ThisWeek Community Newspapers Worthington
May 19, 2011
Page B1
The Beat Arts, eats and fun in central Ohio
FAB 5
“Wanted a woman/Never bargained for you.” — Led Zeppelin, Dazed and Confused
1 “CJO By Request,” the
never bargained for Lez Zeppelin, the all-female quartet that pays tribute to the famed rock n’ rollers without being a “tribute band.” Founder and guitarist Steph Paynes told The Beat Lez Zep started with a simple principle: “I set out to do this in a naïve way because I love this music and it became my fantasy to get to play it,” she recalled. “If a tribute band sets out to create the illusion that what you’re seeing is the real thing — that’s never what we wanted to do.” “I had gotten remastered Led Zeppelin records as a gift,” she explained. “I had always enjoyed them but never really dug that deep. It blew my mind in a new way — it sounded better than anything else. I was between gigs and, well, I’d had an all-girl band in the early ’90s, so I thought it would be more novel to try and play this music this way. Paynes admitted that at first, she hoped the novelty of the approach would garner the new band a couple of gigs. She soon discovered the endeavor would have one distinct disadvantage, coupled with one distinct advantage. “People had never seen women play like this,” she said, “and this music was always considered such a ‘male’ expression. Once we embarked on this, we knew we had to play in the right way and that because we were women, we had to do a superb job.” The best way to do that, she decided, was not to attempt to
By Jim Fischer
jfischer@thisweeknews.com
Columbus Jazz Orchestra’s season-ending concerts May 20-21 at the Southern Theatre, are less a “stump the band” concept than a “greatest hits.” Oh, sure, the program was selected by fans, but will not include every suggestion taken through the CJO’s website. Communications director Scott Vezdos told The Beat they’d received suggestions for tunes by AC/DC, KISS and Jimmy Buffet, among many others. Think more Georgia on My Mind, Ain’t Misbehavin’, What a Wonderful World, A Night in Tunisia, When the Saints Go Marching In — and the like. Guest vocalist Maria Jacobs joins in the fun. Tickets are $49/$46/$41. Call (614) 294-5200.
2 OK, let’s clear some things
up. Eddie from Ohio is not a solo act, it’s a band. There is a member of the band named Eddie — drummer Eddie Hartness. He is, however, not from Ohio. He’s from Virginia. Clear? The quartet is marking its 20th anniversary this year and will celebrate with central Ohio folks Friday, May 20, at the Columbus Performing Arts Center. Pittsburgh folkie Brad Yoder opens. Tickets are $30/33. Call (614) 470-FOLK.
to bet that Plant, 5 Safe Page and the fellows Eddie From Ohio
tal activism. Yes. The post-modern popsters spin ethereal soundscapes and catchy pop licks, but all bent around and freaky. Joined by The Wilderness of Manitoba, Cloud Cult will play Outland Live Saturday, May 21. Tickets are $13. Call (714) 7440100.
tar-totin’, three-chord, low-brow rock ‘n’ rollers — you know, the “good” ZZ Top. It’s a Tuesday night special when both take the Schottenstein Center stage on May 24. Tickets are $73.50-$43.50. Call 1-800745-3000.
BONUS: A more modern take on Southern-fried rock will be offered up 4 Remember back in ’74 by the Zac Brown Band Thurswhen the Top and Skynyrd day, May 26, at Nationwide toured together? Arena. Blueberry Smoke opens. Nope? Well, you’re in luck. Tickets are $49.50-$25. Call The 2011 Lynyrd Skynyrd 1-800-745-3000. roster includes enough original band members and nods to origBONUS II: inal band members to connect For a totally modern take on folks with the original versions old-fashioned honky-tonk southof the band’s classic Southern ern rock, you’ll want to check out rock tuneage. D. Charles Speer & The Helix At least The Beat thinks so. Saturday, May 21, at the SumHow ’bout you? mit. Goofy, spirited and smart, And despite cleaning up their Speer and crew are touring in supact in the ’80s, Billy Gibbons, port of Leaving the CommonDusty Hill and Frank Beard have wealth. always relished their role as guiCall (614) 268-9377.
