Deweys is what I thought it was. Pleasant Clean Pizza Dining

Finally found some time to hit up Deweys Pizza in Grandview that just opened this week. My sister and her boyfriend swear by it down in cincy. I've had it maybe 3 times and it's been pretty good but I qualify it as specialty pizza rather than my typical pizza preference which is normally cheese or 1 topping pizza. We ordered a cheese pizza to start with as a rule of thumb to get an honest take on the traditional elements of pizza: cheese, crust, sauce. It was pretty good. I could have used more sauce and the crust was under-cooked.


slightly undercooked cheese pizza.

We then split a large pizza that was half-hawaiian/half ryans inferno which was their specialty pizza of the month


half hawaiian/ half ryan's inferno pizza

I hate to say this but the hawaiian pizza was nothing extraordinary at all. Save your money. Get grandads, adriaticos or even donatos.

Ryan's inferno was a buffalo chicken pizza that was decent. I believe it had chicken, celery, red onions, and maybe a white ranch sauce?

I left the place a little underwhelmed -- but i also did not get to re-order the green lantern and try it again. It's nice to have another change of pace pizza dining option in Columbus. On a typical dining in pizza day i still prefer hound dogs or grandads but this place would be good for date night and non-dive-dining experiences.

morning star grillers...remixed

for dinner last night i decided to mixmaster ice out a twist on a veggie burger classic.

1 Morningstar griller crisped up to perfection.
Sabra extra garlicy hummus
1/2 toasted wheat pita
cous cous bean salad comprised of kidney and pinto beans
goat cheese salad with mixed greens, yellow peppers, and tomatoes

simple. different. and tasty as funk.

Goat Cheese Breakfast Weekend...

As we have eased back into cooking...I seem to have a crucial ingredient each week...kinda like Iron Chef's secret ingredient. Normally it's something that I have that due to excessive quantity needs to be used in a number of recipes...looking back -- 1 week it was brussel sprouts and I was able to serve it in a number of ways throughout the week. Then it was zucchini, squash, corn tortillas, chorizo, and chihuahua cheese. This week it was goat cheese. I knew it could work in salads but what else? I didn't really get beyond salads but here is what i did with it over the weekend.


so check this for Saturday morning:

We have 10 Ore-ida mini tator tots. 5 on the side. 5 underneath an egg served over medium. There are some goat cheese crumbs between the egg and tator tots. The egg is topped with 2 lean pieces of bacon. On the side is a yellow tomato, orange pepper salad with onions, seasoning, lemon juice topped with goat cheese and green onions. I love tomatoes with eggs. This meal was for the books an all time favorite. Definitely going to be making this for my parents.



alternative shot, slightly out-of-focus but no flash so you can see the color better. It's beautiful!


Sundays breakfast:

Okay so not all my concoctions turn out amazing but since i rarely if ever use a recipe who can blame me. I'm just glad Betty eats it and supports my creative concoctions. The above meal consisted of Israeli cous cous browned in bacon fat and cooked in chicken broth topped with bean cakes consisting of: kidney beans, pinto beans, spices, green onions, bread crumbs -- then topped with an egg over medium. The accompanying goat cheese salad consisted of cucumbers, yellow peppers, onions, and seasoning with a vinegar base. Pretty eclectic and perhaps too ambitious.
The overall reviews were positive but this meal had a tough act to follow from the previous days. The cous cous was still bland even after being browned in bacon fat and chicken broth -- so in the future I'd probably not include it. The bean cakes were good but lost it's flavor with the bland cous cous. Salad was tasty though.

put an APB out on Buttercream with Freckles and Butterscotch Black Brownie...Jeni's Ice Cream

So as I was saying we strategically hit up Spagios after work. no wait to get in and enjoy a relaxed dinner. We left and stopped in and got some snickerdoodle from Stauffs before it was on to the real meal for the night. Jeni's ice cream. I don't need to tell any Columbus folks about Jeni's ice cream. We all know what's up. I was alarmed to see that the new seasonal flavors did not include my favorites for the past couple of months. Buttercream with Freckles and Butterscotch Brownie were both absent from the menu. I knew this day would come...but I just didn't think it'd be this soon.

