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May 12, 2011
The Beat Arts, eats and fun in central Ohio Country-folk singer-song-
FAB 5 By Jim Fischer
jfischer@thisweeknews.com
1 Most of the young singers
in the Columbus Children’s Choir weren’t even born when the group was founded 15 years ago. They’ll be around, however, for the choir’s 15th birthday season, which closes with concerts Sunday, May 15, at Capital University’s Mees Hall. The season’s theme has been “The World of Music,” and that theme continues both by virtue of the program itself — which includes music by Canadian and Danish composers, a Chinese folk song, South African freedom song Siyahamba and more — but also the welcoming of guest performers Con Brio children’s choir (3 p.m. performance) and the Columbus International Children’s Choir (7 p.m.). “It’s amazing,” longtime music director Sandra Mathias told The Beat. “We’re really excited. We’ve invited kids back who’ve been with us in all that time” for the concerts. Tickets are $10/$8. Call (614) 220-5555.
Berg had been collecting songs
5 writer Matraca Berg’s new over the years, many that hadn’t
The Airborne Toxic Event
Beat worked hard to SoCal will play the Newport 2 The keep finding The Airborne Music Hall on Sunday, May 15. Toxic Event pretentious, what with the jazz and classical overtones and the self-aggrandizing literacy of the lyrics and disaffected affectation of Mikel Jollett’s vocal delivery. But tunes like Sometime Around Midnight, Wishing Well and Changing grew on us. Eventually, we decided this, if it were pretense, wouldn’t be right any other way. The postmodern rockers from
Vauxhall Broadcast opens. Tickets are $15/$17. Call 1-800-7453000. Start with a boyfriend-girl-
3 friend duo and add in a few friends for color, and you end up with Brooklyn’s Acrylics. Molly Shea and Jason Klauber offer up the kind of stuff destined to find its way into a TV ad that makes everyone ask, “Who is that?” Touring with Swedish pop act Junip, Acrylics will play the Wexner Center for the Arts on Sunday, May 15. Tickets are $16. Call (614) 292-3535.
4 Blame Usher all you want
for Justin Bieber. After all, he is responsible. But credit him, then, also for his effortless manner and ear for a hook, as demonstrated by a seemingly endless string of hit songs. On his OMG Tour, Usher is joined by Senegalese-American singer Akon (presumably to sing
The Acrylics
Usher
the hook on every third song) as well as Dev and the Cataracts and Tinie Tempah. The tour will stop at the Schottenstein Center on Wednesday, May 18. Tickets are $96.50$26.50.
record, The Dreaming Fields, was been recorded by others, and, en14 years in the making. couraged by her friend and fellow It wasn’t supposed to be that performing songwriter, Gretchen way. Peters, decided it was time to put Berg, who as a songwriter them down. scored her first No. 1 song while “It’s my dream record,” she said. still a teen, was signed to a record “Some of the songs are more than deal in the early 1990s but never 10 years old, but some I just wrote quite fit the bill of what the in- this year. It’s my heart and my dustry was wantsoul.” ing. In 1997, the The record insame year her cludes You and song, StrawberTequila, which also ry Wine (recordhappens to be set to ed by Deana be the next single Carter), was from Kenny Chesnamed song of ney’s latest album. the year by the Berg said she harCountry Music bors no professionAssociation, she al jealousy over any Matraca Berg will play the released an of her songs, that she Columbus Maennerchor on album on Rising never pre-determines Saturday, May 14, in a conTide Records, what she might give which closed cert sponsored by Zeppelin away and what she soon thereafter. Productions. Duo Ryan might hold for her“My record- Humbert and Emily Bates self. ing career had will open. Tickets are $25. “I’m kind of a been kind of Call (614) 565-6130. whore that way,” she frustrating,” she said. “The plan joked. “I write songs. I love it when was to chill out for a couple years. other people record my songs.” It turned into 14. It’s one of those Additionally, she admitted that things.” Carter’s award-winning rendition She said the prolonged hiatus of Strawberry Wine put her in a from recording often was a func- bit of a bind. tion of personal and family obli“After she recorded it, I didn’t gations (“I was working at home, know how to play it myself,” Berg writing songs and working in the said. “She made it so much her garden, so folks just always fig- own, it was shocking because I ured ‘Matraca’s available’”) rather can usually see myself in a song than professional disinterest. And no matter what. That was just the she still was writing songs that exact right artist and the exact right were becoming hits for the likes song.” of the Dixie Chicks, Sara Evans, As for having her own record Gretchen Wilson and others. once again, she admits she’s ap“The next thing I knew, a lot of prehensive about folks finding and time had gone by,” she said with enjoying it. a knowing laugh. “Shoot. It’s hard to put into She’s never been bitter about words,” she said. “It hasn’t really the “major label” thing — more hit me yet.” matter-of-fact. “I’m just as guilty” as the in■ For more from The Beat’s industry, she said. “That’s one of the terview with Matraca Berg, read reasons I stopped, so I could get the BeatBlog at www.ThisWeeka better picture of what I wanted.” News.com.