3 Minneapolis collective
Cloud Cult is the brainchild of Craig Minowa, whose creativity is born out of study, boredom, pain and environmen- Zac Brown Band
Lez Zeppelin will play the Friday, May 20, pre-festival fifth anniversary Party at Rock on the Range at Crew Stadium. For ticket information, call 1-800-745-3000. The festival will be held at Crew Stadium Saturday and Sunday, May 21-22. For a full schedule and ticket information, visit www.rockontherange.com.
replicate the songs note-for-note, but to “bring the full Led Zeppelin live experience to people. They were four guys playing together intensely, but in the moment, with improvs and extended jams. That’s what we do.” She said there was no triedand-true method for finding the right bandmates; she auditioned plenty of great players who just weren’t right. Ultimately, she said, a combination of being good, being stylistically appropriate and being willing, in some combination, was the formula. (The current lineup — and players have come and gone in the years since Paynes first formed Lez Zep — includes bassist Megan Thomas, drummer Leesa Harrington-Squyres and singer Shannon Conley.) The advantage to her all-girl approach was unexpected. Led Zeppelin’s look — long hair, tight pants, billowy shirts and accent scarves and necklaces — worked pretty well for a bunch of girls. “Led Zeppelin was doing
male posturing dressed as women,” Paynes said. “There’s a certain alchemy of male and female energy that works for us. It really churns things up, to have that gender, that sexual dynamic.” Ultimately, Paynes said Lez Zeppelin adheres to its original “noble cause,” which is to just keep playing this music. She said their shows find everyone from teenagers who’ve recently discovered the original article to women (who many thought had no interest in Led Zep’s music) to older fans who “tell us they saw Led Zeppelin seven times or whatever and tell us ‘You’re doing it right.’ “That means we’re on the right track.” “Hey, hey mama/Said the way you move/ Gonna make you sweat/Gonna make you groove” — Led Zeppelin, Black Dog ■ For more from The Beat’s interview with Steph Paynes of Lez Zeppelin, read the BeatBlog at www.ThisWeekNews.com.
Fortune Chinese Restaurant offers lengthy menu “Hot Pepper Frog, Homestyle Made Frog, or Frog Stir-Fried with Pickle Chili?” asked my sister, flashing an oftpracticed devilish grin. We were plotting our order from the provocative, lengthy and new menu in Fortune Chinese Restaurant. Recently implemented by the place’s new owners, that voluminous food list includes many intriguing looking dishes which appear to substantiate the menu’s claim of “The Best Selection of Authentic Szechuan Style Food.” As we expressed hope that Fortune’s execution of Szechuan dishes would match its self-heralded “selection,” we also commented on how drastically the once-Cantonese-centric cuisine there had changed. Too bad we couldn’t say the same about Fortune’s drab decor. Because although Fortune has received a muchneeded housecleaning, sprucing up and coat of paint (albeit in a pale, wan yellow), it still has a dingy dropped ceiling, industrial carpet, goofy 3D-type
MENU by G.A. Benton “art” and dull brown, occasionally ripped Naugahyde booths. So how was the food? In general, I found it to be salty, saucy, aggressive and oily. Since that also describes me, we got along famously. In fact, slurping up Fortune’s inexpensive but explosively flavored grub was so much fun I didn’t much mind that the Tsingtao beer bottle on my table was the place’s best claim to ambience. As for ordering strategies, except for the chef’s specials, we took the menu’s implicit suggestion and stuck with any section mentioning Szechuan in its header (there are four). While there was some sameness to the seasoning among these brazen entrees — expect generous glugs of chili oil, fresh jalapeno, garlic and ginger
taste: Fish with Rice Crust ($14): This massive (serves two or three) and mighty flavor onslaught was served with a little razzle-dazzle and is highly recommended. Thin and crispy rice cakes gave off an audible sizzle on the plate (think “snap crackle pop”) when doused with an enormous bowl of impressively tender battered whitefish planks and a cornucopia of veggies (starring Chinese broccoli) swimming in a sea of wild and thick, salty, sweet and spicy sauce. Ma Po Bean Curd ($9): Silken tofu cubes swamped in chili oil and spiked with fermented black beans were liberally sprinkled with lip-tingling ground Szechuan peppercorns. Really fun and By Jodi Miller/ThisWeek almost druggy in its sting and oral Lamb with cumin and chili peppers at numbing effects. Diced Chicken Stir Fried with Fortune Chinese Restaurant. Pickle Turnip ($8): I enjoyed this bold, and an occasionally to-the-brink sweet- cheap and comparatively ungreasy dish ness — I wouldn’t say any two dishes so much that it’s become my new gowere completely identical. Here’s a to to-go Chinese dinner. Diced poultry
coated in red chili paste was further seasoned with garlic, jalapeno and lively chunks of semi-funky and pleasantly sour veggie pickles. A hot and tangy must. Lamb with Chili Pepper and Cumin ($8): The delightfully tender meat was flavorful enough to stand up to its soy sauce, onion and jalapeno-fueled spicy and salty treatment. Pretty terrific. Hot Pepper Frog ($11): A rare sauce-free Fortune preparation, this was battered and fried bundles of froggy, tossed with leafy celery tops, jalapeno, scallion and a volatile arsenal of firecracker-like fried red chili peppers. I liked it, but there were a lot of tiny, hidden bones in those battered bites. Mixed Vegetable Stir Fry ($8): Like a pleasantly bitter sauteed salad of slivered carrots and green veggies dressed in soy sauce and cooking oil, this functions well as a palate-refreshing side to the rich, spicy and more complex flavors of many dishes here.