I drowned my sorrows in a triple scoop of: dark cocoa gelato, a pecan flavored one, and shoot i can't quite remember...might have to go back so I can recall. off the charts as always. i still miss my favorites...but i suppose i can move on.

lobster bisque euphoria...Spagio's

Betty and i have been pretty good over the past 2 months about not eating out during the week. On the weekends we've been hitting up some new joints and trying to mix up where we dine. Last month we hit up the refectory bistro which was tremendous...and also went to Vino Vino...this weekend we decided we'd try Spagio's. i alway thought it was an Italian restaurant but they consider themselves to be "European and Pacific Rim". I've never been to the restaurant but have eaten at the cellar.

We were pleasantly surprised with our meal with the highlight being the lobster bisque. Oh man was this good. We also split some appetizers: the shrimp, lobster, and jumbo lump crabcake was delicious. Pricey however -- for $13 you get one cake. The delicate lobster sauce on top was the real treat as the texture of the crabcake was a little too chewy for me. Betty and I dipped our bread rolls into the leftover sauce until it was all gone. We also split the French Charcuterie Plate. My oldest sister hipped us to Charcuterie when we visited her in Portland last year. To be honest -- i think i just like to say Charcuterie more so than I enjoy the type of meal. Our plate came with 2 pâtés that were pretty tasty. A lot of this food is new for my palette but I compare it to liverwurst. The hams were tasty as were the cornichons -- that are just mini pickles. The cocktails were pretty good. I think the Refectory has the best bombay sapphire dirty martini with blue cheese stuffed olives though. We each also enjoyed some wine that was more up my alley. I also give props on the bread. It was crusty and warm but did not rip open the roof of your moth like some other places. All in all not a bad place. Not in a rush to go back but it is near Jeni's ice cream and Stauff's -- which was part of the strategy in deciding to try it out.


we started with the cake and charcuterie first...


Then i was just too curious about the lobster bisque...who has soup second? Cholesterolking does. That's right. This lobster bisque is heaven.

3 reasons I can't quit outback...Outback Steakhouse

i like a nice local restaurant as much as the next foodie...but there are some chains that have some of my favorite meals -- in this case Outback Steak House. no we don't get the steaks from there. as promised below -- the 3 reasons why I can't quit outback steakhouse


1) fresh honey wheat bread. it's good. they bring out as much as you like. in this case since we are dieting in some sense we limited our selves to 2 loafs -- each one has 310 calories


2) great blue cheese pecan chopped salad. this was a new item a couple of years ago and is wonderful. blue cheese, spiced pecans, lettuce, with some kinda vinaigrette. off the wall. <569>

3) my favorite place for affordable yummy seared tuna. comes with 2 tasty sauces. a creamy ginger soy sauce and a wasabi vinaigrette. <260>


the wife and i even had a glass of wine each to wash down everything. is there anything wrong with not ordering steak and beers from outback? i feel slightly self-conscious ordering it -- but it does not disappoint. i also can't think of a place in columbus that has better seared tuna. akai hana is pretty good, barrel 44 comes with a cracker, lemon grass not so much...let me know of some good tuna places...at $8.50 nothing is coming close.

turkey enchiladas...

as you may eventually notice I'm a big fan of mexican and south west food.

i used the leftover ingredients from my chorizo enchiladas to make some extremely delicious tasting turkey enchiladas





one thing i learned from this latest cooking expedition is a simpler way of doing black beans.

I didn't drain them this time. I poured them in a sauce pan and let them heat up over medium heat. I added 3 bay leaves, some of the turkey fat and that was it. the bay leaves gave a very subtle taste to them that complemented the rest of the meal.