Worthington Inn has revamped spring menu MENU
The backs of the rock-tour-apt black T-shirts worn by busboys read: “Local, Fresh and Natural since 1831.” On the restaurant's Twitter feed — near notices by G.A. Benton for its just-released spring menu and a wine dinner featuring grilled quail, ramps and morel mushrooms — was this: “I already know because you’ve seen this cook with wine, sometimes I even add it reviews headline and photos. to the food. (W.C. Fields).” What cheeky But do you take my point? Mention eatery could I be speaking of? OK, you the extraordinary Worthington Inn, and too often people say “great Sunday brunch” and then, as the image of an expensive and vintage joint visited with parents takes hold, the conversation sputters. And that is sad. Yes, the greatingredient- and creative-chef-drivBy Jodi Miller/ThisWeek en Worthington King's Farm chicken entree at the Worthington Inn. Inn exists in the
uppermost echelons of Columbus restaurants, so it can be pricey. And sure, it’s housed in a museum-quality, 19th-century country mansion. But the inn offers some oh-so-good values and isn’t in the least lagging behind our local-ingredient-focused fine-dining scene. If you doubt these things, you’re likely the one lagging. Part of the Worthington Inn’s 2011 spring menu is its revamped pub offerings available in the casual bar area (where terrific jazz bands play on Friday and Saturday evenings) and the front-porch-like patio. From that short food list, the Ohioraised, grass-fed beef Lights Out Burger ($13) was a knockout. Arriving on a toasted, locally baked Stan Evans sesame-seed bun was a lean and mean heavyweight-champion patty with a killer grilled crust. This juicy mauler is brilliant, robed in thick-cut, super-crispy bacon, fun “tobacco onions” (like ungreasy onion straws), arugula, cheddar cheese and a zingy and sweet barbecuetype sauce. In the burger’s corner were
terrific, fresh house-transformed pickles and nifty hand-cut fries. Some extra cheap selections from the pub menu are the thin and snappy-crusted Grilled Flatbreads. These come in either a surprisingly spicy meat version (with hot Italian sausage and banana peppers) or a rich and pungent veggie (with Point Reyes bleu cheese, shiitake mushrooms, spinach and caramelized onions). Both are half-priced during happy hour (3-7 p.m. Monday through Friday), setting you back about $5. At $2.50, the clever Cucumber-Chili Ceviche is always cheap and bursting with light, lively and refreshing flavors. Here, big hunks of cucumber are bathed in fresh lime, a habanero zest heating up and cooling off sprinkles of cilantro. The new dinner menu frequently — and winningly — unites Mediterranean cuisine with Asian flavors and French techniques. Thus a lovely duck appetizer special ($14) presented beautiful, fanned-out pink fowl gently “black tea smoked.” Accompanying the meat was
a neat peanut-buttery noodle salad (with slivered veggies and spicy nuts) plus a not-gloppy sweet chili sauce. Ginger and sesame oil tied together the plate’s clean flavors. Also great was the Spring Lamb ($32). Perfectly grilled, succulent chops were outfitted with fluffy couscous topped with a racy artichoke and harissa ragu, plus the yin and yang of minty tzatziki and sriracha sauces. If you think chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans sound humdrum (they do), try them here and you'll think again. A black-peppery crusted, locally raised free-range half bird (with a deboned thigh) arrived with a rich demi-like morel gravy, tangy spuds and a buttery and pretty succotash of haricots verts, squash and tomatoes. Dessert-wise, the shortcake-like Strawberry Molly ($8) similarly added cheffy verve (and white chocolate mousse) to another spring-flinging favorite. The moral (and morel) of this story: the inn is in.
