^Do you mean lola's.  Bar Symon is in Avon.

And Henry's at the Barn is in Avon.  So?

and i was going to say greenpoint tavern...!  :laugh:

 

greenhouse is definately still on the table, esp since it opens for lunch too and i see they have lambrusco for wine by the glass...a telltale great sign in my book!

 

wow, i figured crowds with symon's new place, but i see the bar opens at 4pm, an hour earlier than the food is served, so i was hoping that would be a secret weapon to get in. would you happen to know if i can reserve ahead there? maybe i better call and resrve at any of these places when i get there?

 

 

 

If going to the Greenhouse, try to NOT get a table in the back mezzanine unless it is a table overlooking the restaurant. 

 

Other wise it was ok......  Hamburger and steak certainly nothing special (except Ohio grown).  Lunch would be a better bet. 

I'd go with GreenHOUSE tavern, I hear the lines at Bar Symon start before it opens and immediately shoot to an hour wait.

 

use www.opentable.com  avoid lines.

none of those restaurants are on that site. too new i suppose.

and i was going to say greenpoint tavern...! :laugh:

 

greenhouse is definately still on the table, esp since it opens for lunch too and i see they have lambrusco for wine by the glass...a telltale great sign in my book!

 

wow, i figured crowds with symon's new place, but i see the bar opens at 4pm, an hour earlier than the food is served, so i was hoping that would be a secret weapon to get in. would you happen to know if i can reserve ahead there? maybe i better call and resrve at any of these places when i get there?

 

I don't know for sure but I don't think Bar Symon is doing call ahead.  Ask luckygirl (from our various food boards), I think she's been there.  We are waiting til the lines die down to go.

and i was going to say greenpoint tavern...!  :laugh:

 

greenhouse is definately still on the table, esp since it opens for lunch too and i see they have lambrusco for wine by the glass...a telltale great sign in my book!

 

wow, i figured crowds with symon's new place, but i see the bar opens at 4pm, an hour earlier than the food is served, so i was hoping that would be a secret weapon to get in. would you happen to know if i can reserve ahead there? maybe i better call and resrve at any of these places when i get there?

 

I don't know for sure but I don't think Bar Symon is doing call ahead.  Ask luckygirl (from our various food boards), I think she's been there.  We are waiting til the lines die down to go.

 

I heard something like 6 or more they accept, but I guess you can always call ahead to see if they are doing call aheads.

thx everyone. i'll call ahead tomorrow and see.

 

if no i am thinking we'll just show up at the bar right at 4pm, put our name in and wait. if its too bad of a crowd thats cool and no big deal we'll just go elsewhere. at least i'll get to see the place and the big beer selection i am reading about!

I heard it was 6 people or more as well, that rang a bell when willyboy posted it.

 

When I was in town a few weeks ago, I had some drinks at the Greenhouse Tavern.  Their version of a mint julep and something else.  Two of the best drinks I've ever had; and I drink at many places and a lot!  My liver hates me.

When I was in town a few weeks ago, I had some drinks at the Greenhouse Tavern.  Their version of a mint julep and something else.  Two of the best drinks I've ever had; and I drink at many places and a lot!  My liver hates me.

 

You mean it's still working?  :?

Hamburger and steak certainly nothing special (except Ohio grown). 

 

how did you order your burger (temp/doneness)?

Hamburger and steak certainly nothing special (except Ohio grown). 

 

how did you order your burger (temp/doneness)?

 

 

Medium.  Same with friends steak.  They just lacked flavor and kindof tough.  The vegetarian option was very good though.  There arent many options...

^That's too bad about the burger and steak.  I quite liked the one dinner I had at Greenhouse- they oysters I had were surprisingly good- both the oysters themselves and the light accompaniment.  I would definitely recommend the place, especially to folks to are up for more than meat/potatoes.  I just checked the menu again and see that it barely resembles the one I saw in April; so yes the menu is short, but it does seem to change a lot which is cool. 

 

All in all, my biggest disappointment with the place was the space- never thought I'd say this, but it was a little too casual/loft for me.

 

Someone once mentioned how great it would be if Symon or someone else opened a lab restaurant to try out more out-there dishes.  I thought that was an awesome idea, especially if it were small.  I really wish there were some more intimate dining options downtown.

Yes the oysters are supposed to be great as are the wings, but Im not a big shell fish person, and we stuck to vegetarian appetizers since we had one with us. 

