See what you're missing...
I've been saying for a while now that Ohio is really starting to turn into a foodies paradise. Between Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, there are a plethora of fantastic eating establishments to check out. Even the fast food places know what's up because most of Ohio is considered a "test market" for a lot of establishments. There's a good chance that new menu item at McDonald's was probably introduced a few weeks earlier in Ohio.
I'm lucky enough to have some family that lives in Ohio, and although it is a bit sacreligious for me to say (coming from Michigan), I really enjoy visiting Columbus, seeing my family, and eating some good food. Although we do occasionally eat in when we go down to visit, the majority of our meals are usually eaten out which despite what you might think from my posts is a rarity for @mrsbozz and I.
That is to say, we may eat out more than some folks, but we certainly eat out a lot less than many other people (in the US). There are so many great places in the greater Columbus area to eat at, that it is hard to decide if we want to try someplace new or visit the old standbys that we know will hit the spot.
Columbus offers a wide range of options from dive bars to fine dining, food trucks to pretty much every fast food joint you can imagine. On this last trip, we went back to a place we have visited once before in the past called The Rail. My niece was hungry for a burger, so we made the decision to head to one of the three locations they have in Ohio. You might want to check this place out sometime when you are home @ericvancewalton. Standard gastropub fare, but it's quite good.
The Rail specializes in craft items specifically from Ohio which kind of fits that farm to table vibe that a lot of places are leaning into these days.
With our middle niece off to college, it was just @mrsbozz, her sister, our brother in law, our oldest niece, her daughter, and myself on this trip.
It was happy hour, so we started off with some drinks and appetizers. I got the old fashioned made with a local Ohio distilled whiskey, and @mrsbozz got some fruity thing that she said was very very good. I should have taken a sip. The old fashioned wasn't the best one I have ever had, but it was tasty and it definitely hit the spot after the four hour drive down to Columbus.
We also got a large soft pretzel and some deep fried pickles. I liked that the pickles had just a lite batter on them versus some of the heavier beer batters you see on deep fried pickles. The pretzel came with a delicious beer cheese and honey mustard to dip it in.
As I said, it was happy hour, so they had some killer deals going on both food and drinks. The smash burger was on special for $6 USD a piece, so each of us got one of those with the exception of my wife and the little one. I paid a little extra to get the "loaded fries" with mine and while they were good, I was only able to eat about half of them (@mrsbozz had some too).
The burger was probably one of the best burgers I have had in a while and definitely the best one I have had for $6 at a place like this. It was the perfect size and the flavor was phenomenal. I stole one of my wife's onion rings and those were dang good too! Everything at The Rail was top notch!
With our delicious meal on Friday night a distant memory, on Saturday afternoon we decided to walk down to a local place called Condado to get some tacos. Condado is actually a national chain that specializes in craft tacos and tequila. I do love me a good taco, so I was excited to visit this place again.
They have some specialty tacos that already have a specific combination of ingredients, but then you can also make your own taco a la cart by picking the different protein and toppings you want. I went with the Korean BBQ and Chicken specialty, and then I had them make a traditional carne asada with cilantro and onions as a third option for me.
@mrsbozz got one of their bowls and she said it was really good. We also got some queso, guac, and salsa to share. I think my favorite taco was probably the Korean BBQ one. It had some good heat and amazing flavors. One of the things that is really special about Condado is their craft shells. They take a flour tortilla and spread either guac, queso, beans, or something else on it, then they wrap it around a corn tortilla for a really fantastic flavor profile. You can see in the taco photo above the flour tortilla wrapped around the corn tortilla.
Now just imagine something amazing spread in between the two and you will see how fantastic Condado can be.
The closest Condado to where we live is 86 miles away, so it is always a treat when we get to visit one of the locations across the nation.
If you ever make it down to the Columbus, Ohio area, I highly encourage you to check out both of these places. It's going to be hard with so many other options, but these places are top notch. Great food and not too pretentious. Casual, fun, and fantastic!
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That $6 seems a bargain and well worth it for the burgers!
We thought so too. We were ready to pay $10 a piece for them, but it was a happy hour special!
Hehe that would have made me happy too
The food looks delicious! I'm so out-of-touch with the food scene in Columbus now that my Mom is out in Johnstown. A lot of my old favorites from the 80's/90's aren't around anymore. It's nice to see newer independent restaurants flourishing! I'm always blown away by how much cheaper everything is when I travel back to Ohio—it's like getting everything on sale for us (usually around 1/3rd cheaper).
We were so lucky, growing up, Columbus was the test market for pretty much everything. It was always exciting to try new products before they were widely available. I remember a food show at the Ohio Center in the 80's where all the companies would let you try samples for free as long as you were willing to rate them and provide feedback. That's where we first tried Bush's Beans and all different kinds of snack foods.
Yeah, it's pretty crazy how much it has grown even in the last 15 years or so that I have been visiting. It seems like even when something shuts down there is always something to replace it. My inlaws go to the Wendy's headquarters occasionally and do taste tests for new products they are possibly launching.
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I'm a big foodie myself @bozz and I would love to go to one of those cook off barbeque style fairs where they have the meat on few day before they serve it up. There are a couple of shows about them over here and I do be salivating all over them. And the only time I did hit the states (New York) last October , it wasn't really a fine dining holiday. More picking up a snack when walking around a city although we had some nice meals in Greenwich village.
They have a rib fest near where I live every year. They don't get a ton of competitors, but enough that you don't leave hungry. The Jazz and Ribs Fest down in Columbus is much better. Tons of vendors and lots of great music on pretty much every corner downtown.
$6 for a hamburger... that's probably why I only rarely go out to eat. I'd be thinking about how much I paid too much to enjoy eating it.
But that said, everything does look good!
$6 was a steal! They are usually twice that if not more.
I almost choked on my beer when I read that!
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You make it look like fun... nobody can resist those happy faces :) But, basically, I don't like to eat out. Fast food would be my choice if I did eat out, because I don't like to have people waiting on me. I will do takeout, though.
I think you could put the goodvibes tag on most of your posts...definitely good vibes.
Oh yeah, still so new I have forgotten about it a bit. I'm sure I'll catch some guff for that one!
I will be going on a roadtrip that will pass through Ohio in a few weeks, both of these spots look like prime candidates for a lunch stop. The real dilemma will be choosing between that burger and those tacos ...there is something about Asian fusion tacos that I just can't help but trying them whenever I see them. Thanks for sharing!
No problem! I hope you end up finding something great to try out. Even if you don't make it to one of these two places there are a ton of other great stops in Ohio.
Oh! What a little cutie!! I guess that's your niece's daughter? And is that her hat? It looks good on you 😉
Yeah, we brought a bunch of clothes down from another family and she was doing a "haul".
It does look pretty good for fast food! Especially in the morning when I am waiting until lunch to eat :) That old fashioned is also nice, have been a little while since I had one.
Yeah, I was drooling a little writing the post myself!
I am salivating already 😋 and will make sure to get some for myself😁
Good luck with that! Thanks for stopping by!