DiBella’s: Our sandwich bread rises to the occasion So you’re thinking, “Yawn. Not another sub shop.” Indeed, another national sandwich chain has picked Columbus for its next Ohio store. DiBella’s Old Fashioned Submarines, based in Rochester, N.Y., has opened at 4949 Tuttle Crossing Blvd. Adam Burton, chief marketing officer for the company, stresses that DiBella’s is not just another sandwich shop. “Once you try our subs, you’re not going to want anybody else’s,” he said. “Give it a shot. Trust me: It’s better than anything you’ve ever had.”
DiBella’s joins countless other sub shops in the region, both national and homegrown, including Subway, Jersey Mike’s, Quiznos, Penn Station, Jimmy John’s, Potbelly, Charlie’s Grilled Subs, w.g. Grinders and Johnny Buccelli’s. One key difference, Burton said, is the bread. The frozen dough is delivered raw to each of the company’s 21 corporate stores, where it proofs and is baked
By Eric George/ThisWeek
An early lunch crowd lines up at DiBella’s Old Fashioned Submarines on May 5. The store opened recently at 4949 Tuttle Crossing Blvd.
on site. Another distinction is that DiBella’s does not toast its subs “because we don’t think that’s fair to our bread,” he said. Similar to other sandwich chains, it offers cold and grilled meats, topped with a choice of cheeses and condiments. Subs come in small (7 inches), medium (10) and large (14). The menu is rounded out with green salads and fresh-baked cookies, chips and pasta, macaroni and potato salads. DiBella’s started as an Italian grocery store in 1918 and began selling subs about 30 years ago. It became a subs-only business 20 years ago and began expanding five years later. “It had a personal feel that really resonated with customers,” Burton said, adding that DiBella’s has 21 stores in four states. The location for the first Columbus store, an outparcel at the main entrance of the Mall at Tuttle Crossing, was chosen because of the high traffic counts, growth in the area and stellar demographics, Burton said. The 4,000-square-foot space formerly was occupied by a Cord Camera. A patterned ceiling, subway-tiled floors, red neon signs, diner-style booths give an “old-school” atmosphere, he said. “From the first step you take in the door, you will notice the difference,” Burton said. “It doesn’t feel like a chain when you come in.” David Kincheloe, president of National Restaurant Consultants, said the fast-casual segment of the industry is flourishing because of the economy. As long as DiBella’s differentiates itself from the throng of current sandwich shops, it can thrive, even in the competitive central Ohio market, he said. “If they’re providing what is perceived by the guest as a true value, they’ll fit in and generate their own kind of market excitement,” he said. DiBella’s is open lunch and dinner hours daily. For more information, call (614) 717-1111.
www.ThisWeekNews.com/foodandwine
Recipe of the week
Tavern meatloaf, courtesy of Geri Ziemba of the Dublin Village Tavern.
■ Wine guru Roger Gentile says the 2010 Barnarrd Griffin Sangiovese Rosé is sophisticated and versatile with a wide variety of foods. ■ First Draft columnist Michael Paull recommends the Point Roger Gentile Special Lager, a subtle, sweet and satisfying summertime brew. ■ 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 e-newsletter. Details are on the Food & Wine page at ThisWeekNEWS.com.