 

Although I like and appreciate his concept and what he is trying to do there, I was just a little underwhelmed. 

 

I agree on the space. 

^I can understand that.  And I'm still underwhelmed that the GHT has the undefined "Vegetarian Entree" on the menu as if it were some fringe special order.  That's bullsh*t for a "green restaurant."

I don't think it's BS any more than a "fish of the day" at "market price" or any rotating daily special at a restaurant.  He has a big focus on local ingredients so it wouldn't be practical to have a standing veg dish since it's likely based on whatever they could get fresh and local that week. 

^Yeah, I see your point, but the non-veg dishes have seasonal components too, and are still listed out on the menu.  Having off-menu specials is how most places deal with items that are fleeting or rotating.  But my main point was that having only one veg entree is not very green, given the environmental impact of [even locally produced] meat.  I'm an omnivore, so it won't keep me away, but I wouldn't bring any veg friends there knowing they will have one choice that they may or may not like.

Someone once mentioned how great it would be if Symon or someone else opened a lab restaurant to try out more out-there dishes. I thought that was an awesome idea, especially if it were small. I really wish there were some more intimate dining options downtown.

 

Sounds like Mini Bar in DC.  Bourdain had a segment on No Reservations

 

What is the minibar?

minibar by josé andrés is a six seat restaurant within a restaurant located on the second floor of Café Atlántico. The innovative tasting menu features 26-30 of José's most imaginative creations. This is food that owes as much to art and science as it does to gastronomy, food that is as much about the brain and eye as it is about the tongue and stomach, food that forces the diner to rethink food and its presentation.

hmmm... maybe I'm alone here, but I've eaten at greenhouse about 5 times now, and have had great food each time (including the burger which I found to be delicious).  I also thought the grilled tea hills chicken with ratatoullie was superb.  And I ordered the wings once at lunch and when i was done almost starting eating the plate just to see if it had any of the wing flavor still on it.

 

and of course I find almost impossible to walk by without getting the pommes frites with the poached egg on top.

True enough.  I don't really take my friends to any Michael Symon restaurants, or those owned by folks who trained under him, such as Sawyer.  They just aren't that Veg-friendly.  In some quotes MS has definitely seemed anti-vegetarian, which is fine by me but obviously not by my Veg friends so I just steer clear of those when dining with vegetarians.  But they're also not places for picky eaters (hangar steak/onglet is stomach you know, and I think all MS restaurants serve pork belly in some format, both items that many meat eaters might shy away from if they haven't had them before), so you have to decide what's ok and what isn't for you and your dining companions.  I personally am with MS on this one - bring on the pork, I couldn't live without bacon.  But yeah, I don't bring my Veg friends to his places.

True enough.  I don't really take my friends to any Michael Symon restaurants, or those owned by folks who trained under him, such as Sawyer.  They just aren't that Veg-friendly.  In some quotes MS has definitely seemed anti-vegetarian, which is fine by me but obviously not by my Veg friends so I just steer clear of those when dining with vegetarians.  But they're also not places for picky eaters (hangar steak/onglet is stomach you know, and I think all MS restaurants serve pork belly in some format, both items that many meat eaters might shy away from if they haven't had them before), so you have to decide what's ok and what isn't for you and your dining companions.  I personally am with MS on this one - bring on the pork, I couldn't live without bacon.  But yeah, I don't bring my Veg friends to his places.

 

Girlfriend, you aint said nothing!  Bacon, Pernil, chuletas.  OMG, I'm a carnivore!

^When I do eat meat, I love park products, so I'm with you- bring them on (ears and feet included)!  And certainly not every place has to cater to vegetarians.  ^^McC, I really enjoyed the food my one time there, so you're not alone. 

I had the ears last year for the first time at Lolita.  They were confit then deep fried.  Tasty!

I don't know why the pig ears are not on the menu full time. It seems people love them. I am usually pretty good recreating things at home, but when I got these at the market and tryed to make them at home---GACK.

lawd....now I want some pig feet smoothered in hot sauce and peppers.