Revamped Westerville pizzeria now offers baked pies In perfect conditions, customers have only a short wait for a freshly baked pie at Runaway Pasta & Pizza in Westerville. With his handy Hhc 2020 TurboChef oven, Peter Tanski can bake a pizza in 2.5 minutes. Put another way, that’s 150 seconds. “This is the next-generation way to cook a pizza,” he said. Certainly, longer lines mean a longer wait for patrons, but Tanski’s lovin’ his oven. It doesn’t require an expensive ventilation system and runs off of electricity. It uses a convection-and-impingement process, meaning it simul-
taneously sucks in and pushes out air, while a catalytic converter cleans the exhaust. The conveyor unit is capable of cooking 60 pizzas in one hour. Runaway takes over Tanksi’s former Mama Mimi’s franchise at 925 N. State St., just east of Meijer. Runaway’s fresh-tossed dough uses flour that is free of bromate, a conditioner that strengthens the dough and allows for higher rising. Tanski prefers
the old-fashioned method. He has three crusts: a regular style seasoned with oregano and garlic, plain wheat and a gluten-free product not made on premises. The reason being, he said, is the risk for cross-contamination. Pizzas are 12 or 16 inches and crusts are either thin or medium-thick. He has a full complement of designer pizza options, such as the barbecue pulled pork and spinach and artichoke dip, as well as a build-your-own section. The big sellers right now are the deluxe and Margherita options. He acknowledges prices are about $1 or $2 more than chain pizzas. The difference is in the ingredients, he said. For example, Tanski also uses Stanislaus tomato products, which are made from fresh tomatoes, not concentrate. He mixes the seasonings in-house for his own distinctive flavor. “It’s not something that’s going to be duplicated anywhere,” he said. In addition, he uses 100 percent cheese, a mozzarella-provolone blend, and locally made Ezzo Sausage Co. pepperoni. He prepares pizzas to By Chris Parker/ThisWeek order and begins the cooking process when customers As one pizza comes out of the oven, Peter Tanski works on another in his shop, Runarrive. Even during busier away Pasta & Pizza, 925 N. State St. in Westerville.
times, he sees that has an efficient method, as customers generally wait no longer than 10 minutes for their order. Still, purchasing another oven could be necessary once business improves, he said. The menu also includes a slate of salads, baked pasta, take-and-bake casseroles, chicken wings and a few desserts, including fresh-baked cookies. Sandwiches could be offered in the future, he said. “Doing things people are familiar with but in your own way is the way to succeed, I think,” he said. Tanski is looking into adding some seating in the 1,453-square-foot space, which does not provide a dine-in experience. Runaway is open lunch and dinner hours daily. For more information, call 614-523-3000. The latest Ohio-made vodka has a Columbus connection. Karl Schneider of Upper Arlington is among a group of investors behind Buckeye Vodka, which is produced in Dayton. The premium, small-batch vodka uses distilled water from a direct source — Crystal Water Co. — and is distilled 10 times for an unmistakably smooth, clean and pure flavor, spokeswoman Michele Mooney said. It is available at several local stores, including many local Giant Eagle and Kroger stores, High Street Beverage and Huffman’s Market.
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Recipe of the week
Roasted baby back ribs, courtesy of Keile Baney of Liberty Tavern.
■ Wine Wisdom author Roger Gentile says the Casal Garcia Vinho Verde from Portugal is a smashing white for patio gatherings, chilled crab salads and afternoon conversations by the pool. ■ Free gift cards. We thought that would get your attention. To qualify for a $50 gift certificate from Barcelona, sign up for the weekly Food & Wine enewsletter. Details are on the Food & Wine page.