Archive for November, 2010

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Baiting Bite.

November 16, 2010

One could safely say that the two most upscale restaurants in Marietta are owned and operated by immigrants to the area. The first, of course, being Austyn’s and the second being the Buckley House Restaurant. With a small amount of time sandwiched in between a film festival and the World Series game (Baseball Boy is Baseball Boy for a reason), we stopped into the latter for late-afternoon appetizers.

Buckley House is located in an historic house on Front Street about half a block north of the main area of downtown Marietta. The building, built in 1879, is across the street from the park that houses a sculpture by Gutzon Borglum of Mount Rushmore fame.

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Posted in Destination: Appetite, Table Service | 1 Comment »

Marietta Maestro.

November 15, 2010

Unlike her neighboring Ohio River cities, Marietta’s downtown area is full of shops, restaurants, and fully functioning side-by-side businesses. This setup allowed us to peruse most of the restaurant menus in half an hour, via foot. While the town features a variety of eateries (from Mediterranean to a New York-style coffee shop), I did notice a distinct lack of locally sourced menu items*, including one glaring omission. And though I asked at least a dozen residents if the area had its own signature dish of sorts (like Steubenville’s heel or Cincinnati’s chili), the answer was almost always, “No.” Upon further prodding, the negative would be followed by, “Well, I guess there’s Rossi Pasta.“


With its own storefront on Front Street, right across from the Historic Lafayette Hotel, Rossi Pasta is hard to miss in Marietta. Unless, of course, you’re looking for it on the local restaurants’ menus. Rossi Pasta came to be in the early 1980′s through the hard work of my friend John Rossi. It gained a national presence when Nieman Marcus started featuring the artisan pasta in their Christmas Catalog.

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Posted in Destination: Appetite, Roots | Leave a Comment »

Culinary Rough Draft.

November 13, 2010

Marietta is not necessarily known as a culinary destination. We’d chosen the town specifically to see its historic theaters and to try the beers from the Marietta Brewing Company, but since we had to eat anyway, it became a game to ask passers-by and the occasional bartender which restaurants were worthy of our time.

Austyn’s was recommended to us by friend and artist John Rossi, the founder of Marietta’s Rossi Pasta. (More on John and the pasta later.) I saw him closing up his gallery while we were checking into the Lafayette Hotel, and darted across the street to get his dinner recommendations.


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Posted in Destination: Appetite, Table Service | 1 Comment »

Variation on a Theme.

November 11, 2010

Any journalism-school veteran would be happy to tell you that there are two types of stories: those with evergreen subject matter, and those of a more timely, newsy nature. We don’t do much in the way of breaking ground here at Itinerant Foodies, so that leaves us with the basics. And now that we’ve been around for while, I’m coming up against a problem that bothers magazine editors and grocery-store marketers alike: How do you put a fresh spin on standard content? For example: Autumn signals a shift from lighter, less-handled food to more substantial, slow-simmered pots of belly-warming fare. All well and good, but you’ve heard it before, no?

So, what to say about yet another version of lentil soup?

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Posted in Home Cooking | 1 Comment »

Marietta in Pictures.

November 9, 2010

A few weekends ago, I vacationed in Marietta, Ohio. It seems that my leisurely travels within the state have mostly – in the past two years – led me to the eastern border, where Route 7 hugs the Ohio River.  Known both for its history and geography, I found the city stunning. I present a picture post of a few of the sights around both Marietta, Ohio and Historic Harmar Village.


The view from the Historic Lafayette Hotel. (more…)

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Posted in Destination: Appetite | 4 Comments »

Dining Democratically.

November 3, 2010

Coming from a city that’s known for its chains, I do my best to find ways to support the local independent restaurateur. With the odds stacked against new restaurants (57 to 61 percent of new restaurants here fail within the first three years),* it takes some cajones to give it a go. In the past few years, though, Dine Originals has helped even the playing field for the chef who doesn’t want to conform to the Applebee’s mentality. With cooperative buying, an aggressive marketing campaign and (lucky for us) Dine Originals Week, this organization has helped to make dining locally a mainstream idea.

Dine Originals Week (November 8th through the 14th) is scheduled just in time for me to bury my swing state election woes beneath a pile of lobster macaroni and cheese. With tasting menus designed around a $10, $20 or $30 price point, 53 area restaurants are ready to help me remember that voting with my fork has more immediate – and delicious – results than the alternative.

Below are a few menus that I find particularly interesting, with commentary.

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Posted in Bargain Bin, Columbus, Ohio, In The Neighborhood | 1 Comment »

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