^^^^yes, MTS, shockingly, and fortunately, my liver IS still working :drunk:

we went to bar symon thursday night and it was pretty awesome. we were there right at the opening bell 4pm. beer lovers rejoice its a big and nicely varied draft selction and they have even more in bottles too. so we sat at the bar until the restaurant was ready to go and everybody experimented with draft beers they had never had before. we tasted a few things and i had a couple michigan based drafts that were very good, no doubt scored as 'roast' rerstaurant opened in detroit. they gave us some housemade potato chips and a dip with them, tasty stuff. fyi there is a happy hour on a couple select drafts and glasses of wine every day. also, you can eat at the bar if you want, but we moved to a table.

 

when it was time to eat just for fun i ordered spanish morcilla blood sausage and bone marrow for appetizers. i figured mom had never had bone marrow before, but oh no it turns out my grandmother was a big bone marrow fan so they had it at home a lot, go figure, so i learned a little something there about my family which was nice. i had the daily special roast pork and root vegetables. fatty and soo good, i ate every bite. the daily specials are really interesting and there is lots to sample around the regular menu. her husband and my bro both had barberton style fried chicken & there was so much they had to take some home. my mom went to town on frites and a big bowl of steamed mussels.

 

we were there when the recent big storm blew over so that added some interesting drama, it really looked bad outside for a bit, luckily it passed over. the place was fully packed by the time we left. despite the funny suburban strip mall location bar symon it looks cool outisde and is a really nice open space inside. the service was totally pro (lola has historically had some issues and foodie people get in huff about that kind of stuff). so there it is -- all in all i definately recommend anyone should give bar symon a try.

thanks for checking it out and reporting, mrnyc.  Did anyone actually get burgers, which is what I thought the theme of the place was?  Barberton style chicken, ooooh (for those who don't know, that means fried in lard).  I have never been a fan of the marrow, have tried it a couple of times and it's just like eating bacon grease to me.

 

How long did you have to wait for a table after arriving at 4?

^The burger themed Symon restaurant is going to open in Eton on the east side.

^ ¿is Eton in UrbanOhio?

:-o  If there is one thing lacking here, it is burgers.

^ ¿is Eton in UrbanOhio?

 

I went there semi voluntarily when some friends picked Paladar as a dinner destination. We saw a sign out from that proudly read:

"Experience Latin America.... without traveling outside your comfort zone."

 

OMG on so many levels. isn't that what experiencing a different culture is about-stepping out side your normal bubble , be it in Latin America, or even a Latin neighborhood?  This was the sanitized for your protection version I guess. That kind of sums up Eton collection in my mind.

thanks for checking it out and reporting, mrnyc. Did anyone actually get burgers, which is what I thought the theme of the place was? Barberton style chicken, ooooh (for those who don't know, that means fried in lard). I have never been a fan of the marrow, have tried it a couple of times and it's just like eating bacon grease to me.

 

How long did you have to wait for a table after arriving at 4?

 

we were among the first in the building when they opened at 4pm and put our name in right away so no wait. we got seated right after 5pm when they start serving food. i saw they had a few reservations in the book already (i imagine the group of 6 reservations mentioned above, but i didnt ask). definately plan to go early and do something like this for awhile because it sure filled up pretty fast, even with the bad stormy weather.

 

we had been cooking out so we didnt get burgers, but i see on the menu they have them. i think the duck confit sliders are just as popular, i read that in the scene review and saw people eating them -- they looked good. also, i'm pretty sure the barberton style fried chicken was a kind of a revolving item on the menu so they might not always have it -- so if you want to try it...git some! ha.

 

http://www.barsymon.com/

 

ps -- while visiting the nabe we also stopped in grovewood tavern briefly. we had some skewers, but nothing else. it was fine too. thats all i did eating out, mostly we cooked out at home.

 

^ ¿is Eton in UrbanOhio?

 

Not really, but probably more so than where Bar Symon is located

^ ¿is Eton in UrbanOhio?

 

I went there semi voluntarily when some friends picked Paladar as a dinner destination. We saw a sign out from that proudly read:

"Experience Latin America.... without traveling outside your comfort zone."

 

OMG on so many levels. isn't that what experiencing a different culture is about-stepping out side your normal bubble , be it in Latin America, or even a Latin neighborhood? This was the sanitized for your protection version I guess. That kind of sums up Eton collection in my mind.

 

great points

Reminds me of a story about downtown housing yesterday in the Columbus Dispatch titled.... 

City chic

Developments Downtown tout urban convenience, suburban feel  :?

 

 

^ ¿is Eton in UrbanOhio?

