish itself was seasoned perfectly, and so tender. Eaten along with the peppery baby greens, it was hard not to just die on the spot. YUM! At first, I found myself wondering at the tomato vinagrette, but I trusted the chef, and tried it along with a bite of trout, and wow… it was really good. They also served the meal with some wonderful bread and oil. All in all a prefect lunch.

The total cost of the dish was $13, which is a bit pricey for lunch, but 100% worth it. It was light and refreshing, but also perfectly filling.

4 out of 5 stars.

If you’re down in German Village, Barcelona is the place to stop. Check out their website at: www.barcelonacolumbus.com

Barcelona Restaurant and Bar
263 East Whittier Street
Columbus, OH 43206

tele: 614.443.3699

They also have an amazing tapas menu during their dinner hours, and I have GOT to go back and try them all! On Monday nights they have 1/2 price tapas… so stay tuned for a full report of that.