 

I went there semi voluntarily when some friends picked Paladar as a dinner destination. We saw a sign out from that proudly read:

"Experience Latin America.... without traveling outside your comfort zone."

 

OMG on so many levels. isn't that what experiencing a different culture is about-stepping out side your normal bubble , be it in Latin America, or even a Latin neighborhood?  This was the sanitized for your protection version I guess. That kind of sums up Eton collection in my mind.

 

great points

 

Oh god....I pray my Aunt & Uncle don't see that.

Octane Cafe is no more. The entire space is empty, all signs, menus, trophy's and equipment has been removed. This is the space next to Radio Shack on Euclid Avenue in the Colonial Marketplace. Anybody have an idea as to what happened. They had pretty good wraps and smoothies and seemed to be fairly busy everytime i would walk past.

I know that they reduced their hours.  Likely in an effort to contain costs.  I had heard that they were having some trouble before.  But it is a shame as their smoothies were pretty good.

I think they went downhill once the focus of the restaurant started to be Val's career and not fresh, healthy food. They made some minor changes in what they were ordering for their food which I thought made it lower quality, and NEVER expanded their (IMO) pretty limited menu. 

Hopefully Titan Up Cafe in 668 will be able to step in and fill the void here

"I think they went downhill once the focus of the restaurant started to be Val's career and not fresh, healthy food."

 

I'm inclined to agree - while it's unfortunate, I certainly can't and don't begrudge them for that, given how far Val has gone in her career. I was a regular there for quite some time and like you said, some of the tweaks you mentioned had a detrimental effect on the product and/or service. I think with the momentum of East 4th, 668 Euclid, etc. the space won't stay empty for long.

hmmm... maybe I'm alone here, but I've eaten at greenhouse about 5 times now, and have had great food each time (including the burger which I found to be delicious). I also thought the grilled tea hills chicken with ratatoullie was superb. And I ordered the wings once at lunch and when i was done almost starting eating the plate just to see if it had any of the wing flavor still on it.

 

and of course I find almost impossible to walk by without getting the pommes frites with the poached egg on top.

 

I was so excited about this place opening and was extremely disappointed to find that so much of the grub us cooked in meat by-products.  The pomme frites are apparently cooked in duck fat or something like that.  While I'm sure it's all delicious, what's a vegetarian to do in a place like that?  I would've thought a green restaurant would take that into consideration.

We've heard this complaint how many times on this thread now?  If you want to see it done, then go open a vegetarian green restaurant.  You can put forth the money, you can put forth the effort, you can put forth the talent!  You can do it!  Why complain about someone who is doing their thing their way, successfully?  It doesn't preclude what you want to see, now does it?

^That was my point a few posts up- with the lack of veg options, GHT is "green" only in the sense that a LEED silver suburban office park is.  There's nothing wrong with high quality places that aren't veg friendly, but it does once again point to a pretty gaping hole in the local dining scene IMHO.

^That was my point a few posts up- with the lack of veg options, GHT is "green" only in the sense that a LEED silver suburban office park is. There's nothing wrong with high quality places that aren't veg friendly, but it does once again point to a pretty gaping hole in the local dining scene IMHO.

It uses all local ingredients, meaning it reaps what the land and growers sow.  How is that not green?

^Probably not on-topic enough for this thread, so we can discuss over here:

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,15269.30.html

 

^That was my point a few posts up- with the lack of veg options, GHT is "green" only in the sense that a LEED silver suburban office park is.  There's nothing wrong with high quality places that aren't veg friendly, but it does once again point to a pretty gaping hole in the local dining scene IMHO.

It uses all local ingredients, meaning it reaps what the land and growers sow.  How is that not green?

 

I don't hold myself out to be particularly knowledgable about food or environemental sciences, but I believe meat production, even local and organic, is a lot more resource and carbon intensive than vegetable production.

 

Also, the nexus between "local" and "green" is probably not as tight as people think.  Local also often means small or less efficient, which is not bad in itself, but could mean more resources used per calorie created (e.g., shipped in small batches instead of loaded in a fully semi).

 

This is not a criticism of local food by any stretch- I'm a regular shopper at my local green markets for quality and fun reasons.  And no doubt GHT is greener than other places with similar menus.  Just pointing out that there's no reason to think it's actually greener than a vegetarian falafal place, for example, that sources its food through conventional non-local, non-organic channels.